EPORJ OF 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SECOND 
 
 
 HELD AT 
 
 HELENA/MONTANA, 
 
 Pebruarv O arid 1O, 1B1KJ. 
 
 With Reports of the State of Irrigation in Several 
 Counties. 
 
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 o-O o O o O o O 0--O0 O-o O- o 
 
I&PORT OF '1ROCEEDI.NGS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SECOND 
 
 . Iiription . Convention 
 
 HELD AT 
 
 HELENA, MONTANA, 
 
 February O and ip, 1893. 
 
 With Reports of the State of Irrigation in Several 
 Counties. 
 
 GREAT FALLS, MONT. 
 
 PRESS OF THE LEADER COMPANY. 
 
 1893. 
 
SECOND ANNUAL SESSION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 STATE # IRRIGATION * ONVENTION. 
 
 The State Irrigation Convention was called to order Thursday, 
 February 9, 1893, at n o'clock a. m., in the Board of Trade rooms, 
 Helena, by H. P. Rolfe, of Great Falls, chairman of the executive 
 committee appointed by the first irrigation convention in January, 
 1892. 
 
 Mayor Curtin of Helena welcomed the delegates in the following 
 address: 
 
 Gentlemen of the Irrigation Convention: This convention is 
 opportune. I congratulate you upon the time, place and purpose of 
 your meeting. No subject is engaging the public mind more and 
 none deserves more consideration and thorough attention than the 
 question of irrigation. Every man of experience or observation in 
 this state appreciates the great possibilities that await a well directed 
 and comprehensive system of irrigation. Various and divergent 
 views are presented as to the. manner of accomplishing the most 
 beneficial results. Should the state, under the constitutional provis- 
 ion declaring the use of water to be "a public use," assume to regu- 
 late and control that use, or shall the whole matter be left to indi- 
 vidual or corporate control? 
 
 583218 
 
J. SESSION. 
 
 Your convention is composed of gentlemen possessing a wide 
 range of learning, supplemented by close observation and experience 
 of all that relates to a proper solution of the questions submitted to 
 your consideration and discussion, and I have no doubt that the 
 conclusions you reach will go far toward molding sentiment and 
 shaping legislation in the right direction. 
 
 You will find that quite a number of the citizens of Helena have 
 been active and earnest in pressing the irrigation question on the 
 attention of the people, conscious that a speedy and proper solution 
 of it will result in great and permanent prosperity to the whole state. 
 
 Omitting any observations at this time as to the proper methods 
 to be adopted or recommended, and assuring you that no community 
 in.the state feels a livelier interest in the result of your deliberations, 
 I extend you a most cordial welcome to Helena. 
 
 Gov. Rickards sent a letter expressing his regret at his inability 
 to be present. Letters were read by the secretary, S. B. Robbins, 
 from the general passenger agents of the Northern Pacific and Great 
 Northern railroads in reference to transportation. 
 
 The following committee on credentials was appointed: Z. T. 
 Burton, Choteau; J. A. Brown, Beaverhead; C. H. Hardenbrook, 
 Deer Lodge; S. Deutsch, Park county, and W. H. Sutherlin, 
 Meagher county. 
 
 The following committee on permanent organization, consisting 
 of one member from each county represented, was appointed: 
 W. M. Oliver, Beaverhead; W. D. Cooper. Choteau; G. Sheets, Cus- 
 ter; W. F. Parker, Cascade; Charles Mussigbrod, Deer Lodge; 
 J. M. Robinson, Gallatin; A. H. Nelson, Lewis and Clarke; J. E. 
 Kanouse, Meagher; P. Carney, Madison; I. D. O'Donnell, Yellow- 
 stone; E. Ryan, Jefferson; W. F. Shanks, Park. 
 
 After which a recess was ordered until 2 p. m. to await the re- 
 ports of the committees. 
 
 THURSDAY AFTERNOON. 
 
 At 2 p. m. the convention was called to order by Chairman 
 Rolfe. 
 
 The committee on credentials reported as follows: That the 
 following delegates were present and entitled to seats in the con- 
 vention: 
 
 Beaverhead W. R. Gilbert, James Edie, Charles Padley, W. M. 
 Oliver, J. E. Morse, B. F. White, R. C. Halliday, J. A. Brown, W. T. 
 Maulden, Phil. Lovell. 
 
 Cascade S. B. Robbins, W. F. Parker, N. T. Porter, H. P. Rolfe, 
 
 C. H. Wright, J. O. Gregg, M. S. Burns, J. Bookwalter, D. J. Tallant, 
 
 D. W. Beecher. 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 5 
 
 Choteau - J. W. Power, U. G. Allen, Charles Blackman, Thomas 
 O'Hanlon, Milt Cooper, Julius Hirshberg, E. E. Leech, T. C. Burns, 
 W. H. Green, Z. T. Burton. 
 
 >( Custer W. N. Haynes, L. A. Huffman, Geo. Schutz, J. R. 
 McKay. 
 
 Gallatin John M. Robinson, Charles Sales, George Kinkle, Jr. 
 W. W. Alderson, B. F. Shuart, Chas. P. Blakely, Thomas Reece, 
 A. K. Stanton, J. A. Luce, Arthur Truman. 
 
 ^ Deer Lodge D. M. Durfee, Andrew Whitesides, G. W. Morse, 
 John Blair, N. J. Bielenberg, Israel Gibbs,~John Goff, Charles Mus- 
 / sigbrod, J. E. Hyde, C. K. Hardenbrook, W. L. Hove. 
 1 Jefferson Ed. Ryan, A. C. Quaintance, A. Belcher, Jesse Pat- 
 terson, R. W. Noble, C. W. Brooke, A. Macomber, W. U. Williams, 
 Henry Reed, John Keating. Alternates Wm. Kennedy, T. J. Gal- 
 ibraith, S. C. Harris. 
 
 { Lewis and Clarke S. T. Hauser, T. H. Carter, W. C. Child, 
 E. D. Weed, D. A. Cory, H. M. Parchen, C. K.Weils, T. E.Crutcher, 
 A. H. Nelson, G. C. Swallow. Alternates A. M. Holter, Peter 
 Winne, Donald Bradford, W. M. G. Settles, Norman Holter, W. A. 
 Haven, Sen. W. F. Sanders. 
 
 Madison Hon. S. R. Buford, Patrick Carney, J. B. Jeffers, 
 Alex. Metzel, John T. Connor, R. O. Hickman, W. A. Gray. 
 
 Meagher J. E. Kanouse, D. E. Folsom, Wm. Sutherlin, J. A. 
 Woodson, W. E. Tierney, N. E. Benson, H. S. Hyatt, Wm. Mueller, 
 Ed. Cooney, G. V. Stafford. 
 >j Missoula G. W. Ward, L. C. Loring, Fred Whiteside, Frank 
 
 Higgins, Thos. C. Marshall, Chas. M. Crutchfield. 
 
 J Park S. Deutsch, Thos. P. McDonald, Alfred Myers, J. M. Con- 
 row, W. Shanks, H. J. Hoppe. 
 
 [ Silver Bow John Caplice, Lee Mantle, Geo. Irvine II. 
 N Yellowstone Fred H. Foster, I. D. O'Donnell, Jusdjvweetman, 
 ~C^as_J^^p_ear, Frank Whitney, J. R. Goss, John Ramsey, A. Graham, 
 Paul McCormick. 
 
 The report was adopted, and the committee was continued to 
 report further as the delegates arrived. 
 
 The committee on permanent organization, through its chair- 
 man, W. M. Oliver, reported the following names for permanent 
 officers: 
 
 President H. P. Rolfe, Cascade. 
 
 Secretary S. B. Robbins, Cascade. 
 
 Treasurer W. H. Sutherlin, Meagher. 
 
 Vice Presidents R. O. Hickman, Madison; C. Hardenbrook, 
 
SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 Deer Lodge; Alfred Myers, Park; A. M. Holter, Lewis and Clarke. 
 
 The committee also reported the following order of business: 
 
 Thursday Afternoon Appointment of committee on irrigation 
 laws, to consist of one from each county; appointment of committee 
 to give reports on irrigation in each county in the state, represented 
 in this meeting; appointment of committee on constitution and by- 
 laws; reading of papers; discussion of best methods of building irri- 
 gation canals and reservoirs; adjournment. 
 
 Evening Session, at 7:30 Address by Lieut.-Gov. Botkin; dis- 
 cussion of the irrigation law now before the legislature. 
 
 Friday, 10 a. m.- Report of county committees; report of com- 
 mittee on irrigation law. Afternoon Report of committee on con- 
 stitution and by-laws; election of permanent officers for ensuing 
 year; memorials to congress, and miscellaneous subjects. 
 
 On motion the officers named in the report were duly elected, 
 and the order of business as read was adopted. 
 
 The president, H. P. Rolfe, having thanked the convention for 
 the honor, took his seat, and announced as the first order of business 
 the appointment of the committee on irrigation law, and asked for 
 names to be suggested from each county. The following members 
 Vere appointed: 
 
 A. H. Nelson, chairman, Lewis and Clarke; W. R. Gilbert, 
 Beaverhead; W. F. Parker, Cascade; Z. T. Burton, Choteau; L. A. 
 Hoffman, Custer; D. M. Durfee, Deer Lodge; A. C. Quaintance, 
 Jefferson; J. M. Robinson, Gallatin; W. H. Sutherlin, Meagher; 
 G. W. Ward, Missoula; A. B. Myers. Park; I. D. O'Donnell, Yellow- 
 stone; P. Carney, Madison. 
 
 .The next business in order being that of the appointment of a 
 committee on constitution and by-laws, the following were appointed: 
 
 Z. T. Burton, chairman, Choteau; C. H. Wright, Cascade; B. F. 
 Shuart, Gallatin; G. C. Swallow, Lewis and Clarke; John T. Connor, 
 Madison. 
 
 Prof. Swallow then made a motion that a committee of five en- 
 gineers be appointed to make a report on the subject of the con- 
 struction of canals and reservoirs. Referred to committee on con- 
 stitution and by-laws. 
 
 On motion a committee was appointed to give reports from each 
 county on the status of irrigation, as follows: 
 
 Jos. A. Browne, Beaverhead; N. T. Porter, Cascade; U.G.Allen, 
 Choteau; J. R. ivicKay, Custer; Chas. Mussigbrod, Deer Lodge; 
 Ed. Ryan, Jefferson; W. W. Alderson, Gallatin; Donald Bradford, 
 Lewis and Clarke; J. E. Kanouse, Meagher; G. W. Ward, Missoula; 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 
 
 T. B. McDonald, Park; I. D. O'Donnell, Yellowstone; R. O. Hick- 
 man, Madison. 
 
 It was moved by Mr. Nelson that the convention invite the state 
 legislature to be present at session this evening. The motion was 
 carried, and Messrs. Nelson and Burton were selected as messengers 
 to transmit the invitations. 
 
 A recess was then taken to allow committee on constitution and 
 by-laws to report at this session. The committee on by-laws and 
 constitution stated that they could not report till tomorrow and 
 were given further time. 
 
 After some preliminary discussion on the subject of irrigation 
 generally and the reading of a paper on the subject by John M. 
 Robinson of Gallatin, the roll of counties was called for reports on 
 the state of irrigation in each. I. D. O'Donnell of Yellowstone said 
 there was lots of water in his section, but what they wanted now 
 principally was more ditches, and the farmers would like to own the 
 big ones. Crops had been very successful in the past season. The 
 ceded portion of the Crow reservation recently thrown open to set- 
 tlement afforded an excellent opportunity for the small farmers who 
 would raise chickens, fruits, hogs and such products. Helena, Butte 
 and other towns which now import their articles of consumption by 
 the thousands of tons would give the small holder of land a ready 
 market for the products of his farm. Dr. G. C. Swallow said that 
 was just what Montana needed, men who would be content with 160 
 acres; we don't want the big farmers. Fred Whiteside of Mi.soula 
 echoed these views, but said the water for irrigation must first be 
 provided, and then it would be time enough to invite the small 
 farmer to cultivate the land. 
 
 Some startling facts were brought to light by C. H. Wright of 
 Cascade as to the amount of money paid out by the people of that 
 county for food brought into the state that Mr. Wright said should 
 be produced here. Mr. Wright then read the report of the special 
 committee of the board of trade of the city of Great Falls, prepared 
 by Mr. W. M. Bole, of the Leader, as follows: 
 To the Chairman of the Board of Trade: 
 
 SIR In pursuance to a resolution of the Board of Trade ap- 
 pointing me on a committee to ascertain, with such exactness as 
 might be possible, the amount of money which is annually sent out 
 of this city and county in payment for farm products such as might 
 have been produced within the limits of this county, I beg leave to 
 report that I have made as thorough an investigation into the matter 
 as my time and sources of information would permit, and I find that 
 the gross value of such imported products of the farm amounts to 
 the sum of $366,572, divided as follows: 
 
SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 Smoked meats $127,522 34 Potatoes $ 3,000 oo 
 
 Flour 5M34 oo Butter 44,000 oo 
 
 Pork 45,600 oo Cheese 5,364 oo 
 
 Eggs 42,400 oo Oatmeal 6,152 oo 
 
 Poultry 19,700 oo Cornmeal 5, 300 oo 
 
 Apples 6,300 oo Vegetables, fruits 9,80000 
 
 Total $366,572 34 
 
 The value of any statistics, and especially such statistics as 
 these, depends of course on their completeness and accuracy, and I 
 deem it proper and just that I should supplement this report by a 
 few remarks in regard to the manner in which they were obtained 
 and the reliability and completeness of the various items. Smoked 
 meats is an item which heads the list and which is supplied almost 
 entirely from outside the state, taking out of the pockets of the peo- 
 ple of Cascade county the enormous sum of $127,522.34, according to 
 the returns received from the merchants of the county. One firm 
 alone pays out over 40,000 per annum for this commodity, and an- 
 other firm follows close on these figures. 
 
 The next heaviest item on the list is flour, which amounts to 
 $51,434 per annum. Little need be said on this topic, as it will un- 
 doubtedly dwindle to insignificant proportions or disappear alto- 
 gether within the next year, when our new flouring mill gets into op- 
 eration. 
 
 Pork and lard comes next on the list, costing $45,600, and of 
 course all that has been said on the subject of smoked meats applies 
 equally to this topic. I am assured that all the pork raised in this 
 county in a year would not supply the market in this city a week 
 and that a good high figure is always obtainable here for home- 
 raised pork. 
 
 Eggs, butter and poultry are three items which have always 
 been able to meet with a ready sale here and considerable quantities 
 are brought in from the surrounding country and sold here by the 
 farmers, and yet there has been over $100,000 sent out of the country 
 to make up the deficit between the supply and demand. I am told 
 by a large dealer in butter that a better price could be obtained by 
 the local farmers for this product if a creamery was established here 
 as the demand is for a better keeping butter than the dairy butter 
 usually is. The item of potatoes, which is put down at $3,000, 
 is one which in some years amounts to a large sum. The $3,000 
 charged to this item wa's for shipments made within a few weeks. 
 Up to this time sufficient potatoes could be obtained at home, but 
 the supply is now said to be about exhausted and a considerable 
 quantity will have to be shipped in before the new crop becomes 
 available. Apples are another item in the list amounting to $6,300, 
 which I believe to be below the actual figures. That they can be 
 successfully raised here is maintained by some who have given the 
 subject attention. Oatmeal, cornmeal and vegetables aggregate 
 about $20,000 more. 
 
 As 1 said before, statistics such as these are only valuable as 
 they are accurate, and a few words will be in place as to how they 
 were obtained. A blank form was left with every wholesale and re- 
 tail merchant in town, containing a list of the various farm products 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 
 
 in question, and a request made of them that they fill up the form 
 with a statement of the amount of each item imported by them from 
 abroad during the year. These were afterward gathered and col- 
 lated as given above. 
 
 There is a class of importers of farm products of which no ac- 
 count has been made in these figures, and that is the small hotels, 
 boarding houses and private families. 
 
 Taking these various items into account, I believe it to be a 
 moderate estimate to say that the total amount of money which goes 
 out of Cascade county in one year for the purchase of the farm pro- 
 ducts above mentioned will come very close to $500,000. The effect 
 of keeping in the pockets of the people of the county this vast sum 
 of money, or even half of it, is something too obvious to be dilated 
 on. It would mean new life blood circulating through all the veins 
 and arteries of trade and commerce in this section of the state. 
 
 Major Alderson of the Gallatin county delegation said the 
 trouble with the Gallatin county farmers was that they could not al- 
 ways dispose of all their produce. There was a prejudice against 
 Hour made there, although enough was turned out by the mill to feed 
 half of the population of Montana. The mills had tried to sell their 
 flour in Helena and Butte but with indifferent success, especially in 
 the capital city. The millers, however, got around this difficulty by 
 placing the Montana flour in Minnesota sacks, and no one com- 
 plained. All the eggs, bacon and chickens raised in the Gallatin 
 valley are consumed there. The only thing they exported was the 
 barley, which has been pronounced to be superior to any raised in 
 the United States. 
 
 J. M. Robinson gave prices of products of Gallatin county. 
 
 Peter Winne of Helena told the delegates about his experience 
 in Colorado, a state which had gone all through what Montana is 
 now dealing with. He had seen Denver grow from a small place 
 until it reached a population with a pay roll of 11,000 mechanics. All 
 the difficulties had been overcome by patience, and so it will be with 
 Montana. Referring to the prejudice against Montana flour, he said 
 he thought perhaps it was not made right. He had sampled some 
 himself which was not very good. 
 
 B. F. Shuart of Gallatin did not think there was any necessity 
 for bringing any more farmers into Montana. The times had 
 changed, and now there was overproduction. Colorado and other 
 states were sending into this state their overproduction, a serious 
 thing for the Montana farmer. People who lived in cities were al- 
 ways trying to tell the farmers how to carry on their business. The 
 idea of bringing in small farmers to raise chickens was all very well, 
 but his experience had been that it was not always convenient for 
 every farmer to carry out the fads proposed by the city people. 
 
io SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 What the state needed now was more bread consumers rather than 
 more producers. 
 
 An entirely opposite view and one which seemed to meet the 
 approval of the convention was advanced by 1. D. O'Donnell of 
 Yellowstone. He took a very hopeful view of the future and said 
 the present was full of promise. He told of men who came to the 
 Yellowstone country five years ago without money and who are now 
 the owners of good improved farms and worth $5,000 to $ro,coo. As 
 an instance of the soil, he told of one who raised $2,400 worth of 
 fruit last year. They were all doing well and seemed to be more in 
 touch with the times than the almanac farmer. Most of them were 
 satisfied with small holdings, and all of them would do well. He 
 didn't think there was anything wrong with the Montana farmer who 
 attended to his business. There were some of them who had become 
 so successful that they had moved into town and built fine residences 
 and there were others who spent their winters in California. 
 
 It was then moved to have a stenographer take down the future 
 proceedings of the convention. The motion was carried. A recess 
 was then taken till evening. 
 
 TH U RS 1 ) A Y E V E N I NG. 
 
 At 8 p. m. President Rolfe called the convention to order, and 
 announced the first exercise of the evening to be the address of 
 Lieut. -Gov. Botkin. 
 
 Gov. Botkin then delivered the following address upon the 
 Chemistry of Irrigation: 
 
 The people of the United States are in the habit of boasting that 
 ours is the greatest agricultural country on the globe. In some re- 
 spects this is true. It is true as regards the variety of our products, 
 but that follows from the fact that our area embraces every kind of 
 climate, from antarctic to tropical. It is probably true as to acreage, 
 but this again is only to say that we have a domain so vast that it 
 stretches from perpetual snow to perpetual summer, and that as the 
 last rays of the setting sun gild the tops of our Alaskan peaks, the 
 light of the coming morning flashes upon the rocks of Maine. It is 
 true of the number and variety of the mechanical appliances which 
 we employ and which we have contributed to the agriculture of the 
 world. If there is any labor-saving device in common use in the 
 cultivation of the soil that is not an American invention, I never 
 happened to hear of it. 
 
 But it is conspicuously untrue of the methods which we practice 
 so far as regards developing the largest possibilities of production in 
 a given tract of land. Here we might with profit seek elementary 
 instruction from the Japanese, whom we are in the habit of looking 
 upon as a people the reverse of progressive. They have not failed 
 to meet the necessities arising from the ratio of their population to 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 11 
 
 {.heir tillable area. Their agriculture is based upon the fundamental 
 principle that the sole duty of the soil is to afford mechanical sup- 
 port to the plant and to act as the reservoir and conduit of its food. 
 The duty of feeding it is quite another matter, and that devolves up- 
 on the farmer. He would no more neglect to feed the growing vege- 
 table than we would neglect to feed a pig or calf that we would rear 
 to usefulness, and it cannot be doubted that is the true theory of 
 agriculture. 
 
 I learned recently of a change that has come over the farming 
 industry of my native state of Wisconsin, Its rich loam with a sub- 
 soil of clay seemed to be inexhaustible in its fertility, but of course 
 it was not without its limitations. Intelligent farmers engaged large- 
 ly in raising blooded stock and delivered the products of their land 
 o"n their legs to a hungry market, and so, it 'may be said, got there 
 with four feet. They soon were able to buy out their thriftless neigh- 
 bors, who, it is to be apprehended, thereupon moved farther west, 
 principally to the Dakotas. Then came another change. The own 
 ers of large farms in Wisconsin, and presumably in the neighboring 
 states, found it to advantage to let them in small holdings to immi- 
 grants from the agricultural countries of Europe, who have been 
 taught to make the utmost possible use of every square foot of 
 ground. They themselves removed to the adjacent cities, where 
 they would enjoy greater social and educational advantages. These 
 changes involve a new system of landlordism and threaten a recur- 
 rence to feudal conditions which have a political aspect that is far 
 from hopeful. The consideration of this would be wholly alien to 
 my subject; but it may be confidently stated that it would be a sad 
 day for the republic when it should become a rule and not the ex- 
 ception that the cultivation of the soil is separated from its owner- 
 ship. The possession by the citizen of the land that he tills is one of 
 the strongest muniments of our institutions. 
 
 The processes by which irrigation nourishes growing crops 
 behold my theme ! Many years ago, an interesting experiment was 
 tried. Common sand was first thoroughly cleansed by boiling in 
 nitro-muriatic acid, which was then carefully removed by washing in 
 water. Next, seeds of various grains were deposited in the sand and 
 moisture supplied. Barley and oats sprouted and grew to the height 
 of eighteen inches; they blossomed but did not come to seed, and 
 soon withered, drooped and died. The same results followed when, 
 instead of sand, a mass of horsehair was used to sustain the plant 
 and consume the moisture. It may be stated particularly that there 
 is something wanting in the report of these experiments, as it does 
 not appear that the water used was first distilled. If not, it may be 
 surmised that it provided in part the ingredients that insured the 
 growth of the stock. That, however, permits of another explanation 
 in the gluten, stalk and other substances that are furnished by the 
 seed itself. 
 
 Then the experiment was varied. To the sand were added cer- 
 tain mineraF acids prepared in the laboratory. Seeds of the same 
 plants were deposited in the artificial soil so prepared, and they 
 grew luxuriantly. Barley, oats and other grains sent up strong 
 stalks, blossomed, and yielded ripe and perfect seeds. The differ- 
 
SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 ence in the first and second experiment illustrates completely the 
 difference between negligent farming in exhausted soils and scien- 
 tific agriculture. 
 
 It has been mentioned that the seed itself supplies some of the 
 ingredients of nutrition, but necessarily in a very limited quantity. 
 The germinal principle in a grain of wheat, for example, constitutes 
 only a minute part of its contents. The rest consists of starch, glu- 
 ten and certain mineral substances, and so the young plant, like the 
 young animal, in the first stages of its growth is fed by its mother. 
 The nutriment that is thus provided is just sufficient to sustain it 
 until its organs are so far developed as to enable it to procure its 
 own food. It sends its roots downward, extends its tender stalk up- 
 ward, throws out its delicate leaflets, and thereafter must derive its 
 sustenance from the earth and air. 
 
 The latter process is not within the limits of our subject. Carbon, 
 which in quantity is the most important constituent of the plant, is 
 largely derived from the atmosphere. The tiny leaflets absorb car- 
 bonic acid, decompose it, retain the carbon and surrender the oxv- 
 gen. The water or sap conveyed through the infinitesimal cap- 
 illaries of the plant acts upon the carbon, and the two build the cell- 
 ulose tissue that constitutes the stalk. In the meantime the plant is 
 sending its roots into the earth in search of the other food that is 
 necessary to its growth, in other words, if our longitude will furnish 
 an excuse for its expression, " rustling for grub." 
 
 This brings us to the office of irrigation in the cultivation of 
 crops. The necessity of water commences with the first beginning 
 of growth and continues without ceasing to the full maturity of the 
 seeds. The seed must be thoroughly saturated before germination 
 can commence. Then during the period when the young plant is 
 obliged to live upon the store of nutrients contained in the seed, it is 
 water that conveys them to the newly developed parts. This func- 
 tion is continued'after the plant begins to draw its supplv of nitro- 
 gen compounds and mineral substances from the soil, a process 
 which, as we shall see, depends in other respects upon the assistance 
 of water. The proportion of water in all vegetables is very 
 large, from 80 per cent, in most cereals to 96 per cent, in turnips. 
 Within the period of active growth of a stalk of wheat or barley, it 
 requires the passage through it of not less than a gallon of water. 
 The earth is not profligate with its store of moisture; it gives it up 
 to the plant rather grudgingly, and when it is reduced to less than 
 10 per cent, it withholds it altogether. Hence the adjacent ground 
 must be kept supplied with water, or the growth of the crop will be 
 wholly arrested. 
 
 If we burn i,coo pounds of wheat straw and grain, it will leave 
 20 pounds of ash; barley, 30 pounds; oats, 40 pounds; rye, 20 pounds, 
 and corn, 15 pounds. This ash represents the proportion of inor- 
 ganic, or mineral, matter that is contained in the plants mentioned 
 respectively. This proportion must be supplied or the plant cannot 
 thrive, and water in its mechanical and chemical action is the chief 
 factor in providing it. When the rainfall is abundant and seasonal, 
 its meets some, but not all, of these requirements. When it is de- 
 ficient they must be provided for by irrigation. It may be deserving 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 
 
 of remark, in this connection, that the water which descends from 
 the clouds becomes aerated in its passage through the air, and 
 yields needed stores of oxygen and hydrogen, but that is the extent 
 of its contributions. On the other hand, the water that is brought 
 upon the field in ditches, perhaps from great distances, not only sup- 
 plies the constituents of the atmosphere but also levies tribute upon 
 the soil over which it passes, and pours rich treasure upon the grow- 
 ing crop. 
 
 We have mentioned the proportion of inorganic matter that en- 
 ters into the composition of ordinary cereals. It consists of silica, 
 which is the chemical name for pure flint, quartz, rock crystal, silic- 
 ious sand and sandstones, aluminia, oxide of iron, oxide of mangan- 
 ese, sulphur, chlorides of potassium, sodium, calcium and magne- 
 sium, the carbonates, sulphates and phosphates of- soda, lime and 
 magnesia and some other substances. These are ingredients of 
 most soils before their cultivation begins, but in that state water is 
 the agent through which they are fed to the growing plant. It is 
 clear that in their natural state they could not be taken up and dis- 
 tributed through the delicate organs of the stalk and leaves; that 
 can only be effected through the medium of an extremely weak 
 aqueous solution. With every crop taken from a field, there is a 
 reduction of the mineral contents of the soil, until it inevitably oc- 
 curs that in time they are exhausted, unless they are restored by the 
 application of fertilizers' In regions where farmers depend upon 
 natural rainfall this treatment cannot be deferred after the second 
 year of croppfng without a sensible reduction in the yield. Such is 
 not the case with lands that are supplied with moisture by irrigation. 
 They have been known to produce undiminished crops for years 
 without the use of manure or other fertilizers. 
 
 This illustrates crudely the advantage of agriculture by means 
 of the artificial appliance of .water over that which depends upon 
 the contributions 01 the clouds, but it does not follow that the for- 
 mer system justifies profligacy to the extent of robbing the soil of 
 what nature has provided" for its enrichment. Phosphorus, com- 
 monly in the form of phosphate of lime, is an indispensable element 
 of plant growth, and the chief source of supply is the bones of ani- 
 mals. While traveling through the state last fall I saw at numerous 
 points large heaps of the remains of buffaloes piled up by the rail- 
 way tracks awaiting shipment to the east, and it seemed to me a 
 wretched scheme of money-making. In the course of time the de- 
 pletion of the phosphates in our soil will be found more difficult to 
 remedy than and other source of impoverishment, and we should 
 preserve such stores as we have with jealous prudence. 
 
 We have seen that the carbon which enters so largely into the 
 composition of vegetables is partly absorbed from the air. In most 
 plants, and under'ordinary conditions, about an equal portion is ex- 
 tracted from the earth. It is there stored in the form of humus, 
 which consists of decayed vegetable matter. Here there is a very 
 subtle chemistry in operation, in which water is the chief agent. The 
 stubble or straw left upon a field of grain contributes something 
 toward furnishing food for new generations. The carbon in the 
 dead plant in the process of decay must reunite with the oxygen of 
 
14 SKCOND ANNUAL SKSS1OX, 
 
 the air, to form carbonic acid. The office of water is here twofold. 
 The presence of water is an essential condition to the decomposition 
 of vegetable matter. When the decay has proceeded so far that 
 carbonic acid is formed, it is water that conveys it to the thirsting 
 mouths of the rootlets and so through the various organs of the 
 growing plant. Decay is a gradual process, and requires, among 
 other things, the rays of a summer sun. So the supply of carbon 
 that is extracted from the earth is kept up during the season of 
 growth, but only upon the condition that there shall be a continuous 
 provision of moisture in the circumjacent earth. In shoit, the con- 
 stituents that enter into the structure of vegetation are or t\vo kinds 
 organic and inorganic. Neither can be provided in a form that 
 admits of assimilation without the agency of water, and its action 
 must be timely. A parched field involves a blighted crop. It is the 
 crowning advantage of irrigation that it places it in the power of the 
 farmer to control his water supply both as to the quantity for an 
 excess is harmful- and as to the time. 
 
 If we go back to the processes which we have been considering 
 to the very genesis of the soil, we shall still find water the most ef- 
 l.cient factor, Its action in the disintegration of the rocks is partly 
 i echnnkal and partly chemical. Penetrating the minute pores and 
 i>- erstice^ of the granite, the expansion that results from freezing 
 fp its off fragments of greater or less dimensions. The crumbling 
 or these pieces is largely the result of chemical agencies. Water 
 containing carbonic acid removes the potash from the feldspar and 
 mica in the form of carbonate of potash, and the saifie agent separ- 
 ates the siiicate of alumina and the potash. Thus the rock is re- 
 solved into the various mineral substances required for the food of 
 plants, and water, by its dynamic energy, washes them down from 
 the mountains into the valleys below. If upon a thin layer of soil so 
 fo:m<-'d, seeds of the lower order of plants lichens, for example be 
 deposited, aided by the kindly nurture of the air, they will grow and 
 fructify. Their decay will add new elements to the fertility of the 
 soil and in time fit it to sustain a higher order of plant life. Later, 
 animals will be attracted to the spot and by their excrements and 
 remains contribute still other fertile ingredients until the soil be- 
 comes fitted for the highest products. Such is, briefly and crudely, 
 the history of the composition of soils. Their impoverishment com- 
 mences when they are brought under cultivation, their products re- 
 moved from the field to serve as food for animals, and they are thus 
 depleted of their mineral ingredients such as enter into vegetable 
 structure. 
 
 The remark is sometimes heard that agriculture in this section 
 of the Union can never become the leading industry for the reason 
 that so much of our area is occupied by mountain ranges. The an- 
 swer to this that immediately suggests itself is that it is of little im- 
 portance if one-half of our territory is unfit for the plough so long as 
 the other half can produce twice the quantity of crops that are 
 grown in more level regions. The difference is due to the fact that 
 our crops do not depend alone upon the nourishment derived from 
 the fields that they occupy and the sky above them. The vast de- 
 posits of snow in the recesses of the mountains melt beneath the 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 
 
 rays of the summer sun. Their waters trickle in tiny rivulets down 
 the mountain sides, unite in the canyons, and flow in streams through 
 the valleys. Thence they are led by ditches upon new fields of 
 grain, every drop bearing gifts of nutrition. If the late lamented 
 X. Bjidler, as he was struggling to build a fire on an intensely cold 
 day, with the only fuel at hand, could say with general optimism, 
 that he "felt sorry for the people in the States, who didn't have any 
 sage brush," surely our farmers can pity their brothers in the east, 
 who carry on their occupation without irrigation ditches. It is by 
 these agencies that we subject to the service of mankind not alone 
 the acres that feel the caresses of the plough, but the adjacent lands, 
 even those that lift their empurpled heights to win and wear through- 
 out the year a diadem of snow. 
 
 Upon hearing the above address, it was moved by Nelson of 
 Lewis and Clarke that the thanks of the convention be tendered to 
 Lieut. -Gov. Botkin for his very able address. The vote was carried 
 unanimously. 
 
 The president then announced the next order of business to be 
 the discussion of House Bill No. 24. The bill was read by the secre- 
 tary. It provided for the division of the state into two general de- 
 partments; the corporate authorities of both departments to be vest- 
 ed in a state water commission; the two members of each depart- 
 ment to be appointed by the governor to hold office for two years; 
 each commissioner to receive $4,000 per year salary. Bonds to be 
 voted at an election, to run twenty to fifty years at not to exceed five 
 per cent, interest and not to exceed a half million dollars for the first 
 two years. The commission to have power to condemn canals, 
 flumes, etc., fix the rate of tolls, fix a tax to be collected sufficient 
 with tolls to pay the interest on bonds, and regulate the salaries of 
 employes. 
 
 It was moved that Mr. Huffman, author of the bill, open the dis- 
 cussion. The motion prevailed. 
 
 Mr. Huffman said: 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention I am not here 
 as a member of the legislature but as a delegate from Custer county. 
 There are many phases of this bill that I know many of you are bet- 
 ter able to discuss than I. There is, however, one purpose respect- 
 ing the bill at the outset, that I would like to refer to briefly. Now it is 
 well known to all of you who read the papers or talk with your 
 neighbors that for a period of eight years or more no fireside or 
 hotel lobby has been for any considerable length of time free from 
 the sound of this discussion; and about a year ago we thought it was 
 crystallized and tht we had agreed; that in most localities in the 
 west private means and private enterprises had about reached the 
 
16 SECOND ANM \L SESSION. 
 
 limit of development; that some private enterprises were languish- 
 ing but that the people in general were more desirous than ever for 
 water; more desirous that our arid lands should have the waters of 
 the state; that \ve should have more people to patronize our indus- 
 tries. Now I cannot emphasize that latter opinion better than to 
 quote a few lines, which are almost identical with the words deliv- 
 ered by a gentleman who had considerate to say at the late conven- 
 tion: "The first objection to the cession of the arid lands is this, 
 that it is in the interests of monopolists." Now, gentlemen, I am 
 younger than you the majority of you, but I am not so young as to 
 have been in Montana and witnessed her growth for fourteen years 
 without thinking her mountains are to be developed all alike as soon 
 as possible, and the uses of land and water, to the end that higher 
 inland ditches shall be made possible to the people than we have 
 ever known. Now, if I understand where I am in this case; if I am 
 where I think I am, it is with the people, who want more home- 
 makers, and that they shall be able to enjoy the two elements which 
 have been so ably discussed by our friend, Gov. Botkin. 
 
 Mr. Harris said: Mr. Chairman, do 1 understand by this bill 
 that all the property embraced in the department of irrigation is to 
 be mortgaged or bonded for the purpose of building irrigation 
 canals across the government lands and the lands embraced in this 
 section? As I understood the bill as it was read, I would infer that 
 much. As that bill reads, it subjects all the property of the counties 
 in the department or departments to pay the interest upon the bonds 
 or mortgage which may be issued upon your county, upon your de- 
 partment; and of all the bills that I ever saw or read, that bill is the 
 height of absurdity. The guarantee of the state to the people is its 
 freedom from indebtedness. Of course it is true that before it can 
 become a measure, or can become enacted, it has to be submitted to 
 the vote of the people, but there will be a great many people to vote 
 upon that measure who do not understand it. Every qualified voter 
 can vote upon that act, whether he is a tax-payer or not. When- 
 ever you create a debt in a state you have got to manage in some 
 way to discharge the obligation, and a blanket mortgage is the 
 worst obligation imaginable. 1 cannot believe a law of that kind 
 will inure to the good of the people. 
 
 Mr. Burton If 1 understand the meaning of this bill, it is this: 
 The state of Montana is to be divided into two departments, and 
 then those departments shall become the owners of the waters with- 
 in their boundaries; and those departments proceed as two separate 
 states, as 1 understand it, which shall have committees to buy all the 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 17 
 
 present water ownership within their respective boundaries and 
 then proceed to build irrigation canals. 
 
 I believe I do not mistake the meaning of the bill. Now, 
 gentlemen, irrigation is farming, pure and simple; irrigation is 
 agriculture and upon the building of irrigation canals in this state a 
 large portion of its future must depend, and the building of irrigation 
 canals is something that every citizen of the state is unquestionably 
 interested in. The statement made that the private enterprises have 
 about reached their height is strange. The private enterprise of this 
 state will be at its height when the millennium comes. Private en- 
 terprise is today ready to do the work, ready to do the work of 
 building irrigation canals, wherever they are needed, and wherever 
 anybody can show that they are needed. I am simply giving my 
 view, and if you do not adopt it I am not going to be hurt, and if 
 you do adopt it I am not going to be hurt. But gentlemen, to be 
 serious now, there are two different theories which have been pro- 
 mulgated in this world in reference to government; one of them is 
 old and has been in operation for many centuries, and that is that 
 governments are creatures of the people; there has grown up in the 
 last few years, I may say, this thought, that the people are the 
 creatures of the government. Now, this bill is drawn up upon this 
 new idea. Water is the given heritage of everybody who has to have 
 it. Water is simply a fertilizer and is something that is needed to 
 fertilize the land. We cannot get along without bread in this 
 country, can we? Now, why not include in his bill, to issue bonds 
 and build mills to furnish the people bread, and let the profits of the 
 mill business go into the treasury of the state. Then clothing is 
 another thing that people must have in this country. Then why not 
 sell bonds and go into the wool business and sell the people their 
 clothing. Every argument in behalf of that bill applies in equal 
 force in the flour and sheep business, in favor of this state going into 
 the wool business or the flouring mill business, and as for that mat- 
 ter any other business that the people are engaged in today. It is 
 voluminous; it is something sublime, but the question is, is it 
 practical? I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but if this 
 bill should become a law there will be no irrigation canals built in 
 this state. Will any man vote a tax upon himself? Will the men 
 all over this state who do not want to see the land taken up vote a 
 tax upon their herds and flocks? It is the worst legislation that I 
 ever saw offered to an intelligent people to adopt. Look at this mat- 
 ter as a business proposition. Is the state of Montana ready to re- 
 verse the training and theory that has come down to us, hoary with 
 
18 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 age? Are they willing to reverse that and to step into building, 
 which will take twenty millions of money? Are they ready to place 
 their names to bonds and mortgages to that amount? 
 
 Now, is there any gentleman anywhere that would say that if I 
 or any one were to construct an irrigation canal for a certain amount 
 of water and thus enhance the value of my land, would it be right for 
 the state to take away my property which my money has created? 
 Suppose you don't want to sell your 160 inches of water. They don't 
 want to sell that. Their land is valueless without the water. Now, 
 the state will take away the water from that man, leaving him with 
 his land which is worth perhaps $1.25 or $1.50 per acre. 
 
 Mr. Nelson said: 
 
 ivlr. Chairman Before I address myself directly to the consider- 
 ing of this bill, I will endeavor to answer some of the statements that 
 have been made by Mr. Harris, and also by Mr. Burton. I think 
 that the statement of Mr. Harris, or rather his objection to this bill, 
 refers especially to that clause which contemplates the taxing of the 
 entire population within a certain district to support the irrigation 
 work to be built in that district. I think that objection answers 
 itself. Certainly that gentleman is aware that there is issued bonds 
 for all sorts of things. The only question is whether it is worth while 
 to issue bonds for the irrigation scheme, or merelv vote that the 
 bonds are issued, because we are issuing bonds all the time. The 
 business of this country, as we know, is largely done upon credit all 
 the way through. That certainly is no objection to the bill. I 
 certainly do not think that my friend Mr. Burton, would so presume 
 upon the intelligence of this audience, consisting not only of the ir- 
 rigation convention, but of a very respectable convention of the 
 house, so far as to stand up here, and having avowed himself an in- 
 dividual of the corporation interested in this very scheme, to then 
 oppose a measure by his language, and by his skilled oratory, which 
 if adopted would enable them to do just what they say they are glad 
 to do. 
 
 He was addressing himself to the general provisions of the bill. 
 I do not think he said they would be very glad to sell out. Now, 
 gentlemen, that is pretty thin. Isn't that too thin? I cannot take it 
 in now. A corporation opposing a measure which would enable 
 them to do something which they would be glad to do. We cannot 
 believe that corporations are of that class. He said in the first place 
 that private enterprise in this matter would be at its hejght when 
 the millenium comes. It will stop pretty short of the millenium. It 
 will stop when the control of the land of the country is with the 
 government. That will be considerably this side of the millennium. 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 19 
 
 [Reads.] Mr. Powels's theory is that they get the canals too far 
 down the river. Hearn and Carr control 400,000 acres of land. It 
 is not to supply the people with water; it is to get the land. (Mr. 
 Harris states that the state of California has a more humid climate 
 than Montana.) 
 
 We must all the time take into consideration all those different 
 things in th:s question. Mr. Burton said another thing. "Will any 
 sane man vote for a tax which doesn't interest him directly?" I 
 think it would be a very short sighted man who would not. I do not 
 know why I should not pay a tax for something by which I am bene- 
 fitted indirectly. I claim that the irrigation of these lands will in- 
 increase the products of the soil, i have got to eat; I have got to 
 buy those products, and if by increasing the products of the soil I 
 am enabled to buy my provisions cheaper than before; I am bene- 
 fitted in an indirect way. I find in article 3 section 15 of the statutes 
 of Montana, the organic law of this great commonwealth. [Reads 
 section 15.] The reason why I read this and the reason why I wish 
 these words to be foundation of what I have already said and what I 
 shall say hereafter, is because of the association in which I find these 
 words. These words I find to be part of what is entitled "A Declara- 
 tion of Rights," of the people of the State of Montana. Now, 
 gentlemen of the Legislature, it certainly is committed to you to 
 preserve and conserve all the rights of the people of the State of 
 Montana. While there is objections to legislation upon some of 
 these facts, it certainly falls upon you to preserve these rights that 
 are declared to be of public use. Now there are certain ways in 
 which to do it. A settler comes and picks out his place of residence, 
 a place for his home, if he can find such to get out from the storm. 
 A little water is needed by this man for his 40, 80 or 160 acre farm. To 
 supply water to this individual or to those settlers is the duty of the 
 State, and if I am right in law, any special interest, any advantage, I 
 find this declares to be incumbent upon the legislative body of this 
 State, in order to carry out the individual purpose of this constitu- 
 tion. Now, the question is, what does Montana most need today? 
 As in the answer to the old query, "What constitutes a State?" Men, 
 high-minded, noble men. That is what we want in this thing. I 
 say, in regard to this matter, what we need in Montana is an increase 
 in population. We constantly see it in the public press, and the in- 
 ducements held out by the railroad company induces people to pass 
 through our state every year to the Pacific coast because they can- 
 not find homes here. Forty million acres of arid land. But here is 
 the point gentlemen those men whom we want here in this State 
 
20 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 are the farmers who will buy those farms that by these irrigation 
 works have been improved who will establish their homes here. It 
 was said today that we want more consumers. Those men will in- 
 evitably be consumers and they will benefit men like myself as well 
 as themselves. 1 do want to have more farmers in this State, and I 
 want the lands improved. We want men here who will come out 
 and by their presence and activity increase the industries. Wherever 
 there is gold and silver in the mountains capital is bound to come, 
 but what we want in this State is men, and we cannot have them un- 
 less there is some inducements offered. 
 
 Now to this bill directly and then I am done. If I am right in my 
 premise, the premise that it is the business of the Legislature, so far 
 as this business is concerned to so legislate, especially if it is their 
 duty, then some such measure should be passed. Mr. Burton said 
 he was not a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but that if this bill 
 passed there would not be any irrigation works made in Montana. 
 I think the gentleman here is making the same mistake. Isn't whole- 
 sale cheaper than retail? the small irrigation cost more than large 
 irrigation would? 
 
 When a measure of this kind is brought up and people accuse 
 some others of having some sinister motive, mark those people, I 
 am always suspicious of them. 
 
 Mr. Harris: I would like to answer Mr. Nelson's remarks. He 
 seems to have a great fear. He seems to place Montana in the same 
 climate as the State of California and the south. Today our State is 
 well supplied with cereals. Its supply is nearly equal to its consump- 
 tion. Just as soon as it becomes profitable for the farmers to raise 
 cereals, then water will be taken from our rivers and the lands re- 
 claimed whenever the enterprise warrants; but as for the State tak- 
 ing hold of this matter in a bill of this kind, it is foolish. Now to 
 show you the weakness of the apprehension of the parties who drew 
 up this bill, I will draw your attention to this part of it. The gover- 
 nor provided that prior to the organizing of a State commission, the 
 governor shall be vested with the corporate organizing as aforesaid, 
 for the purpose of testing the constitutionality of this act. Our State 
 resolving itself into a large corporate body, deems that bill is liable 
 not to be constitutional. For myself I will say that it is not con- 
 stitutional, that the state has no right to go into a corporation of this 
 kind. As long as we have corporation laws we must expect, as long 
 as they are, we must expect special privileges used by those corpora- 
 tions. Corporations are large bodies without souls. As for this 
 measure, you are creating a corporation out of the whole state. 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 21 
 
 Mr. Carney said: 
 
 Mr. Chairman: About a year ago now, 1 had the honor of at- 
 tending a convention of this kind in this city, known as the Irrigation 
 Convention, and as I understood the call of this convention, it was a 
 call upon the farmers of this state to discuss the bill that is now 
 pending before the Legislature, and I believe I have the sentiment 
 of every farmer in this house when I say that I did not come here for 
 the purpose of hearing lawyers discuss it, but they desire to discuss 
 it themselves. I have talked with the gentleman who originated this 
 bill and I believe he is honest and sincere. Whether I believe with 
 him or not, I believe he is honest in his theory, and I would further 
 say that those men who are building canals and tilling the soil are 
 more competent to discuss the methods of building canals and 
 ditches than any lawyer that ever pleaded before a court. My friend, 
 Mr. Nelson, has told you that he wants to get people in here to settle 
 up this country so that he could buy the products of the soil cheaper 
 than he does now. I appeal to you farmers in this country if you 
 can sell your products cheaper than you have in the last several 
 years. You cannot do it and live. Speaking for myself, I have built 
 a canal in company with five others, and we own it and use the water 
 out of it ourselves and we would sooner pay double the expense of 
 keeping up that canal and have the control of the water than be fol- 
 lowing around a water commissioner that gets a salary of $4,000 a 
 year, and asking him when it would come my turn to get water. 
 While there are some good points in the bill, yet we have got to 
 judge the bill as a whole. We must take the proposition as it pre- 
 sents itself, and I would tonight sit here until tomorrow morning and 
 listen to men who are engaged in tilling the soil, and men who are 
 engaged in building ditches, but I say that I wouMn't spend much 
 time listening to lawyers discuss it, for if I want to go into court I 
 will hire a lawyer. 
 
 Mr. Oliver said: 
 
 Mr. Chairman: lam nothing but a common farmer, but it is 
 strange to me that a gentleman would get up here and give us a 
 great long talk, yet he deals with no facts whatever. He starts out 
 with the broad assertion that eastern capital would not be brought 
 here to put into irrigation schemes unless they could be assured 15 
 per cent on their investment. There are lots of ditches built by 
 companies in Colorado, Idaho and in Montana, of which he could see 
 the results of those men who have invested their money in those en- 
 terprises, and nothing of that kind is shown. This bill that is under 
 consideration is certainly one that no man who is a farmer that has 
 
SKCON'I) AXXl'AL SESSION. 
 
 gone to work and taken the water out and acquired a right to the 
 water of our streams, can ever think of indorsing. 
 Another speaker said: 
 
 I have only a few words to say, and that directly : n regard to 
 this bill. Our friend, Mr. Nelson, suggested that we issue school 
 bonds. We do. That is to the benefit of every person who lives in 
 Montana or anywhere else. These bonds are to be given by the 
 State of Montana for the benefit of those who use the ditches and 
 for no other purpose. Now, I have merely a few words to say, a 
 few points in regard to the law in California. The district is com- 
 posed of people who are benefitted, who receive the benefit of the 
 water, and the bonds are holden upon the lands only, not upon other 
 property. That is not the case with this. All the property in the 
 state of Montana is holden for these bonds. This bill divides the 
 State of Montana into two districts. It taxes the whole State. Then 
 again under this law the taxpayers are at the mercy of the voters. 
 We can get in a lot of laboring men here who want to get us into an 
 immense indebtedness, and we are simply at their mercy. Take a 
 man who has a private ditch, and if 1 owned a private diteh I would 
 be in favor of the ditch. I think, furthermore, that it is against the 
 constitution of the Slate. What we need in this State is a law by 
 which we can build and bond ditches. 
 Mr. Alderson: 
 
 The question was raised in regard to taxation. Of course if the 
 bill should pass and the case be submitted to the voters of Montana 
 and the bonds should be voted, provision has to be made for the pay- 
 ment of the bonds, as I understand it, and provision would have to 
 be made for redeeming those bonds on maturity. The proposition is 
 now to taxation ^ the property of the State. Your law books and 
 merchandise of every description is to be made assessable to pay the 
 interest of those bonds. That is one point. I cannot see where the 
 justice would be of taxing those persons who are already provided 
 with water. I cannot see the benefit of adding an additional amount 
 of tax to those men. It would have a tendency to increase popula- 
 tion by offering inducements in some sense to home seekers to re- 
 claim these arid lands, and thus increase the products of the land of 
 Montanan, which might or might not find a market here. Another 
 point I see about this bill, not but that every feature is dangerous. 
 It comes up before the people every two years and is an inducement 
 to the laboring men and the men who want to vote, and they think 
 it is going to open "out a great avenue of labor and furnish employ- 
 ment to hundreds of thousands. It will present that inducement for 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 23 
 
 their votes, and especially that portion of the population that con- 
 trols elections in political matters, and they say, let us go and vote 
 those bonds and after the good times we can go to some other place 
 and let the taxpayers take care of themselves. Gentlemen, I am 
 done for the present. 
 
 W. F. Parker: 
 
 Mr. Chairman: I felt some little hesitancy about saying any- 
 thing here this evening, but as this subject has drifted some 
 beyond the discussion of this bill and has involved to some extent 
 the matter of discussion as to whether the State of Montana should 
 attempt to control the water by a general provision of law, I would 
 ike to hear from these farmers upon one subject which has not been 
 spoken of. Mr. .Burton, in his water right, takes up all of the water 
 of the Teton. Now, is it the determination of this body and of the 
 State of Montana that there shall never be constructed above Mr. 
 Burton's head-gate a means that shall conserve there the water dur- 
 ing the high portion to be conserved there until, say, the months of 
 July and August. Now, suppose the stream of the Teton shall carry 
 1 0,000- inches of water, Mr. Burton, in filing his water right, takes 
 nearly all the water of the stream, what right have the men or cor- 
 porations to go above Mr. Burton's ditches and take the water? Mr. 
 Burton will come in and say that he is entitled to have 20,000 
 inches of that water, if there is 20,000 inches. If the men shall have 
 no right to the water that flows down there, then you forever pro- 
 hibit any person from taking it. You give to Mr. Burton a water 
 right that is very valueable. It is this subject of building reservoirs 
 for holding water when it is going to waste until such a time when it 
 shall become necessary in the cultivation of crops. I simply make 
 this as a suggestion, and I would like to hear from the farmers of 
 this district, if Mr. Burton would have more right than he used. If 
 Mr. Burton is entitled to say, 10,000 inches of water, and he has filed 
 a water sight which says he shall have 10,000 inches of water from 
 the stream and somebody goes above him and by means of reservoirs 
 has a water right to his land, can Mr. Burton claim his 10,000 
 inches of water? 
 
 Mr. Harris: 
 
 Is that bill up here tonight for passage by this body? I would 
 like to put this motion, that this bill is not taken into the legislative 
 assembly of the State of Montana. 
 
 Mr. Myers: 
 
 I would suggest that the matter of postponing this bill be defer- 
 red until tomorrow morning. I think it is very evident what the 
 
24 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 sentiment of this body is. I presume that the majority of them are 
 delegates to the irrigation convention, and I think it should not be 
 acted upon tonight. I think that we never will have any use for it 
 and that this convention will be very apt to think that it does not 
 want it, yet I deem that action should not be taken until tomorrow. 
 I move then that the discussion be deferred. The motion prevailed. 
 The convention adjourned till 10:30 a. m. Friday. 
 
 FRIDAY MORNING. 
 
 The convention met at 10:30 a. m. A communication from E. 
 G. Brooke was referred to the committee on irrigation law. It was 
 moved and carried that the above committee present a written report. 
 Reports from the various counties upon the subject of irriga- 
 tion were then heard. [Reports are printed in the appendix.] 
 The committee upon irrigation law reported as follows: 
 Resolved, That this Convention is opposed to any legislation 
 at the present time, looking to the building of irrigation canals, 
 ditches or reservoirs by the State from the revenues of the State 
 arising from taxation. 'That we oppose the issuance of bonds upon 
 the credit of the State in any form for construction of irrigation 
 works. 
 
 The majority of your committee recommend that House bill No. 
 24 be not passed. 
 
 JOHN M. ROIUXSON, 
 I). M. IH-RFKK, 
 ALFRED MYKKS. 
 P. CARNEY, 
 
 W. H. SUTHERLIN. 
 
 Z. T. BURTON, 
 \\ . R. GILBERT, 
 E. RYAN. 
 
 Your committee is of the opinion that there is further need of 
 legislation on irrigation and water right laws and ask that they be 
 granted time in which to draft a bill covering their views for discus- 
 sion by this convention. 
 
 A. H. NELSON, Chairman. 
 
 The report was discussed by Z. T. Burton of Choteau, W. W. 
 Alderson, B. F. Shuart and others, in favor of the majority report 
 and by A. Nelson in favor of the minority report. The majority re- 
 port was adopted. 
 
 Recess was then taken until noon. 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 25 
 
 FRIDAY AFTERNOON. 
 
 The convention met at 2 p. m. 
 
 It was moved that all speeches hereafter made should be limited 
 to five minutes and that no person should speak twice on the same 
 subject save with the consent of the convention. 
 
 C. H. Wright, chairman of the committee on constitution and 
 by-laws, reported. The rules were read by sections, amended and 
 adopted by sections, and adopted as a whole. 
 
 A resolution was offered by W. M. Oliver, reading as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That the legislative assembly of Montana be respect- 
 fully requested to enact a law substantially as follows, to-wit: 
 
 Sec. i. That the land commissioner be and is hereby authorized 
 and requested to select and designate, along the streams and ravines 
 of this state, proper sites for reservoirs, and that he shall make re- 
 port of his selections to the governor of this state with a clear de- 
 scription of the same and that the gover :Or shall make a report of 
 the same to the secretary of the interior of the United States, re- 
 questing and recommending that the sites so sele:ted be duly re- 
 served from sale or settlement for the use of the state of Montana. 
 
 Sec. 2. That said commissioner is hereby authorized, under the 
 direction of the governor, to employ proper assistants to aid him in 
 making such selections. 
 
 Sec. 3. That immediately upon the adoption of this act, it shall 
 be the duty of the governor to send a duly authenticated copy to the 
 secretary of the interior with a request for proper correspondence 
 in regard to this matter and that the said secretary may have a full 
 and respectful understanding of the subject, and asking his co-oper- 
 ation with the state of Montana in this all-important step towards 
 providing for the storage of the waters of the state for the irrigation 
 of our arid lands. 
 
 Resolution . were offered by W. W. Alderson, B. F. Shuart and 
 Fred Whiteside, and all wer. referred to the committee upon irriga- 
 tion law. 
 
 It was moved that the election of officers be the order of busi- 
 ness after the report of the committee on legislation at the evening 
 session. The motion prevailed. 
 
 A motion to appoint a committee to memorialize congress in the 
 interests of irrigation was lost. 
 
 A recess was then taken till 7:30 in the evening. 
 
26 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 FRIDAY EVENING. 
 
 The convention was called to order at 7:45. 
 
 President Rolfe- The first order of business is the report of the 
 committee on legislation. 
 
 Mr. Nelson, chairman of the committee Your committee rec- 
 ommend that the several resolutions referred to it be laid upon the 
 table, with the exception of two of them, which should be adopted as 
 expressing the sentiment of this convention upon the subject ap- 
 pearing in the resolution. 
 
 The resolution of W. M. Oliver was then read and placed in the 
 custody of the secretary of the convention. 
 
 The committee 'on credentials said: 
 
 Before proceeding further, I desire to have added to the list of 
 delegates from Lewis and Clarke county, the name of Senator W. F. 
 Sanders, who has honored us with his presence here this evening. 
 
 By unanimous consent of the convention the name was placed 
 upon the roll of delegates. 
 
 The resolution was then taken up. Mr. Nelson having stated 
 in making his report that the first resolution read had received the 
 adoption of all members of the committee and that to the second a 
 minority had dissented, the following remark was called forth: 
 
 Mr. President: Before taking up the resolution which the whole 
 committee has not adopted, would it not be better to take up the 
 resolution which the whole committee has adopted? 
 
 President The committee has reported only one resolution. 
 
 Senator Sanders Mr. President: I never heard that resolution 
 before now, but I would like to inquire of the chairman, who is a 
 lawyer and therefore not entitled to say much in this convention, 
 what he thinks of the proposition that the state of Montana owns 
 these waters and is entitled to control them, and that it is not in the 
 situation that it was before we were admitted as a state, when the 
 United States had supreme authority over every stream and could 
 do with it as it chose. Not only have we now become independent 
 of the United States in some things, but with respect to those things 
 that appertain to our sovereignty, supreme over the United States. 
 Of course I understand that the United States has control of all 
 waters that are navigable as waters, and in respect of the land which 
 they own they have a proprietory control of so much of the water as 
 is land; but the state also owns land along those streams, and I 
 think the resolution rather attributes to the United States a little 
 more authority over those streams than it actually has, and until the 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 27 
 
 United States asserts authority as the owner of land, we have con- 
 trol of it, and I don't know but we have anyway. 
 
 Delegate from Silver Bow- -From Silver Bow county, I desire to 
 report the names of Lee Mantle, George Irvine and John Caplice, to 
 be enrolled as members of the convention from Silver Bow. 
 
 No objection being offered, the gentlemen's names were placed 
 upon the roll. 
 
 In response to a call for Sanders, that gentleman said: 
 
 I am glad that this subject is open for discussion, because it 
 gives me an opportunity to express my views on the proposition. I 
 will say first, however, that at the former session of this convention 
 my general idea has not been the idea of this convention. My idea 
 and understanding has been that by the enabling act which trans- 
 ferred us from a territorial condition to that of statehood, this state 
 became the owner of the waters 
 
 A delegate Upon what proposition did it become the owner of 
 them? 
 
 Sanders Upon the general proposition I have just been ad- 
 vancing, that the state is supreme except as to the authority it has 
 surrendered. Continuing what I have to say, without desiring to an- 
 noy or harass any gentleman present who does not belong to my 
 profession and therefore must be here in the pursuit of truth, I think 
 that the state is the owner of these waters with the possible modi- 
 fication that the United States owns the land on the banks of these 
 streams, and therefore its proprietory ownership carries with it mod- 
 ified control, which, as it appertains to these lands, might be in case 
 of a non-navigable stream, supreme possession. There is a doctrine 
 of law, of riparian rights; but I understand the United States has 
 abolished or modified riparian rights. This doctrine of appropria- 
 tion to which the United States itself has conformed, is inconsistent 
 therewith. All I want upon this matter is that you will not act upon 
 the hypothesis that we own nothing. It is a wise judge that ampli- 
 fies his own jurisdiction and a wise state that takes all it can get hold 
 of. And I believe with reference to these waters that we are entitled 
 to manage them as absolutely as if the United States was no more of 
 an owner than my friend Mr. Holter. In fact, I think he owns about 
 as much land as the United States in this country, and if he doesn't, 
 I know that he is willing to, and that therefore the lands of the 
 United States are subject to our authority somewhat, so far as it has 
 separated its land from its water. I don't recall the exact language 
 of the resolution, but we proceed upon the hypothesis that we are 
 not aliens, and I don't blame anybody on account of it. 
 
SECOND ANNL'AL SESSION. 
 
 Mr. Nelson^ If the gentleman will ask for the reading of the 
 resolution, he will find that it pertains solely to the storing of the 
 water, as provided, in certain reservoirs. 
 
 Mr. Sanders But why should we run off to the secretary of the 
 interior? 
 
 A delegate The land belongs to him. 
 
 Sen. Sanders No; we have a right to control it, and we have a 
 right to occupy it, the United States to the contrary notwithstanding, 
 and it seems to me that it is a pretty good idea to do it we had 
 rather fight the United States than anyone else anyhow. It don't 
 matter how Jeff Davis came out, I am satisfied that we would come 
 out at the big end of the horn. 
 
 The resolution was then re-read and its adoption moved. 
 
 Mr. Holter Before this resolution is acted upon, I would like 
 to inquire of Senator Sanders if there is not a United States law that 
 permits of parties building reservoirs on government land for 
 nothing. 
 
 Senator Sanders I think that is true that parties are author- 
 ized to occupy public lands for that purpose for nothing. That 
 would be included under the ditch right. It doesn't matter how wide 
 the ditch is. A reservoir is a part of the same thing I have no doubt. 
 
 Mr. Holter If that be true, what is the use of the resolution? If 
 we have that right already? 
 
 Senator Sanders Now, that is a more difficult question. 
 
 Mr. Nelson It is this. The gentleman presenting the resolu- 
 tion desires that this state shall require reservoir sites along the 
 banks of the various streams in the state, so that the state itself may 
 own and control reservoirs for the use and service of the state and 
 lands adjacent thereto, and any individual or individuals within 
 their reach. The law of March, 1891, now gives to individuals or as- 
 sociations of individuals the right to go and take reservoir sites, and 
 upon a plat of it being sent to the secretary of the interior, that land 
 is awarded to such persons. These resolutions look to the acquiring 
 of reservoir sites by the state itself, so that the state may control and 
 own these waters. 
 
 The motion carried, and Mr. Oliver's resolution was thereby 
 adopted. 
 
 Mr. Nelson The resolution which was just adopted was report- 
 ed by the unanimous committee. He then read the following reso- 
 lution: 
 
 Resolved, That this convention is opposed to any legislation at 
 the present time looking to the building of irrigation canals, ditcher 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 29 
 
 and reservoirs by the state, out of the revenues of the state arising 
 from taxation; that we oppose the issuance of bonds upon the credit 
 of the state intended either for the construction of irrigation canals, 
 ditches or reservoirs; and 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the house 
 of representatives and senate of the state. 
 
 The adoption of the resolutions was moved and seconded. The 
 ayes and nays were called for. The resolution carried; ayes 25, 
 nays 9. 
 
 President The committee has recommended that the other res- 
 olution referred to it shall be laid upon the table. 
 
 A delegate Mr. Chairman, as these resolutions were read be- 
 fore the convention, probably a majority of us are very familiar with 
 them, and if there is no objection, I move that they be laid on the 
 table. Carried. 
 
 The chairman of the irrigation law committee reported as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Gentlemen: Your committee on irrigation law beg leave to re- 
 port that they have considered the list of resolutions and other mat- 
 ters referred to it, and that owing to the short time granted to the 
 committee and the moment of the questions referred to it, your com- 
 mittee has thought it best not to report any law, but recommend 
 that a committee be appointed by this convention whose services 
 shall end with the termination ol the present legislative assembly, 
 and that to this committee be referred all bills, resolutions, etc., re- 
 ferred to your committee. 
 
 A motion to adopt the recommendation of the committee was 
 amended as follows: That the whole subject be referred to the 
 chairman of this convention, H. P. Rolfe, Hon. W. F. Sanders and 
 Hon. A. M. Holter. 
 
 The motion was declared lost and a motion made to appoint a 
 committee to consist of Hon. H. P. Rolfe, Hon. W. F. Sanders, 
 Major Alderson, Mr. H. M. Parchen and Hon. A. M. Holter. 
 
 Senator Sanders I trust my friend will omit my name from the 
 committee and see the propriety of it in a minute. 
 
 The name of MY. Sutherlin was then substituted for that of Sen- 
 ator Sanders; and motion carried. 
 
 Burion of Choteau then moved a reconsideration of the vote, 
 which was seconded by Mr. Holter of Lewis and Clarke for the 
 reason that he thought something should be done in the premises 
 and that if left as it now stands it would be dropped. 
 
 On motion the motion to reconsider the vote was laid upon the 
 table. 
 
 In response to calls, Senator Sanders spoke as follows: 
 
30 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 The subject that is before this convention is one of the very 
 largest possible interest. I have never understood that this conven- 
 tion was called or really designed to formulate and specifically de- 
 fine policies with reference to the reclamation of arid lands. The 
 subject is almost as large as maritime or admiralty law the law 
 which determines the rights of sailors, shippers and vessels upon the 
 sea. We have been giving a.great deal of consideratirn in the con- 
 gress of the United States to this subject, and a great many gentle- 
 men are very much interested in it. If I were to represent them 
 here and be entirely honest with the gentlemen present, I would say 
 we do not know what to do. We have not been able to arrive at a 
 definite conclusion in this matter. It has been my own fortune to be 
 one of the committee upon the "reclamation of arid lands, of which 
 Senator Warren of Wyoming is chairman, and, in absence of knowl- 
 edge of what ought to be done, what is wisest to be done, and most 
 prudent, we have decided that one thing is pretty safe, and that is, 
 in the first place, to see to what extent we can get the United States 
 to survey the lands and designate the reservoir sites belonging to 
 them. Now, that we will be able to do that, I don't say. 1 think 
 some portion of it we will be able to do. The United States is en- 
 gaged in the survey of the public land, and it is also engaged in the 
 designation of reservoir sites, not wholly satisfactory, it is fair to say. 
 A number of gentlemen go and designate reservoir sites as large as 
 a township, where you know, and I know, and the gentlemen sitting 
 in this convention know, there never will be a reservoir and ought 
 not to be. Nevertheless, criticism of these locations and condemna- 
 tion of them operates to make their action a little more wise. There- 
 fore, we have felt that it was proper that we should continue that 
 examination and location. Of course we have taken the director of 
 the geological survey and shaken him up once in a while, for the 
 reason that we know his action has been unwise. In Montana I have 
 not got the geographical locations in my mind now, but I know if 
 you could see the places designated as reservoir sites, evidently 
 taken in the absence of any close examination in the locality, as for 
 instance, over in Jefferson county there are great areas withdrawn 
 from settlement for reservoirs, in some a whole township, 36 miles 
 square, designated as reservoir sites. We thought it prudent and 
 justifiable for us to insist that the United States, that owns this large 
 area, might make these appropriations and have these reservoir sites 
 selected, but upon the proposition as to what the people of the state 
 of Montana should do, as to what burdens to take upon the state, or 
 the people of the state, it is a large question. A man might well 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 31 
 
 hesitate about that first, as to its constitutionality; second, as to its 
 advisability. We all agree that there is no better man on earth than 
 the man who makes two blades of grass grow where but one grew 
 before; and, if we can make a thousand grow where none grew be- 
 fore, that certainly is a benefit which undoubtedly should be con- 
 summated. How we shall go about it, what is wisest to be done, is 
 a matter that the most enthusiastic gentleman, the most interested, 
 and the most honest, will confess that he is not entirely competent to 
 determine, but will long hesitate as to the extent that we burden the 
 state of Montana with a public debt, certainly of large dimensions, 
 and forbid immigration. Men will go by Montana if it is largely in 
 debt. They are going by it now, almost uniformly and universally, 
 but if we put a very large and threatening debt on it, they would 
 hardly go through it. The Great Northern and Northern Pacific 
 railroads would fight it as they would pestilence, famine and several 
 other things. [Applause. 1 There need be no applause about that, 
 because, of course, we all glean from old immigrants in Montana 
 that it is the easiest thing in the world for us to sign our name to a 
 paper and promise that other generations shall pay it, or the incom- 
 ing migration, but there will not be much migration, for the debt 
 will be large. I know that when a man promises to pay he expects 
 to pay. It is the most convenient thing in the world to sign a note 
 and the most inconvenient to pay it. I appreciate as well as any- 
 body else the proposition that we ought to have these lands ren- 
 dered fertile, to make garden spots of what is now desert; but I 
 should think that a great commonwealth like this has got to be 
 gradually settled. Everything has got to grow coherently side by 
 side according as it develops, and you cannot go to work and put 
 out a paradise with nobody to occupy it, no angels, male or female, 
 to fly in it. It would be perfectly idle to do so. And while I know 
 of no more beautiful sight than to see the great state of Montana 
 with its wonderful fertility reclaimed by water, even though it is 
 stored, everybody who may come along looking for new lands and 
 new homes will but use it as a stepping stone, if the burden of taxa- 
 tion is likely to be too large. I have sometimes thought that per- 
 haps we should levy a proper tax and reclaim it. That is all right. 
 That is gentlemanly. Take the burden of taxation on ourselves and 
 not palm it off upon our children. The subject is one of great per- 
 plexity and magnitude, and if I were to be asked to say what was to 
 be done, I think I would have modestly to say, "I don't know what 
 to do." I came here to find out, but no one has enlightened me, and 
 although we have had several resolutions adopted, I can't say their 
 
32 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 adoption was wise. I can't say it was foolish. We have for many 
 years endeavored to ascertain to what extent we can enlarge our ag- 
 ricultural area and make it profitable. This only comes down to the 
 ultimate proposition Will it pay? Of course this will pay us if we 
 can get a commission on the bonds, or get into the job; but the big 
 brawny man whose right arm makes Montana beautiful will have it 
 to pay. I am therefore opposed to those who propose to make 
 money off the scheme. 
 
 I was much in favor of this convention and the one a year ago, , 
 not because I expected you would evolve from them a definite and 
 proper plan that would be wise, because a thing of this vastness can 
 not be settled in a day; it grows up; it is born of thought, not only 
 of wise men, but of all men practical men, and I hope you have not 
 adjourned without getting one step in advance in this matter. 
 
 A lawyer is a moral philosopher. If he isn't that, he is a mere 
 chatterer of idle decisions hunting office quite likely. But it is talk 
 upon this matter, I don't mean from lawyers exclusively, or largely, 
 but farmers; but you cannot bar lawyers, merchants or preachers. 
 It is that kind of talk that is going ultimately to evolve out of all 
 this thinking, what is the wisest thing for us to do; and I am afraid 
 you have written a great many resolutions, been up in the Montana 
 club a good deal too much, and sat down here, and haven't talked 
 enough. It is the talk upon this subject of irrigation and what is 
 wisest and best to do, that makes suggestions to you that you are 
 going to take to your homes and talk over with your wives, your 
 neighbors and your children and, when you come here again in six 
 months or a year, that is going to bring out of the whole matter the 
 appropriate thing to do. I can't help you any. I don't know but it 
 is the largest question we have to deal with in the state of Montana. 
 It is precisely as if this convention was coming here now and then 
 to fulfill its mission, adopt rules and regulations, and keep alive the 
 issues and kindle a new interest. That is just what we are to do. In 
 the United States senate and congress we have undertaken so far 
 as we can to turn the matter over to each state for its determination, 
 and let the United States step forward, to do what it will. They have 
 had to go moderately at work on it in congress, but the matter has 
 been one of large discussion, and they would like to get rid of it if 
 they could. It is so large that the courts of the United States do not 
 feel adequate to deal with it. One of the ablest and best men in the 
 United States senate said in my hearing, and I believe in response to 
 a speech of my own, that he was in favor of giving the whole thing 
 over to the people of the state and letting them deal with it, and I 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 33 
 
 suppose that is true. 
 
 I do not get away from the state of Montana with solicitude for 
 any subject so intense as the solicitude I have about this matter, and 
 I am. glad to see that so many men have come from all over the state 
 with the same solicitude; come here with sober minds, not to burden 
 the people of the state, but to take the matter earnestly into consid- 
 eration and do that which they think to be the wisest and most pru- 
 dent to the last. This is precisely the condition that devolves upon 
 us, and it is this that alleviates the duty we have to perform in con- 
 nection with this matter. 
 
 A. Nelson spoke of the United States geological survey and 
 reports on canals and irrigation, and referred the delegates to Sen- 
 ator Sanders. 
 
 Senator Sanders said only a limited supply of these were given 
 out. He had endeavored to supply the various libraries in the state 
 but could not do much more. 
 
 The roll was called preparatory to the election of officers for the 
 ensuing year. 
 
 President The officers of this association consist of a president, 
 two vice presidents and an executive committee consisting of one 
 from each county. The first officer to be chosen is a president. 
 
 The names of John A. Robinson of Gallatin and Z. T. Burton of 
 Choteau were then placed in nomination. 
 
 Mr. Burton I feel very grateful for the offering of my name for 
 the honorable position of president of this body, but I was just rising 
 to secbnd the nomination of Mr. Robinson, and I therefore withdraw 
 my name and second the nomination of the gentleman from Galla- 
 tin. 
 
 Mr. Parchen I nominate Mr. H. P. Rolfe, the present efficient 
 president of this body. 
 
 Mr. Rolfe I feel very much obliged, but I have had all the hon- 
 or I desire. 
 
 A motion that nominations be closed carried, as did a motion 
 that the secretary be authorized to cast the ballot for John A Robin- 
 son, for president. 
 
 Mr. Robinson was called and responded as follows: 
 
 I certainly appreciate the honor which you have bestowed upon 
 me. It was entirely unexpected, and I feel that you have not made 
 a very good choice. Of course, I am not accustomed to making 
 speeches. I never made a speech that amounted to anything in my 
 life; although I have been accused of such things, I plead not guilty. 
 I will certainly do the best I can in promoting the interests of irriga- 
 
34 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 ; ad a person really does not know what a horse can do until 
 you hiich him up, and certainly when I go home to the ares of my 
 ranch and the time comes to turn the water on, with a shovel and my 
 sleeves rolled up, I hope to be able to promote irrigation. 
 
 For first vice president, Mr. O'Donnell of Yellowstone was 
 elected. 
 
 For second vice president, Mr. Wright of Cascade, the secretary 
 casting the vote as before. 
 
 Nominations for secretary being in order, Mr. Wade said: 
 
 Mr. Chairman: The office of secretary, it seems to me, is the 
 most important of all, because it is in his hands and in his power to 
 make this convention a success. I therefore put in nomination the 
 name of Mr. Robbins, our present efficient secretary. 
 
 The name of H. M. Parchen was also proposed but withdrawn. 
 
 On motion the president was authorized to cast the vote of the 
 convention for secretary, which he did by casting thirty-six votes for 
 S. B. Robbins. 
 
 Mr. Robbins I thank you, very much for this honor, and I quite 
 agree with Mr. Wade that the secretary will have the most to do, and 
 I certainly shall do all in my power to promote the interests of irri- 
 gation throughout Montana. 
 
 H. M. Parchen was unanimously elected treasurer for the com- 
 g year. 
 
 A delegate Mr. President: I would like to ask what shall be 
 done in the case of counties not represented; for instance, Fergus 
 county, one of our best agricultural counties, a county where the sub- 
 ject of irrigation requires the most attention, is not represented at 
 
 ai. 
 
 A voice Mr. Goodell was in here. 
 
 Speaker, continuing I think there are one or two other counties 
 that are not represented, and I merely used that as an example. 
 What is to be done in the case of new counties created? Members 
 of the executive committee, I understand from the rules, are to rep- 
 resent the association in their county and are to rustle around gen. 
 erally, look out for the interests of the society, and particularly to 
 obtain new membership; and it is important that we shall have a 
 representative from every county. We would like some arrange- 
 ments made providing for representation from each county and also 
 for new counties. 
 
 Mr. Nelson -I move that the executive committee that we are to 
 nominate and elect tonight consist of members selected by this con- 
 vention to secure representatives from th: new counties which have 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 35 
 
 been created or will be. 
 
 Mr. Oliver suggested that in case of new counties and counties 
 not represented tonight, they could be within the next year entitled 
 to representation by the appointment of citizens of that county who 
 should join the organization. 
 
 Mr. Shuart said that he had a little experience in connection 
 with the Wool Growers association of this state. Anyone having 
 work of this kind through the executive committee might correspond 
 with the chairman of the board of commissioners of that county, or 
 with anyone he saw fit, usually some person who first expressed a 
 willingness to become a member of the society; that we take no risk 
 in appointing someone who will accept it. 
 
 Mr. Nelson For instance, say we appoint a man tonight that 
 lives in Choteau county. Being in Choteau county, he will be near 
 Valley county and will know a man in that county to whom he can 
 write, whereas, the secretary would have to write all over the state. 
 The representative of Missoula county will know somebody in Flat- 
 head county or the lower county, and so in regard to Teton. If the 
 executive committee will do this, they will save the secretary from 
 writing all over. 
 
 By motion duly carried, the president and secretary were auth- 
 orized to fill all vacancies existing in the executive board after the 
 appointment of members by the convention. 
 
 The following members were then chosen: W. M. Oliver, 
 Beayerhead; H. P. Rolfe, Cascade; G. C. Burns, Choteau; A. L. 
 Huffman, Custer; C. K. Hardenbrook, Deer Lodge; Clarence Good- 
 ell, Fergus; John A. Keating, Jefferson; W. W. Alderson, Gallatin; 
 Donald Bradford, Lewis and Clarke; W. H. Sutherlin, Meagher; 
 A. G. England, Missoula; Alfred Myers, Park; T. J. Conner, Madi- 
 son; Z. T. Burton, Teton; Fred Whiteside, Flathead; John Caplice, 
 Silver Bow; Tom O'Hanlon, Valley. 
 
 Nominations for the engineering committee were then declared 
 in order, and the following were chosen: C. W. Thorpe, Bozeman, 
 Gallatin county; A. J. Crawley, Boulder, Jefferson county; S. B. 
 Robbins, Great Falls, Cascade county; J. M. Paige, Twin Bridges, 
 Madison county; J. W. Wade, Helena, Lewis and Clarke county; 
 
 A delegate thought that there had been a motion empowering 
 the president and secretary to receive membership, and was informed 
 that they were authorized by the motion he referred to to fill vacan- 
 cies in the executive committee. 
 
 The following amendment was made to the motion: "And for- 
 
36 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 ward the money to the secretary;" which received a second, and 
 carried. 
 
 Mr. Wright, of Cascade I believe the next in order is the selec- 
 tion of a place for holding the next meeting". In behalf of the dele- 
 gates from Cascade county, in behalf of the board of trade of Great 
 Falls, and in behalf of the citizens of Great Falls, I extend to this 
 convention an invitation to hold its next annual meeting at Great 
 Falls. 
 
 The invitation was accepted and the above place designated for 
 the holding of the next annual meeting. 
 
 Mr. Wade I would like to ask for information. If a committee 
 were here to make a certain report and no chairman were named, 
 would the first named be the chairman? Answered affirmatively. 
 
 Senator Sanders Why not make Wade chairman? He is cen- 
 trally located. 
 
 Mr. Wade I didn't mean that. I simply wanted to know. 
 
 President If there is no objection on the part of the convention 
 Mr. Wade will be appointed chairman of the five engineers. 
 
 No objection, and Mr. Wade was declared chairmen-. 
 
 Moved that a vote of thanks be tendered by this convention to 
 the board of trade and citizens of Helena, and to the several rail- 
 roads, for favors extended to this convention. Carried. 
 
 The president suggested that before adjournment some provision 
 should be made for the publication of the reports and the payment 
 of the bills of the stenographers, of whom, he said, there had been 
 three, during the whole session. 
 
 It was moved that the treasurer be required to pay the bills of 
 the stenographers for their reports first, and then if the funds in the 
 treasury were sufficient, to have printed 500 copies of the proceed- 
 ings, that a copy thereof be furnished to each member of the con- 
 vention, and that the rest be judiciously distributed throughout the 
 state. Carried. 
 
 It was suggested that someone should arrange the reports and 
 get them in proper shape for publication. The president said there 
 were yet some reports to be received; that that from Park county 
 was the only one in shape to go into the pamphlet; that it would be 
 necessary for someone to arrange the pamphlet before publication. 
 
 The following motion then carried: 
 
 I move that the secretary compile the pamphlet, and if there is 
 sufficient money in the treasury, to have it published, and that he 
 also be instructed to purchase for his use suitable stationery. 
 
 The question of the cost of publication was taken up and the 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 37 
 
 matter of the same expense last year discussed. 
 
 The secretary was instructed to correspond with Mr. Brown, the 
 chairman of the printing committee, on the subject. 
 
 Mr. Nelson I move that the person who was treasurer of the 
 last convention be requested by the secretary upon the action of 
 this convention to report in full how much money was received and 
 how much expended, and let it be embodied in the proceedings of 
 this convention; and that he turn the balance, if any, over to the new 
 treasurer of this organization. The motion prevailed. 
 
 A motion was introduced that the secretary of the committee on 
 publication be required to give an account of the money and state 
 how many pamphlets were distributed and turn over the balance of 
 the money, if any, after having made his accou ting, which of course 
 was to be accompanied by the printer's bill. Carried. 
 
 Mr. Nelson said he understood that the constitution made no 
 provision for a report by the treasurer so far as this convention is 
 concerned, and thought provision should be made for a report at the 
 next annual meeting by the treasurer of all money received and ex- 
 pended make a full statement of the accounts of the convention. 
 
 A motion to the effect that the minutes of this meeting be pub- 
 lished; that 500 copies be put in the hands of the executive commit- 
 tee for distribution according to some equitable means, was intro- 
 duced. 
 
 President I want to say that in the manner in which these pa- 
 pers are today, the secretary will have to employ a typewriter in 
 order to get them into shape, and he ought to be compensated for 
 the expense. 
 
 Mr. Burton of Choteau moved that the motion just introduced 
 be amended to the effect that the secretary see that the publication 
 of these proceedings did not cost more than the amount of money in 
 the treasury. Amendment concurred in and motion carried. 
 
 Senator Sanders I move that the thanks of this association be 
 tendered to the officers of this convention. Carried. 
 
 Mr. Whiteside I listened with a great deal of interest to the re- 
 marks made tonight by our senator, and while I do not feel able to 
 follow him, I wish to express one or two thoughts that occurred to 
 me as he was talking. He said he hoped this convention would not 
 adjourn without taking one step forward in the solution of this prob- 
 lem of irrigation, and 1 do not see that we have. While I agree with 
 him in everything that he said, most particularly in the statement 
 that this subject is a vast one, and while it is vast and the responsi- 
 bilities are great, it is certainly not a new one. It is the same con- 
 
3 8 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 dition that confronted the people of Colorado, California and other 
 states, and while they have not solved the problem entirely, they 
 have certainly gone forward on the line; and I move you that the 
 officers of this convention be a committee, together with the presi- 
 dent and secretary, the two vice presidents and three of the execu- 
 tive committee whom they shall appoint, shall be a committee to 
 frame or suggest to the legislative assembly of the state of Montana 
 suitable legislation. 
 
 Mr. Murray of Gallatin I have been working with the Farmers 
 alliance of Gallatin county, but on a different proposition than this. 
 I have learned from Senator Sanders that he was not able to solve 
 or tell the people what was the best way to pursue to alleviate the 
 ranchmen and farmers of the great state of Montana from the di- 
 lemma which legislation or rather, lack of legislation, has placed 
 the honest yeoman of Montana. You contravene the interest of the 
 farmer of today when you license corporations to take water from 
 the rivers of Montana; and when you take away from the honest 
 yeoman and the people and place the water in the hands of a cor- 
 poration, you rob them; you rob the beef raiser; you rob the sheep- 
 man; you rob the horseman; you rob the miner who takes gold and 
 silver out of the bowels of the earth, because you emburden upon 
 him a higher price for everything he uses. I have a bill here of the 
 prices of the farmer's products of Gallatin valley and the state at 
 large, that I dare any man to contradict as far as its veracity is con- 
 cerned, and you can go home and figure for yourselves and see what 
 the farmers of the state are getting for what they produce. Now, we 
 get 50 cents a bushel for wheat (flour is worth $2.20 now), oats are 
 worth 80 cents and potatoes 60 cents a hundred. Now 1 ask this 
 convention that they frame a law and that they frame that law to 
 stop corporations from taking the water from the honest yeoman. 
 
 Senator Sanders concurred in the propositions advanced by Mr. 
 Murray. He said the gentleman was right. It would be a good 
 deal wiser to say we won't have any corporations in the state or any 
 other thing that is an outrage and no more upon everybody. If a 
 man wants to go into business, let him take his money and go into 
 it; let him take his credit and go into it; let him take his individual 
 liability and go into it. That is all right; he then becomes the in- 
 dorser of his enterprise; he is responsible for his success or failure; 
 his estate is security that he won't r ;n around and undertake swind- 
 ling anybody; but we have enlarged this matter of incorporating any 
 enterprise until we have encouraged this gambling into every line of 
 business, and with $500 or $1,000 a man can set up any kind of game 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 39 
 
 he chooses under the guise of a corporation and cheat anybody and 
 leave him a creditor of his concern. If he has made out of that cor- 
 poration five hundred or more dollars, he can laugh at owing any 
 widow or orphan in the state and every fanner, and can walk off 
 with the money, and they have no redress. So that, if the people of 
 Montana apprehend the philosophy of government as philosophers, 
 we can incorporate railroad companies because that we all feel is a 
 public convenience, but when it comes down to extending the laws 
 of corporation to business affairs, if permitted at all, he thought 
 ample security should be given that the business be conducted hon- 
 orably; that business corporations would exist and the farmers and 
 the people of Montana continue to be swindled by the shrewd, de- 
 ceiving and dishonest incorporators until their eyes were opened 
 and proper legislation secured on the corporation laws of the state. 
 
 He referred to the common law on the subject of corporations, 
 saying that it extended the privilege of incorporating only to those 
 concerns which were of public convenience, as railroad and gas 
 companies. To that he was favorable. But while he thought that 
 the privilege of incorporating was properly given them, street rail- 
 roads, water, gas and electric light companies, he said, should be 
 under the control of the state and the people of the state; that if a 
 man wanted to enter into any business, let him take his money and 
 invest it on his own liability; if he succeeds, he is justly entitled to 
 his profits; but if he fails, make him give up his estate and every 
 part thereof until every man, woman and child who are creditors of 
 his are paid. Corporations had fed on the people for the last twen- 
 ty-five or fifty years and made the Goulds, the Vanderbilts, the 
 Astors and the Westinghouses. 
 
 In conclusion he said that though the appointment of a commit- 
 tee, as suggested by Messrs. Whiteside and Murray, was all right, he 
 did not know what kind of a law they would frame; that it should be 
 one declaring the water of the state the property of the state and the 
 people of the state and the land along the banks a part and parcel 
 of the sovereignty of the state of Montana. He referred incidentally 
 to Mr. Parchen whom he said was a member of the gas company. 
 He was in favor of paying him for his plant and letting it be the 
 property of the people of the state the property of the public. 
 
 The following resolution was introduced: 
 
 That the executive committee, together with the president and 
 secretary, be instructed to draw up resoluitons on this question, to 
 be presented at the next session of the body at Great Falls. 
 
 To which the following amendment was made: 
 
40 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 That the secretary be instructed to send to every member of this 
 society a copy of^the proposed bill or proposed resolution, at least 
 thirty days befor'e the convening of the next convention. 
 
 The amendment was accepted and the motion carried. 
 
 Mr. Murray suggested that the president and secretary and ex- 
 ecutive committee, forming the committee just chosen, should have 
 Senator Sanders' aid in drawing up the resolutions. 
 
 President Rolfe You have elected a president, and I think it is 
 but fitting that he take the chair before we adjourn; and I appoint 
 Messrs. Wade and O'Donnell to conduct Mr. Robinson to the chair. 
 
 A motion was introduced to the effect that the president, two 
 vice presidents and secretary be a committee to arrange a program, 
 employ speakers, etc., one month before our next annual meeting 
 for the purpose of reading before the convention at that time. 
 
 The motion carried. 
 
 It was suggested to the president that he might possibly not 
 have looked over the rules as yet, and that there were to be repre- 
 sentatives, one from each county, appointed to prepare papers and 
 reports to present to the convention at its next meeting and that 
 they be men who are superintending ditches, practical men, and not 
 those entirely ignorant on the subject. 
 
 On motion of H. P. Rolfe the convention adjourned sine die. 
 
REPORTS ON THE STATE OF IRRIGA- 
 TION IN SEVERAL COUNTIES. 
 
 CASCADE COUNTY. 
 
 In Cascade county the record for irrigation is as follows: 
 
 Sun River, in operation, 12 miles, approximate cost, $24,000; 
 Crown Butte, 26 miles, $76,000; Wilson & Thomson, 24 miles, $70,000; 
 Chestnut Valley, 12 miles, $24,000; Missouri Rapids, 5 miles, $15,000; 
 Willow Creek, 7 miles, $7,000; Muddy, 10 miles, $10,000. Total, 96 
 miles, $226,000. 
 
 Under construction Benton lake, 20 miles; Priest's rapids, 24 
 miles; Muddy reservoir, 217 acres area, average depth 25 feet, to 
 cover about 4,000 acres in connection with the Muddy ditch, to cost, 
 approximately, $10,000. 
 
 Small ditches, owned with the land and built at a comparatively 
 limited cost, as follows, from one to three miles long: Belt creek, 
 Willow creek, Otter creek, Sand Coulee creek, Deep creek, Wegner 
 creek. 
 
 One great drawback upon irrigation today is the system of tax- 
 ation. Example: A ditch 10 miles long, costing $10,000, to irrigate 
 2,000 acres, assessed $6,666; 2,000 acres of land assessed $30,000; 
 2,000 acres adjoining land assessed $30,000, making total assessment 
 $66,600, less adjoining land assessed at $3 per acre, $12,000, leaving 
 assessment on the ditch, which cost $10,000, at $54,600, and this two 
 years before a drop of water had been put through the ditch. 
 
 Taken as an example of whether irrigation pays or not, the strip 
 
42 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 of the Sun river valley from Great Falls to the town of Sun River 
 shows without any assistance from other sources. From the mouth 
 of the river to where the Muddy empties in the valley is given up to 
 prairie dogs and nothing is raised. This stretch is about fifteen 
 miles long. When one goes up the hill at Sun River Leavings, what 
 a sight meets his eyes, and how entirely different from the one just 
 left behind ! Ahead, the valley is green with great fields of timothy 
 up to one's waist, fields of wheat thrashing forty and often more 
 bushels per acre, oat fields where the farmer gets his eighty bushels 
 per acre and more, avenues of trees along the roads and up to the 
 houses, the farms fenced, well-built houses and good barns, some- 
 times of stone, and every evidence of prosperity, and the whole of 
 this caused by a little stream of water running a distance of twelve 
 or thirteen miles in a ditch about ten or twelve feet wide, and applied 
 to the farms along its course. One of the most noticeable places is 
 that of Mr. Robert S. Ford, the president of the Great Falls National 
 bank, and he was laughed at when he started in to reclaim this un- 
 promising piece of land, all covered with sage brush twenty years 
 ago when he took it up, and now one of the prettiest places in the 
 state and a profitable one too. 
 
 Cascade county has the water and the land, more water than 
 almost any other portion of the arid region, and land second to none, 
 and what is needed is capital to go ahead and wise energetic men at 
 the head of the enterprises to build the canals and colonize the lands 
 under them. 
 
 The greatest drawback to the proper development of the arid 
 region is the building of small ditches along the bottom lands, using 
 up the water and wasting it so that there never can be water enough 
 to put into a high-line canal without endless lawsuits, and probably 
 not then. But if the high-line canal (and there is almost always one) 
 were built first all these small ditches would be unnecessary; their 
 owners could get water from the big ditch just as well, without the 
 loss of available water from seepage and evaporation caused by all 
 the small ditches. The bench lands are almost invariably the best 
 adapted for agriculture and these could be developed by a high-line 
 canal where they never could be reached by the small ones. Right 
 here in Cascade county and the adjoining portions of Teton, Lewis 
 and Clarke and Choteau, that are in the same drainage basin, lie 
 about 1,000,000 acres of unexcelled agricultural land that could be 
 watered by the building of two systems of irrigation canals. The 
 two systems woj.ld cost very large sums of money, but they would be 
 cheaper than the average of the United States by many dollars when 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 43 
 
 the cost per acre irrigated was considered. But they would support 
 a population of half a million people, directly and indirectly. They 
 would be paying propositions to the promoters, the investors, the 
 farmers, and to the whole state of Montana. 
 
 "Irrigation has been waiting to receive the same enthusiastic 
 consideration that the men of the west have lavished upon mines, 
 town lots and railroads. If Colorado, Montana and Utah will put 
 their brains and energies into the subject now they will go to the 
 front with a bound." 
 
 GALLATIN COUNTY. 
 
 Gallatin county was one of the earliest settled counties in the 
 state and the farmers started in in early days to construct ditches 
 and there are now some sixty-four or more ditches, some very ex- 
 pensive, almost all of them completed. Irrigation can show in Gal- 
 latin county the best practical results of any county in the state, if 
 not in the entire arid regions. Such in fact was the expression of 
 Senator Stoddard when, as a member of the congressional commis- 
 sion, he visited Montana three years ago. 
 
 Most of the canals and ditches have been constructed by private 
 enterprise, paid for by local capital, and principally by the farmers. 
 I think it is safe to say that they have expended since the settlement 
 of the county $500,000 in canals and irrigating ditches, four-fifths of 
 which have been constructed by the farmers themselves. There are 
 two ditches which are under the control, practically, of outside capi- 
 talists, but one of which has been constructed by outside capital. In 
 fact, they cannot be said to be controlled by outside capital, as the 
 parties who have contributed most extensively are the farmers in 
 Gallatin valley. 
 
 The Manhattan Malting company has the most expensive ditch* 
 in the county if not in the state. The main ditch is twenty-four miles 
 in length and they propose to add three miles, making twenty-seven 
 miles in all, which will cost $100,000. 
 
 The Gallatin canal was started by the farmers themselves, but 
 they felt as though they were unable to complete it so they appealed 
 to outside capitalists, who induced the farmers to take stock in the 
 enterprise and they managed the business. The farmers took almost 
 stock enough to build the ditch and the matter is now in the courts. 
 It seems that the incorporators and officers of the ditch company 
 voted to themselves a large amount of stock with no consideration 
 while the stock that was issued to the farmers had to be paid for, in 
 
44 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 actual work on the ditch. I see that the courts have recently set 
 aside the action of the incorporators and officer^ of the company, so 
 far as they have appropriated large blocks of . tock to themselves 
 and to which they were not entitled, so that, practically, the canal, 
 which is eighteen or twenty miles in length, and cost $75,000, was 
 built by the farmers of the Gallatin valley and it will eventually fall 
 into their hands. 
 
 The ditches there are easily constructed and the valley is beauti- 
 fully watered, as every one knows. It is comparatively easy to divert 
 the water of the streams on to the land to be irrigated. It is merely 
 a matter of sticking in a plow and plowing a few furrows which are 
 cleaned by the use of some crude instrument to throw out the dirt, 
 but whatever sort of a ditch it is they all cost money. With the 
 ditches we now have, perhaps one-half of the tillable land is under 
 ditch, or can be irrigated. 
 
 There is another ditch there called the Excelsior. It was built 
 in six or eight months and I do not know what the cost was. It is 
 proposed to increase the length of this ditch the coming season. We 
 have had more or less litigation at first to quiet the rights of the 
 claimants to water and to determine the amount of water each of the 
 parties is entitled to. This has amounted to a considerable amount 
 of money in the aggregate, but it has been distributed amongst so 
 many that it has scarcely been felt. 
 
 At present we are in splendid shape in regard to the condition 
 of our irrigating ditches and canals. We are producing a large 
 amount of grain in the Gallatin valley and in the foothills next to 
 the mountains and on the mountain slopes thousands upon thousands 
 of bushels of winter wheat have been raised without resorting to irri- 
 gation. This land will remain as fertile and sustain large crops, as 
 it has been demonstrated that our mountain streams furnish, very 
 4argely, the necessary ingredients to sustain and restore the soil and 
 supply that which was taken away by the crops. The soil varies in 
 depth from six to eight feet. Our irrigation system has demonstrated 
 that where the ground has been properly cultivated and irrigated for 
 one or two years it needs a less amount of water afterwards than it 
 did at first. I have noticed very frequently that after a severe dry 
 spell irrigation causes a heavy rainfall. There may be something in 
 the statement that the evaporation of the water causes condensation. 
 There does not seem to be so much trouble about water as in former 
 years. Our farmers do not resort to irrigation so often in the season 
 to produce their crops. It is seldom that they have to irrigate more 
 than once or twice, unless it is where the soils are somewhat shallow 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 45 
 
 with boulders and gravel near the surface. There is a great divers- 
 ity of soil in the Gallatin valley. A portion of this has been taken 
 up by the Manhattan Malting company. It is sandy and loose and 
 requires more water than moist soil. It has been demonstrated that 
 it produces excellent barley. They will raise 30,000 bushels and will 
 add very largely to the productive industries of Gallatin county. 
 They are becoming quite an important factor in our prosperity. 
 
 JEFFERSON COUNTY. 
 
 Jefferson county is situated about the center of the state. It has 
 quite an amount of agricultural land and is watered largely by the 
 Missouri river on the southeast, and the Big and Little Boulder 
 rivers, White-tail Deer creek, Cataract c|Bk, Muskrat creek, Basin 
 creek, Red Rock creek, Elkhorn creek, B^PIr creek, Big and Little 
 Pipestone creeks, Fish creek, Crow creek and Prickly Pear creek. 
 
 Along all these streams is a large area of agricultural land, only 
 partially covered by water. There are about two hundred and 
 twenty-five miles of what is known as irrigating ditches taken from 
 the above named streams, carrying all the way from twenty to five 
 hundred inches of water each, and irrigating about thirty-four thou- 
 sand acres of land during the wet season, but during the dry season 
 about one-third of the above number would be useless. 
 
 There is, with the exception of extreme dry weather, a sufficient 
 supply of water to fill all the ditches. But by the construction of 
 small dams on the above creeks, there could be water enough saved 
 to cover four times that amount of land. 
 
 Speaking of dams and reservoir sites, would say that nature has 
 placed good sites on all these streams, not requiring dams of over 
 fifteen to three hundred feet in length. These would furnish water 
 enough to cover all the agricultural land along these creeks. 
 
 Very respectfully, E. RYAN. 
 
 PARK COUNTY. 
 
 Park county has an estimated acreage of 130,000 acres of agri- 
 cultural lands, something over 40,000 acres of which are under irri- 
 gation. Her source of water supply is the Yellowstone river and its 
 various tributaries, the largest and principal ones of which are 
 Shields river, Big Timber creek, Sweet Grass creek, the Boulder and 
 
SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 the Clark's fork, the latter bringing in the waters of Red Lodge and 
 Rocky fork creeks. 
 
 Our county was first occupied exclusively by stock growers, and 
 used as one vast range. The stockmen paid no attention to the rais- 
 ing of any crops other than hay, and depended on the Gallatin valley 
 for their grain and vegetables. The building of the Northern Pacific 
 railroad and the consequent building up of towns along this line 
 created a demand for farm products that induced men to test the 
 capacities of the soil, and the raising of grain and vegetables of all 
 kinds was found so profitable that all the land that can be watered 
 cheaply on the upper Yellowstone and Shields river is at present 
 under cultivation, and Park county's stock-growing interests are now 
 second to her agricultural. Gradually the ranch hunter has pushed 
 up the smaller streams locating the valley and bottom lands, till the 
 latter ones have been f^Bd to the bench lands, which are now, well 
 up to the foot of the^nountains, under the influence of water, 
 ana there we find today our most valuable farms and by far the 
 greatest yields. To the present time the most of our farming 
 has been done on the valleys and small streams where the settler 
 could build his ditch quickly and at small expense. The waters of 
 these streams being almost all appropriated and the demand for 
 farm products far in excess of the supply, some of our more enter- 
 prising citizens have been induced to construct expensive ditches 
 from the Yellowstone river to irrigate the valleys and bench lands 
 adjacent thereto, which could not be reached by the water from the 
 smaller streams. The year 1892 has witnessed the construction of a 
 ditch fifteen miles in length, carrying 6,000 inches of water, to irri- 
 gate the valley in the upper Yellowstone; two ditches between Liv- 
 ingston and Mission creek bringing some 6,000 acres of land under 
 the wholesome influence of irrigation, thus converting table land 
 almost worthless into valuable farms. Another ditch some ten miles 
 in length is carrying 10,000 inches of water from Big Timber creek 
 into the fertile and productive valley of Otter creek. These three 
 large ditches are all that Park county can boast of today. 
 
 The valley of the Boulder has most all been taken up and placed 
 under irrigation by small ditches, but the bench lands on both sides 
 of the river have not yet felt the influence of irrigation, and only 
 await the construction of canals too expensive for the individual 
 farmer to build to bring under cultivation farms more extensive than 
 are now under cultivation, in the bottoms and valleys. 
 
 A visit to the upper Sweet Grass valley reveals the most pros- 
 perous of all Park county farms. These lands are watered by small 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 47 
 
 mountain streams from which ditches have been constructed at little 
 expense, but here again are the bench lands lying idle for lack of 
 capital to construct irrigating canals. 
 
 The southeastern portion of Park county has only recently been 
 brought to the attention of agriculturists by the opening of the Rocky 
 fork coal mines, and the construction of the Rocky fork railroad. 
 Here we find the Red Lodge and Willow creek valleys, that are sec- 
 ond in fertility to no portion of the United States. These valleys 
 comprise 50,000 acres of land that must for the most part be irrigated 
 from the' waters of the Rocky fork creek, but canals for this purpose 
 can not be built at a cost within the means of the settlers and ranch- 
 ers. For this purpose capital will have to be called upon, or state 
 aid obtained to help build the necessary canals and ditches. That 
 portion that can be watered by the smaller streams is now taken up 
 and being cultivated, but hundreds of valuable locations are await- 
 ing the building of canals only, when they will support large and 
 prosperous communities. 
 
 Park county successfully grows all kinds of small fruits and apples 
 of the hardier varieties; oats from forty to eighty bushels per acre; 
 wheat of a good quality twenty-five to fifty bushels to the acre; bar- 
 ley not excelled anywhere; potatoes and all other root crops in such 
 enormous yields that we hardly dare give the actual figures, as 
 strangers to our soil could not believe them true. It is only with the 
 aid of irrigation that any of our land is productive, and if some 
 equitable system can be devised whereby the state can render us any 
 assistance it will certainly add millions to the wealth of the state of 
 Montana. We need not fear overproduction so long as the state im- 
 ports from older states millions of dollars' worth of farm products 
 annually. A market can be found for all we can raise at home. 
 
 T. P. Me DONALD. 
 
 MEAGHER COUNTY. 
 
 Mr. Sutherlin stated that the report from Meagher county would 
 be similar to the report presented last year, except that we have 
 made considerable progress with our irrigation in Meagher county. 
 The proposed ditch or canal spoken of in that report has been put 
 into operation, that is, a company has been organized and nearly all 
 of the stock has been sold. The company has spent about three 
 months in constructing a canal four or five miles in length. Its 
 machine for ditching is one of the most improved 1 (I have forgotten 
 
48 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 the name of it) and it does the work admirably. It is proposed with 
 this canal to cover the portion of Meagher county that remains un- 
 cultivated. I believe the canal will be a great thing for the Missouri 
 valley. It will be the making of Broadwater county make it one of 
 the best agricultural districts in the state. The entire bench lands 
 along the valley are good and will produce great crops. This has 
 been proven by tests already made. I look to see great results from 
 that canal. 
 
 In the Musselshell there have been several canals taken out 
 within the last year or two. These have taken about all the water of 
 the river. The longest of these canals is about seven miles long and 
 carries about 800 inches of water. The other is probably four miles 
 and carries the same amount of water. 
 
 TETON COUNTY. 
 
 One of the oldest canals is the Eldorado, which covers an area 
 of about 15,000 acres of land, obtained by several parties upon spec- 
 ulation, which is non-productive at present. This canal carries about 
 150 cubic feet per second. The largest canal in this county is the 
 Eureka, about forty-two miles in length, including main and main 
 laterals, carrying about 250 cubic feet per second, covering an area 
 of about 30,000 acres, of which about 12,000 acres have been filed on. 
 Both of the above canals receive their water from the Teton river. 
 
 There are several small canals tapping the various streams in 
 the entire county, making a total length of over 200 miles. Within 
 this county there are at least 100,000 acres of land under these canals 
 the greater portion of which would be purely grazing lands were it 
 not for artificial watering. At present the so-called natural hay 
 lands are almost a failure and every stockman we meet says we will 
 have to make canals on our lands to insure us plenty of hay to win- 
 ter our stock. 
 
 It is universally acknowledged that irrigation is the only means 
 by which the demands can be supplied. On our desert lands with 
 canals eighty bushels of oats per acre have been raised. Wheat and 
 barley are looking well and promise an excellent yield at this date. 
 Bluejoint hay has proven quite a success on the Basin and Eureka 
 ranches. All herbs and etables grow in abundance in this entire 
 county. 
 
 Some companies claim that irrigation will not pay in northern 
 Montana, but a Close investigation and observation have revealed 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 49 
 
 the fact that their claim is based upon experience with canals poorlv 
 constructed, on uneven grades, which wash in some places and fill 
 up in others, so that the repairing costs more than the actual irriga- 
 tion of grain and grass; also the manager sends men out that never 
 saw a ditch before and does not instruct them by going personally on 
 the ground, and the next time the water is turned on he has another 
 new man and sends him out in the same manner as before. These 
 men let the water run too long in one place, then the land gets too 
 dry and ciusts, and the result is a poor yield of grain or half of a 
 crop of hay. Irrigation has to be conducted on scientific and busi- 
 ness-like principles. 
 
 What would be the result if a merchant, a bank or a manufac- 
 turing establishment changed employes every week or month? It 
 would not pay; they would close up. As it has been in the past, the 
 markets have been distant from most of the fine agricultural lands, 
 but today railroads bring them within easy reach of all valleys, 
 which should insure economic farmers a fairly good profit on grain. 
 Irrigation will make these bench lands graze at least ten head of 
 stock to where they will now graze one without water. 
 
 Another detriment to the cause is that many engineers have in- 
 duced capitalists to invest money upon certain statements which 
 could not be verified and they put in large sums of money, but their 
 plant finally cost three or four times the original estimate. Water is 
 often carried past choice lands a long distance to other lands and 
 seepage is so great that but a small portion of the water gets to the 
 land. The final true conclusion is a non-paying investment. I 
 honestly and sincerely submit my opinions based upon actual experi- 
 ence for the consideration of those interested in irrigation. 
 
 Very truly, M. F. ALLEN. 
 
 YELLOWSTONE COUNTY. 
 
 There is practically an unlimited supply of water for irrigation 
 in that portion of the Yellowstone valley tributary to Billings. In 
 Yellowstone county there are exclusive of the recently acquired strip 
 of the Crow reservation 1,500,000 acres of irrigable land, of which 
 500,000 are now under ditch. All of the larger ditches are taken out 
 of the Yellowstone river. The largest is that owned by the Minne- 
 sota and Montana Land and Improvement company, which is forty 
 miles long. It is controlled by the heirs of Frederick Billings and 
 Freeman Clark. It is a high line ditch and there are 60,000 acres of 
 
50 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 first-class land under it, one-half of which is under cultivation, but 
 principally in hay. Other ditches are the Canyon creek, twenty- 
 eight miles long, in the center of the valley, owned by a syndicate of 
 farmers; Italian ditch, fifteen miles long; Mill ditch,, company, fifteen 
 miles long; Clark's Fork Ditch company, ten miles; Yellowstone 
 Ditch company, fifteen miles; Stillwater ditch, twelve or fifteen 
 miles; the McAdow ditch, six miles, and a large number of smaller 
 ones, the latter covering about 30,000 acres of land. All these 
 ditches, save that of the Minnesota and Montana company, are 
 owned by farmers' syndicates, each share of stock entitling a farmer 
 to an inch of water. The river has a fall in the vicinity of Billings 
 of ten to fifteen feet to the mile, while the fall in the ditches is about 
 three feet to the mile. The advantage the Yellowstone valley farmer 
 has over the eastern agriculturist lies in the fact that he never has to 
 fertilize his land. The river carries in its current fertilizing material; 
 the ditches, having less flow than the river, catch the fertilizer and 
 carry it on the land. It takes three years to get a first-class crop, 
 and at the end of ten years' constant use the soil is more fertile than 
 at the end of three. The most productive ranches in the valley are 
 those that have been cropped the most often, and not a dollar has 
 been spent in fertilizing. 
 
 A few illustrations will show how profitable farming is in the 
 Yellowstone country, and how successfully mixed farming can be 
 carried on. The first man to experiment with the raising of alfalfa 
 in Yellowstone county was B. F. Shuart. In 1883 he took up 640 
 acres of land near Billings under the desert land act, and with no 
 previous experience in farming and a capital of less than $500 he 
 began. He devoted his attention wholly to crop raising until 1887, 
 when he bought a band of sheep and began feeding them alfalfa. In 
 May, 1892, he sold ranch, buildings and stock for $40,000. The foun- 
 dation of his success was his ability to raise alfalfa and feed it to his 
 sheep. In 1881 the farmers within twenty- five miles of Billings had 
 a surplus of 3,000 tons of hay. This they sold at $15 a ton, bringing 
 the farmers in that small radius $45,000 cash. It cost them $3 in the 
 stack and $3 to bale and deliver at the railroad, leaving a net profit 
 of $9 a ton. The next year the market for hay was a poor one; in- 
 stead of shipping they bought small bands of sheep, fed them the 
 surplus, and by utilizing the hay in this way they made the surplus 
 hay worth to them $22 a ton in mutton and wool. In the last five 
 years the value of irrigated land has risen from $5 to $30 an acre in 
 the county. The largest farm in the county is that operated by 
 Bailey & O'Donnell, containing 5,000 acres. It is mixed farming on 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 51 
 
 a big scale, for in addition to large crops of grain, hay and vegeta- 
 bles, they run 7,000 or 8,000 head of sheep, and are extensive cattle 
 and horse growers. Mr. O'Donnell is a practical farmer, and is the 
 superintendent of the Minnesota and Montana Land and Improve- 
 ment company. He is thoroughly conversant with everything in 
 connection with irrigation, having made a study of the systems in 
 Utah and Colorado. He is among the successful Yellowstone 
 farmers. 
 
 Statistics carefully kept for the last three years show that with 
 ordinary care and industry every cultivated quarter section of land 
 in the valley will yield a net annual profit of $1,000. This is on the 
 basis of what has been raised, and not what might be produced in 
 addition. The dairy interest as well as poultry raising is almost en- 
 tirely neglected, notwithstanding the fact that thousands of dollars 
 are sent out of Montana into Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Utah each 
 year for butter, eggs and chickens. Hog raising could also be suc- 
 cessfully carried on by the Yellowstone farmer. They do splendidly 
 on alfalfa, the climate is all right fpr them, and a profitable market is 
 always assured. 
 
 Some time ago the Crow Indians ceded to the government 
 2,000,000 acres of their reservation, and this is now open to settle- 
 ment. It is on the north side of the river from Billings and contains 
 some of the best land in the state. Five hundred thousand acres can 
 be irrigated. Already numerous filings have been made upon it, but 
 there are homes there for hundreds of families. These 500,000 acres 
 are well watered by small, swift streams that have their source in the 
 mountains. There is a running stream on every mile or two of the 
 land, so that it will be necessary to build only short and compara- 
 tively inexpensive ditches to utilize it. The streams on the Crow 
 reserve, like the Yellowstone, are highest in July and August, just 
 when they are most needed, because they are fed by the melting 
 snow high up in the mountains. In addition to the land acquired 
 from the Crows, and the unoccupied land in the Yellowstone valley, 
 there are 1,000,000 acres of good agricultural land in what is known 
 as Lake basin. This basin is thirty miles north and south by 100 
 east and west. It is a natural depression, surrounded by hills. 
 There is a large shallow lake in the vicinity which offers an excellent 
 opportunity to irrigate a large portion of this basin. Lines run by 
 representatives of the United States geological survey showed that a 
 high line ditch, 125 miles long, could be built, which would cover a 
 great portion of it, and that the cost of the canal would not exceed 
 $10 an acre. One-half of the land the ditch would cover is owned by 
 
52 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 the Northern Pacific railroad and could be purchased for $2.50 to $3 
 an acre; the rest could be taken up under the desert land act, 320 
 acres by each settler. A company building such a ditch and buying 
 the railroad land could sell sufficient of it to settlers at $10 an acre 
 to pay for the construction of the canal and still have the water for 
 sale. As irrigated land is worth $20 to $30 an acre within three 
 years after the water is put on it, it will be seen that there is a chance 
 *for profit in the enterprise both for the company and the settler. A 
 small area could be covered at a cost of $250,000. 
 
 BEAVERHEAD COUNTY. 
 
 Beaverhead county is geographically located in the southwestern 
 portion of the state and well up on the slope of the Rocky Mountain 
 range. It is a mountainous district with an area of about 4,500 
 square miles. Of this area about 800,000 acres is surveyed land and 
 may be classified as follows: 200,000 acres farming land; 300,000 
 acres hay and grazing land; and the balance "upper bench" land, 
 suited onlv for sheep grazing. Over 180,000 acres have been re- 
 claimed under the different land laws and final proof made thereon, 
 as shown by the records of the Helena and Missoula land offices; 
 and the great bulk of this land is now kept in a state of reclamation 
 and productiveness by the process of irrigation. However, to at- 
 tempt to give the mileage of the private ditches and their laterals 
 covering a vast quantity of land, in a report of this kind, would be 
 exceedingly difficult, and our readers must draw on their imagina- 
 tions for conclusions. The county is traversed by the following 
 streams, which furnish the water for irrigation in the valleys in 
 which they are located, to-wit: The Beaverhead, Blacktail, Rattle- 
 snake, Grasshopper, Horse Prairie creek, Medicine Lodge creek, 
 Trail Creek, Sage creek, Big and Little Sheep creeks, Painter creek, 
 Birch creek, Willow creek, Rock creek and Big Hole river. Of all 
 these streams the Beaverhead is the most important, as the valley of 
 that stream is the principal agricultural valley in the county. There 
 are now about 20,000 miner's inches of water claimed in this stream 
 and being used for irrigating purposes in the Beaverhead valley > 
 7,500 inches of which is claimed by the Canyon Ditch Co., Union 
 Ditch Co. and Beaverhead Canal Co. in about equal propor- 
 tions, and the balance by private individuals. The valleys of 
 these streams are for the most part at too great an altitude to be 
 used for agricultural purposes, having an average altitude of about 
 5,000 feet. 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 53 
 
 During the average water season there is a supply in the Beaver- 
 head more than sufficient to fill all ditches already constructed, but 
 during dry seasons such as 1889 and 1890 there was not enough to 
 supply present demands, and many claimants suffered on account of 
 shortage; and what is true of Beaverhead in this respect is also true 
 of every other stream in the county except the Big Hole river. In 
 fact the waters of all other streams in the county except the latter 
 are fully appropriated, and the contests over water in our courts in 
 later years fully prove this. 
 
 The state (through our land commissioner) has selected 
 acres of "table lands" in Beaverhead valley, on the bench west of 
 the Beaverhead river, and it is apparent to everyone acquainted with 
 the condition of irrigation in the county that before these lands can 
 be made available something like the storage process must be re- 
 sorted to. During the high water seasons the amount of water that 
 flows past us on its way to the ocean might and should be utilized by 
 being turned into reservoirs for the purpose of supplying future de- 
 mands. 
 
 I am of the opinion that every acre of arid land in this county 
 can be reclaimed by constructing dams at the outlets of the lakes on 
 our streams. During the dry seasons of 1889 and 1890 I was short of 
 my usual supply from Rock creek. During the winter of 1890-91 I 
 constructed a dam twelve feet high at the first lake to retain the 
 waste water, thus giving me a body of water one-half mile wide and 
 more than a mile in length. Should this not prove sufficient I can 
 build dams at the outlets of other lakes higher up the stream. Where 
 there are no lakes it is not difficult to find flat or marshy places 
 where a dam can be constructed at a nominal expense with timber, 
 rock, gravel, etc. This work can be done during the winter months. 
 
 JOE A. BROWN. 
 
54 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 BARNARD BROWN'S REPORT. 
 
 HELENA, Mont., Feb. 22, 1893. 
 Messrs. H. P. ROLFE, President and S. B. ROBBINS, Secretary, 
 
 Great Falls, Montana; 
 
 Gentlemen: Agreeable to your communication of the 2oth inst., 
 I submit statement of the receipts and disbursements of the Printing 
 committee of the Irrigation convention as follows: 
 
 RECEIVED. 
 
 From Deer Lodge, Dawson, Lewis and Clarke, Custer, 
 Gallatin, Silver Bow (per W. A. Clark), Missoula, 
 Meagher, Fergus, Park, Madison, Cascade, Jefferson 
 and Choteau counties 14 counties $100 each $1,400 
 
 From Mr. J. H. Longmaid 15 
 
 DISBURSED. 
 
 Paid Helena Independent $900 
 
 " C. D. Greenfield, compilation 165 
 
 " Jesse Wilson, stenographer 100 
 
 " O. C. Zoeckler, typewriter and mailing 80 
 
 " for postage, express and stationery 42 
 
 " Discount on county warrants 27 
 
 " Services secretary and treasurer 101 
 January 15 to June 30, 1892. 
 
 $1,415 
 Yours truly, 
 
 B. BROWN, Sec. & Treas. 
 
 Following is the bill of the Independent Publishing Co., which 
 shows a discrepancy of $100 with the above, in the matter of pay- 
 ment to Wilson, stenographer: 
 
 HELENA, Mont., July 27, 1892. 
 IRRIGATION CONVENTION, 
 
 To INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING Co., 
 
 _ DR. 
 
 April 23, Wilson, stenographic work $100 oo 
 
 " 2, 9,000 pamphlets 800 oo 
 
 " 20, 500 note circulars 4 S 
 
 22, printing on 500 envelopes i 75 
 
 CR. 
 
 March 18, Cash $200 oo 
 
 26, " ioo oo 
 
 April 4, Cash ioo oo 
 
 20, 
 
 June 6, 
 
 " 22, 
 
 " 27, 
 
 July ii, 
 
 IOO 00 
 IOO OO 
 IOO OO 
 IOO OO 
 IOO OO 
 
 625 
 
 $906 25 $906 25 
 
STATE IRRIGATION CONVENTION. 55 
 
 RULES, REGULATIONS AND LIST OF CHARTER MEMBERS 
 
 OF THE MONTANA STATE IRRIGATION SOCIETY. 
 
 [Instituted February 10, 1892.] 
 
 NAME, OBJECTS, ETC. 
 
 Sec. i. The name of this association shall be "The Montana 
 State Irrigation Society." 
 
 Sec. 2. The objects of the society are to promote among its 
 members the arts and sciences connected with the economical use 
 and application of water for the purpose of irrigation; the welfare of 
 those employed in the different branches of irrigation; to recommend 
 the enactment of suitable laws; the furtherance of research and ex- 
 perimentation with the different problems of irrigation as found in 
 the state of Montana, these objects to be accomplished by means of 
 meetings for social intercourse and the reading and discussion of 
 papers; and to circulate by means of publications among its mem- 
 bers the information thus obtained. 
 
 Sec. 3. The members of this society shall be persons interested 
 in irrigation. To become a member of this society all persons must 
 be proposed by a member, accompanied with a fee of admission and 
 the applicant's postoffice address, and his application shall be re- 
 ferred to the committee on membership, consisting of three members 
 of the executive committee, the secretary and the treasurer of the 
 society, who shall examine his application, and if they deem the ap- 
 plicant a proper person, the secretary shall notify him and place his 
 name upon the list of members. Ail persons admitted as members 
 shall bind themselves to the observance of all by-laws, resolutions 
 and regulations of the society that are now in force or may hereafter 
 be adopted, under a penalty of forfeiture of membership. All mem- 
 berships must be personal. 
 
 Sec. 4. The dues of members shall be $5, payable on their elec- 
 tion, and $5 per annum thereafter, payable in advance at the annual 
 meeting. Honorary members shall not be liable to dues. Any mem- 
 ber in arrears may at the discretion of the executive committee be 
 deprived of the receipt of publications or stricken from the list of 
 members when in arrears for one year; provided, that he may be 
 restored to membership by the executive committee on payment of 
 all arrears or by re-election after an interval of two years. 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 Sec. 5. The officers of this society shall consist of a president, 
 two vice presidents, a secretary, a treasurer and an executive com- 
 mittee. The executive committee shall consist of one member from 
 each county, and five members of the executive committee shall 
 constitute a quorum. The officers shall all be elected at the regular 
 annual meeting, and shall hold their offices one year, or until their 
 successors are elected and appointed. The duties of all the above 
 officers shall be such as usually pertain to their offices or may be 
 delegated to them by the executive committee or the society. The 
 society shall also elect a commission of five engineers, who shall re- 
 port at the annual meetings or if called upon by the executive com- 
 mittee, regarding the state of the science of irrigation. The presi- 
 dent shall appoint one representative from each county in the state, 
 
56 SECOND ANNUAL SESSION. 
 
 whose duty it shall be to present at the annual meetings of the soci- 
 ety a written report regarding the condition of the irrigation canals 
 and ditches in his county. Such representatives shall be superin- 
 tendents of canals or men actively engaged in the work of irrigation. 
 
 AMENDMENTS. 
 
 Sec. 6. These rules may be amended at any annual meeting by 
 a two-thirds vote of the members present. 
 
 TIME AND PLACE OF MEETINGS. 
 
 Sec. 7. The annual meeting of this society shall be held on the 
 second Thursday in January of each year. The place of holding 
 such annual meetings shall be determined by vote of the society at 
 its preceding annual meeting. The time and place of the quarterly 
 meetings shall be fixed by the executive committee. 
 
 LIST OF OFFICERS. 
 
 JOHN M. ROBINSON, President, Bozeman. 
 
 I. D. O'DoNNELL, First Vice President, Billings. 
 
 CHAS H. WRIGHT, Second Vice President, Great Falls. 
 
 H. M. PAKCHEN, Treasurer, Helena. 
 
 S. B. ROHBINS, Secretary, Great Falls. 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
 
 Beaverhead, W. M. Oliver; Cascade, H. P. Rolfe; Choteau, T. C 
 Burns; Custer, - ; Dawson, ; Deer Lodge, ; 
 
 Fiathead, Fred Whiteside; Fergus, ; Gallatin, W. W. Alder- 
 son; Granite, ; Jefferson, J. E. Keating; Lewis and Clarke, 
 Donald Bradford; Meagher, W. H. Sutherlin; Missoula, ; 
 Madison, J. T. Conner; Park, Alfred Meyers; Ravalli, 
 
 Silver Bow, ; Teton, Z. T. Burton; Valley, ; Yellow- 
 stone, . 
 
 COMMITTEE ON MEMBERSHIP. 
 
 H. M. Parchen, S. B. Robbins, H. P. Rolfe, W. W. Alderson and 
 W. H. Sutherlin. 
 
 ENGINEERS COMMISSION. 
 
 John W. Wade, Chairman, Helena; S. B. Robbins, Great Falls; 
 C. M. Thorpe, Bozeman. 
 
 CHARTER MEMBERS. 
 
 Alderson, W. W., Bozeman; Bradford, Donald, Helena; Browne, 
 Jos. A., Melrose; Burns, T. C., Chinook; Burton, Z. T., Choteau; 
 Conner, John T., Virginia City; Conrow, J. M., Livingston; Gilbert, 
 Wm. R., Dillon; Harris, Lyman C., Box 974, Helena; Holter, A. M.. 
 Helena; Hoppe, H. J., Livingston; Keating, John A., Helena; Mc- 
 Donald, T. P., Red Lodge; Meyers, Alfred, Livingston; Murray, W. 
 H., Belgrade; Nelson, A. H./Helena; O'Donnell, I. D., Billings; 
 Oliver, W. M., Dillon; Parchen, H. M., Helena; Parker, W. F., 
 Great Falls; Perkins, J. L., Helena; Porter, N. T., Great Falls; 
 
 8uaintance, A. C., Boulder; Reese, Thomas, Bozeman; Rolfe, H. 1'., 
 reat Falls; Robinson, John M., Bozeman; Robbins, S. B., Great 
 Falls; Ryan, Ed., Finn; Sales, Chas., Salesville; Sanders, W. F., 
 Helena; Shuart, B. F., Bozeman; Sutherlin, W. H., White Sulphur 
 Springs; Swallow, G. C., Helena; Thorpe, C. M., Bozeman; Wade, 
 John W., Helena; Winne, Peter, Helena; Whiteside, Fred, Kalispel; 
 Wright, Chas. H., Great Falls. 
 
Photomount 
 Pamphlet 
 
 Binder 
 Gaylord Bros. 
 
 Makers 
 Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 CAT. JAN 21, 1908 
 
 583218 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY