Historic Farming

In the 1880, railroad company promotional campaigns lured farmers to eastern Montana with the idea of transforming the plains into rich fields of grain. Big wheat yields did not last long, and the drought and dust storms of 1919 seared the fields. In the 1920s, farms began to disappear as rapidly as they had sprung up. In subsequent years, vigorous measures were taken to aid agriculture, and by the late 1940s federal dam and irrigation projects opened many acres to cultivation. After the flood in 1978, the open area was seeded to create wheatgrass and smooth brome, and alfalfa hay and corn were also raised there. Attempts to farm the island were eventually abandoned because of the unpredictable nature of the ever-changing river levels.

Montana · United States