The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1876-11-10


of the time and they aggregate an annual
yield of about one hundred thousand bar
rels.
The manufactures I have referred to are
the principal ones to which any attention
has been given. No woolen mills have yet
been built, but as sheep husbandry is rap
idly attaining the dimensions which the
adaptations of the country in healthfulness
of climate, dryness of soil and cheap an |
nutritious feed naturally indicate, it is
expected that this enterprise will not much
longer be neglected. Montana will never
become distinctively manufacturing State,
nevertheless, to facilitate whatever may be
found necessary and profitable in that field
of industry there are at command every
where the requisite conditions of water
power and fuel. The energy expended by
the waters in their impetuous flow from
the mountains should be directed to useful
ends
Extensive portions of the valleys are
very fertile and productive Of grains, vege-
tables and fruits. Strawberries and rasp-
berries grow luxuriantly at almost the
highest attitudes when cultivated and are
growing wild in the gorges and on the tops
of high mountains. The first attempts at
growing the larger fruits were made in
Missoula county. In 1865 apple trees,
about fifty in number, were brought from
I Oregon or Washington Territory and trans
planted in Bitter Root valley. The year
following about ten thousand apple and
some plum trees were brought there and
sold to the farmers at one dollar each.
Only about ten per cent. survived the cold
of the winter and are now bearing fruit.
The trees had been planted in gardens
where irrigation was continued too long.
Kept growing until late, they were full of
sap when the leaves fell and were winter
killed Afterward they planted on the
bench lands where the wood thoroughly
ripens and there are now are now growing
and beginning to produce about eight
thousand trees of different varieties of
apple, peach, plum, ounce and cherry and
great variety of small fruits known in
American horticulture. The main altitude
of Bitter Root valley is about $500 feet.
The larger valleys where agriculture is eX-
tensively engaged in are those of the Gal
latin, Madison and Jefferson rivers, the
Missouri River valley below the confluence
of these streams, the Sun River valley far
ther north, all on the east side of the
when opened for settlement, the extensive
and very fertile valleys of the Judith and
Yellowstone Rivers.
On the west side Of the main range are
the Deer Lodge, Blackfoot, Jocko, Hellgate
and Bitter Root Valleys. The last named
is the cradle of agriculture, and the scene
of the first permanent settlement i'll the
Territory. 1t takes it's name from an edi-
BILE plant whose roots Of peculiar whitness
are dried in the sun and form an article Of
diet for the Flathead and other Indians,
but are wholly unsayory to the moro refined
palate. In 1840 Rev. Father DeSmet, s.
j., visited these Indians for the first time.
He found them in the Gallatin Valley and
administered to them the rite of baptism.
Returning from st. Louis the following
year with Fathers Point and Mangarini
and three others, he established st. Iary's
Mission in Bitter Root Valley, near where
| Stevensville now stands. Here they hewed
the first logs and built dwelling, carpenter
and blacksmith shops and chapel. These
same men drove into the country the first
oxen with wagons and carts and plows in
that year, and in 1842 brought COWS from
| Colville, and raised crop of wheat and a
variety of garden produce. In this same
| locality in 1S45 the first grist mill was built
| by Father DeSmet and his companions
Father Ravalli and others. The stones
were brought from Antwerp, in Belgium,
yiG the Columbia river. Father Ravalli has
these stones now at Stevensville and says
they were able to grind about four bushels
each day, and although the flour made was
very coarse it was exquisite for them in
that day. In the same year they construct
| ed saw mill, cutting whip saw into the
| proper shape and attaching a crank formed
out Of and old wagon tire. Father Ravalli
says: "The lumber was very undulating,
but was to us of great SERVICE Such
were the self-sacrificing efforts of these
| rin tn m
condition of the wild children Of the noun
tains. The germ they planted has grown
into the fruitful tree. St. Mary's Mission
was sold to Major John Owen in 1850. He
built fort for protection against maraud.
ing bands of Blackfeet Indians and here
made his home in this isolated region and
engaged in farming, stock-raising and
trading with the Indians. Bitter Root
Valley is about sixty miles long, with an
average breadth of seven or eight miles,
and has population of seven or eight
hundred thrifty farmers.
| Deer Lodge Valley, farther east, has a
mean altitude of 4, 600 feet, and is not so
well adapted to general agriculture, yet
wheat, oats, barley and potatoes are extern
sively produced, and being surrounded by
active mining communities, a good market
| is afforded for such products. The valley
|
| lower end is built the town of Deer Lodge,
it's radiant whiteness half embowered, the
handsomest town in the Rocky Mountains.
The valleys of the Jefferson, Madison
| and their tributaries are we'll settled and
cultivated Gallatin Valley, to the east
ward, is the largest and best improved. 1t
sustains very prosperous and increasing
population, and has built up several towns
| of local Importance, the largest of which,
Bozeman, is located towards it's southern
extremity, towards the outlet to the region
of the Yellowstone. The agricultural sec
tions of the country are well improved with
| comfortable homes. School houses are ev-
erywhere convenient and supplied with
competent teachers throughout large
/ portion of the year.
There are about twenty-five million acres
of arabic land in the Territory which can
be made susceptible to cultivation by irri-
| cation. Of this amount about three hun
dred thousand acres are under fence and
| about sixty thousand cultivated. In addi-
tion to the arabic land there is perhaps five
times as much that is covered with the
most nutritious grasses. The average
yield of wheat per acre is about % bushels;
OF barley, 35; of oats 40; of rye, 80; of po-
tatoes 225. On many farms in the several
| valleys there have been extraordinary
| yields. In several instances there have
been produced of oats 100 to 160 bushels;
of barley 80 bushels: of potatoes from 400
to 700 bushels, and of wheat the following
amounts have been given me by reliable
parties: 81, 7S, 75, 79, So, 85, and the Agri-
cultural Fair held annually at Helena
awarded to farmer of Prickly Pear valley
| a premium for the best acre of wheat which
| produced one hundred and three bushels.
| There were over twenty thousand acres
each of wheat and oats under cultivation
in 1876. Tomatoes, cabbage, and all other
] vegetables grown in that latitude yield
prodigiously when planted in the fertile
soil of Montana. Grasshoppers have some
times made their appearance and rayaged
the growing crops but never in SO general
manner as to cause q scarcity of any grain
or vegetable. Dry weather does not affect
| the interests of the raEchmen, because
thou dn mt yoiu on 4bas falI;n,r ,.a;,, h,,4