The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1905-09-06
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6, 1906.
OUR AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.

cultural resources of Montana has
been contributed to the press by F.. B.
Linfield, one of the professors at the
Bozeman experiment station, who dis
cusses the results obtained from irri-
CATION and the possibilities of the new
dry land farming methods. Mr.. Lin.
fields views are given in part as fol-
lows:
If Montana was as we'll supplied
with water as she is with land, there
is no doubt that she would be within
q very few years one of the greatest
farming states of the northwest. How.
ever, while she is one of the best wa.
tered of the arid states, as through
her valleys flow many streams, yet
probably there will never be more
than one.tenth Of the area of the state
that will be irrigated, and perhaps not
than o~ne.twentieth. One third
of it is classified by the United States
government as farming land, land
with soil deep enough and rich enough
and level enough to grow crops sue
cessfully, provided the proper amount
OF moisture can be supplied. Even
with our best e%ndeavors, therefore,
even if all of the water which now
flows out and beyond the state could
be stored and used on the land during
the growing season, there will yet be
millions of acres of land which will
never be under the ditch.
The man who owns an irrigated
farm is one of the most u ate farm
ers in the country. The irrigated
farm will produce from two % four
times the crop hat can on the average
be produced on the bench lands of the
state without irrigation. The irriga.
ton water insures and guarantees a
crop every year. 1t means that a
farmer a make his calculations in
regard to his methods of farming, in
regard to his livestock from year to
year, with a fairly sure warranty that
his plans a be carried out. The
man who, at an expense of $25 to $50
or $40 an acre, can provide water for
his land is making a good investment;
because the extra returns will pay very
large interest upon such an outlay.
However, as | stated. there are large
tracts of fertile soil which will be per.
manently above the ditch. During my
s~ojourn of some nine years in the state
of Utah, and observing what they are
doing there, what they could do on
the ary bench lands without irrig alton,
and then coming to Montana and no..
ticing the rich vegetation and the per
mauent sod found upon these bench
lands, as contrasted to the dry and
barreu country to the south, | have
been very anxious to take up some
systematic tests OF the possibility OF
farming these bench lands, and SO
adding that much more to the wealth
OF the country and to the returns oil
the farmers of our valleys.
Because of the needs of our home
station, this work had been postponed
until last spring, when an offer of co
operation from the Northern Pacifi,
railroad aud the United States gov
ernment made it impossible for us Il
longer defer the matter. We are jus
beginning this work: yet from the re
suits obtained and from u study o
what has been done by the farmers in
great many parts Of the state, | an
fully persuaded that these dry bench
lands, which, under natural condi
tions, return little or nothing to tn
wealth Of the community, may b.
made to return many thousands O
dollars to the farmer who will prop
er]y handle them. They cannot, o
courses, be handled on the ~extensiv
plan of the irrigated farm. Large
tracts should be handled and sy ste
matte methods of management shout,
be put in practice If the largest meas
ure of success is to be expected fror
this plan of farming.
have travelled over u great deal G
the country around Great Falls, an
probably there are tracts here an
there which may be irrigated: but
believe that in the county of Cascade
very great proportion Of the Ian
a never be irrigated, yet by prope
methods of management it may b
farmed successfully and profitabl,
Within the past three weeks, With
Ii miles of Great Falls, | saw a piec
of fall wheat which should yield nc
far from 20 to % bushels of wheat t
the acre, and some which, believe
will do better than that. In pearl
every valley in the state there ar
similar large tracts.
When, by proper methods of mar
sgement, this bench land, without i,
rigation, will yield such crops, eve
every second year, there is c~ertainl
M o.,oosion for ~foo1inn 6isOouwornc