Montana Historical Society
Archives
MC 206
United States. Farm Security
Administration
U.S. Farm Security Administration records
1928-1956
3 linear feet of shelf space
The U.S. Farm Security Administration (FSA) was established
to implement the provisions of the Bankhead-Jones Tenant Act of 1937. It took over the
duties of the U.S. Resettlement Administration, making loans available to tenants and
sharecroppers, and operating migrant farm labor camps. After the FSA was abolished in 1946
the U.S. Farmers Home Administration (FHA) continued this work. Records consist of subject
files (1928-1956) concerning individual resettlement and irrigation projects in Montana.
12:4-1
5:2-5 (oversize box 6)
English
The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was established within the United States Department
of Agriculture to implement the provisions of the Bankhead-Jones Tenant Act of 1937. The
agency also took over certain functions of its predecessor, the Resettlement Administration
(RA). The FSA made available and administered long-term loans to tenants and sharecroppers,
loaned funds to rural cooperatives, and operated camps for migrant farm workers. The FSA was
abolished in 1946; the Farmers Home Administration (FHA) continued its work. The
Resettlement Administration, an independent agency, was created by executive order on April
30, 1935. Among its many duties, the RA directed rural rehabilitation, resettlement
projects, and the operation of migrant farm worker camps. The RA had been given
responsibility for relief programs previously administered by the Emergency Relief
Administration and the Department of the Interior's Subsistence Homestead Division. Local
aid to farm tenants under the RA consisted of relocation, loans, and experimental community
farming. The FSA's activities in Montana consisted of resettlement and irrigation projects
intended to aid farming and ranching, or to increase the production of existing farms and
ranches in areas where the rural economy was in crisis. Many of these projects were
undertaken through the provisions of the Wheeler-Case Act of 1940, whereby the secretary of
agriculture was given the responsibility for land acquisition, development, and settlement
of irrigation projects. However, it was the responsibility of the secretary of the interior
to transmit any recommendations for the construction of projects under the Act. the FSA also
administered projects under the wartime Food for Victory program. The FSA accomplished its
projects with the help of other federal and state agencies, including the Department of
Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service and Bureau of Agricultural Economics; the Department
of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation; the Public Works Administration; and the Montana
State Water Conservation Board.
Records. 1928-1956. 3 linear feet. The bulk of the collection consists of subject files
concerning individual resettlement or irrigation projects in Montana. Some files concern
local irrigation districts or specific areas such as counties, ranches, farms, etc.
Additionally, some files consist only of proposals for projects which were never approved.
The files include intra-agency and inter-agency correspondence and memoranda; project
proposals; progress reports; engineering reports; preliminary budgets; Wheeler-Case Act
forms and data; water flow and precipitation statistics; work orders; appraisal reports; and
project maps. In some cases it is unclear from the records when a project is developed as an
individual project and when it is tied to a larger project (e.g. the relationship of the
Milk River project and the Saco Divide project). Projects that are possibly related to each
other are so indicated in the folder titles. Two files, "Wheeler-Case program" and "Indian
resettlement" do not relate to specific projects; instead, those files contain general
information about the indicated subjects. Prominent correspondents include Dr. P.L.
Slavgold, principal agricultural economist for the Denver regional office; John A. Goe,
assistant area director; J.D. Matthews, associate agricultural economist; C.H. Wilson, area
director; Senator Burton K. Wheeler in his capacity as chairman of the Interstate Commerce
Committee concerning the Kinsey Land Use Adjustment project and Fort Keogh; and Senator
James Murray concerning the Whitehall Irrigation District.
Arranged alphebetically by name of project. Some material housed in oversize folder and
oversize box. See inventory below for more information.
Collection open for research.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical
Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection.
In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright
owners. For more information contact an archivist.
Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers.
Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.
Acquisition information available upon request
Photos separated to Photo Archives. See inventory below.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Montana Historical Society
Archives catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places
should search under these terms.
United States. Farm Security
Administration
Agriculture
Agriculture and State
Irrigation
Irrigation Districts
Range Management
Soil Conservation
Montana
Irrigation
Agriculture
Detailed Description of the Collection
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection
Photographs
1 / 1
List of photographs separated to the Photo Archives
undated
Subject Files
1 / 2
Big Creek Lakes Storage Dam (rebuilding)
1941-1942
1 / 3
Big Dry Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
1942
1 / 4
Billings Drainage Project
1943-1944
1 / 5
Bitterroot Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
1941-1945
1 / 6
Bonanza Project
1939-1943
1 / 7
Broadwater - Missouri Project (proposed)
1941
1 / 8
Buffalo Rapids No. 3 [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6 and
Archives Map Case folder 1]
1937-1943
1 / 9
Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Haley Unit [OVERSIZE MATERIAL:
Box 6]
1941-1948
1 / 10
Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Marsh Unit [OVERSIZE MATERIAL:
Box 6]
1940-1943
1 / 11
Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Sadie's Flat Unit [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1]
1938-1942
1 / 12
Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Stipek Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1]
1942
1 / 13
Calypso
1942
1 / 14
Cartersville Irrigation District
1939
1 / 15
Dawson County area
1939-1941
1 / 16
Dead Man's Basin or Woolfolk Ranch Project
1935-1941
1 / 17
Dearborn - Crown Butte Project
1938
1 / 18
Deep Creek Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1]
1940-1942
2 / 1
Dodson Irrigation Project
1943
2 / 2
East Sidney Project [see also: Sidney Pumping
Project]
1935
2 / 3
Fairfield Bench (water supply)
1941
2 / 4
Flatwillow Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1]
1940-1941
2 / 5-6
Flathead County area
1939-1943
2 / 7
Fort Belknap Project
1943-1944
2 / 8
Fort Benton Pumping Project
1943
2 / 9
Fort Keogh [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1]
1940-1943
2 / 10
Fort Shaw Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6 and Archives
Map Case folder 1]
1943-1944
2 / 11
Glasgow Irrigation District
1941-1944
2 / 12
Glen Lake Irrigation Project
1934-1936
2 / 13
Grasshopper Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: box 6]
1940-1943
2 / 14
Green Meadow Farm
1934
2 / 15
Havre Pumping Project
1941-1942
2 / 16
Holland Settlement Demonstration Project
1941-1952
2 / 17
Indian Resettlement (various projects)
1935-1936
2 / 18
Joliet-Whitehorse Bench Irrigation District [see also
Whitehorse Bench (Rock Creek) Project] [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1]
1941-1943
2 / 19
Kinsey Farms Project (pumping station)
1938-1940
2 / 20
Kinsey Land Use Adjustment Project
1938-1942
3 / 1
Lewis and Clark Irrigation District
1940-1942
3 / 2
Little Missouri Project
1936-1941
3 / 3
Lower Cascade
1934
3 / 4-5
Lower Yellowstone Project
1930-1945
3 / 6
M.W. Ranch
1939
3 / 7
McCone County area
1941-1942
3 / 8
Manhattan Company
undated
3 / 9
Marias River [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1]
1935-1939
3 / 10
Mid-Yellowstone Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6 and
Archives Map Case folder 1]
1940-1942
3 / 11
Milk River [contains an attorney's letter of inquiry
about the project, 1978; OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1]
1936-1942
3 / 12
Miller Creek Canal Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: box 6]
1943-1944
3 / 13
Missoula Valley Project
1942-1943
3 / 14
Missouri Drainage Basin
1940-1943
3 / 15
Montana (general)
1940-1943
3 / 16
Musselshell Valley [see also Upper Musselshell
Irrigation Project]
1941-1943
3 / 17
N-Bar-N Project
1941-1944
4 / 1
Nilan Reservoir Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
1943
4 / 2
North Sanders Irrigation Project
1940
4 / 3
Pennel Creek Project
undated
4 / 4
Roosevelt and Richland Counties Project
undated
4 / 5
Rosebud Irrigation District Project
1943-1944
4 / 6
Ross Fork Irrigation Project
1940
4 / 7
Ruby River Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1]
1943-1945
4 / 8
S.H. and Horton Ranch (Tongue River Valley)
1929-1939
4 / 9
Saco Divide Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
1938-1943
4 / 10-14
Saco Divide Project
1935-1943
5 / 1
Savage Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
1937-1945
5 / 2-3
Savage Project
1933-1945
5 / 4
Savoy-Rock Creek Project
1936-1944
5 / 5
Shields River Ranch Company
1937
5 / 6
Sidney Pumping Project [see also East Sidney Project]
1938-1942
5 / 7
South Bench Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: map case
folder 1]
1934-1944
5 / 8
Sun River Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
1939-1941
5 / 9
Tongue River Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
1940-1944
5 / 10
Upper Musselshell Irrigation Project [see also
Musselshell Valley]
1939-1944
5 / 11
"Wheeler-Case program (re administrative procedures,
personnel, meetings, funding, and specific projects especially the Buffalo Rapids
Project)
1945-1956
5 / 12
Whitehorse Bench (Rock Creek) Project [see also
Joliet-Whitehorse Bench Project]
1943-1945
5 / 13
Whitetail Irrigation District [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1]
1935-1941
1
OVERSIZE MATERIAL [Oversize: See Archives Map Case]
1935-1941
5 / 14
Yellow Creek Irrigation Project
1940
6
OVERSIZE MATERIAL
undated