The unguarded international border between Canada and
USA has not always been as calm and free as it is today.
In the so distant past there was a company called the
Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company that had a real
dispute with our neighbors to the south.

Not long after confederation the government of Canada
bought western Canada (Rupert's Land) back from the
Hudson's Bay Company for the great price of $330,000.00.

Portions of the west were then given to certain people
in return for certain things like building the railroad
or for their efforts to develope it and bring in Immigrants.

The Canadian Northwest Irrigation Company, owned by
Alexander Galt and some of his English investors were
given most of the land south of Lethbridge to what was
to become the American Border.

Under the direction of Charles Magrath, the manager for
the Canadian Northwest Irrigation Company - later called
the Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company - land was sold
to farmers in the area with the guarantee that they would
have irrigation to raise crops in times of low rainfall.
Southern Alberta only registered an annual percipitation
of about 17 inches a year and much of that was snow.

In order to provide this irrigation, in 1890, a canal was
built from Kimball, on the St. Mary River, just north of
the American Border to Lethbridge, Raymond and
Stirling. They had been given a guarantee of 500
cu. ft. per minute flow.

This canal ran north through Spring Coulee and then
west to Raymond and on to Stirling. A branch was
taken off the canal around Welling and on to
Lethbridge.

Northern Montana experience the same climatic
conditions as southern Alberta and so in the 1890's
the American Reclamation Service began thinking
about irrigation too.

Two plans were put forth by the Americans to provide
irrigation to Eastern Montana.

1. One was to dam up the St. Mary River just as it came
out of Lower St. Mary Lake and to build a canal eastward
to the Cutbank Creek. The water would then flow to
the Marius River and across Montana to the eastern flat
lands that needed the water. This project was estimated
to cost about $3,000,000.00 and this was a large chunk
of the development budget set aside for the western
States so it was abandoned.

2. The other alternative was to divert the St. Mary
River into the South Fork of the Milk River, and let
the water flow through Canada and then be taken out
when the Milk River again entered Montana. It would
then be used for irrigation in Eastern Montana. This
was the simplest and the cheapest method because
it would not necessitate a dam to raise the level of
the water necessary to get proper flow and they
would not have to build the canal over to the Cut
Bank Creek. Of course this meant that the water
would run through Canada for 100 miles and the
Canadians could take it out but they figured that this
was not feasible for the Canadians to do. They
decided this is the way they would go.

Of course if this happened the St. Mary River running
into Canada would be greatly reduced and in fact would
dry up in the summer time and the canal and the
irrigation already in place in Alberta would be lost.

The cunning Canadians or more correctly English decided
that they would thwart the American project by building
a dam on the Milk River and diverting the water to the
exisitng irrigation System in Raymond and Stirling.
In order to do this, a ditch would have to be built from
the Milk River to the exisitng canal system. It was feasible
to take the water out just a couple of miles west of the
town of Milk River and because of the height of the Milk
River Ridge they could use gravity to get the water to
Raymond. This diversion ditch would cream off the water
the USRS had diverted.

This would lower the level of the Milk River in Canada
but it would not be any lower than it was at present.

An American contractor by the name of A. Cazier
Construction Company was invited to come and build
the ditch. It was to be 20 miles long and would
divert the water back into the existing System and
into Verdigris Lake just north of Milk River for
reserve or overflow.

The Canadian Customs created a little problem for the
contractor when he tried to come into Canada by imposing
a duty charge on the horses and equipment that he was
trying to bring in the country. Magrath immediately paid
the customs charges and the work began. The canal was
twenty five feet across the top and five feet at the bottom.

The ditch was built in the summer of 1903 and was a fine
piece of engineering and construction. A Dam was placed
in the Milk River and water was run in the ditch. This was
called the Spite Ditch.

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