The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-03-28
BONNER Is ACTIVE AGAIN
The Big SaWmill Going and Log Dirty
Ing Commenced
THE HEN HATCHERY BUSY
The Incubator Is an Interesting
SIRht-Plowlng Is Under Way.
the Park Is Looking Well and
All Is Lovely.

MIssoULA, March 27.--At Bonner every
thing is active once more. the big saw
mill having been started yesterday for the
seasons run. The log drive has not been
commenced yet, but the river is rising
rapidly these warm days and it is ex-
pected that the logs will begin to move in
a short time. The drive will be shorter
ono than usual this year, as the logs are
nearer to the mill than they have been
for several seasons. At the Mcnamara
bridge there are 20.000000 feet piled up
waiting for high water, and the renal nder
of tho winters cut is strung along for
eight miles above that, making the long
est distance the logs will have to be driven
20 miles, while the bulk of the cut will
have to be floated only about IL miles.
In the log pond behind the big dam,
over which the Blackfoot pours with such
mighty force, three large piers have been
built during the winter and these, in adj
dition to the old piers, will enable the Big
Blackfoot company to store more logs
near the mill than has been possible here
tofore. These piers are built of hewn logs
and weighted with rocks. They were con-
structed on the ice during the winter and
when the thaw came settled to the bot
tom, whore they now rest, as firm as the
river bed itself. The largest of the piers
is 60 feet by % at Its base and rises about
16 feet abo We the present water mark.
The saw mill is running smoothly after
its winters rest and will be run at full
capacity as soon as the new logs come
down. At present only the "short" side
of the mill is running, but this is piling up
a lot of lumber on the platform at the
north end of the mill. There are enough
logs now in the pond to keep the mill CO.
ing until the drive comes down.
The Touring mill is running as it has
been all winter. The mill, when the sea-
sons run closes, will have handled $4,000
bushels of wheat, the largest business
that it has done since it was started. A
larger amount than usual of hard wheat
was ground this year and the quality of
the flour from this grain is excellent. The
hard wheat comes principally from Horse
Plains and the Bitter Root valley. The
bad weather last fall seriously damaged
the Horse Plains crop, but the hard wheat
received from the Bitter Root was all A 1
and the superintendent of the mill in
formed q STANDARD reporter to-day that
he never saw better grain than this was.
In his opinion no better hard wheat is
raised anywhere than that which was
grown by the Bitter Root farmers last
season. The flour which is made from il
is certainly as good as that which is made
in tho East.
One OF the most interesting features of
Bonner is the poultry ranch, which has
already been described at length in the
STANDARD. 1t has now been In successful
operation for nearly two years and has
demonstrated that poultry raising can be
successfully conducted in this country.
During tho winter there have been inn
portant additions made to the equipment
of the Bonner ranch and it is now a
model establishment of it's kind. The in
cubating season is now at its height and
the brooding pens arc filling with lively,
thrifty chicks, as healthy and apparently
as happy as if they nestled beneath the
sheltering wings of a mother hen instead
of being cared for in tho steam cheated
compartments of the brooding house.
When a STANDARD reporter visited the
Matching house this morning, he found
brood of chicks just coming out of the
shells that were ranged on the shelves of
one of the big incubators in the building.
There we're 500 eggs in the lot and about
one-fifth of them had Matched at the time.
The chicks took the process quite calmly
and didn't seem to mind in the least the
absence of a mother.
Flowing on the farm of the company at
Bonner is now we'll under way and there
will be big crop of grain raised there
this season. The location is excellent, the
soil is rich and all the conditions are fa-
vorable. The park which was laid out
last year around the pretty Hotel Margaret
is looking we'll this spring and the trees
seem to have wintered in good shape. 1t