Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1903-10-05
MONTANA IRRIGATION RESULTS
Some of the Results OF Irrigation as 1t
Has Been Practiced on the Montana
Plains.

realizes that it is at hand, and those
of her citizens who live in Yellowstone
county welcome it because they be-
lieve the new order of things will profit
them much more than the old.
Cooperation Everywhere.
Billings furnishes one of the best ex-
amples of cooperative irrigation to be
found in the country Every water
right in the valley is owned by the
farmers themselves; there are no wat
er lords and no water tenants-a sys-
TEN which has proved so disastrous in
many sections. The man who owns
the land also owns a share in the ditch
from which he irrigates
This fertile valley is a great feeding
center. Alfalfa is grown as far as the
eye can reach. fields of emerald green
from which three heavy crops are cut
annually Yet the correspondents saw
practically no live stock; they were
out upon the vast open range above
and surrounding the valley In Oc-
tober they will be brought in and fat
tened through the thousands of enor-
nous alfalfa stacks Cooperation
among the Billings farmers extends
beyond the ownership and manage
ment of their irrigation bitches; they
range their herds and focks during
the summer months upon the same
plan. Instead of a farmer who owns
$50 head of cattle or 300 head of sheep.
sending his own men out on the free
range with them, he puts them in with
the stock of half dozen other farm
ers, greatly reducing the cost. Then
he can devote himself all during the
growing season exclusively to farming
and preparing for winter feeding. AL
falfa is wonderfully nutritious plant,
altogether the greatest forage plant in
the west, and but little grain is needed
to finish stock for killing. At Billings
the cattle, sheep, horses, hogs and
even turkeys and wild ducks get fat
upon it,
leading spirit in the valley is l. D.
y Donnell. better Known throughout
Montana as "Old Alfalfa He has
lived in the valley for twenty years
When he first drove through it he
thought it worthless for agricultural
purposes, but he soon gained faith
Now he has 1000 acres in alfalfa and
winter feeds 10000 sheep He is one
of the large holders; the average hold.
ing is comparatively small and the val.
ley is dotted with prosperous homes
and ample barns.
While this valley is well developed
and has an enormous production. many
! look ahead to a complete transition
when alfalfa fields will be divided up
into fruit orchards and when the ca
pacity of the land will be doubled and
quadrupled. This has occurred in
more than one valley in Montana
where the conditions seem similar tc
those in Billings The first develop
ment, after the Indian, is the grazing
of cattle-the Billings valley twenty
years ago was a free grazing range
the second step is that which has now
been reached at Billings, the irrigation
of the land, still for stock purposes
the third step is when farms are ten
twenty or forty acres. planted tC
: apples, plums and other deciduous
fruits, varying with the altitude ant
, climate.
A Great irrigation Project.
The citizens of Billings who are in
, terested in seeing it become the center
of great garicultural community have
, interested the government in lookins
into the practicablity of great irri
T CATION project which will divert waite
, from the Yellowstone river, far above
II; 1o;, ho h