The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-11-13
IN EASTERN MONTANA THEY
ARE PRETTY WISE.
BILLINGS IS WELL TO DO
Many Evidences Of Solid Industrial
Foundations Along the
Yellowstone.

HI. b. Segur of Billings, general
agent for the Burlington railroad,
came to Butte yesterday, says the
Anaconda Standard. Mr.. Segur looks
after the roads business in Montana
from his Office in Billings, but his trips
to Butte are few and far between.
Phil Daniels, the local manager of the
B~urlingtons' business III Butte, handles
the extensive affairs of the company
easily, and when the man from Billings
comes to town he takes occasion to
see the sights and visit with the corps
of good fellows who inhabit the rail
road offices about town.
Billings is the gateway of the
state of Montana, " said Mr.. Segur yes
terday. Business coming and going
owe the Burlington increases every
month and we look forward to big re-
turns from the extensions we are max
ing to the main line into the rich
grazing and agricultural region to the
soItll of the Yellowstone river. Two
years ago there were rs new houses
built in Billings; last year they built
175 and this year over 200 have been
erected, and we have two months left
yet to increase that total. We have a
daily paper and the town is taking a
front rank among the big business
centers of the state. We did not get a
fair deal in the census returns. We
were like Butte in that respect, and
like Butte our failure to be credited
with as large a population as the city
hos tr,ac dina tn tho fant fhnt fhn od1i
lions that are the homes of a large
part of the population are situated
outside of the city limits. So, of
course, the census OF the part of the
town inside of the city limits could
not do Billings Justice.
1--WE are building a branch of the
road to Cody, 175 miles to the south.
The work on the grade contains some
novel features. 1t is progl essing al
along the line and in some sections of
the construction the MormOns are at
work. The Mormons are all right.
They have the cooperative system of
self-goyernment down fine. Part of
them are engaged in irrigation work,
bringing the water out of the hills for
next years crops, and the remainder
are working Oh the Burlington grade
and they divide the earnings of the
men who work ON the road between
all the members of the colony. Ii
this winter is an open one the Nor
mons will be pretty well fixed by
spring and will have water enough
for irrigation to raise good crops next
year, That section of the country is
fortunate in having a class Of people
move in that understands irrigation
There are about seven or eight hundred
Mormons in the colony now and they
are in a fair way to make plenty of
money from the land they have taken
up.
ffCody, the town to which the Bur-
lington branch is being extended, is a
place that was originally laid out by
Buffalo Bill, His company built the
first big irrigation ditch into the very
fertile lands that surround the town,
and the success that has attended the
development of the country is a high
tribute to the Judgment of the man
who picked it out as a desirable loca-
tiion for an agricultural community,
II IN u al tho richest countries TO DO
found anywhere,
aRillings heads the list of the wool
markets of the world today, Eleven
million pounds is the figure Of the
seasons shipment total, and this
makes IT tbs largest initial market in
America. We have q big freight bust
ness from tho west coming through
there, too, We handled about 5000
cars OF lumbar and shingles this year,
Tho east is bnyiag largely Of the prod
nets OF the lumber states and most OF