Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-05-31
BUTTE MONTANA


run on such a broad scale and
wide gauge that it keeps a tender
foot guessing what he will en-
counter next. My wife and l
were taking a drive with friends
through the mountains near the
headwaters of the Missouri river
where we found a cattle ranch
extending for seven miles along
the stream. One field containing
u, 800 acres where three thous-
and fat slick cattle were feeding.
The grass was short very short
and the country extremely rough
and rocky, but evidently well
adapted to the cattle industry.
We saw two different bands of
four hundred head each being
loaded at Red Rock for the Sc
attic market, the freight being
about the same as to Chicago.
The cattle were fed on wild hav
and were in fine condition.
The Big Hole Basin and Horse
Prairie are two of the best beef
producing points in the state, as
they are especially adapted to
the cattle industry. The sheep
industry is of no small inheritance
in this part of Montana,as there
is much range that is impossible
for the cattle to reach.
1t has showed every day for a
week. On the 10th we were
caught in one of the worst snow
storms | have experienced this
year. We were at an elevation
of over six thousand feet, while
down III the valley the sun shone
bright and warm. A fur lined
straw hat would be quite APP
propriate for this country.
The old time freighter has
crossed the Great Divide. At
Red Rock we found a modern
freighting outfit, three cars and
an engine that haules 40 tons OF
freight on common mountain
road at four miles an hour.
The people we are visiting
have five hundred head of well
bred cattle mostly COWS, vet
they buy their butter at thirty
cents a pound and send twenty
five miles after cream for their
coffee.
All fruit and vegetables are
shipped in from Utah, from two
to three hundred miles distant.
Oats produced a mammoth crop
of excellent heavy weight gu atty
but the irrigating ditch must be
close at hand. Almost every
thing is different from that
found in the east, yet it is in the
people that we find the greatest
center of interest. They have
come from every state IN the
union and from every country
on the face of the earth, bringing
with them the peculiarities and
notions of their section of
country, bringing with them an
aggressive industry, unsatished
ambitions and eager desire to
better their condition, and with
pluck and energy that laughs at
impossibilities and that will not
recognize failure.
We visited the Washoe Srne1ter
near Anaconda yesterday where
they handle five thousand tons
of ore a day. Their average
monthly product of copper is II,
100000 pounds worth 1912
cents per pound. Last year
this mine produced 100000
ounces of silver and $4,000
ounces of gold. This smelter
cost over 100000 and covers
800 acres. They employ $500
men.
The wonder Of the pilgrim
visiting Butte is where the thou
sands of women and children as
we'll as men find a place for out
door recreation and amusement
The first thing that attracts the
notice of the stranger is the alb
sence of trees and foliage in this
mountain mining camp. A few
lawns and shrubs may be found
after diligent search. Grass is
almost unknown in Butte. But
a street car trip of twenty
minutes will take one to a de
lightful canyon under the shadow
of the topmost peak ofthe Rocky
Mountains.
The city is unique in that by
the side of the modern business
block or handsome dwelling
stands the little old log cabin
with its single door and window
and dirt roof. One may see on
the corner a splendid business
block or modern home and on
another corner of the same
block a grim, unsightly hoist
standing over a shaft out OF
which the ore is being delivered
and borne away on immense
wagons, or by cars on the cleo
trio car line to the srnelters To-
Gated on the outskirts of the
city.
The Butte electric Railroad Co.
has TWENTY-FIVE miles of track in