The Huntley Project is an irrigation project in southern Montana that was established by the United States Bureau of Reclamation in 1907. The district includes the towns of Huntley 45°53′58″N108°18′05″W / 45.89944°N 108.30139°W , [1] Worden, Ballantine, and Pompeys Pillar.
Since the Huntley Project was established, the district's main cash crops have been sugar beets and alfalfa. Silage for the local cattle industry is also important.
Bison-hunting Plains Indians, especially the Cheyenne, Crow, and Sioux, frequented this region south of the Yellowstone River from the 17th century. William Clark passed through in July 1806 with members of the Corps of Discovery and inscribed his name on Pompey's Rock. The Yellowstone River provided a route into this sagebrush-covered country for white fur trappers, hunters, and settlers. The U.S. Army made war on the Indian tribes over several decades, and the famous Battle of Little Bighorn took place nearby in June 1876.
The district that now includes the Huntley Project was designated as part of the Crow Indian Reservation under a treaty ratified on May 7, 1868. This preserved the area from occupation by white homesteads and cattle ranches, but by 1880 the virtual extinction of the bison made the traditional Crow economy impossible to sustain. By 1895 Crow farmers successfully irrigated and farmed part of the reservation, which had been considered an arid wasteland.
In 1882 the city of Billings, linked to the Northern Pacific Railroad, was founded within a few miles of the Crow reservation. In 1904 the United States government obtained the northern part of the reservation by cession from the Crow Indians. Congress authorized the Reclamation Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior to survey the land for a possible irrigation project. The Huntley Project, the fifth federal project to convert arid western land to farmland, was authorized in April 1905, and construction began in October. Despite cost overruns and unforeseen problems, the Pryor Division of the project, including Worden and Ballantine, was completed and receiving water by 1907.
The project took its name from the town of Huntley, a station on the Northern Pacific Railroad. In 1907 the new Huntley Project townsites of Worden, Ballantine, and Pompeys Pillar were laid out at intervals of about six miles along the railroad. On May 21, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the Pryor Division to be open for settlement. Farm units were distributed by lottery, but the pace of settlement may have been slowed by "lottery fanatics" from nearby Billings who drew numbers out of idle curiosity, with no intention of settling on the land. Of the first 1,000 names drawn, only 76 applied for a farm unit. The population of Huntley Project farms rose to 2,107 in 1917, but fell again to a probable low of 1,015 in 1923.
Much of the irrigation infrastructure of the Huntley Project had been poorly designed and cheaply built, and replacements were soon needed. Growing demand for water required more irrigation canals and an auxiliary pumping station, and by 1913 problems with inadequate drainage had caused hundreds of acres of arid land to become waterlogged. Settlers found that alkali in the soil made it difficult to profitably farm the area, and many farms failed in the recession following World War I. Poor crop yields made it difficult for farmers to pay their portion of the district's costs, so Reclamation refused to fund needed improvements. Tensions between Reclamation and the district farmers peaked during the 1920s, until on January 2, 1927, the two sides settled their dispute with a new contract.
Low water and dry weather in the 1930s led to the construction of the first retention dam, then a concrete weir in 1934. The Anita Dam and Reservoir project, about six miles southeast of Ballantine, was completed in 1937 by Civilian Conservation Corps workers. [2]
The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke, also spelled Absaroka, are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana, with an Indian reservation located in the south-central part of the state.
The Reclamation Act of 1902 is a United States federal law that funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 20 states in the American West.
Yellowstone County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 164,731. Its county seat is Billings, the state's most populous city. Like the nearby park, Yellowstone County is named after the Yellowstone River which roughly bisects the county, flowing southwest to northeast. The river, in turn, was named for the yellow sandstone cliffs in what is now Yellowstone County.
Crow Agency is a census-designated place (CDP) in Big Horn County, Montana, United States and is near the actual location for the Little Bighorn National Monument and re-enactment produced by the Real Bird family known as Battle of the Little Bighorn Reenactment. The population was 1,616 at the 2010 census. It is the governmental headquarters of the Crow Native Americans. It is also the location of the "agency offices" where the federal Superintendent of the Crow Indian Reservation and his staff interacts with the Crow Tribe, pursuant to federal treaties and statutes.
Ballantine is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yellowstone County, Montana, United States. It lies approximately nine miles (14 km) northeast of Billings on Interstate 94. The population was 346 at the 2000 census. Ballantine, along with the communities of Pompey's Pillar, Worden, and Huntley, is part of the Huntley Project, an irrigation district created by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. The majority of Ballantine's population lives on scattered farms and ranches surrounding the actual townsite.
Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metropolitan Area, which had a population of 184,167 in the 2020 census. With one of the largest trade areas in the United States, Billings is the trade and distribution center for much of Montana east of the Continental Divide. Billings is also the largest retail destination for much of the same area. The Billings Chamber of Commerce claims the area of commerce covers more than 125,000 square miles. In 2009, it was estimated to serve over 500,000 people.
Huntley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yellowstone County, Montana, United States. The population was 411 at the 2000 census. Huntley lent its name to the Huntley Project, a federal irrigation project that began delivering water to the arid district in 1907. Today, Huntley is an eastern suburb of Billings and is located east of Shepherd and west of Worden.
Worden is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yellowstone County, Montana, United States. The population was 506 at the 2000 census. Worden, along with Ballantine, Huntley, and Pompey's Pillar, is part of the Huntley Project, an irrigation district established by the United States Bureau of Reclamation in 1907.
The Flathead Indian Reservation, located in western Montana on the Flathead River, is home to the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes – also known as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation. The reservation was created through the July 16, 1855, Treaty of Hellgate.
The Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program, formerly called the Missouri River Basin Project, was initially authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944, which approved the plan for the conservation, control, and use of water resources in the Missouri River Basin.
This is a broad outline history of the state of Montana in the United States.
The Crow Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Crow Tribe. Established 1868, the reservation is located in parts of Big Horn, Yellowstone, and Treasure counties in southern Montana in the United States. The Crow Tribe has an enrolled membership of approximately 11,000, of whom 7,900 reside in the reservation. 20% speak Crow as their first language.
The Fort Peck Indian Reservation is located near Fort Peck, Montana, in the northeast part of the state. It is the home of several federally recognized bands of Assiniboine, Nakota, Lakota, and Dakota peoples of Native Americans.
Pompeys Pillar is a Census Designated Place in Yellowstone County, Montana, United States and has a postal ZIP code (59064).
Huntley Project High School is a high school in Worden, Montana. Home of the Red Devils, the Huntley Project School District serves students living in four small Montana communities: Worden, Ballantine, Huntley, and Pompey's Pillar, with total population nearing 3,000 people. It is located 20 miles (32 km) east of Montana's largest city, Billings, in the southeastern part of Montana.
Yellowtail Dam is a dam across the Bighorn River in south central Montana in the United States. The mid-1960s era concrete arch dam serves to regulate the flow of the Bighorn for irrigation purposes and to generate hydroelectric power. The dam and its reservoir, Bighorn Lake, are owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
The Pryor Mountains are a mountain range in Carbon and Big Horn counties of Montana, and Big Horn County, Wyoming. They are located on the Crow Indian Reservation and the Custer National Forest, and portions of them are on private land. They lie south of Billings, Montana, and north of Lovell, Wyoming.
The Yuma Project is a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project built to irrigate over 68,000 acres (280 km2) of land in Yuma County, Arizona and parts of Imperial County, California. The project is designed to exploit year-round farming conditions and water from the Colorado River. It consists of the Laguna Diversion Dam, pumping plants, a power plant, a 53-mile (85 km) system of canals, 218 miles (351 km) of lateral canals, levees and drains. The project began in 1903 and the majority of the work was completed by 1915. It was the first dam and reclamation project on the Colorado River and workers had to overcome many natural and logistical obstacles to build and maintain it. The Laguna Diversion Dam was replaced by the Imperial Dam as the Project's water source between 1941 and 1948. Today, it serves 275 farms and over 94,000 people.
Osborn is a populated place and ghost town located in Yellowstone County, Montana, United States.
Yellowstone County News (YCN) is a weekly newspaper based in Huntley, Montana which provides hyperlocal news coverage to the Yellowstone County, Montana area, which includes Billings, Laurel, Shepherd, Huntley, Worden, Ballantine, and Pompey's Pillar. It is currently owned and operated by Jonathan and Tana McNiven.