The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-10-10
The First Annual Meeting Of the County
Fair is Now IN Progress.
SENATOR pAR'> GIBSON TALKS
Praises in Highest Terms the Fla > Country and Pre-
diets Glorious Future for the Caro- oot OF Mon
tana--Races and Exhibits in General.

Montana will be one of the states
which will greatly profit by this un-
dertaking AS a matter of fact, when
you consider the vast acreage of arid
lands that can be reclaimed in this
state, you must see that we will profit
as much, if not more, than any other
state in the union. In addition to
having the land to irrigate, We have
the water with which to irrigate it
there is no state in the union whose
water supply can come up to ours
When ! was in Washington | heard
a senator from California telling of
the great water supply of his state
A senator from Nevada who was ia
miliar with conditions in this state
turned to him and said, Why, you
haven't any water at all to compare
with Montana. You go through that
state and note the countless streams
which feed the greatest rivers on
both sides of the divide and then you
won't boast of the water resources
of California.
Take the st. Mary's canal project
alone. The geological survey now
has five or six parties at work on this
scheme, determinining just where it
will. be best to run the main canal.
This work will be completed this fall
and expect the actual construction
of the canal to commence next year.
Did you ever stop to consider just
hot tn hn
state? l will tell you that it means
more than you think, or more than op-
timistics even dream. By this canal
thousands of acres of land heretofore
practically useless will be reclaimed
and will provide homes for bona fide
settlers-for men who make the real
wealth of the state
Speaking of the future of Montana
am optimistic enough to believe
that the grandest future is ahead of
this state. First we want to develop
our agricultural resources. After that
comes the development of the COM
mon mineral of the state-the i'm
mense coal and iron deposits which,
except in few instances, are as yet
untouched. When these are devel-
oped the real wealth of the state will
b shown.
Take even the mining industry
alone, and it is not the digging out
of pocket or rich gold ore tLat
makes the state wealthy. At most,
these are but temporary resources,
and the richest of them are already
exhausted. I am free to predict that
the common minerals of the state,
when fully developed will make the
early gold finds look small, indeed.
Out of the latter few men accumu-
lated exorbitant wealth. No such in
dividual fortunes will be made here
after in the short space of time that
it took the early day miners to ac-
cumulate a competence, but what
means more to the welfare of our
state, the development of the COM
mon minerals will give employment
to thousands of men, for whom no
place could be found in the workings
of the so-caled rich mines that first
made Montana famous.
'This, say, is the order of things
first, the development of our agri-
cultural resources, then the develop
ment of our common minerals. When
this is done, there is not the least
doubt but that Montana will be one
of the greatest states in the union.
But, as have repeated time and time
again, the great wealth of Montana
is in her agricultural resources. When
the national government has COM
pleted the task of furnishing water
to our parched and practically unused
prairies they will be as fertile as any
great bodies of land on the globe, and
then we will have the population that
makes a state great, and the great
body of our citizens will be farmers
men who own their own homes and
who in creating wealth for them
selves leave it here in the state and
thus make the commonwealth richer
That will be different from what it
is now, when the men who are reap
ing the richest harvest from Mon
tana's resources spend their time and
their time and their money in New
York, London or Paris, and instead
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