The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1909-12-01
'fFIcIAL PAPER OF cHOUTEAU COUNTY
WEDNESDAY, DEC. l, 1909.


Encouraged by the efforts of rail-
road immigration agents to bring
settlers 70 Montana, and stimulated
by the success attained through SINH
lar efforts in other parts of the coun.
try, most of the citizens of Montana
have developed into boosters of more
or less efficiency. They are familiar
with the conditions that obtain In the
the Treasure state: they know that the
opportunities here excel those offered
in any other part of the country, and
extend the hand of welcome to resi-
dents of other communities who desire
to better their circumstances and share
in the benefits placed at their dis.
posal.
The success of boosting depends, in
q measure, upon the conditions under
which it is conducted. Until recent
years, a Montana booster was work.
ing under disadvantages hat we're
somewhat discouraging. The Montana
field was sidetracked by immigration
agents of the large railroad systems,
who were giving their attention prin-
cipally to the states of Oregon and
Washington, and many thousands of
new settlers were transported through
Montana and located upon lands fur
Their west that were less desirable in
many respects than locations in this
state. These unfavorable conditions
have been changed, and the work of
Montan aboosters is receiving such eff.
~fective cooperation from the railroad
interests that the result is most graft
flying.
Montana has been the home of
boosters from the earliest days of its
history, but the pioneers in that occu-
patton labored under difficulties that
made their efforts devoid of satisfac.
tory results. Forty years ago, Chas.
S. Ashley, then governor of Montana
territory, undertook to inform eastern
people reg arding the desirability of
this section as a home for land seek
gle OuV WIG AdCh Va pOIC oVlOu
facilities and other discouragements
were a great obstacle to the success of
his endeavor. Governor Ashley's
message to eastern hOmeseekers, pub
lished forty years ago in the New
York Tribune, said in part:
"In nearly all of the eastern states
and all of the large cities there are
thousands of sober, industrious men
and women without homes and without
employment, many of whom obtain a
precarious subsistence, and at the end
of each year find themselves older and
poorer. If all such would seek homes
in the great and growing west they
could not fail to.better their condition,
especially ii they went in colonies, as
did the settlers at Greeley, in Colo.
RADIO. In Montana all kinds of labor
is remuner alive for men and women.
There the sober and Industrious will
be welcomed, and free homes and
health and a bright future invites
them"
In calling attention to the proposed
western extension of the Northern Pa
ciic road, q work that was not accom-.
plished until years later, Governor
Ashley's communication said: 1.-The
railroad will pass through the richest
agricultural and mineral districts OF
Montana. Valuable locations in val
leys, through which or near which the
road must run, can now be obtained
by actual settlers under the homestead
or presumption laws. l need not ado
that the earlier the immigrants are or
the ground, the better their opportu'
mites for making good selections"
At the time of the booster effort b!
Governor Ashley, the population o
Montana was only about 10000,
number now exceeded by the resident
of some of the larger cities in tn,
state. The boosting industry ha
tlourished in Montana to a more O
less extent since Governor Ashley
time, and is now producing result
which will largely increase the popu
lation and prosperity of the common
wealth.