Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1897-10-01

The Fair visitors show high appre
citation of the enterprise displayed b.
the ARGUS in getting out a daily dur
ing the meeting, and especially of tn
amount of news furnished. Will
something in the way of an extra wa
expected (possiby a poster sheet lik'
that issued by our contemporary ye'
nothing approaching the service giver
by the ARGUS was looked for and il
came IS a most agreeable surprise tt
all. The paper appears every morn
ing in time even for the early riser ant
is eagerly received. Not one column
less of matter appears in the daily
than in the regular weekly, and while
the work is very difficult yet the
ARGUS feels amply repaid as compli.
ments have been showered upon ue
from all sides.
There seems good reason to believe
that mining operations at the Gilt
Edge will soon be resumed uncer the
management of L. G. Phelps or acorn
pany of which he will be a prominent
member. A week ago it was rumored
that q compromise between the con-
tending parties would be effected and
this appears more probable each day.
E. w. King, representing Mr.. Phelps,
has a crew of men at work overhaul
inc tho mill and tho -otar -;-oo oud
from twenty to thirty men are at
work on the Gilt Edge and Lookout
mines. This information is furnished
us by a reliable citizen of the gold
camp and we believed is entirely correct.
In the land office yesterday Mrs.
Frank Moshner completed the proof
on the coal claim on which the mill is
situated and received a final receipt.
Little interest was manifested at
the school election Saturday last,
the proposition of a special levy of
not to exceed two mills being carried
by a vote of 20 to 3. The trustees
stated that the special tax was abso-
lutely necessary for the continuance
of a nine months term of school and
their opinion was not generally con-
tradicted. One of the uses to which
this money will be put will be the
paying of rent on the Jackson build
ing, which il now Used for the east
department. With the constant
growth of school attendance add
tiOnal room must be shortly pro-
vided and while the taxes are al
ready very high, nevertheless the tax
payers will not oppose the building
of a new school house whenever 1t
appears absolutely necessary, and
that day is not afar off.
Ex-Gov. SwinefOrd of Alaska Is
Among the visitors at the Fair. Gov.
Swineford was chief executive of that
erritory from 1885 to 1889, under
Cleveland's first administration, and
while he has never visited the Klon-
dyke section, is thoroughly familiar
with its resources and conditions pre-
vailing. To an ARGUS reporter he said
that he did rot believe the richness
of the Klondyke country had o,en ex-
aggerated in the least, but that. Il
his opinion, it was the richest mining
section in the world. On the con-
trary he thought that the reports of
the starvation likely to result from
the rush of miners to that section
had been grossly overdrawn, possibly
by the supply agents, who desired to
keep up the high prices of supplies
although they should have abundance
on hand. Gov. Swineford said, how
ever, that he would not live in that
country for all the gold that could be
piled up. Not that the danger of
starvation or disease is so great but
that Jour out of every FIVE men who
die, die insane. This he accounts for
by the great extremes of climate. In
the long days of summer, the
sun hardly sets for six months and
the temperature frequently rises to
los degrees and in the equally long
winter days falls to 20 and rs degrees.
This range of temperature, the terrible
mosquitoes in summer, against which
it is almost impossible to guard, and
the lack of vegetable food, weakens
the brain of many a man who is con-
sidered physically sound. Gov. Swine
ford's headquarters while in Alaska,
were at Sitka, and there the climate,
though rigorous, is quite pleasant.
Gov. Swineford is visiting Montana as
inspector of surgeon generals depart
ments, TO which position he WAS ap-
pointed during Cleveland's last term.