Section D Page 8 Missoulian Centennial Agriculture Is Million Dollar Industry in County
Agriculture Is Million Dollar Industry in County
By A. R. Rollin
County Extension Agent
Agriculture is a million-dollar industry in Missoula County.
In 1957 the State Board of Equalization quoted the value of Missoula’s crops as $1,704,800, while livestock and livestock products were valued at $1,997,000.
Back in 1920 the chief crops grown in Missoula County were wheat, apples and alfalfa. Livestock development was well under way and all indications seemed to point to national recognition in crop and livestock production.
On a state basis, Missoula County was soon to rank first in dairying, second in potato and third in tame hay production. Diversified agriculture was to become well established in the next 20 years.
The second sugar factory in the area was constructed by the American Crystal Sugar Co. to serve western Montana and it played an important part in its agricultural development. It was built in 1927 at a cost of one million dollars and was ready to process the 1928 sugar beet crop.
Soil surveys and the acceptance of the county agricultural agent in 1928 increased the flow to farmers and ranchers of result demonstrations conducted by the State Experiment Station of Montana State College. Better adapted varieties of grain, grasses and legumes and improved methods of livestock management were being introduced by the County Extension Service in cooperation with local farmers in the county. As far back as 1930 crop standardization was badly needed, as it is today. Progress is indeed slow.
The period between 1929 and 1940 marks the greatest economic depression ever to hit American industry and agriculture. The introduction of a new farm program known as the “Agricultural Adjustment Act,” although at the time considered an emergency measure, was to be a part of American agriculture for years to come.
In 1928 the value of all crops in Missoula County totaled $1,029,255. Crops included were: Wheat, 15,000 acres; oats, 5,000 acres; barley, 2,100 acres; rye, 2,500 acres; potatoes, 700 acres; beans, 100 acres; hay, 21,000 acres; apples, 49,000 bushels, and truck crops and vegetables valued at $31,400. Beef, dairy, hog, poultry and bee production were also making an important contribution to Missoula County’s agriculture.
One cannot overlook the part water played in its development, especially in the Hell Gate, Grass Valley, and Frenchtown communities, without doubt the most fertile land in the county. It is well to recall the crop situation in these areas before the use of irrigation. No shade trees were to be found; tame hay such as clover and alfalfa was not considered a profitable crop; there was only grain hay which was obtained via the summer fallow system. With the coming of irrigation all was changed. Diversified agriculture, made only through the application of water to the land, changed these valleys into a land of green and gold.
It is fitting that tribute be paid to some of the men who had the vision to devote their time and untiring efforts to make water available on some of the most productive soil in Missoula County. They were Edward Donlan of Missoula, to whom much credit goes for the development of the Donlan Ditch or what is known as the Reclamation Ditch Co., constructed in 1935; Gaspard Deschamps, Phillias Loiselle, Romulus Deschamps, and Z. Marceau who played important parts in the development of the Grass Valley Ditch in 1907; Michael Flynn, who in 1901 was largely responsible for the development of the Flynn and Lowney Ditch, or what is now known as the Hell Gate Valley Irrigation Co.*
Soil and water are the treasures of our Treasure State. As we go along our way of life, let us ever be mindful of these resources. Let us become reasonable and sensitive in protecting soil and water.
*Another important Missoula ditch predates the above described ditches. See link below to the article on Orchard Homes by John Forssen – Missoulian article of May 29, 1955 (DG.)
[An article appearing in The Missoulian on June 14, 1878 stated the following:
“Mssrs. Booth, Kelly and Farrell are engaged in taking out a large irrigation ditch, commencing at the bridge across Missoula river, for their farms on Bitter root, below fort Missoula. The ditch will be five or six miles long, and is a credit to the enterprise of the few men who have undertaken it.”]
“The ditch” then was known as the Miller – Kelly – Gannon Ditch after the pioneer residents who built it.
They took water from the Clark Fork River, then mostly known as the Hell Gate or the Missoula, at a point about three quarters of a mile east of the confluence of Rattlesnake Creek, as early legal documents describe it.