The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-10-02
BETTER THAN ALL OTHERS
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years will possibly begin to show {
decrease. Should this be the case, i
will not be looked upon as an unfav
orable omen. Irrigation is just be
ginning to take a firm hold on the
people. They propose to reach out
and do more of it, and to turn their
attention to it as never before. Thus
with the passing away OF the cattle
ranges, and the limiting of the sheer
herds will come the spreading out Of
the small farms and the rapid increase
in the population which irrigation
always brings. This change is just
now being felt. Montana is on the
border of it. She realizes that. it is
at hand, and those Of her citizens
who live in Yellowstone county wei.
come it because they believe that the
new order of things will profit them
much more than the old.
Cooperation Everywhere.
Billings furnishes one of the best
examples of cooperative irrigation to
be found in the country. Every water
right in the valley is owned by the
farmers themselves; there are no wa
ter lords and no water tenants-a sys-
tenn 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 feed
ing center. Alfalfa is grown as far
as the eye a reach, fields of emerald
green from which three heavy crops
are cut annually. Yet the correspond
ents saw practically no live stock;
they were out upon the vast open
range above and surrounding the val
ley. In October they will be brought
in and fattened through the winter
from the thousands of enormous al
falfa stacks. Cooperation among the
farmers extends beyond the
ownership and management of their
irrigation bitches; they range their
herds and flocks during the summer
months upon the same plan. Instead
of a farmer who owns $50 head OF
cattle or 800 head of sheep, sending
his own men out on the free range
with them, he puts them in with the
stock of half a dozen other farmers,
greatly reducing the cost. ! Then he
can devote himself all during the
growing season exclusively to farm
ing and preparing for winter feeding.
is a wonderfully nutritious
plant, altogether the greatest forage
plant in the west, and but little grain
is needed to finish stock for killing.
will eat alfalfa. At Bill
the cattle, sheep, horses, hogs,
and even turkeys and wild ducks get
fat upon it.
A leading spirit in the valley is
I. D. O'Donnell, better known through.
out Montana as "Old Alfalfa" He
has lived in the valley for 20 years.
When he first drove through it, he
it worthless for agricultural
purposes, but he soon gained faith.
Now he has 1000 acres in alfalfa
and winter feeds 10000 sheep. He
one of the large holders; the av-
erage holding is comparatively small
and the valley is dotted with pros
porous homes and ample barns.
While this valley is well develop
ed and has an enormous production,
many look ahead to a complete tran
sition when alfalfa fields will be. di.
vided up into fruit orchards and when
The capacity of the land will be dou-
oled and quadrupled. This has &C.
in more than one valley in
Montana swhere the conditions seem
to those at Billings. The
irst development, after the Indian, is
The grazing of cattle-the Billings
valley 20 years ago was a free graz
.ng range; the. second step is that
which has now been reached at Bill
ngs, the irrigation of the land, still
'or stock purposes; the third step is
when FARMS are 10, 20 or 40 acres,
to apples, plums and other
leciduous fruits, varying with the al
itude and climate. Y