The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-09-28

e
scale. That she will do SO is the opinion
of her leading citizens.
The finest of alfalfa is grown here It
is said that every crop that can be grown
in Minnesota can be grown here, in great
err richness and abundance. There are
more days of sunshine In the year here
than in Minnesota. and that means a
great deal. Given water by irrigation.
crops In the cloudless skies Of the great
west are of a character that the farmer
Of the humid states cannot understand
This abundance of yield Is perhaps one
Of the compensations of nature It Is a
constant stimulus to the irrigator for
he knows that once he has his farm ready
for seed, he will make more in actual cash
from 1t per year than he could from two
or three, times the acreage in any of the
humid sections.
The fruit display in Billings equalled
anything that the Washington correspond
ents saw in their extensive wanderings
thru Colorado. Wyoming. Idaho or Utah.
Changes In Farming at Hand.
The business men Of Billings believe
that the next ten years are to witness
a radical change in the character of farm
ing in Montana. Gradually the big cattle
ranges are being cut down and the herds
reduced in number. The principle live
stock industry In this vicinity for years
has been sheep raising. This has now
reached its maximum, 1t Is thought, and
In a few years will possibly begin to show
a decrease. Should this be the case, it
will not be looked upon as an unfavorable
omen. Irrigation Is just beginning 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.
No ma a. " ~ ho r.
tie ranges, and the limiting of the sheep
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. Mon
tana Is on the border Of 1t. She realizes
that 1t Is at hand, and those Of her citi-
zens who live in Yellowstone county well
come it because they believe that the
new order of things will profit them much
more than the old.
Corporation 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 water lords and
no water tenants-a system which has
proved so disastrous in many sections.
The man who owns the land also owns a.
share in the ditch from which he irri
gates.
This fertile valley is 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 October they will be brought
In and fattened thru the winter from the
thousands of enormous alfalfa stacks.
ION ty,1 60,
extends beyond the ownership and man
agement Of their irrigation bitches; they
range their herds and focks during the
summer months upon the same plan. In
stead 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
dozen other farmers, greatly reducing
the cost Then he can devote himself all
during the growing season exclusively to
farming and preparing for winter feed
ing. Alfalfa Is wonderfully nutritious
plant, altogether the greatest forage plant
in the west, and but little grain is needed
to finish stock for killing. Everything
will eat alfalfa. At Billings 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 turnout Mon
tana as "Old Alfalfa He has lived in
the valley for twenty years. When he
first drove thru it, he thought it worth
less 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
holding is comparatively small and the
valley 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 all
falfa fields will be divided up into fruit
orchards and when the capacity of the
land will be doubled and quadrupled. This
has occurred in more than one valley in
Montana where the conditions seem sim
liar to those at Billings. The first devel-
opment, 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,t twenty or forty acres,
planted to apples, plums and other de-
ciduous fruits, varying with the altitude
and climate.
A Great Irrigation Project.
The citizens of Billings who are inter-
ested In seeing 1t become the center Of a
great agricultural community have inter-
ested the government in looking into the
praCLlcdDll1ty OF g. great lrr1gaC1On~ PROJECT
which will divert water from the Yellow
stone river, far above Billings and re-
claim probably 100000 acres. The state
ment was ventured that the cost of this
reclamation would likely be between $40
and SIS per acre, and as the irrigated land
around Billings Is worth from $50 to SIS
per acre, it would seem that there would
be no question Of the governments get
ting back its money. A preliminary re-
oonnaisance has already been made by the
geological survey and accurate surveys are
promised the coming sea son. AT the 1867
acre limitation of the national irrigation
act this would create 1,250 new farms and
homes, and give about 1000 additional
population to the Yellowstone valley
Just south and east Of Billings lies the
Crow Indian reservation, the scene Of the
Custer massacre. The Crows are consid-
cred "good Indians altho alive. They
are being reclaimed by irrigation. And
thru irrigation may come to great ex-
tent the solution Of the Indian problem.
The Indian office has been for some time
building irrigation bitches for these In
dams, to enable them to grow alfalfa for
their cattle and ponies for winter feed,
of fhe Tnanner ernn1ovad h1y 1,o