Steel Rails Conclusion

Montana Today is Justifying Fifty-Year-Old Prediction of James J. Hill

(By Ralph Budd,

President of the Great Northern Railway Company).

Originally printed in the Hysham  Echo on January 6, 1927

Montana’s greatest present need is development of agricultural production and natural resources, and of its transportation system, the most important factor in the development of any region which is dependent upon distant markets.
A half century ago Montana had a population of only 145,000, or one person to the square mile, and gold and silver from its mines constituted the principal products. Notwithstanding the fact that agriculture had not then, to any appreciable extent, been attempted, the late James. J. Hill predicted that the value of agricultural products of Montana would soon exceed the output from its mineral resources, which prophecy was realized before the beginning of the last decade, when the increased population had brought about the transfer of title of 30,000,000 acres of public land to residents of the state. The present population of Montana is 700,000 or about 4.7 person to the square mile.
In accordance with his plan of the early 80s, to extend his line into Montana. Mr. Hill completed building to Great Falls and Helena in 1887, and reached Butte in 1888. Five years later, the Great Northern reached the Pacific coast, providing transportation facilities for products of the territory it traversed, to western as well as eastern markets.
Shortly afterward branch lines were constructed to the coal and ore fields, and in 1901 a line was completed to Flathead lake, thereby opening up an immense lumbering district, from which in the year 1925, approximately 30,000,000 feet of lumber and 23,000,000 feet of railroad ties were shipped.
A narrow gauge railroad, extending from Sweetgrass on the international boundary, to Great Falls, was purchased in 1903, and immediately broad-gauged, thereby furnishing a more direct route between the Pacific coast and central Montana. In 1908, the line was completed to Mossmain, near Billings, to connect with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, affording communication with the southwest territory by a much shorter route. The building of additional extensions was continued until the World War, when economic condition prevented further outlay. At that time, the Great Northern had constructed approximately 1,750 miles of railway in the state of Montana.
Railway Growth
The story of the growth of railways in Montana to 1925 is illustrated by the following tabulation, showing the increase in mileage of the Great Northern and the total of all roads in the state:

Year    Miles Built
G. N.    Total Miles G. N.    Total Miles All Roads
1887        502          502               1687
1890          89          591               2196
1900        445       1036                3029
1910        426       1462                4249
1920        282       1744                5188
1925            0       1744                 5064

Construction was resumed in 1925, when the 50-mile extension from Scobey to Opheim was built to meet the needs of the farmers of that region, enabling them to market their product more cheaply. That the need was real and urgent is proved by an increase of over 4,000,000 bushels of grain in the 1926 crop from newly cultivated land tributary to the 50-mile line between Scobey and Opheim.
An illustration of the benefit accruing to farmers by the new extension is shown by the lower rates on grain and farm products. While the cost of transporting wheat from Opheim to Glasgow or Scobey, by truck, was 25 cents a bushel, the rate on the new line from Opeim is but 1 1/2 cents a bushel more than from Scobey, and 3 cents more than from Glasgow. Farmers are thereby enabled to develop their land profitably, increasing the volume of business of the community and affording greater wealth production to the state.
Drawing a line east and west across Montana, cutting the state in two, there will be found north of that line 23 counties, served almost exclusively by the Great Northern. In this territory are two-fifths of the railroad mileage of the state, and more than one-half the total number of farms. There are almost 17,000,000 acres of land in farms, less than one-third of which is under cultivation. There are, in addition, 28,000,000 acres not listed in farms.
The foregoing illustrates the relatively small extent to which Montana’s agricultural resources have been developed.
With the present development along the Great Northern railway as a basis of comparison, an estimate may be made of the annual production to be expected from unoccupied lands, but only partly cultivated, as well as from the development of the tributary half million acres of irrigated and irrigable land.
McCone county, for example, constitutes the eastern end of an area 120 by almost 200 miles, that is without a single mile of railroad. This county, alone, has approximately 1,700,000 acres of land, nearly all of which is suitable for some kind of farming or profitable grazing. Of this vast acreage only 35 percent is in 1,000 farms, on which , not over one-third of the acreage was cropped or fallowed in 1925, or a little more than 10 percent of the area of the county.
In 1925, the value of agricultural products in this county amounted to $1,800,000 and the livestock to $700,000, or a total of $2,500,000. What may be expected of McCone county when its land is more fully developed by adequate transportation, soon to be available, may be estimated by the results in the neighboring county or Richland, which has had railroad facilities for some time.
A similar detailed story might be written of other counties tributary to the Great Northern railway in Montana.
Progress is being made in agricultural and livestock development of Northern Montana, and much more will be accomplished by cultivation of additional acreage.
Diversified farming is being encouraged and rapidly put into practice. A properly balanced production on irrigated land will bring about a large increase in beets, seed peas, beans and other specialties, such as vegetables for canning, head lettuce, etc.
The increased production of the Montana oil fields, especially those north of Shelby, has opened up an important resource. Print this post