Land Utilization in Judith Basin, Montana

Land Utilization in Judith Basin, Montana A. KUSSELL OLIVER university of North Dakota,, Grand Forks Mountain-girt Judith Basin, famous , originally for cattle grazing, and, more recently, for wheat raising, lies in the northern Great Plains, almost in the geographical center of Montana. Koeppen classifies its climate in the cold, dry steppe type. Although situated in the heart of the short-grass country, it supports vegetation prevailingly of the tall-grass associations. Soils, which vary from gravel to silty loams, are underlaid by 25 feet or more of limestone gravel which ranges in depth from at the surface, in the southern part to 15 feet below it in the northern. Lime cement consolidates the upper three or four feet of gravel into conglomerate. Topographically the Basin comprises three sets of broad, flat-topped to slightly-rolling, gently-sloping benches separated by narrow bench fronts commonly too rough for cultivation . River valleys, canyon-like in the central and northern portions, broad and ope» elsewhere, are bordered by narrow zones of rough land. Three distinct periods form the history of land utilization in Judith Basin ; viz., hunting-trapping to 1880, stock grazing from 1880 to 1905, and wheat raising after 1905. Geographic bases for the earlier two forms of land use were the luxuriant cover of nutritious grasses, abundance of water in springs and streams, and shelter provided by forests and canyons of the encircling mountains. All three have been characterized by destructive exploitation of the resources of the area. Sheep and cattle entered the Basin together in 1879. Cattle ranked first in importance until 1897, after which sheep were the more important. A scries of mild winters, abundance of cheap but nutritive grass, high prices relative to low cost of production and construction of Northern Pacific Railroad to Billings in 1883 resulted in rapid expansion of the cattle industry to its peak in 1886 by which time the range was over-stocked. Severe drought during summer of 1886 followed by the worst winter •?. the history of the range in 1886-87 resulted in the loss of 75 to 90 per cent of the cattle. Building of Great Northern Railroad to Fort Benton and Great Falls in 1887 helped revive the industry, but it never regained its former glory. The severe winter of 1892-93 killed 40 per cent of the cattle . Drought during summer of 1893 resulted in light-weight cattle which brought low prices. In 1897 cattle brought good prices because large grain crops in the central states created a demand for feeders. In addition to handicaps placed upon it by its own over-expansion, by. drought, and by severe winters, after 1905 the livestock-grazing industry began to suffer from pressure of settlement and contraction of the range. By 1912 free range had disappeared. Agricultural development in Judith Basin is divided into two periods. Prior to 1905 agriculture was largely of the small-scale subsistence type; but after 1905 it changed rapidly to a strictly commercial, wheat-raising type. The first wheat farmer homesteaded near Moore in 1904, one year after the first railroad entered the Basin. The wheat boom from 1908 to 1918· grew out of a combination of favorable geographic and economic factors. Rainfall from 1904 to 1916 inclttaive was markedly above normal, which, in combination with exceptionally fertile virgin soil, resulted in phenomenal yields. Slowly rising prices for land and wheat and increasing population pressure in eastern United States provided economic incentives. Cheap, but highly productive, land was available in Judith Basin. Entrance of railways after 1908 provided transportation to market for bulky grain, thereby removing the last barrier to operation of other factors, (16) and settlers poured into the Basin. Toward end of the period the World War, with its rising prices for wheat, meat, and wool—the three cash commodities of the Basin—provided an additional stimulus. Transformation from stock-raising to wheat-growing region took place, for most part, between 1910 and 19l¿!. Homesteaders were interested only in wheat—the golden flood. AU land, topographically tillable, was planted to wheat. Edaphic conditions, unless extremely unfavorable, were disregarded . Wheat alone was produced— everything else needed on the farm was purchased. Bumper wheat crops in...