The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1884-02-22
THE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE.
How 1t is Regarded in the East.
From the NelC York Erdngelist.

From the Ner York Evangelist.
About the time the General Assembly al
Saratoga was establishing "the Presbyterian
Board of Aid for Colleges and Academies
q negotiation was started at Deer Lodge
Montana, of the following nature: Some
years before, q number of citizens of thai
place had raised means, secured twenty acres
of ground, and erected with the best mate
rials and workmanship college building
They were not Presbyterians, and 1t is more
tnan doubtful whether a subscription for 8
Presbyterian college would have met theil
views; for they made no concealment o.
their purpose that their institution was moi
to be religious. But by the spring of 1881
they had found their undertaking so discour
sging that in their real zeal for higher edu
cation than their excellent public schools
could afford, they were willing TO enlist the
we'll known ability of Presbyterians in the
management of their college. So they made
this liberal offer: That If our Presbytery oi
Montana would pay debt that had accrued
upon the property of about $4,000, and would
open the institution the next (now last) Sep
tember, with dormitories fitted up for stu.
dents and the grounds properly cared for,
they would give title to the whole prop
erty, including furniture, apparatus, Weber
piano, registers for furnace, ETC., the whole
worth not less than S25, 900. Those gentle.
men, in effect, offered to turn over some
$4,000 or $4,000 to the educational work
OF our denomination.
But was not the property so badly located
as to be useless to anybody? Upon this
point the evidence was as full and satisfac-
tory as could be asked. Our Secretary for
Home Missions, Rev. DIR. Roberts, Maj. Gen.
A. Med. McCook aud others of equal compe-
tency and standing, testified in unreserved
terms to the needfulness and promise of such
an institution in Montana, and TO the excel
lence of Deer Lodge as its seat. Beauty OF
location, railroad facilities, business thrift,
good society, the presence and influence OF
our Presbyterian congregation, the fertile
country around it rapidly filling up with a
Deer Lodge, with its fine edifices already
built and furnished, as a sort of "Lux "
waiting for our Israel TO name II "Bethel."
But there was need of prompt decision and
rapid work. 1t required $4,000 to pay the
debt. The dormitories were to be fitted up
at once, and teachers were to be engaged for
September, and with some reasonable assur-
ance that their salaries would be paid.
1t is at such a moment that the Board OF
Aid for Colleges and Academies comes into
being. At once Rev. d. J. Mcmillan, super
intendent Of our Home Mission work for
that region, makes known to DIR. Herrick
johnson, president of the new Board, this
interesting emergency. Then see how things
work together IN Gods wise providence. BY
July 10th Mr.. Mcmillan writes to DIR. John
son that q single liberal gentleman has
offered to pay the debt on the property; but
they still need the means of fitting up the
dormitories, and the pledge of teachers sala'
ries for one year. The Board thereupor
votes TO Deer Lodge S3,000-$1, 900 for the
dormitories, the rest for salaries. On the
strength of that pledge friend in Deer
Lodge advances the means for putting the
dormitories in order; and in September
1888, the Presbyterian College at Deer
Lodge, Montana, opens with thirty students
the dormitories, according to expectations
being full.
But the story is not ali told. About q
month ago the Board, by its committee, as.
signed TO Deer Lodge, according to the terms
of the Boards establishment by the General
Assembly, especial field" in which to can
vass for subscriptions. The paper making
assignment of this field, was on its face de-
scribec to be the Boards formal Endorsement
of that institution, and recommendation
of it to the liberality of Presbyterian givers.
The field so assigned to the new college In
cluded the generous donor of the amount of
the debt, already described. The formal in.
dorsement now given by the Board made
way for another approach to him, of which
this is the issue he has pledged for two
years the salary Of the gentleman to whom,
as president, the Presbytery of Montana wish
the interests of the new college committed
Rev. Mr.. Mcmillan, above named, the fttesi
man that could be found for the post. Things
shape already toward the erection of addi.
tlonal buildings for dormitories, and 1t is a
prudent estimate that allows to the Pressy.
terian college In Montana on hundred stu
dents for the session beginning in the fall OF
1884. All this, be it observed, in a region
where, till this Intervention of Gods provi.
dence, using Presbyterian wisdom and liber.
ality in connection with this opportune new
Board, the Roman Catholics had the only
institutions of higher learning.
H. ID. GANsE.
1877 Wabash Avenue, Chicago, ILL.,, Jan. oath,
1884.