Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1922-09-07
Montana Transformations

Kathryn Whalen of Nashua, Mon
tana. who expects TO move to Huron,
South Dakota, the last of September
writes the following concerning Mon
tana.
l have lived in this part of Mon
tana for the past seven years and
have noted it's transition from a stock
country TO an agricultural region.
While it is a ''far cry" with almost
opposite ideals, from the one indus
try to the other. Many bitter pre-
JUDGES must be overcome by lSle
prospective farmer when pioneering
a stock country before one can hope
to plant their feet firmly upon the
ladder of progress. The advancement
made in agriculture in the state of
Montana during that short time is al
most beyond belief We have had
many hardships to contend with, not
the least of which was the war,
which drained the state of money
and the labor necessary to the pro-
per development of the new home
stead, which at first is not only un-
productive but a constant expense for
building material, fences, machinery,
etc. all of which commodities were
prOfiteered to the last ditch by our
one hundred per cent American
manufacturers, who were so wildly
DESTROYS of helping to win the war,
Yet in the face of these disadvant-
ages the splendid soil, the matchless
climate and the vast resources of
natural feed with which Montana is
blessed has enabled the farmer to
change the fertile hills and valleys
into a most prosperous and beautiful
farming section. The change wrought
is most remarkable when we con-
trast the picture this land presented
but yesterday when the great billow-
ing grasslands stretching away on
every hand till lost in the pine stud
ded slopes of the foot hills or blend
into the cloud flecked blue of the
sky. In the far distance was left to
the half wild long horn cattle or the
wilder bronco horse, where the only
habitatiOn was the little ranch tuck
ed away in some secluded nook of the
rivers which thread their course
through this vast region, like black
threads on an emerald carpet and the
only wayfarer of this solitude the
cowboy guardian of the rowing stock
or the freighter on his way from
ranch to the distant railroad with
this past in mind we view the present
well titled farms surrounded by good
roads over which We enjoy our daily
mail service and the ever present
telephone, sometimes only barb wire,
10 be sure, but serving to link the
community homes into one great
rural family with all the convenience
and most of the advantages of our
most up to date eastern rural sections
Silos, machine house, barns and fine
houses, the whole bathed in brilliant
radiance from the farm electric light
plant. is a scene which frequently
greets the eye as one journeys
through this section at night In
view of the short time required for
this transformation, respect it
would be beyond belief if it occurred
any place in the " Orld except in the
dear old u. S. A. to the brain and
Drawn Of whose sons and daughters
nothing is impossible but failure.
l saw an account recently stating
seventy nine per cent of the residents
of Valley county were assessed for
motor propelled vehicles and thirty
five per cent made income TAX returns
which consider an excellent showing
when account is taken of the fact
that very little land in Valley county
was decided ten years ago.