Billings, Mont. — A local historian said I.D. O'Donnell helped farmers in the Yellowstone Valley learn how to irrigate and build a future in Montana’s dry landscape.
Melody Dobson described him as an early leader who settled in the area and taught himself how to farm. She said he also shared that knowledge with neighbors and family, which turned into a lifetime of teaching others.
She said that work helped earn him the title "father of Montana irrigation". According to Dobson, he knew how to improve irrigation ditches already in place and worked with others to build new ones.
Dobson said in the late 1800s, many people had access to a ditch but still did not know how to irrigate. She said that made his teaching especially valuable to farmers in the region.
She also said homesteading expanded in the arid West after 1862 and brought more settlers in the 1880s. Dobson explained that the Montana landscape was too dry and difficult to farm, so irrigation became necessary.
"It wasn't popular. There was a sentiment of 'we'd rather immigrate than irrigate'," Dobson said.
She said O'Donnell's knowledge and ability to work with people later brought him a national role in 1902 as America’s only supervisor of irrigation. She explained that he also served on committees tied to irrigation projects west of the Mississippi.
She said lawmakers and presidential candidates recognized his problem-solving skills. Dobson said that trust led to his work with national irrigation congresses.
"He was never the loud one. He was the secretary, he was the teacher," Dobson said. "He was the one with his sleeves rolled up. And he was in the fields. He taught in the fields and he taught in the corrals."
Dobson said she hoped people would keep telling his story because she believes he has become a forgotten figure despite his impact on the community.
She also shared details about how he first arrived in Montana by railroad. Dobson said the end of the line was in Miles City and that he later went to Maiden near Lewistown before ending up on the I.J. Ranch.
"And he showed the new farmers how to farm," Dobson said.
Dobson said the ranch had many horses, including about a thousand broodmares on one property. She also said it was known for sending some of the first wild horses east to Chicago and that O'Donnell rode the train with them.