Great Falls weekly tribune., 1895-10-25
That Is What Belt IL These Days and
1t Is No Great Wonder,
Either.
With a Monthly Payroll of Nearly
$4,000 From One Company
Alone.
News Nuggets Picked Up About the
Big Coal Camp BY u Wander
lug Reporter.

great coal camp OF Belt, and the Bank OF ,
Belt was kept busy al day Wednesday
and Thursday distributing the shining |
heaps of gold and silver over the conn-
ter in exchange for the coal company's |
checks 1t was the largest pay roll ever
distributed in Belt The total number
of names on the books of the Castuer
Coal and Coke company last month was
525, and the total of the pay roll amount
ed to $4,000. Taking into account the
fact that the time checks we're probably
not all for ID full month and that the pay
roll cont'ins the names of certain pro-
portion of unskillad labor, it will be seen
that the miners of Belt are not go poorly
paid for their toll. The TRIBUNE re.
porter who visited the Belt coal camp
last week was assured by the manage
ment that the miners averaged over 500
month on full time, and considering
the number of names on the pay roll
and the GROSS amount, it can read
lily be seen that these iiguree are
not an cVercstimatc. 1t is certainly a
refreshing sight to the visitor who hears
so much complaint Of dull times from
different sections of the country, to
watch the march of improvement and
progress at Belt. The sound of the
hammer and saw commences with day
light and ends with darkness. One can
not walk a dozen steps without meeting
| the evidences of new improvements un.
der way. Piles Of lumber, excavations
and new foundations everywhere mark
the enterprise of the people and the
struggle to keep pace with the demands
of population which must be increas-
ing with very rapid strides. The Belt
people claim population of $500 at
present, and to anyone who stands on
the side hill and takes in the extent of
land built over and the compactness of
the village, the estimate does not seem
too large. Nearly every kind of business
is well represented in Belt, many Of
the leading merchants of Great
Falls being represented by branch
houses at Belt, while large company
store and the old pioneer general store
of +. Il Clingan do large business and
carry stocks which would do credit to
any city mercantile house.
A fine new power house has recently
been completed near the mouth of No.
tunnel, and it is the purpose of the
management to do away with the
use OF horse and mule power in the
mines in the near future, substituting
the most modern and practical system of
power and cable transmission.
Perhaps the most marked improve
ment in the company's plant or prod
uct is to be found in the coke making
department. The coke and coal wash
ing plant has been perfected and the
business of the manufacturing Of coke
brought down to such a satisfactory
point thar the coke now being turaeCl
out is not only a vast improvement on
that made in the earlier stages Of the
manufacture of THIS product, but expert
reports and analysis have demonstrated
it to be fully equal to the best grades OF
eastern coke.
| The s,cptcs who jcercd at tine propo
sition that Cascade county had coal
that would coke were plentiful enough
; 10 longer ago than twelve or eighteen
months. Ii would do them good t. SET
the long lines Of cars loaded ON the Belt
r sid tracks which 90 IT, supply the blast
furnaces Of the mammoth smcltrr al
Anaconda. The company chemist w
= | TIh,,,n, ,.p H.,