Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1904-05-11
POTATO CROP
HELPED THEM
pin Money" Picked Up by the
Ranehers Of Fergus County From
an Unexpected Source.
EASTERN CROP is A FAILvRE
Montana spuds Were Eagerly Sought
by Buyers From the East-our
Potatoes the Best.

Fergus county may not be an "Ould
| Oirland" when It comes to raising po-
%tatoes. nevertheless. some vi The best
spuds raised in the United States last
year have been recently shipped out
of the Judith Basin and from the sur
rounding benches, That the potatoes
were OF a superior quality is vouched
for by an expert potato buyer from
the east. who has been travelling all
over the country durins the last two
months looking for car load lots for
eastern shipments.
Up to this year the ~ranchers of Fer
gus county have had nothing but the
local market for their potato crop. SO
never went into the spud-raising in
dustry to any great extent. But late
in the winter eastern produce houses
commenced to send men into the west
and particularly to Montana for the
purpose of buying every potato that
could be found. The r in the great
potato raising states in the MISSISSIPPI
pi valley-Kansas, Illinois, Ohio and
Missouri-was almost a total failure.
owing to the great floods which swept
that part of the country last summer.
Many of the potatoes which we're
placed on the market were water
soaked and practically unfit for use.
The price kept advancing until it be-
came profitable for the big houses TO
ship potatoes all of the way from
Montana.
The local merchants let il become
known that they desired all of the
potatoes that could be brought to
them. 1t was hardly thought that the
surplus over home consumption would
be more than a half dozen or at most
n dozen car loads. But, to their sur
prise, the ranchers commenced to
bring potatoes into Lewistown and
take them 90 Moore by the dozens
of wagon loads and there were daily
shipments of spuds to the eastern
markets, which were crying for pota-
toes. The eastern buyer. after eX-
aiming some of those brought to
Lewistown. pronounced them the best
he had ever seen. Culling was not
necessary In some cases. as there
were almost no bad potatoes among
the hundreds of bushels. Altogether,
up to the present time. there have
been twenty-three car loads, or 900,-
600 pounds of potatoes shipped out
of Fergus county to st. Paul and Dies
Moines. and there is a prospect OF
two or three additional a loads be-
ing shipped out before the crop is e
hausted.
Their opportunity to sell their po-
tato crop has been II boon to the
ranchers, many of whom were some
what hard up financially on account
of the u~nfavorable stock market which
prevailed last fall. Some of them
kept their stock through and lived on
the proceeds from their potato sales.
It is estimated that the ranchers of
the county received Sc. 200 from this
source and but few of them had plant,
ed their potatoes with any intention
Of finding a market for what they
were unable to use themselves or sell
for the local trade.
Most of the potatoes were raised on
unirrigated lands and to that fact is
due their excellence. Too much wa
ter is one of the worst things posi-
BILE for potatoes. as IL makes them
soft. unpalatable and more likely ia
rot than il they were produced with
just the proper amount of moisture,
Many acres Of the Rock creek and
Beaver creek benches were planted
in potatoes and hardly a failure oc'
Cured throughout that large section
of the country. The moisture was
just sufficient and as a result the
potatoes were large and firm, the
best. as the eastern buyer said, that
could be found anywhere.