The Bureau of Reclamation of the United States Department of the Interior, in a letter to the Committee, has made the following statement:

"There can be no question concerning the efficacy of irrigation, where it is practicable, in solving the problems created by drought, not only of the acreage immediately under the canals, but also of a considerable area surrounding the watered land. The evidence presented by the Federal projects at Belle Fourche, South Dakota, and on the North Platte River in Wyoming and Nebraska, is conclusive in this respect. These areas prospered during both the drought of 1934 and that of 1936, although they were in the heart of the region hit the hardest. They bolstered the livestock industry in their localities by providing feed and a market for feeder stock. They supported urban communities and paid taxes in support of local governments and schools. They provided labor and had little or no relief requirements of their own. In addition, they supported such notable industries as sugar factories and the like, with consequent additional opportunities for employment.

"The Belle Fourche project, while it suffered a shortage of water for irrigation due to the cumulative deficiency of the past several years, produced crops in 1936 of a value of $21 per acre and of a total value of $777,000. In 1935 a total of 46,081 acres was irrigated in the Belle Fourche project, producing crops valued at $1,026,675 or $24.11 per acre. The water shortage of 1936 forced a reduction in the acreage irrigated to 37,000 acres.

"The valuation of the land of the Belle Fourche project for taxation purposes is $30 per acre. The valuation of the dry land surrounding this project for taxation purposes is $4.50 per acre. The return from the irrigated land this year was $21 in comparison with 10¢ per acre for the dry land. At their valuation on the tax rolls the 60,500 acres on the Belle Fourche project represent $1,815,000. In addition, irrigation here sustains livestock holdings valued at $1,100,000 and city property and utilities valued at $941,000. Adding an item for personal property estimated conservatively at $500,000 the Belle Fourche project sustains taxable property valued at

$4,356,000. These values have been created by the project as have those communities dependent upon them. That this is so is demonstrated by the fact that except for inland post offices there is no town nor settlement within 120 miles north of the project, within 90 miles northeast of the project, and within 150 miles east of the project. This section is primarily a range country and the livestock industry within a range of 50 miles of the project is dependent to a large extent upon the products of irrigation at the Belle Fourche project. No hay of consequence was cut on the dry land in 1936 and the livestock holdings were reduced by 75 percent as a result of the drought and water shortage. The remaining 25 percent is being wintered on the project or on the hay and feed produced by irrigation of the project lands.

"The North Platte project has made similar contributions. The Goshen Irrigation District, with headquarters at Torrington, Wyoming, a part of the North Platte project, produced on 42,494 acres in 1935 crops valued at $1,288,419. In 1936 the acreage and the crop values were approximately the same despite drought conditions in surrounding areas. Lands of this District had an assessed valuation of $30 per acre, while the non-irrigated farm lands surrounding have an assessed valuation of $2.35 per acre. During the past five years the value of crops on the surrounding non-irrigated land has averaged less than $3. The Goshen District has supplied both labor and food for its own population and that of the surrounding territory. In addition it has supported the livestock industry of the dry areas of Goshen County."

upon products from irrigated land, represent an investment of at least $5,000,000 and employ 1,500 men during the season they operate. In 1936, 25,000 head of cattle and 400,000 head of sheep were fattened on lands of the

Pathfinder District. This stock was obtained from the hard-pressed stockmen of ranges in Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. In addition more than 9,000 cars of potatoes were shipped from the District in 1936."

Generalized maps afford only an over-all picture of a region. Any selected area within a region is likely to present many variable factors which do not appear on a generalized map but which must be understood in order to plan soundly for better use of the land.

In order to illustrate briefly a program for improved land use, from the assembling and weighing of facts to the planning of desirable changes and adjustments, material is presented here from a recent land-use study of the State of Montana. This material pertains to an area in Fergus County, central Montana, which is representative of the entire State, in many ways of the whole northern Great Plains Region.

This sector was chosen in order to obtain fair samples of types of land and methods of land use found throughout the Region. The Fergus County area has all classes of farm land, from excellent to poor. Its topography is varied and it affords examples of the three major types of operating units found in the Region: farms, ranches, and combination units. As elsewhere in the northern Great Plains, the problem to be considered is a dual one, involving land conservation and the betterment of human living standards.

People within the area realized that they faced serious adjustment problems. Erosion was general and increasing; the grass cover was depleted to an extent which could not be charged entirely to climatic conditions. There was considerable abandonment of farm land. Tax delinquency constituted an increasing worry to public officials, and tenancy was on the rise. Operating units, most of which were originally 160 and 320 acre homesteads, had increased in size, and the amount of land over which no effective control is exercised had grown rapidly. Emergency assistance, in the form of seed loans, drought purchase of livestock, feed loans and the like, was increasingly necessary. Some standard was needed for measuring the extent of the problem, the factors causing distress, and the adjustments needed to correct the situation.

By Ray B. Haight, Land-Use Planning Specialist for Montana, Resettlement Administration.

No further evidence was required to show that the area selected was definitely in need of some economic rehabilitation, but much additional information was needed before the actual problems could be measured intelligently and adequately understood, and before a sound basis could be established for future change. The development of the requisite information proceeded about as follows:

First, facts were assembled to show the present use of the land and the economic conditions which had resulted therefrom. Second, these facts were correlated in order to show the relative importance of factors responsible for the present distress. Finally, with this information in hand, it was possible to estimate adjustments which should be made to correct destructive processes and to set up the basis of a stable agriculture and a desirable community life.

Much of the material used in this study was already available in statistical form. What was necessary was to relate these facts one to another and to land conditions by coordination and analysis and by representation on maps. In some instances, supplementary information had to be assembled. In other instances, lack of facilities and lack of time made it necessary to do without certain data which would have been extremely helpful but which could be estimated somehow from secondary sources. For example, there has been no mapping of farm abandonment. This factor, known to exist, was confirmed to some extent by maps which showed relatively few farms in areas that were settled more thickly in earlier years.

The maps and charts prepared from existing statistical material or based on new data may be grouped in three categories. First are those showing physical data: topography, land classification, availability of water, and erosion. Second are those showing the present management of land: size and type of units, tenure and debt, and the like. Finally, there are several miscellaneous factors, including alternative economic opportunities, availability of markets, population characteristics, risk factors, community costs, etc. A complete list of the

maps and charts prepared appears at the end of this appendix. The first six maps that are reproduced represent material that has been particularly important in the present study.

Map 1 shows topography as a factor in the community pattern, in the location of rivers and intermittent streams, railroads, improved and other roads, telephone lines, etc. As a rule, the purely physical factors are of less importance than the economic and social factors which have arisen from the human use of the land.

Map 2 presents the land classification by the Montana Experiment Station and the United States Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, and is an important guide in determining the size of units and the types of production that are possible from a purely physical viewpoint.

Map 3 shows the present use of land in farms, distinguishing crop land, idle crop land, and pasture. It also visualizes the present community pattern, and gives some idea of the process of abandonment within these farms.

Map 4 shows the ownership of the land in 1934, according to four classifications: resident ownership refers to owners who reside within the State; non-resident ownership relates to owners who reside outside the State; corporate ownership is applied to corporate groups not actively engaged in agriculture, in most instances credit agencies; governmental ownership includes Federal, State, or county ownership.

Map 5 shows the tax status of land. This factor must usually be coupled with land tenure before it brings out significant aspects of the problem.

Map 6 shows operating units within the area,' classified into three groups by gross income. Those units in group one have an annual gross income of $1,000 or less; those in group two, $1,001 to $2,000; and those in group three, more than $2,000. The dominant type of operation is also indicated on this map. Type 1 includes those units deriving two-thirds or more of their income from cash-grain crops; type 2 comprises combination cashgrain and livestock units; and type 3 consists of units in which two-thirds or more of the income is derived from livestock.

Considerable importance is attached to the factor of ownership. This is particularly true of land in what may be termed "unwilling ownership”—i. e., tracts acquired by the county through non-payment of taxes, or obtained by corporate owners as a result of mortgage foreclosures, or held by absentee owners who have abandoned their homesteads. Such land is apt to receive little care or control. Together with scattered tracts of public domain, it comprises the bulk of the unleased and uncontrolled land that falls prey to the sheep or cattle of competitive users, who have no interest in its conser

vation. As a result, these tracts are quickly overgrazed and shortly become "sore spots" of wind erosion and weed breeding.

It is supposed by some that free use of unleased lands is an advantage to the small operator. A study made by the State College of Montana some years ago revealed that the existence of this cheap, unwanted land was responsible for various burdensome costs to small operators and large operators alike. The scramble for the use of these tracts brings on excessive competition, forcing an operator to sell his stock in poor years on a low market. It militates against the improvement of stock, and involves a high risk for the operator who depends upon this pasture. Labor costs are also likely to be relatively high for those who count upon this land.

The need for assembling so wide a variety of data as indicated is due particularly to the fact that without them it is impossible to judge accurately the relative importance of the several factors considered. Within even so small an area as that covered by this illustrative discussion, each factor studied may have great importance in some places and little or no importance in other places. Consider, for example, the factor of land ownership. Correlation of the ownership pattern with other data reveals that in those portions of the area having the more productive classes of crop and grazing land, ownership does not indicate the major changes necessary. On the other hand, the ownership pattern on lands of lower productivity, when related to other data, does give a definite indication of some of the basic adjustments that are required. The same thing is true of a relatively less important factor, such as the length of frost free periods. In portions of the area where the dominant type of operation involves the production of hay and livestock, the frostless period is of comparatively little consequence. It assumes far more significant proportions in localities which produce beans, corn, and garden crops.

To attempt to describe systematically the process of correlating the many factors included in this study would be like trying to outline a process for putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. In the case of this study, moreover, there is the added complication that each time a new "piece" or factor is brought in, it changes the relative size and shape of every other piece. As an example, take the factor of tax delinquency. Frequently tax delinquency is an indication of the uneconomic use of land. In many instances, however, correlation of this factor with other factors reveals a very different situation. When correlating data as to ownership and type of operating unit with tax delinquency on certain tracts in central Montana it will be found that the delinquent lands are locally owned grazing units. Certain paid-up tracts nearby will be found to be absentee or corporate owned land, much of which also will be found to be abandoned

or idle. These findings indicate that the payment of taxes on these tracts bears little relation to the condition of the land; taxes have been paid for the most part with funds received from sources outside of the land itself and have been paid, moreover, to satisfy bookkeeping requirements or other purposes not related to the use or character of the land. By consulting additional data, it is found that the paid-up tracts are suffering more severely from wind erosion than the delinquent tracts, that there has been general depletion of their grass cover, and that they contain land largely in the lower classifications.

Digging still further into available records, a complete story finally is uncovered that provides an understandable background for the condition that has been noted. Originally the lands around water holes and along streams were taken up by large cattle outfits, which used the adjoining areas of public land as additional range. In 1910, or thereabouts, a rapid settlement brought homesteaders into the area, who took up the bench lands for grain-farming purposes. The consequent restriction of free grazing opportunities for the cattlemen necessitated their assuming heavier costs in raising winter feed, and in leasing or purchasing additional range land. Gradually these costs became unbearable, and the cattle operators found themselves unable to meet their tax payments. At the same time, the grain farms established by homesteaders also fared poorly. Farms were heavily mortgaged, and as conditions proved steadily unfavorable to crop farming, the land fell into the hands of the mortgage holders. Abandonment soon followed, leaving the lands to be used by the cattlemen for unrestricted, competitive grazing. Further destruction of the grass and further erosion of the soil were the inevitable consequences. Yet all the time, because of outside influences, the taxes on these bench lands were paid up.

Having thus arrived at a true conception of the conditions prevailing on these lands-conditions which proved to be far different from what first appearances might have led one to suppose-it became possible to plan readjustments that would restore successful methods of land use to this badly stricken area. In some instances, the procedure has been to encourage larger units with a view to making grain farming possible. In other and more numerous instances, the best use of the land has appeared to demand the restoration of grazing. The proper decision depends in part upon the further correlation of a number of factors, such as crop yields, meteorological data, economic conditions, the community pattern, and the like.

The most significant point to be made is not that tax delinquency data are sometimes misleading. It is, instead, the fact that no one-dimensional approach to the measurement of land problems can succeed. Every possible factor must be examined in order to avoid subtle

pitfalls of error. The trail of truth leads around many unexpected corners.

It is clear that the process of complete correlation for the whole Fergus County area and for all the factors involved therein is a long one. But when it is complete, it provides as sound a basis for planning as can be had. The results of these correlations are shown on the last map, No. 7, which indicates the probable best uses of land in the selected area-best for a stable economy that will yield a continuing income to the inhabitants. It should be noted that within each township in which both cash grain and livestock farming are present, the ratio of black to white indicates the relation between these two types within the township as a whole, but not the actual areal distribution of these types within the township.

Where physical factors and present conditions of use point to the desirability of continuing grain farming along present lines, this has been indicated. In many cases, the correlation of present-use data with the relevant physical factors indicates the need for larger operating units to allow for better crop rotation. In other portions of the area correlation shows that physical conditions leave the land on the margin of use for grain farming or grazing. In such instances it may be purely economic factors which throw the decision as to use one way or the other. Here one may see the importance of those varying factors which were pointed out above in the case of the ownership pattern and the frost free period. On the basis of numerous correlations the following methods of improving land use for the area under study have been suggested:

1. A reversion of land from crops to permanent pasture, particularly in portions of the area having land of lower classifications.

2. Better use of water, through irrigation, retardation of run-off, and development of storage facilities.

3. Increase in the size of operating units, with respect to both cash-grain and cattle units. Larger pasture facilities are particularly necessary.

4. Encouragement of better farm practices, including rotation of tilled crops with grass, dam listing, contour furrowing, etc.

5. Changes in the policies governing credit and taxation.

6. Adjustment of farm debts.

A significant check upon the results of this multiple approach to the determination of land problems and to their solution is given by the last step in the process followed; namely, discussion of the proposed changes with local residents-farmers and ranchers living in the area. It has been found that the more intelligent operators everywhere in Montana have shown a noteworthy aptitude for understanding the basis for this type of study