The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-04-27
talk ABOUT The TOWN
How Prices Ran on Real Estate SeVen
Years A6o.
Figures That Show the Amount of
Business at the Smelter
for the Month OF
March.

One windy day in April. 1883, a group Of
men met at a point supposed to be near
the correr of Main and First streets In this
city, and the sale Of lots in Anaconda be-
gan. There wasn't q house in sight on
that day. The map was all there was Of
Anaconda. Across the creek, work was
progressing on the fiume that brings water
from the dam to the upper works and the
concentration was on its way towards CON-
p~letion, but the site of Anaconda was a
ranch, and none to good a one at that.
Carroll was not even a dream.
The sale began. The institution known
as the First national bank of Anaconda
took the lot at the corner where that banks
building now stands. j. Ross Clark & Co.
took the opposite corner, south, M Con-
nell bought the lot where the Star building
has beer built and the remaining lot
on the four corners was sold to
Morgan Evans. Corner lots went that
LAY for 500 and inside lots for NOO-that
is to say those prices ruled for lots i'm the
immediate ~neighborhood just referred to.
That was the center, and prices were
lower for lots removed from that point.
For instance, the lot on which the Matte
| block now stands was sold to its present
owner for $500. 1t is worth, at a moder-
| ate estimate, 1s times that amount of
money to-day. Inside lots along First
| street and below Oak were in the market
at 500. That was dog cheap, but it must
be remembered that IL was not i'm the
plans of the Anaconda company at that
| time to make any effort to build up Ana
conda into a city which could boast within
seven years Of the best hotel in the
| Northwest, the best water and electric
| light service in Montana and a twelve
page Sunday edition of a daily newspaper
as complete in all its departments as is
| the Anaconda STANDARD, which is proud
to be presented to its patrons this MORN
ing.
50
So far as real estate is concerned, this
city never sought a boom and Il never
wants one. The advance in values here
has beer a steady and healthful onward
march. There is n handsome profit i'm
Anaconda real property for every man
who is n present owner, but there never has
been IN additions or syndicates or acre
property or anything of that sort. Ii is n
fact which the most careful Investigation
will prove to a demonstration that, taking
account of present business and prospect
i've growth, real property is cheaper in
| Anaconda by a very large percentage than
in any city in the Northwest. III some
| Western cities that might be mentioned
| had the present actual business of Ana
conda behind them they would have
prices on town lots marked up to figures
five-fold higher than those within which
prices in Anaconda, on actual sale, have
their range to-day.
s
tthnr - .npaa ~ Nny ,Iat ..... 4.
record of business, Anaconda is willing to
make comparison with any city I'm this
part of the world. The truth is that the
outside world has never known the actual
amount of transactions involved in n
months business In Anaconda. Here are
figures that give some idea of the amount
of business at the smelling works i'm this
city. They are official, and, in printing
them, the STANDARD gives, for the first
time In the history Of his state, the actual
summary Of the business transacted by
any important mining or smelling com
pany in Montana. During % days
in the month Of March, this
city received from the Chambers
sydicate mines 1855 ears, carrying
6,144, 800 pounds of ore. The shipments
of matte for the month amounted to H.
s45,5is pounds. During hat time the
smelters consumed 1854 carloads of coal,
aggregating Il ,642 tons, and 80 carloads
of wood, measuring 1900 cords. The
monthly pay roll for March distributed
Sl23.0OO i'm cold cash to men directly con-
nectcd with the works in this city, saying
nothing of wood and lumber camps, the
mines I'm Butte, the offices i'm this city or
the army of people whose relations to the
| works are incidental and who draw their
pay i'm Anaconda. The company paid to
the Montana Union railroad 500, ISL. "a for
freight charges during the month
of March. These are pretty
lofty figures. They show what is
behind the city of Anaconda and how il
happened 10 get the gradual growth which,
with the assured increase OF business ut
the smelling works, is going TO make
Anaconda a commanding city in theNorth-
west.
Anaconda has ambitious plans for the
future. II has a new bank in prospect.
Within a few months an electric tramway
will connect the city with Carroll, the
railroad up Warm Spring creek n
will he completed before September LIST,
new school houses are soon TO be erected,
the refining process is declared to be a
success. the city's hotel, the Montana.
is rapidly increasing in patron
age, its system of sewers Is
a success. IL has the best water supply
of any city i'm the west, and il is lighted
from end 10 endby electricity. The largest
foundry in Montana lies just at its bor-
ders. Il is 10 he the headquarters of the
Montana Union railroad. residences are
springing up i'm every quarter Of its Dor
ders, its merchants are prosperous, its
driving park one of the best in the land.
Its present condition is one of remarkable
prosperity for all its people, its expecta-
hons rest ON foundations that cannot be
shaken.