This interesting subject cannot be passed by without a little castle
building, and accordingly an attempt will be made to show what the
future of Montana may owe to irrigation.
It has just been shown how and where 1,750,000 acres may be added to
the area at present under cultivation; many times this amount, however,
can be reclaimed. Settled as closely as a large irrigated district
would naturally be, these 1,750,000 acres will be increased by about 15
per cent. or 262,500 acres, the area which will be occupied by roads,
buildings, and towns; that is to say over 2,000,000 acres will be
rendered capable of sustaining the highest degree of settlement, though
in reality this amount will be much greater since a large portion of
the land will not be directly irrigated, since it will indirectly
receive sufficient moisture from the neighboring fields to render it
serviceable for pasturage.
It has been claimed by various authorities that a homestead of forty
acres is abundant for the support of a family, assuming this estimate
to be correct, then 2,000,000 acres will support 50,000 families; at
five persons each this would give a farm population of 250,000. This
number of farm workers would require a town and village population of
one and one-half more, or our 2,000,000 acres would add in all 375,000
people to the State.
On the same basis the 18,000,000 acres which have been classified as
irrigable land, (and this estimate is below that of the Montana Society
of civil engineers and other authorities), would support 3,120,000
inhabitants.