The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-05-01
SECRETARY DECKER TELLS OF
INFLUX OF SETTLERS.
FROM MIDDLE WEST
Says Newcomers Are Satisfied Farm
ing Without Irrigation Can BE Car
ried on Successfully Here-Irrisated
Lands Limited in Quantity.

"Conservatiyely estimated, some.
thing like 200 persons have either
bought land or taken up claims on the
uplands of Yellowstone county since
the present movement Of settlers for
holdings above the ditch began" re-
marked Secretary Decker Of the
chamber Of commerce yesterday, as
he finished with a stranger who had
dropped into the chambers quarters
in quest OF information concerning
agriculture and agricultural possib'li.
lies in this part Of the state
The Fe!thouse people alone have
bi fought in about so since they s.egan
operations q few weeks ago, and they
may be said to have not yet got
started. OF these a part have settled
in the Lake basin, while the rest have
gone to the Musselshell. Where the
Murphy company's sheep and cattle
only recently grazed farms are being
staked on and the newcomers are pre-
pairing to raise their first crops in
Montana. And, mind you, the thing
has just begun. The real tide of i'm
migration will begin to flow in after
the harvest in the middle states, Min
nesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and the Da-
kotas, with a fair sprinkling from
Illinois, Indiana and other states in
hat section.
Price Scares Them.
CHOSE people are not looking for
irrigated land; they know nothing
about irrigation and are unwilling to
learn. Furthermore, the price Of irri-
gated land scares them of. After look
ing at the soil and learning the normal
amount Of precipitation they are salts
fed that farming without irrigation
car be carried on here as successfully
as in the Dakotas, eastern Washing
ton and Oregon and eastern Colorado
or western Kansas. AS a matter Of
fact natural conditions here are much
more favorable than in either OF the
states mentioned. We do not have the
hot winds Of Dakota and Kansas or
Colorado, which are a constant men
ace to the farmer, coming as they do
in the growing season when grain is
still far from maturity, and which in.
the course Of a few hours wither and
shrivel fields that gave promise Of an
abundant yield. Then, too. our eli
mate is milder and the winters are
less severe and much shorter. In
Washington and Oregon are the win
ter rains that have to be commended
with. They make life all but unen-
durable during the months they pre-
vail, without doing any good so far
as furnishing moisture for the suc
ceeding growing season is concerned.
Farmer suppiants stoekSnan.
II know that many Of the older
settlers are skeptical concerning the
success Of farming without irrigation,
but they will become convinced Ia
time. Many Of the new people com
ing here are from regions where q
few years ago the belief existed that
only range stock and coyotes could
survive because Of the lack Of mois-
ture to make possible the growing OF
crops. They scoffed at and made
he recipients Of unasked sympathy
from those who ranged herds and
focks on the prairie. But they perse-
vered and not only had the satisfac-
ton Of seeing the herder betake him
self elsewhere and giving way to the
farmer, but are now finding ready
purchasers at high figures for their
land in eastern people who r at
tracted by the stories OF rich harvests
and unfailing crops. The newcomers
are selling for $25 and $50, in some
instances even more, land which be-
fore they demonstrated its worth for
agricultural purposes raj begging
buyers at any old price. SO cents be-
ing considered a good figure for much
Of It, while whole townships could, be
bought for a dollar and a quarter an
scre. The same story will be told
here in a few years.
In Stage OF Transition.
"The truth is that we are in a stage
Of transition. Irrigated land is limit
ed in quantity and because Of the
cost of reclamation those who can buy
or have the nerve to face the future
and contract what appears to them q
vast Indebtedness, regardless Of the
certainty of returns, are comparative
ly few in number. But those who
want cheap land and are satisfied with
what nature will do for them in the
way of crops without artificial aid of
irrigation is constantly increasing. I'm
doubleday now and then a failure will
follow, but failures occur in every
walk Of life and in every business or
calling. Even men whose land laid
under the ditch have not succeeded
sa .--aSn- ~~a02nhr., re- T.. -G