Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-04-26
THE MAGIC CITY OF MONTANA.
Struggling Mining Camp that Now EcIipses all
Other Towns In the Territory.

Other Towns in the Territory.
Through the kindness of Mr. Oscar
Lewis, who has the happy faculty of al
ways remembering his friends, we re-
ceive copy of the West Shore, a
monthly magazine, published at Port
land, Oregon, and which devotes large
portion of the March number to the
thriving territory of Montana and its
magic city of Butte Referring especi-
ally to the latter the West Shore says:
Upon the organization of Deer Lodge
county, Silver Bow was made the county
seat; but in 1865 the discovery of rich
placer diggings in the northern pat.
caused an exodus of population in that
direction, and resulted in the removal
of the county seat to Deer Lodge.
What now constitutes Silver Bow county
remained a portion of Deer Lodge
county until the spring of 1881, when
it was created a separate municipal or
ganization, with Butte City as the county
seat The placers of Silver Bow creek,
discovered in 1864, were exceedingly
rich, and being found in the wash from
the buttesand mountain spurs surround
ing Summit valley, led the hardy pio-
neer miners to prospect in the hills for
the deposits of mineral which have
since been developed in the vicinity of
Butte City. Owing to the difficulty of
obtaining machinery-freight rates as
high as twenty-five cents per pound
being paid in early days-thc progress
of development was very slow; and not
until the near approach of the Utah
Northern railroad in 1S74-75, did the
ceive the impetus which has resulted in
building up at Butte City the greatest
mining center of the Northwest.
At that time Butte City was strug-
Cling mining camp of less than 500 in
habitants, situated on a low spur of the
Rocky mountains at the northern ex-
tremity of Summit valley With the
advent of the railroad and superior
transportation facilities, every energy
of the camp was quickened into new
life, and an influx of population and
capital was witnessed, rarely equaled
even in this land of .'boom'' towns.
Quartz mills and copper smelters have
been erected, and new mines opened in
every direction, until the city of Butte
has emerged at almost a single stride
from the uncertainties of an undeyel-
oped mining camp, with an unsettled
and turbulent population and possessed
of but few of the modern appliances of
civilization, into the dignity of city
populated by nearly 1000 citizens, who
have there built their homes and in
vested their capital; a city built of solid
masonry upon foundations OF enduring
stone; the mines, counting houses and
places of business in instantaneous COM
munication through the medium of the
telephone; the s,.lcsrooms, banking
houses and immense reduction works
lighted by electricity, and the private
residences served with pure mountain
water, by extensive water works. AS
an evidence of the increase of material
wealth it may be cited that for the year
1881 the total assessment list for Silver
Bow county, four-fifths of which may be
credited to Butte City. amounted to 81
424, $50. For the year 1882 taxes were
levied upon property valued at S5,767,-
$50, showing an increased valuation
during the first year of the county's ex-
istence of 81, 342, 800; and at the close
of 1882 the county was out of debt, with
a balance of 100000 in its treasury.
During the past year brick buildings
have been erected in the city valued at
1926, 900, and frame structures valued
at S175, 200. The merchants report an
increased volume of business, averaging
fifty per cent. over the sales of 1881;
and transactions over the counters of
the three banking houses, Donnell,
Clark & Larabie; Hoge, Brownlee & Co.
and First National, amounted to SS7,-
100000, against S37 100000 in the pre-
vious year.
In the same article referring to the
house of Sands & Boyce, with which
"Oc' is connected the writer says:
Solid, and Sands & Boyce, are synon-
nous in Montana. To better under
stand why Solid, and Sadns & Boyce,
are synonymous, we need only men,
ton that although the Butte house has
been established but trifie less than
three years, Sands Bros, have been
doing a lucrative merchandising bust
ness in Montana for the past seventeen
years, and are classed among the cat
tie kings of Montana, having more
than one-fourth of a million of dollars
invested in raising beef for eastern mar
kets. The building occupied by the
firm extends back from Main street one
hundred feet, where an enclosed cross
ing over narrow street or alley of
twenty feet connects the main salesroom
with another one 60x25 feet, giving
them total area of 145x60 feet, splend-
idly lighted by windows and skylights,
and at night by Brush electric lights of
7,460 candle power. In all these vast
store and salesrooms barely an inch
of unoccupied space can be observed,
every portion being filled by merchan-
disc of some sort. With only twelve
clerks under the personal supervision
of Mr.. j. r. Boyce, Jr., the retail sales
of the firm run up into the hundreds
of thousands during 1882. The sales
rooms have all modern conveniences
and are in telephone communication
with all the mills and mines in and
about Butte, and with the towns of
Silver Bow, Deer Lodge and Helena, Il
distance of sixty miles, at which latter
place the associate house of Sands Bros
is located.