The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-10-02
BETTER THAN
ALL OTHERS
CORRESPONDENTS VIEW OF
YELLOWSTONE VALLEY.
lTSADVANTAcESA ARE SHOWN
Jermane Of Minneapolis journal Com
pares Billings Environments
with Colorado and Utah.

Although previous to their arrival
at Billings the Washington newspaper
correspondents, who stopped in the
city couple of weeks ago on their
| return east, had seen much of the ir
! rigated area OF the west and had
1 travelled over nearly all of the arid
! and semi-arid states, still they evi-
| IDENTIFY saw a great deal that was new
| and interesting in the Yellowstone
valley. No doubt while in Colorado,
! Utah and the other states where irri-
! cation has reached proportions they
were told that nothing further remain
ed to be seen or learned, and they
! probably entered Montana believing
this. If such was the case their
! notion when they saw what only a
small portion of Yellowstone county
! had to show them. This is made man
4 ifest by the letter which w. w. Jer-
name, correspondent of the Minneapo-
4 lis Journal, sent to his newspaper
1 from Billings under date Of September
4 "a.
The letter is highly interesting and
4 in the main makes a good exposition
Of facts as they could be learned in
i the very short time that the correspon-
dents were here. 1t is evident, how
ever, that Mr.. Jermane misunderstood
II his informant as to the amount wool
4 shipped from Billings. Instead of say
ing that Billings .'since 1891 has sent
more than 100000 pounds OF wool
to eastern markets" he should have
said that that amount, great as it
may have appeared to him. has been
shipped annually for a number OF
! years that have passed since 1891.
The letter follows:s
When General w. B. Hazen return
ed from his trip over Montana, fol-
lowing the Yellowstone, rolling
through the country where Billings
now stands, he said in his report to
the war department that it was the
most unpromising territory he had
ever visited Speaking unotticially,
he said tc his brother officers that
even the jackrabbit, when getting
ready for trip across the great plains
stretching on either side of the Vel
lowstone, had to pack his grip with
food and drink. General Grant came
!, in later years, when the golden spike
was driven in the completion of anoth-
ar great r..il1raA enterprise He Mt t
here sew - i ch' time 'Jl'cna friends
to whom he spoke il the mcst s'Srp'l-
i cal words of the future of the country
, He thought it could produce absolutely
snothing along agricultural lines, and
that it's value for grazing was being
overestimated. Standing near the
track where the golden spike was to
!. be driven, was small shed covered
! artistically with wheat, freshly cut
! Grant asked where the wheat was
, raised; how far away it was from
home; and what it had cost. to bring
!, it to Billings When told that it was
raised on farm not far from where
!, he was standing, he thought it joke
, Finally he was put into buggy and
), driven out to the farm, where he saw
the new stubble II acknowledge the
D wheat, if not the corn" he said. %
didn't think you could do it,
3 Old Opinion Wrong.
3 And that has been the prevailing
feeling regarding agriculture in Mon
tana for years-in fact, from the be
ginning. Colorado and Utah had dem
onstrated the possibilities of irriga
\ ton beyond dispute, and were extend
ing their irrigated territory year afte
q year, and producing the finest crops
. ever grown west of the Missouri. Bu
s this meant little to Montana, for thu
q great lines of railway ran east ant
g west. and Illinois was nearer neigh
: Dor than Colorado. The early settler
i here outside of the mining countie
= were stockmen, and the state has eve
i since shown the trend which the.
gave it. Billings, for instance, tn
seat of Yellowstone county, one OF tn
richest agricultural counties in Mon
tana, is at the same time the larges