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Show HOPE OF ARID WEST Irrigation Made Possible by Great Chain of Mountains, i Rockies, Stretching From North to South, Is the One Thing Above All Others That Makes Country Coun-try Habitable. Irrigation Is the chief hope of the arid west and owing to the climatic I conditions that prevail, the great ; rhain of mountains, the grand old Itocklcs stretching from north to .south or from southeast to northwest j the entire length of the continent, Is the one thing above all others that makes the country habitable. The mountains are awe Inspiring. We will never forget the evening wo first got a glimpse of this picturesque pile. We were on the sweeping I'latle river valley, val-ley, Journeying westward toward Montana, the land of gold Tho mountain moun-tain lay like a bank of clouds against the western sky, writes K. N. Suther-Iln Suther-Iln of llrcat Falls In the Dakota Fanner. Fann-er. The teamster who drove tho wagon wag-on was kind enough to turn the wagon wag-on so we could see the dark. Irregular ' rlduc against the blue sky and we wan hi d with boyish eagerness from our slek bed the sun go down, but we little dreamed that that grand moon tain range was or could be made the source of III almost beyond computation. compu-tation. The mountain wild rearing Itself above the plain Is the life of Irilgatlon. We pitched our tent on the Missouri valley about October I, 18C5. and within ten days had begun an Irrigitlng ditch from tho first creek north of the round grove and from that dny to this we have been an Irrigator. We have learned to love these dear old mountains for the facilities fa-cilities they afford In getting water onto the valley land. For all these years we lived and talked Irrigation and growing crops and making the land teem with verdure and from that day to this we have never seen a crop failure. Once In a while the grain crop has been threshed out by the hall storm and In earlier days we bad the grasshopper scourge; that was severe, se-vere, but we used to fill the water ditches ao full that the pesta could not ferry them, and In many ways fight the scourge with water. All that mountain agriculture Is today to-day has come from Irrigation. Her homes aro the abodes of happiness, are homes that teem with abundance. We are proud of them; they are fit I abodes for kings. Fruitful, peaceful j and pleasant, tho embodiment of comfort, com-fort, the hand of man never constructed construct-ed better or surrounded a people with more of the good things of life. It Is ' homes like these, hid away In cool shady groves, by babbling brooks, with blooming meadows and never falling grain fields, homes with orchard or-chard and berry patches, that flow with milk and honey, that fire men's souls to the greatest ex rtlon. It la abodes like tliee that make men patriotic nnd wi ling to die If they need to for their country, and It Is homes like these that make Montana's ' women strong. It Is this that has j caused them to brook the hardships ! and dangers of frontier lite, that has made tl em tho b;st mothers the world ever knew. i |
