The Punta Gorda herald., 1922-02-24
Volume XXXIV.-Number s
THINKS CHALOTTE COUNTY
GOOD AS ANY IN STATE
Montana Man Compares Climate of
state With Florida to Advantage
of the Latter

According to Ross Elwell, county
assessor of ChOuteau county, Mon.
tana, who recently purchased prop
erty in Charlotte county and will
make this his home just as soon as
his term of Office expires it is both
colder in winter and hotter in sum-
mer in Montana than in Florida, and
after making a thorough study of
every section of the state he has
come to the conclusion that Charlotte
county offers just as many advantages
and opportunities as any other coun-
ty in Florida.
Following is an interesting letter
received by the editor from Mr..
Elwell few days ago:
Editor Punta Gorda Herald, Punta
Gorda, Florida Dear Sir: | have
been taking the Herald for some time
and thought some OF the readers
might like to hear from this part of
the country so will write a few lines
and if you think it will be worth
printing you can use it.
! purchased some land in Florida
last summer and since that time |
have been much interested in that
part of the state I have made a
pretty thorough study of the state
and l find the county of Charlotte as
good as any part of the state and
think there are as good opportunities
there as anywhere. l have also been
a reader of the Punta Gorda Herald
for sometime and think it one of the
best papers | know of for the size of
the town-and while I do not know
a single person mentioned in the pa
per | read every word of it, even the
ads, and look forward to the next is
sue-and am beginning to think |
know some of those mentioned in the
columns.
live about as near to the north
west corner of the United States as
YOU do to the southeast corner and
about $500 miles due northwest as
the crow flies. Benton is at the
h'hu VI nav lSdJIOu Vi Iut MISSOURI
river and only a short way from
whore the Madison, jefferson and
Dearborn rivers unite to form the
Missouri. The great falls of the
Missouri are about 80 miles above
here. In the early days before the
advent of the railroad everything that
came into the northwest was shipped
to Benton and freighted from here
with bull teams for hundreds of
miles This is in the foothills of the
Rocky mountains and surrounded by
smaller mountains. | am amused at
the literature of some of the counties
of Florida when they mention the
better conditions of their county for
the reason of the high altitude, say
ing ii has $50 feet elevation This
state is $50 miles wide and 500 miles
long and the elevation averages about
3, 500 fec above sea level and some
times wonder how I will get my
breath when | get down there.
Then you speak of the weather and
tAi' 81 cot NllIltltN tOu nave IhClt anu
when ! compare them as | have for
the past summer | find that we have
you skinned at least two ways, for it
is hotter here in summer and colder
in winter. | found that all summer
your temperature ranged about five
to six degrees cooler than here and
one day in particular when you had
95 degrees we had 1O6 degrees, and
when you reported a cold wave, as
you did last week, and said the cold
est was SO above, here it as 81 below
and one day the spread of the ther-
mometer showed 80 degrees above in
the morning and % degrees below at
night and we had IA inches of snow
to wade and the roads have been i'm
passable since Christmas.
This county of which | am assessor !
is 104 miles long and 60 miles wide |
and the assessed value is 54 million |
dollars and there is about 5000 diff
ferent assessments.
My son-in-law is on my place now |
and | expect to be there as soon as |
my time is out here. l want to |
get there to see if the fish stories told /
in the Punta Gorda Herald can be
verified. / have fished in the trout |
streams here but have never eQualled .
the stories told there. You speak /
of voting a bond issue and that it |
would be repaid without advancing |
the levy a single mill and l would like
to have you explain how that can be
done for in this country it has to be (
done by direct taxation and if there |
is another way out I would like to |
know it. l know good roads are in
and we must have good /
roads and the country that does not
get them will find they are behind in
the race.
wrote for some of the booklets !
the Commercial Club had printed and
hope to receive them soon as l have
some people here interested and think
they will come down when I do.