P a g e 5 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r bench lands extending to the Belt range cannot be surpassed as stock ranges, exceeding any other locality in the state for the advantages furnished in this branch of agriculture. Settlers in this region have not lost hope in the location of a railroad that will pass up this valley and connect with the Great Northern at Benton, on the Missouri river. The only bugbear to a more rapid settlement of this region is its distance from market and railway facilities, consequently stockraising is the leading industry. Meyersburg is a small village with a post office. It is situated on Flathead creek, and in the center of the great industries, and promises to be a town of great importance in the advent of the proposed railroad. IRRIGATION. The success of agriculture in a distinctly arid region, like the valleys of the Yellowstone and Shields rivers, where perennial streams flow from snow-capped peaks, is a self-evident proposition. Here, the high altitude renders irrigation necessary as far as a certain crop is concerned; although trusting to the rainfall, alone, in favorable seasons part of a crop can be realized. But this latter fact is not the object to be considered. No settler thinks for a moment of trying to cultivate the soil until he has provided his irrigating ditches, the construction of which is only a work of comparatively small labor; while these agricultural lands are in close proximity to streams with swift currents and a constant descent. Threshing Scene on the Bench Lands of the Crazies. When once the irrigating ditches are made, the settler can bid defiance to the exigencies of the season. He no longer watches the clouds with painful, anxious wondering; for if his crops need moisture he turns the water into the dead furrows and they are supplied. When they have had enough he dams up the mouths of the dead furrows and allows the water to flow past his fields. There is no fear of floods, as summer rains do not visit these valleys in the dry season, consequently his crops have just the required moisture. Owing to the adopted mode of farming in this region there is no ebb and flow to the tide of emigration as is common on the great plains, or any of the sections where the crops vary according to the rainfall, and at the profit or loss of the settler. Comparatively speaking, there, the settler makes his farm as widereaching as possible in the hope that he may recoup his losses in a fortunate year. He is in a certain sense a gambler, staking everything upon luck, with the chances against him. On the other hand, by irrigation, permanent success lies in limiting the operations to a comparatively few acres, and in cultivating these carefully and safely and at small expense. The farmers of Park county know that their system of irrigation is one of the most perfect in the world, for where light expense and an abundance of water and the fall is found there only can exist model irrigation farming. Read More in Next Month’s Issue!
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