The Conrad - Valier Irrigation Project - Montana

THE CONRAD - VALIER IRRIGATION PROJECT - MONTANA

20). Montana photo land promotional album. Wayman, William Maynard; Stanford, Col. James T.; Cargill, William Wallace and Cargill, William "Will" Samuel. An outstanding souvenir land promotional photo album with three additional mounted contemporary images chronicling the Conrad-Valier Irrigation Project in Pondera County, MT by Cargill and Withee and overseen by Wayman. The album features 63 panoramic photographs by Wayman documenting the homesteading life of irrigation farmers on the Montana prairie, together with snapshots of the dam, farm life, steam tractors, steam threshers, and views of Valier and Conrad, MT. Three additional panoramic mounted photographs included with the album document cattle drives, sheep herds in the Conrad stockyards and drilling on the Montana prairies. Minneapolis & Monticello, MN; Conrad & Vallier, MT; Valier Farm Sales Co., Conrad Land & Water Co.; W.M. Wayman Photo, Solomon Hendricks, Artistic Photographer, G.W. Barker. C. 1908-1919.

Oblong folio. 15.75 x 11.2 in. [66 pp (unpaginated).], on thick black paper stock. With 229 silver gelatin photographs dry-mounted, sized from 3.2 x 5.5 in. up to 3.5 x 11.75 in., with 63 of the images as larger panoramic photographs, nearly all sized approx. 3.5 x 11.5 in., several w/ Wayman’s photographer’s imprint in corner, many w/ ink or pencil identification annotations, 1 laid-in, nearly all neatly numbered w/ small affixed labels at lower right below each image (2 images removed along w/ accompanying numbering labels), many smaller panoramic images, as well as 3.5 x 5.5 in. photos w/ location information w/in the negative of the image, mimeographed TLS mounted on front paste down from Wayman to Col. Stanford, 2 additional manuscript leaves in neat pencil, and cursive pen identifying the images within the album by number and listing participants, or locations. Contemporary flexible ribbed calf Badger Loose Leaf post-binder, brass screw-posts painted black at gutter margin (minor edgewear, scuffing, minor damage to upper rear corner), still a VG exemplar with excellent bright photographs; (together with) three mounted silver gelatin panoramic photographs sized from 3.5 x 12 in. to 4.75 x 12.5 in. mounted on gray studio board, sized 5.5 x 14 in. up to 8 x 16 in., w/ photographer’s imprint w/in negative of one, another stamped on verso, 3rd w/ ink annotation at lower blank portion of image (some scuffing, pin-holes in boards, edgewear, wear & bumping to corners), still VG trio of images w/ bright strong contrast.

This noteworthy album visually documents the progress of the largest successful Carey Land Act irrigation project in Montana, the Conrad-Valier Irrigation Project, later the Valier Irrigation Project. Partnering with the Great Northern and Burlington Road Railroads, Cargill & Withee launched the project before 1909 near Conrad, MT by building an earthen dam and irrigation canal to supply water to the 70,000 acres of grassy prairie available for settlers. Wayman was an immigration agent for the Great Northern who was tapped as the superintendent of the project based initially in Minneapolis, MN. Settlers under the Carey Act could buy land with a $ 3.50 per acre down payment, pay the balance in 15 years time, with land being allotted by drawings at the new railroad town of Valier, MT. Although the land prices were minimal, the inseparable water rights charges levied by the Valier Land & Water Co. were significant. Initially, due to poor dam construction (it leaked), and insufficient irrigation canal construction quality coupled with poor maintenance, and some suspicious secret “Dividend” land seizures by Cargill & Withee in the town of Valier and the railroad right-of-way, the project nearly failed. After driving Cargill Elevator Co. nearly into bankruptcy, the heirs of W.W. Cargill (d.1909) where forced after his sudden death to surrender their rights and title to all the Valier assets until the notes were paid off. Largely through Wayman’s inexhaustible efforts, and Great Northern’s support, the Valier Irrigation Project continued to develop Valier, as well as encourage wheat and grain farming in the development. 

These extraordinary panoramic photographs depict the burgeoning winter wheat fields, stacked piles of grain on the farms of R.W. Speir, C.H. Kester, Earl Grossard, and Bill Spining’s steam threshing operation. Other images show cattle herding, wheat harvests, and Great Northern Trains running through Valier, MT, with one showing the Montana Central Elevator Co. grain elevator in the center of the image. Other images show the reservoir behind the dam, the Birch Creek head gate, as well as Dewey Hancock and Gunder Hammer’s well-built farms with barns, fencing, out buildings, and more on the vast prairie. Also shown are snapshot photos of the bandstand for the Williams Project Fair Days and the July 4th bandstand, the Chatlain farm, Wayman’s ranch with his 4 mule team in the fore-ground, the bridge over the canal at the North outlet by Lake Francis, and even the Col. Stanford home, later owned by Lyle Marsh. Some of the identified images include those of Wayman together with Speir & Gerner standing in nearly shoulder-high winter wheat, flocks of sheep, R.W. Speir straddling the irrigation canal next to his plowed field, steam tractors grading the fields, and more homes in Valier. The large stone facade Valier Hotel constructed in 1909 makes an appearance, numerous automobiles, some owned by the Valier Land & Water Co., and prize livestock. Despite early setbacks, maintenance issues, and overshooting their initial estimates of 1916 to complete the land sales for the project, by 1921 championship wheat was being produced, and one of the Valier farmers won the highest grade prize in 1921 for No. 1 Hard Red Winter Wheat in contest sponsored by Cargill. Water rights had to be extended several times, and eventually the project was finally considered completed by 1953. 

Wayman (1864-1951) headed West to Utah after marrying Olive Martin in North Pleasant, IA, and became a Deputy U.S. Marshal at White Rock, UT. He later became a civil engineer on the irrigation water project in Boise, ID, before being hired as immigration agent for the Great Northern. He spent decades as superintendent of the Valier Irrigation Project, oversaw the Valier Land & Water Co., managed the Valier Farm Sales Co. real estate project, farmed, and also assisted in founding the Cherry Grower’s Assoc. in Kalispell, MT. Stanford (1856-1926) had initially founded the Conrad-Stanford Co. in Helena, MT as a real estate business, developed the Crevasse Mountain Mine, and the Spokane Ranch & Water Co. By 1911, his company had ventured into the banking business organizing the Conrad Trust & Savings bank, and still later the Conrad Banking Co. in Great Falls, MT and Valier, as one of the underwriters and investment firms in the Valier Farm Sales Co. in the Valier Irrigation Project. This cataloguer could find no other similar extensive groups of photographs, published real estate promotional literature, or local histories of Pondera County for this Montana project. See: Wayne Broehl, Cargill: Trading the World’s Grain, pp. 169-177; Bonnie Christensen, The Carey Land Act in Montana (1982); The Wisconsin Agriculturist, Vol. 33 (1909); W.M. Wayman, East Shore Reisdent, Dies, The Missoulian, Feb. 19, 1951, Vol. LXXVIII, No. 296, p. 1.