Question:
In 1905 The US Congress approved funding for ______ miles of canal to irrigate about 35,000 acres of land.
Answer: 30 Miles
Background:
In 1905, the United States Congress approved funding for the largest irrigation project in the United States. The Huntley Irrigation Project, located east of Billings, opened land on the south side of the Yellowstone River for farming and homesteading.
This comes after a 1904 treaty signed between the United States and the Crow tribe which ceded land on the Yellowstone River to the government. The reason for the treaty was to allow the government to build an irrigation canal and open the valley east of Billings to homesteading. However, the land was not completely free.
According to estimates, the work would cost $26 an acre to build, and $4 per acre for the land that would be paid to the Crow Tribe by the settlers. In 1905 when Congress approved funding, this was the largest irrigation undertaking in the U.S. at the time.
Sources:
The Billings Gazette archives, Monday, April 24, 1905, page one.
The Butte Daily Post, Saturday, April 22, 1905, page one.
