Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-04-30
VA7HEN Lewis and Clark
wv were making their now

VS&~ w NV
coed up the Missouri to its
headwaters. Their information
about the Missouri was meager,
however, so that when, one
evening in June, they arrived
near the present site of Iona
and found the stream dividing,
one fork coming in from the
northwest and one fork from
the southwest, they were at a
loss to know which was the
Missouri. It took three days of
Investigation to determine that
the fork coming from the
southwest was the Missouri.
That being Lewis day to NOM
mate streams, he named the
stream coming in from the
northwest "Maria's river" in
honor of his cousin, Maria
Woods.
Little did these explorers dream that
tHC dSb L UOluCl lLS VII AIdIldS
river would ever be farmed or that in
the year 1922 people would be drilling
for oil on the headwaters of the
Maria's near the site where they killed
two Indians, the only Indians killed on
the entire trip. Lewis and Clark put
the country down as being fit only
for Indians and game. During this
last period of drouth. the people liv-
ing in this territory were inclined to
agree with them; in fact, some one
humorously suggested that suit should
be started to compel the Indians to
take back the land.
Largest Private Project in State
If Lewis and Clark had no thoughts
of this land ever being farmed. even
less could they visualize that the peo-
pie living in what is now Toole county
would ever propose to augment the
natural moisture by bringing water
from the mountain-fed streams, and
applying it artificially to these lands
through the practice of irrigation.
Such, however, is the case.
. The people owning lands in this ter
ritOry propose, through an organiza-
ton known as the Toole County Irri-
CATION district, to irrigate 10000
acres of land. This is the most ambi-
tious program of irrigation ever at
tempted in the state of Montana by
private enterprise as well as being
n of the largest projects in the
United States not undertaken by the
government.
In order TO view the TOole county |
irrigation project in its proper per- |
spective. it becomes necessary to take
into consideration to some extent the |
history of this part of Montana. A
study of this history is interesting in
that it reveals the fact that only dur
ing the last II years has this country
been taken seriously as Il farming
country. 1t is generally taken for
granted by the people of this locality
that this section of Montana is n So
called new country" Investigation
proves that this is not true. Within
the confines OF TOole county there are
men who have lived there 40 years.
At Havre. not a great distance from
this project, weather records nave been
kept continuously since 1880.
Gold Discovered in Early sos
Prior to the SOS northern Montana,
except for the Indians and a few white
traders. had no inhabitants. Early in
the sos gold was discovered in the
Sweet Grass hills country. an thrush
Of miners took place and the first real
settlement in what is now Toole county
came into being at Gold Butte.
The opening Of a large portion of
the Blackfeet reservation. in which was
included the present Toole county, oc-
cured in 1887. following which stock
men settled along the Marias river and
the streams of the Sweet Grass hills.
Big cattle outfits moved their herds
onto this range n the livestock bust
ness assumed the position of the lead
ing industry in that part of the state.
a position it retained for upwards of
% years. |
of the big range outfits. The Circle,
the 81. the "D-S' and the Bar III"
outfits all had immense herds on this
range. and the old c%owpunchers who
have ridden the range from Old Mex
leo to Alberta all testify to the fact
that the short nutritious grass on the
range of TOOle county produced better '
beef than any range in the whole west.
Enters the Dry Land Farmer
The coming of the new century ,
marked the advent of the small stock
man. This and the wire fence were
the two agencies that slowly but
surely forced the range outfits to close /.
out their holdings and seek new loca-
tons. At the end of that period of
drouth. ending in 1905, the big cattle
outfits were a thing of the past. The I
small stockman made good use Of the {
range thus vacated and ]prospered ac- I
cbri ngly until 1910. when an n !
tirely new figure appeared on the {
horizon-the dry land farmer. t
BY the stockman it had been ac-
as a fact which admitted of ,
argument, that irrigation was j
to successfully raise grain ]
and forage crops. This conviction
was based on an experience which ex- I
tended back over many years and in
Guided many periods of drouth. The {
dry land farmer proposed by scien- I
tific methods of cultivation to con-
serve two seasons moisture to produce
one crop and it must be admitted that G
On the face of the proposition it looked d
9
The summer Of 1910 saw the dry
land farming movement under full Il
swing. Every tillable acre was COW
cred by homestead filings, shacks o
arose on every half section. new TWINS Q
we're built over night along the rail- a
roads and to all intents and purposes t
Toole county became al agricultural /
c
Two Paying Crops In ~ Years I