The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-11-09
Deer Lodge.
Tom Baker, IN Madisopiul

4 deer Lodge may not be able to lay claim u
being great trade center, like Helena or
Butte, but no one viii dispute the statement
that 1t Is the prettiest burg in all Montana.
| Thatfs, the town Is laid out with better taste,
fts streets are more uniform in general ap-
pearance, and there has been more attention
paid to making a beautiful city, all ouer, than
In any other town in the Territory. Not
withstanding the fact that the town has been
built piecemeal, as It were, and it has been
subject to many vicissitudes of fortune, there
Is less of the incongruous designs and mai
| apropos effects that mar the beauty of most
mountain towns to be seen here than one
would naturally expect to see. The attract
( ivsucss Of the town Is due somewhat 90 nat.
ural advantages, but mainly to artificial cul-
ture. There has evidently been jealous
| rivalry among the residents in adorning the
lots upon which their dwellings are erected
with handsome shade trees, and to such an
extent has this been carried that, in summer
time, when the branches are covered with q
wealth of foliage and the gardens are bright
with many-hued flowers, the city presents
the appearance OF huge garden, and the
! wide, level streets are fianked on either side
with luxuriance of beautiful green that has
a potent charm to one who, like ourself, has
been dweller in a mining town on the bar
rem hillsides for many years.
| We have said that Deer Lodge does not
claim to be great trade center; but we do
not mean to imply that she lacks in cQmmer-
cial importance. Far from 1t. The mer-
chants of Deer Lodge transact az much--prob-
ably more-business than any town Of like
size in the country. The city proper con-
tains pro 5ably 1 800 or / 900 inhabitants, but
these are not all who obtain their goods from
Its merchants. The valley is broad, with
| numerous tributaries, and all are well pee
pied with prosperous farmers and ranchmen.
Besides there are numberless camps within
| reaching distance, where hundreds Of men
are employed in mining for the precious
metals For all these Deer Lodge is the nat
ural supply post and it is within bounds to
say that she furnishes seven or eight thou
sand people with the necessaries of life. So
that good, lively trade is enjoyed by her
merchants, and while at no time, possibly, is
there great rush, there Is constant stream
of business to keep the town agog.
1t is not surprising that so picturesque a
town AZ Deer Lodge should have been select
ed as good place for the erection of educa-
tional institutes which are intended to be
more far reaching in their influence than the
public schools. There are two Of these SEM
inaries here, and, we were Informed, both
we'll supported. One is the Catholic school
(St. Marys Academy, presided over by the
Sisters Of Charity, and the other the Mon
tana Collegiate Institute, which has recently
passed into the possession of the Presbyteri-
an church society. This last was opened just
after our visit with roll of twenty nine pu-
pills to start with. We did not learn the
number of scholars at st. Mary's, but were
informed there was very satisfactory atten-
dance. The public schools are also well at
tended, SO we'll, indeed, that it has been found
necessary to increase the accommodations
for children, and this the public spirited citi-
zens will at once spend about $4,000 TO do.
In public buildings Deer Lodge is llsup-
Piled. Its court house, Jail, churches, etc,
are commodious, comfortable, and even ele-
CANT. The business houses are as substan-
TALLY built as Co uld be wished for, and many
of the private residences are quite preten-
tiOus in architectural design. And, above
all, there is an air of thrift and prosperity
about the place and a well-to-do appearance
about the citizens which testify of the in
creasing wealth of both.
Before leaving we visited the penitentiary,
and although the place is we'll kept in all
particulars, the insufficiency of the building
to properly keep the number of prisoners
confined there was but too apparent. When
we visited It, it contained seventy-six in
mates; it was built to accommodate forty five.
The result is that every available nook and
corner is transformed into dormitory
or cage, and diverted from the uses for which
they were originally intended, and for which
they are now needed, to afford prison room
for the constantly increasing number of con-
victs. IL is wonder that Warden Botkin
succeeds 30 well in keeping his charges and
maintaining the discipline of the prison, for
much as has been said about the inadeqLacy
of the place to its requirements, the half has
not BEEN told But of this we shall write
| further in 4 future article.
Deer Lodge county has an important ac-
QUESTION in the new town of Anaconda, on
Warm Spring creek, where the Anaconda
company is building Its immense reduction
works. The town was Just beginning to
blossom into existence when we passed it,
but there il no doubt that it will be the crea-
tor of several millions of additional valuation
In the county before long, and do much to
restore Deer Lodge to the place which 1t oc-
eupied on the column Of assessment by coun-
ties, in the auditors report, before the county
of Silver Bow was cut from its southern end
and sent 1t down to the bottom Of the list.
As Judge Lowell would say, So mote it be.