Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-12-24
FINE LAND FOR FARMS
Hundreds of Home Seekers Flock
ing to Sun River Valley.
FERTILE REGION IN MONTANA
Soil Is Capable of Yielding Big Crops
of Wheat, Oats, Sugar Beets and
Other Produets-May Prove Excel
lent Dairy Country.

" 'hCoAt OdbSf DCctS
Other Produets-May Prove Excel
lent Dairy Country.
One of Montana's most beautiful
agricultural valleys is now the scene
of unusual activity, as hundreds of
home seekers from all parts of the
United States are going there to take
up their new homes.
The sun river valley, which is Il lit
tie west of the center of the state, on
the eastern slope of the Rocky noun
taius and near the city of Great Falls.
was selected several years ago by the
reclamation service as a choice area
for the construction of n stupendous
irrigation work. The work has pro-
gressed rapidly, and several farms
have been thrown open to settlers on
liberal terms
These farms will be obtainable un-
der the homestead law subject to the
charges of actual cost of water upon
the number of acres actually supplied
with water from the system. This
charge has been fixed Mt $50 an acre,
divided into not less than five nor
a Washington correspondent of the
Chicago News The sum of $3.50 viii
, he due and payable at the time of
making entry. The second installment
will be payable March /, 1910, thus
allowing early settlers nearly two
years before second payment is due.
In this period any Industrious settler
can get his land into shape to earn its
own repayment Of the charges
An interesting and unique feature in
connection with the project is the pro
| posed establishment of model rural
villages every six miles. In all there
will be twenty of these, so that no
/ farm will be more than three miles
I from n postofiice and school.
All the crops which can be grown In
I northern countries can he raised in
/ the sun river valley 1t is probable
| that the principal crops raised will hH
] alfalfa, sugar beets and potatoes. USu-
/ ally three cuttings of alfalfa are made
annually. Some have cut only two
crops. and others have cut four but
I the average is three and the average
yield about five tons an acre. The
!
ton in the stack, according to location
and demand, 1t is not probable that
the average price Will drop below 81
for many years. The cost of putting
the hay into the stack Is about 81 % a
ton.
The average yields an acre are: Po'
tatoes, 22S bushels; wheat, 2S bushels;
oats, 60 bushels; sugar beets, 90 tons.
All garden truck is easy to raise ex.
cept tomatoes and some kinds easily
affected by frost, though these with
care may be grown sufficiently for
family use. An ordinary ranch garden
about two miles from Simms In 1905
produced a net profit of S225 an acre
from the following kinds Of vegeta-
bles; CabNasc, potatoes, tomatoes,
squash, oLiyus, pumpkins, carrots, tur-
nips. becta md parSnps
The sugar heets grown in the vicln-
ity have analyzed 23 per cent sugar,
The beet industry promises great
things, ard a sugar factory is assured
upon the completion of the works nee
essarY to irrigate an area large enough
to guarantee five year contracts on
! 5000 acres Of beets. Past experiments
| prove that the farmer should average
net profit OF $40 an acre on sugar
beets.
It is probable that the sun river val
| ley will prove an excellent dairy coun-
! try. \ creamery was completed in Au-
gusta in January, 1907, and the three
/ or four others already in operation in
/ neighhoring towns show that the in
! dustry IS profitable and viii be perma-
/ nent and growing -Four ana third
million pounds of butter are now i'm
/ ported annually from other states
/ This means that over S1O0OO0O ought
/ to be kept in Montana each year for
/ butter.
Full details relating to terms, size Of
farm units and other information re.
garding the methods of securing lands
may be obtained on application to S.
Il. Robbins. engineer United States
reclamation service, Fort Shaw. Mont.
or statistician. reclamation service.
Washington.