1922 Industrial Survey of James Hill

"This boy was trained to farm in Carlyle school and under the outing system with some German farmers in Pennsylvania. He talks English very well. He knows how work ought to be done, but he lacks the inclination to do it. He has as good a tract of land as there is in Big Horn Valley. It can all be irrigated. He sometimes puts in a limited crop but very seldom takes care of it. Will turn the water in and let it run across his field and damage his neighbor's land. He has no house, no barn, no buildings. Lives in a tent. A year or two ago he started milking some cows and bought a cream separator. He now reports he has no cows. Still has the separator. He has some very good work horses, but he just will not apply himself to his farm work. I am at a loss to know just how he is going to live but I still believe that if he gets rather hungry one winter, he will make a better effort to raise a garden and farm the following season. He is not of the disturbing element, although he talks very learnedly about how everything ought to be done and always blames his lack of farming either upon the ditch rider or other neighbors above him on the ditch, claiming that he cannot get water, which we know is not the case. His wife also owns some good land in the valley a few miles distance, also convenient to irrigation. There is no legitimate excuse why he should not prosper except the lack of application."