The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-09-11

Sacramento by it's yield of grapes.
This was the early dawn of the fruit
and grape culture in California, which
has grown to it's present enormous
proportions by the aid of irrigation.
The demand for land for wheat grow
ing, for stock and for alfalfa, slim
ulated interest in Southern California,
and the construction of the Southern
Pacific in the 70s determined the peo-
pie to try the new experiment on a
large scale in the San Joaquin valley.
Congress came along in 1874 with
a commission to Investigate the posi-
bilities of reclamation in this valley
and also to inquire into the progress
OF irrigation in India. This was the
first time the government had treated
the subject seriously:
Meanwhile, in California the irri-
gated fields were becoming larger and
the first water companies were organ
lied. At about this time the southern
counties of that state turned atten-
ton less and less to wheat and alfalfa
and more and more to fruit. Had the
means of transportation and the de-
mand been sufficiently great the fruit
industry of southern California could
have come to full stature twenty years
before it did.
The general progress OF irrigation
was slow during the decade between
1870 and 1880, but what progress there
was substantial. The building OF
railways was helpful, opening new
areas and furnishing an outlet to the
markets. Interest continually in
creased as the necessity OF irrigation
to maintain successful cultivation be-
came more obvious and as the popula-
ton grew larger.
Irrigation in the great plains be
tween the Missouri and the base OF the
Rockies did not take definite form I'M
til the decade between 1880 n 1890.
In the first part of that decade popu-
lation began to pour in upon that re-
gion. The earlier years of sufficient
rainfall were followed by years OF
drouth, and it was soon understood
that the only relief would come
through irrigation. During the reac-
ton, however, it looked as it the en-
tire great plains belt, running north
through the Dakotas and Montana to
the Canadian line, would have to be
given over to the cattlemen. 1t was
during these years that the cattle
barons firmly established themselves
there, and the fruits of that occupation
are seen today in the difficulty over
the fencing of public lands in South
Dakota and Nebraska, and in the dis
satisfaction of the settlers with the
oyerlordship and domineering ule OF
the ranchers.
Conditions Change on the Plains.
The evolution of economic condi'
tions on the great plains lis an interest
ing study. Slowly, beginning in the
sos, the cattle business began tic
| change under the pressure OF increas
ing population and the ranchmen were
unable to command large areas Of
natural grass land. This pressure also
, drove out inferior grades of cattle
The change from large ranch to small
cattle farms brought with it a better
appreciation of the need of water sup
plies for forage sufficient for the new
conditions. Isolated irrigation enter
prises began to appear in the valleys
/ of the Arkansas and the North Platte
east of the Rockies; in the Yellow
stone and it's tributaries, in the Snak'
and Salmon valleys of Idaho and else
where on a smaller scale Throughout
the great plains. The work had pro
crossed so far by 1886 that congress
began to think of reserving sites TO
reservoirs and storage basins. TIL
people, even at that time, had in min
the action which congress finally tool
two years g under the stimulus Q
executive recommendation.
The Future Of Irrigation.
Almost one-third of the total are
of the United States, exclusive G
Alaska and the colonies, is within tn
arid and semi-arid region, and unde
irrigation will be capable of suppor
i ing a population as dense as that {
New Jersey or Delaware. just no
much money the government will e.
pend in this work nobody may kno'
at this time, but the total sum wi
MIN into tho hundreds of millions {