The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-03-24
NORTHERN MONTANA LEARNING
FROM YELLOWSTONE VALLEY
MARvELS IT HAS WROUGHT
Recent Visitor to These Parts Tells
What He Saw and
Learned.

Alfalfa growing promises to soon be-
come as important a factor in agri-
culture in northern Montana as it is in
| the Yellowstone valley. The farmers
up that way are beginning to realize
that there is money in it," both as
a product and because of the increased
value it's cultivation gives land de-
voted to it's growth. Already quite a
number of ranchers have begun to
raise the feed and many more are pre-
pairing to do likewise. In fact, it may
be said that an alfalfa boom" has
begun in the northern tier Of coun
ties, caused by the information CLEAN
ed by the different parties from there
who have been investigating the mat
ter in this county. A few days ago
George M. Hatch, immigration inspec-
tor, returned to Great Falls from a
trip into the eastern part of the state,
particularly into the Yellowstone val
ley, and to the Tribune told what he
had seer and learned during his alb
sence. /.
At Big Timber he said he had seen
800 acres Of absolutely wild land sold
for $1,000, Notwithstanding that it
was without improvements of any kind
and the soil was gravelly, containing
many wash b%oulders, that made a
large part of the tract untillable. Five
years ago the land was not considered
worth settling upon and nobody want.
ed it. Now it adjoins an alfalfa field and
this has given it it's present value.
acreage sown to alfalfa" said Mr..
Hatch, Twill, 1 believe, yield a great
er return than may be derived from
any other crop that may be grown in
Montana. The cultivation of alfalfa
was begun in the Yellowstone valley,
around Billings, Big Timber and Liv'
ingston, only about Is years ago, and
there is nc doubt as to the adaptable
ity of the crop to all parts of Montana,
1t has revolutionized the livestock bus
mess in that part of the state in
which it is grown; it has increased
greatly the value of land; it has made
wealthy men of farmers who were
broke a few years ago, and a stack
, of alfalfa is considered %gilt-edged Sc
. curity at the banks.
"In the Gallatin valley, where nam
moth crops of wheat and barley have
, been grown, the farmers are rapidly
> turning to alfalfa, and the values O
lands there range from $50 to $50 pc
= acre. But there are not many sales
4 of farm lands; the alfalfa farmers
are holding on to their farms, reallz
ing that their investment is a richl,
remunerative one and that values o
lands must increase as the feeding in
s dustry increases.
r ct is a business in which there il
d no competition. There is a good dc
mand for all the alfalfa that may b.
v raised, and the farmer who has
stack of it does not care how mucl
Y his neighbor may have.
o 1.-The big sheep feeders along tn
Northern Pacific go out into the Mus
& selshell country and into districts re
mote from the railway and buy thei
sheep, and they are distributed anon
the farmers who have alfalfa, VIII
feed them for two, three or fou
J months, and turn them back at a mic
- profit.
cat Big Timber, on the LIST of NJ
vember, Rea Bros, who are gres
feeders, sold lambs to a small farme
there who had a supply of alfalfa,
8 cents per pound, the lambs weighin
in at an average of ST pounds pc
head. On the LIST of February, thi
~ farmer resold them to Rea Bros. {
4 cents per pound. They weighe
out 70 pounds, showing a gain of $1.4
per head in three months, and afte
the farmer who fed them had reckone
all his expenses, he figured that h
:" alfalfa had brought him $40 per to-
AS there are three crops each yea
and the yield is four and one-half
five tons per acre, it may readily
r. seer what a great yield is secure
20 from an acre of land. The soil c
,e- this farm is %gravelly, and | beliel
re, that it is the best adapted to alfalfa.
ry IN the Gallatin valley, after shee
al have been fed for three or four month
on alfalfa, they are topped off on Sc
d. ond-class wheat, grown in that va
is ley, and a remarkable thing is tn;
the sheep fattened there are. sold
Seattle. Buyers from that city con
rinht To tho foad Lots and huv the E.