The development of the irrigation resources of a region under the
supervision of the Government, requires study of the social and
political conditions and of the industrial occupations of its
inhabitants.
The determination of the best plan for the utilization of its waters
and agricultural lands is a problem in irrigation engineering. The
solution of this problem calls for an intimate knowledge not only of
the best methods of construction, but also of the values of its various
agricultural products and soils; for a knowledge of its rainfall,
evaporation, and steam volumes and of the duty of water. It further
requires such an understanding of the topography of the region as will
enable the engineer to determine the area of the catchment basin of
each stream, and to intelligently select sites for the construction of
canals and storage reservoirs and to determine from what source of
water supply each district may be best irrigated.
Experience and practice in various parts of the world have already
proven that irrigation enterprises, undertaken on a large scale by
private capital have seldom been remunerative investments, in fact,
have frequently been financial failures. This is due to many causes
among which may be mentioned the fact that, though all the irrigable
land may be finally settled and the works made to do their highest
duty, taxes must be paid for many years and considerable sums expended
annually for maintenance before the entire amount of available water is
utilized, and interest is realized on the whole expenditure.
Most of the successful irrigation enterprises undertaken in the United
States owe their prosperity to the ownership and sale of lands under
their canals. In order to secure a proper remuneration to the capital
which provides the water, and an efficient water service to the farmer
who uses it with justice to both interests, State legislation must
fully define the rights and responsibilities of appropriators, the
units and methods of measuring the flow of streams, granting the right
of way and appointing proper officers to see that the various laws are
enforced.
That irrigation enterprises will have great and rapid development in
Montana in the near future will be readily perceived from the facts
shown later on in this article, while I am fully convinced that it is
now entering on that period. The histories of both California and
Colorado have shown that great mining activity have brought to them a
large population who were enabled to gain a livelihood by mining
pursuits, while the demand for farm products created by the miners,
caused these people to turn their attention to agriculture, which is
now rapidly surpassing in money value the output of the mines.
In California in the "fifties" mining was the supreme and only
occupation, to-day agriculture is her mainstay; in the early
"seventies" the same was true of Colorado, and now agriculture is
rapidly becoming her most important industry. While Montana is to-day
in the van in mining resources and output, the time for the supremacy
of agriculture within her borders has received an increased impetus by
her recent accession to Statehood.
In Montana the irrigation problem presents some features which are
scarcely encountered in any other country.
Usually irrigation is practiced in semi-tropic and desert regions where
though water is scarce, the climate is such that a great variety of
agricultural products usually of the better paying varieties can be
raised, in consequence of which enormous sums may be spent in
irrigation works, thus imposing a heavy tax per acre on the land for
their construction, and still, such is the productiveness of these
regions, that the lands will yield fair profits.
In Montana the reverse is the case, water is generally abundant though
sufficiently inaccessible in the larger streams to require extensive
works in order to render it available, while the land though equally
abundant also, will owing to the climate admit of the cultivation only
of the less profitable crops, mainly hay, grain and potatoes, in
consequence of which the cost of construction of the irrigation works
becomes a question of vital moment, since a tax of a few cents per acre
one way or the other will render the pursuit of agriculture a success
or a failure, and decide the fate of the irrigation enterprises.
It is probable that $10.00 per acre for a water right in perpetuity, or
$2.00 per acre per annum for the use of water is the maximum charge
which the crops will bear.