Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-21
~ Up VAN Wrinkles are rare in
~ this mountain country. Wash
IN ington Irving's knickerbocker

tNlS mou.tdln country. WASH
ington Irving's knickerbocker
character, the simple Dutchman
wtho slept for twenty years under a tree
in a ravine of the Catskills and awoke
to find a hamlet of strange people grown
about him. finds no companion in theA,
hills around us. rich in mineral wealth.
Mark Twain and Bret Harte never at
tempted such a surprise in any of their
stories of western life. The west is too
swift for drealners.
Yet some day there might stray into
this city a srizzled prospector who
packed his blankets INTO this camp in
1876 or a little later. tarried awhile to
try his luck. failed and went elsewhere.
i. His establishment could be no less than
Rip Van Wrinkles over the remarkable
change. which have taken place since
that time. He expected to see big smelt-
ers and big slnokestacks emitting smoke
from mining plants. But he did not en-
pect to see school houses much larger
than the capitol buildings of western ter
ritories at the time he struck out across
the plains. He wanders to the corner of
Broadway and Academy, and recalls
the little wooden building used for a
school in his time tina stood on that COR
ner. Upon that site now, to mis- amaze
ment stands one of the %grandest build
ings in the state--the public library.
What has become of the s~choolmaster
who taught in that little wooden build
ing? Where. now, are the pupils?
Education has kept pace with the Won
derful developments of this greatest of
mining camps, and its early history is
just as entertaining as any story told
about disc series of mines. No further
back than 1876, only one teacher was
required to meet me needs of the camp
III this respect. Mr.. J. II. Seville proudly
held forth with a handful of miners
children in the little building mentioned.
Many of the solid citizens of today were
then his pupils. and the old schoolmaster
lived to see his son, Orville, graduate
at the head of a large class from the
Butte high school, which Is row one of
the foremost institutions of learning in
the inter-mountain country.
What have We today? According to
the last printed report of the board of
trustees for the years 1S99-19OO, issued
about a year ago. We have some of the b.
most substantial and c~ostliest structures
in thu country devoted TO education. From
the little wooden shack taat s.oOl where
the puzzle library n3N commands the at
tsntion Of every Butte visitor, we have
advanced to such stately piles as the
Washington school. with its enrolment
of abaut 200 pupils: the Garfield, Lin
coin. Franklin, Grant and Adams schools
and the less pFatentiGus yet conmodious
Blaine, Monroe. jefferson. Adams, Madi-
son ara Greeley. There are smaller
school ~ubildings in the thtniy-settled
section, Il another will shortly be
erected on the west side, beyond Missou-
Ia Eulch. Altogether there are II school
buildings nOt counting annexes) with IA
principals in charge and 165 teachers
of all grades. a fair estimate of the
attendance of pupils, in round numbers,
would be 800.
The school census of Silver Bow
county OF youths between the ages of 6
and II years, figures up a total of 10,979,
according to a recent report OF County
Superintendent Miss 3. p. Downey.
Census District No. /, 1862. Hence the
attendance of pupils at our public schools
given above as $500, should not be con-
fused with the number who come within
the school ages ranging from 6 to y
years. Most pupils leave school at the
age Of Is and under.
From the last report of the board of
school trustees, comprehending eXpendi-
lures from Sept. l, 1899, to Sept. !, 1900,
we ascertain that the amount expended
for teachers salaries during the year
WAS Sill, IL. 20; buildings, $57, 245.0S; free
text books, $S,4S4.63; janitors' salaries,
S10,11S.oO; fuel. S5,35a.1S; insurance, So
1856. 90. These are the principal entries of
expenditure Besides the above amounts,
school bonds to the amount of $4,000
were redeemed. Altogether, the eXpen-
,litures for the year reached a total of
$2S4, GG3.55.