Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1909-08-07
a BRILLIANT FUTURE.
The Black Hills the Garden and Fruit
Spot Of South Dakota.

waterways commission, has been travel
ing about the Black Hills for the pasl
two weeks collecting data. which will
later be formulated into report to the
commission, regarding the agricultural
possibilities of the Hills, and the
practicability of conserving its waters
for irrigation purposes. Secretary Nc.
Gee has been in the government service
for about thirty years, and was In.
strumental in forming the Inland
Waterways Commission, which forms
one of the four sections of the National
Conversation Commissions. He is an
expert on erosion, and In this capacity
Is attached to the commission for the
purpose Of studying the conditior oftto
soil in various parts ofthe United States.
In his tour through the Hills. Secretary
McGee has been accompanied by T. G..
Rice. soil surveyor, connected with the
government and soil bureau, at Washing
ton, and Prof. Bopp, ofthe South Dakota
Agricultural Experiment station. Among
other places visited by the party were
Whitewood, Deadwood and Spearfish.
In speaking of the Hills country, Secre-
tary McGee is very optomistic, and it is
safe to predict that his report to the
commission at Washington will recon-
mend all that is good for this section Of
South Dakota. In speaking in general
way of the Hills, he says:
''The soil In the Black Hills is as fine
as any In the country, and look for
brilliant future for this section right
here. You know that the first settlers
in California were miners, and this is
also true of the Black Hills. 1t is fact
not generally known, but it is true
nevertheless, that the annual value of
the agricultural products of California
now exceed the value of its entire out
put of gold since the year 1S49. From
what have observed in the Hills con-
ditions are As favorable, possibly more
favorable, for agricultural pursuits than
they are in California, and would not
be surprised to see the annual value Of
the agricultural: products of the Black
Hills exceed the value of the entire out
put Of gold within twenty years.
"While the weather: reports show
that the precipitation of the Black Hills
is twenty-one inches per year, am
confident that this figure is too low, for
the reason that the weather observations
are taken at low attitudes. In my
opinion the annual rainfall in the Hills
properis nearly twenty-four inches"
1t is interesting to note what Sec
retary McGee says about the productive
ness of the soil, andits power to support
a population.
Zone acre of ground" he says, "culti-
waited eight inches deep will produce
one ton of grain and two tons of dry
fodder annually, provided the crops are
rotated. To do this 5000 tons of water
are needed on each acre each year.
With the rainfall in the Hills about g.
800 tons of water are absorbed by each
acre, little over one half of the amount
required to bring the land up to its full
power. In order to secure
this full supporting power for the land
the water must be conserved in the
natural basins in the Hills, and used as
required. This is the plan which have
been investigating.
''By using 5000 tons of water per
acre five acres of land can be made to
support five people or one family. BY
q little mathematics it will be seen that
the United States would with an ade-
quate water supply, support 2,000, ,000, 900
of people; we now have about 90, 600, 900
This, however, is some
what chimerical because by conserving
all our water, including the waste, which
amounts to between $4,000 and 10000
tons per capita every year, we would not
then have enough to supply our acreage
with 5000 tons each. BY waste mean
the water which naturally flows away
into the sea and that which is lost by
evaporation, which should be turned
onto the land.
"As to what can be raised in the Hills
I might say that at the present time
from observation made in California, I
know Of no better place for the culture
of the grape than the hillsides. All
small garden truck and cereals can be
grown here, and there is no reason, in
my judgment, why plums and cherries
should not flourish.
''This, you must understand. applies
to small farms. The people who settled
the Hills were either miners who
thought nothing about farming, or cattle
men to whom every thing looked small
unless measured by thousands of acres,
but in the Black Hills there are acres
and acres of the most productive soil in
the world, and the time will come when
it will be occupied by small farmers,
who will till intelligently every inch of
the soil, not only in the bottoms but far
up on the hillsides.
"While the present population Of the
Hills little realizes the potentiality ofits
land, It will be developed, and within
twenty years, / predict. that the agri-
cultural output Of the Hills country will
annually exceed its entire output ofgold
since its first discovery in this section.
''The greatest stimulant to agriculture
would be the settlement ofsome Italians,
French or German peasants among the
Hills. People who in their native
country have titled small parcels Of