The types of farming best suited to the varying climate and soils of the State are yet to be determined. For a long time it was believed that only in the mountain valleys could crops be grown without irrigation, and before 1890 the farming was done there. Between then and 1905 expansion was chiefly on irrigated land, and since 1905 it has been on dry lands. In 1923, 90% of the wheat, 8o% of the oats, of the barley and most of the maize were grown on dry lands. On irrigated land the acreage and the value of tame and wild hay exceeded those of all other crops. Sugar beets were grown only on irrigated land. The first irrigation consisted of crude private ditches direct from the mountain streams to the land, and land situated in a position to be thus watered was the first to be set tled. A number of the modern developments are Federal under takings, notably the Huntley project in Yellowstone county, the Lower Milk river project, the Sun river project, and the Lower Yellowstone project. In 1935, 13,864 farms had 1,272,054ac. actually under irrigation or 9.8% of the irrigated land of the United States. The capital thus invested was $50,319,204 or $22.11 an acre. The average cost per acre for operation and main tenance in 1929 was $.87, while the average gross value per acre of all crops grown on irrigated land was $21.49, as against $11.12 per acre for all land cropped in the State.
The acreage of farm land in the State jumped from
in 1910 to 35,071,000 in 1920 and to 47,511,868 in 1935. The number of farms decreased from 57,677 in 1920 to 50,564 in
In the same period the average size per farm increased from 608.1ac. to 94oac., showing that live stock ranches were again absorbing the homesteads. In 1925 the value of farm land was $389,514,000, in 1930, $442,941,000. The farms mortgaged were 20.6% in 1910, and 53.7% in 193o. The figures reveal the crisis which agriculture has passed through in recent years. In 1925, wheat to the value of $34,141,000 was raised ($30,000,000 less than in 1924), with a crop value per acre of $9.94; oats to the value of $2,819,000 ($8.07 per acre) ; corn $1,380,000 ($7.67 per acre) ; potatoes $1,544,000 ($67 per acre) ; and barley $1,348,000 ($8.93 per acre). The total value of all crops was $40,200,000 in 1935, compared with $161,700,000 in 1927 and $89,872,000 for the 1919-23 average. Indian corn has made the most rapid proportional increase. Most of it is used for silage and roughage, but certain varieties have been acclimated so that they mature. Rye, barley and oats are also increasing in acreage and are con sumed mainly on the farm as feed. The quality of wheat is superior to that of any other State. In 1922 84% of the crop was officially estimated as grade No. 1, and for the three-year period 1920-22, 74.4% fell into the same class.
In 1919, cattle shipments reached a peak of 641,337 head. Part of that year's shipment was the result of a severe drought. That and a severe winter following constituted a series of blows from which the industry has only slowly recovered. During 1934 there were 413,000 head shipped at a value approximating ten million. Sheep raising suffered from the same reverses as cattle, but recovered sooner because of a sharp increase in wool and lamb prices. In 1935, the wool clip was 32,712,000lb. and the average weight of fleece 9.41b., compared with an average of 8.01b. for the country as a whole. Horses, long the source of a large share of the State's live stock income, are no longer in active demand. But swine have proved very profitable; and poultry
and dairy products are of growing importance.
Next in importance to agriculture is the mining in dustry. In 1929 it employed
men and paid $25,718,000 in wages. For the same year the value of the State's mineral output was $93,842,000, while in 1934 it was $31,430.000. Copper is now the leading mineral, representing about 40% of the value of the State's total metal production. The output in the year 1925 was 268,910,847lb., valued at $38,185,340; in the year 1935 154,920,759lb., was valued at $12,858,423. The whole output is from a limited district of several square miles near the city of Butte. Since the time when operations began in the early '8os, this rich area has produced 20 per cent of the copper production of the nation. The Anaconda Copper Mining Company, the largest organization in 1936 for mining, smelting, refining and fabricat ing copper, with a capital stock of $600,000,000, has its prin cipal mines here. At Anaconda is located one of the largest non-ferrous smelters in the world, which treated 2,882,903 tons of copper ore and 478,993 tons of zinc ore in 1926. The political life of Montana has been strongly influenced by the copper in dustry. Montana ranks in second place among the States in production of silver, the amount in 1935 having been
troy oz., valued at $6,724,52o. Most of it is recovered as a by product in refining the copper and zinc ores of the Butte district. In 1916 an electrolytic process was devised whereby zinc ores, before considered only a detriment in the refining of copper, could be reduced on a paying basis. Zinc now is produced on a scale rivaling both gold and silver in importance. The produc tion in 1935 amounted to
valued at
The Anaconda Copper Mining Co. in 1926 enlarged the capacity of its zinc plant at Great Falls 33i-%. Gold, however, now is third although recovered incidentally in the process of smelting and refining copper and zinc. The 1925 production of 150,558oz. was valued at $5,269,519. The greatest, best developed and most available domestic reserves of high-grade manganese ore in the Union are also in Montana. During the World War, production of this was heavy, but low-priced ore from foreign lands has since reduced the amount to above 30,00o tons annually. Montana also produces about one-half the national output of white arsenic used in fighting the boll weevil pest on cotton plants. In 1935 the State ranked fifth in the production of lead, with an output of 31,224,175 pounds. Coal is found in almost every part of the State, the reserves of the State being estimated by the U.S. geo logical survey to contain 389,114,000,000 tons or 11.3% of the total coal reserves of the nation. The coal includes 315,000,000, 000 tons of lignite. Annual production of coal averages about 2,500,000 tons. Much is used in the State by the railway, mining and manufacturing industries. The manufacture of the lignite into briquettes has opened a way to the utilization of these val uable deposits commercially. On Yogo creek in the Judith basin is a sapphire mine that produces one-half of the national output in precious stones. The quality of the blue sapphires is unexcelled by those of any other district in the world. Since the mine was opened in 1898, it has produced gems worth about $12,000,000. Oil was discovered in commercial quantities in 1919. The pro duction for 1935 was
valued at $4,600,000.