Montana. State Arid Land Grant Commission

In 1894 the United States Congress passed the Carey Land Act, amending the earlier Desert Land Act, to "aid the public land states in the reclamation of the desert lands therein, and the settlement, cultivation and sale thereof in small tracts to actual settlers." The Act granted to the states, free of cost, "such desert lands ... as the state may cause to be irrigated, reclaimed, occupied, and not less than 20 acres of each 160 acre tract cultivated by actual settlers." The state was required to file a map with the Secretary of Interior showing which lands were to be irrigated and a plan showing the mode of irrigation and the source of the water. To take advantage of this law, the Montana legislature passed the Lynde Act establishing the State Arid Land Grant Commission, consisting of five commissioners. The irrigation work was to be paid for by the issuance of 6% warrants on the estimated value of the completed work.

The original commissioners were E.W. Beattie, J.T. Armington, A.L. Babcock, A.J. Talbott, and H.S. Corbett. At its first substantive meeting on April 9, 1895, the Commission set up a committee to ascertain the location of desert lands and to hire temporary engineers to survey and examine these lands. A second committee was formed to establish rules for the governance of the Commission. A third committee was empowered to seek "ready money" to fund the operation. The early survey work concentrated on the Yellowstone River Valley, since the Northern Pacific Railway provided free rail passes to Commission members, while the Great Northern did not.

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