Daily inter mountain., 1900-12-21

III JdHuoiS, 1850, III cutting up some ol
the old and cumberously large counties
of the former territory, took from Mis-
soula it's loveliest part and called it Ra-
Valli. after Father Anthony Ravalli, that
noble missionary of the cross who spent
his life in spreading the story of the
Christ among the Flathead Indians, who
in earlier times We're lords of this soil;
whose memory is revered alike by the
red man and the white man of pioneer
days, and whose honored remains now
rest under a handsome monument in the
old catholic cemetery at st. MaryS
Mission, at Stevensville. The original
bill creating the county made the di-
vision line between it and the parent
county the Lo Lo creek, but after it had
been passed and signed it was found
that the line had been extended too far
eastward, going over the mountains
clear to the Deer Lodge line, and taking
in the new county of Bonita and other
sections of Missoula that had not been
contemplated. In passing an amenda-
tory measure the Missoula people got
somewhat the best of us, and had the
line moved south of Carlton, leaving the
Lo Lo country entirely in Missoula. and
depriving Ravalli of that much of what
is really a portion of the Bitter Root
conciled and do not lay it up against
Missoula.
Ravalli county. containing within it's
boundaries nearly the entire Bitter Root
valley the famed garden spot of the
treasure state is some % miles long.
and varies in width Of available soil
from five to twelve miles. It's principal
dependence thus far have been agri-
culture, the raising of fruit and the out
put of lumber, but it's minerals are now
beginning to attract attention. Fruit
culture was first attempted in 1870, and
now Bitter Root strawberries are eager
ly looked for each year in the markets
of the state, while the fame of the Bitter
Root apple has extended into the east
ern market. The Bass brothers, who
have a large farm on the west side of the
Bitter Root river. a few miles north of
the Stevensville depot, We're the first to
go into fruit raising. When they first be-
gan to set out trees they We're laughed
at by their neighbors, who assured them
that fruit could not be successfully
grown in Montana; bat they persevered,
and today they have over one hundred
acres in fruit and over 10000 bearing APP
pie, plum, pear and cherry trees all of
which pay more than we'll. Their sue
ter Root fruit was not only possibility
but a profitable investment, led others
to follow where they led, until now the
whole valley is dotted with orchards,
some of only a few hundred trees and
others of thousands, the orchards of the
Bitter Root stock farm of the late Mar
Gus Daily near Hamilton, having 10000
fruit trees, nearly all in bearing. The
Bitter Root Orchard Co., at Grantsdale,
and w. B. Harlan at Como, are other
very large fruit growers of the county,
while every farmer has hundred or
two trees on his place Which materially
add to the receipts of the farm every
year. The small fruits also flourish, and
strawberries, raspberres, blackberries,
sooseberries and currants are in pro-
fusion everywhere.
The soil of Ravalli county is exceed
ingly rich, and beside fruit all sorts of
vegetables and cereals and fodder are
raised in large and paying quantities.
Wheat will average from go to 60 BUSH
els to the acre, barley or rye so bushels,
oats from so to 100 bushels, and some va
rites of corn are successfully grown.
The hay of the valley is particularly nu-
| tritious and the crop is good, running
from two to four tons to the acre. Both
red and white clover grow we'll and yield
! two crops a year, while alfalfa yields
enormously, and two and three crops are
cut each year.
GREAT LUMBER INTERESTS.
Next in Importance to the products of
husbandry is the numbering interests of
the county. The Bitter Root branch OF
| the Northern Pacific, begun in the early
SOS, was constructed primarily to reach
the timber along the west side of the
| river, and saw mills have eaten up the
forests and some are still cutting, from
| Carlton to Riverside, a few miles north