The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-01
IT HAS MORE THAN MINES
Philipsburg the Center of a Fer
tile Agricultural District.
LARGE STOCK INTERESTS
Auxiliaries Not to Be Large
Hay and Grain Crops in the Flint
Creek Valley-The Cattle
Industry.

VI ''
Phtlipsburg, Aug. 2S.-When Philips
burg is spoken of people i'm the state at
large are apt to think Of it as onIy a
mining camp and do not take note of
its large and wonderful as
the center of a fertile agricultural and
profitable stock-raising country. But
that is not to be wondered at. as the
local people do not themselves very
otten think of it as such. But this is
a mistake, though il cannot be denied
lhat ITS chief dependency is mining,
ana during the fiourishing Of that in
dustry, the town grew to proportions
too large to be supported by its agri-
cultural and stock-raising resources
III Is nevertheless a fact that these lat
ter are auNiliaries not to be despised.
ana TINS fact is never more noticeable
than Just at present, when all the crops
are about gathered and the men re-
turning from the hay and grain fields,
whose departure was not noticed. ma
terlally swell the number of people on
the streets.
Reports from all parts Of Flint Creek
valley show a larger crop of hay and
grain this year than any previous year,
n while the clement weather. with
which this section has been blessed all
spring and summer, is largely respon-
sible for such increase. n more import-
ant factor is the steady improvements
which have been going on on all the
ranches in better irrigatinR bitches as
the country grows more populous and
these ranches and their product be-
come more valuable. 1t is but a very
short time ago that when some tender
foot would come to the valley and To-
cate on some apparently barren spot,
everyone was ready to doubt his sanity
ana give him about a year of starVa-
ton to bring him to his senses.
But all this is changed: many a then
bare spot has been reclaimed and made
To blossom like a rose and none have
been abandoned. but whenever some
squatter becomes discouraged at the
with which wealth finds its
way To his Golfers, he always finds
ready and willing purchasers to buy his
improvements and implements. Meth
er is ii so very long ago since ii was
thought that vegetables could not be
raised above Stone, and all ranchers
above that place imagined that all
truck must be purchased from the
lower valley, till now truck farming
is successfully engaged i'm to the upper
most end of the valley and right i'm the
city. which is only six miles from there.
Eve apple trees have been made sue
C~essfully To grow and bear fruit, while
nowhere can nicer lawns or shade trees
he found than some i'm Philipsburg,
whose owners are persistent and indus
lllpus enough 10 pfopefly care Tor ana
tend to them. ~
The nourishing quality of the hay
and the abundance of the crop, as well
as the eXCellcnCy and extent of the
range, makes cattle raising a most easy
and lucrative industry. and there is not
a rancher i'm the whole valley who has
not a bunch of cattle. though some are
yet small. Past experience shows that
there can be no such profit made at
anything as can be at cattle raising i'm
Flint Creek valley. There are in
stances where people. not much more
than a meteoric cycle ago.. with a dozen
head Of cows and plenty of acreage,
located and now own hundreds of acres
Of patented ground and hundreds of
cattle.
The sheep industry is yet i'm its swad-
ding clothes, and, strange to say that
though there is a glowing example of
the wealth to be made out of it i'm the
valley, in the shape of a band Of abou
5000 head of healthy and fine looking
sheep, few, if any, are making any ef-
fort i'm that direction.
To sit upon a mountain peak. from
under which more silver has been pro-
duced than any other and from which
can be seen Granite. Philipsburg. Stone,
Combination, New Chicago and Drum
mond, and look up and down this val
ley for a distance of 80 miles, running
between two ridges of mountains.
sometimes two miles and sometimes II
miles apart, see the wide eXpanse of
grazing range and innumerable bunch
es Of cattle on them, the large and
many stacks of hay i'm the fields and
the well-built and cared for farm
houses. viii give a person a good idea
as to why P~hilipsburg. during the par
tiaI suspension If mining for five years,
did not go the way of ordinary mining
camps, and why II was ready, without
any extraordinary effort. to adjust it
self to it's revived activity.