Water from the St. Mary River has finally reached the Milk River after repairs to a critical siphon were completed three months ahead of schedule.
However, farmers and ranchers along Montana's Hi-Line still face significant challenges from ongoing drought conditions.
"Just the lifeline of the Hi-Line. I mean, you just...you can't live without water," Rod Karst said.
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The soil in this region is thirsty, and for the Hi-Line's farmers and ranchers, water is in precious short supply.
"The drought has a huge impact on this economically. And I don't know how the farmers do it," Karst said.
The lack of rain has been compounded by last year's catastrophic failure of the St. Mary River siphon, which had been diverting immense amounts of water into the Milk River.
Siphon failure:
With repairs to the siphon completed three months ahead of schedule, that water reached the Milk last Friday.
"It's just amazing. They just put their heads down and got to it," Karst said.
But it will still be a long summer for farms and ranches that rely on the Milk River for irrigation as water levels gradually return to normal.
"If you look right up this row on the left-hand side here, this corn has had irrigation water. And this is what the corn would look like if it were planted on dry land," Matt Page said.
Page was lucky enough to irrigate his corn once, using reserves from the Nelson Reservoir. But with the reservoir being shut off at the end of June, he faces uncertainty.
"It'll be dependent on natural flow down the milk," Page said.
Which isn't the best bet. Page says he'll need a thunderstorm or two to get the necessary two more irrigations for his crop to be viable.
"Absolutely at the whim of Mother Nature," Page said.
The lack of rain is affecting grain crops as well.
"We've already had a lot of our spring wheat zeroed out, and, a lot of winter wheat didn't come up," Don Fast said.
For Fast, his 100-day wheat crop is at day 90 — it should be waist high. He's hedging his bets on the future.
"Our goal now is to have some sort of cover to protect the soil and catch some snow," Fast said.
And naturally, it's not just vegetative growth that's hurt, but the animals who eat it.
"This year, I probably won't turn any cattle out into this pasture due to the dry conditions," Page said.
Land that would typically be stocked with hay using grasses irrigated by the Milk River. That hay is essential for winter feeding of cattle. But without the Milk's supply, there won't be any.
"This winter could become very interesting, trying to figure out how to keep those animals fed," Page said.
Page says the cost to have hay transported will be an additional economic burden.
"It's probably going to have to be truck in from the Dakotas," Page said.
Page says his cows are currently happy, grazing on greener pastures miles south of Glasgow — but with little viable land, he knows time could be against him.
"We're beginning to wonder if we're going to be able to make the whole summer," Page said.
Residents in Montana's "Platinum Corner" will have to tough out one more summer as they eagerly await a fresh surge to the river that makes life possible in one of the most remote corners of the country.
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