The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1923-06-27
PAYS TRIBUTE
TO MONTANA

What an eastern newspaper man,
sent to Montana by the King Feat
ures Sydicate to v the Dempsey
Gibbons heavyweight title bout at
Shelby, July A, thinks of the Treasure
state is set forth in the following ar
ticle. 1t is a sincere, spontaneous
tribute to the beauties, resources and
people of what is potentially the
greatest commonwealth in the Union.
No matter what the D~empsey-Gib-
bons fight does or does not do, this
one thing is certain:
1t has attracted national attention
to Montana and made those who come
mere realize the beauties and bril-
| liant future of a wonderful state.
The mystifying thing about Mon
tana is that although it is a remark
BILE agricultural country, one of the
greatest of all mineral
wealths, a splendid cattle district, and
now knows an oil boom, its gross pop
ulation does not hit the coo, 900 mark.
Fortunes have been made In the
green hills and cool valleys of Mon
tana-immense fortunes in cattle and
mining. But what has gone before
will be but a whisper to that of the
future if men with money, men with
sincerity and men of industry ever
come to Montana and make it their
new home.
And the publicity which the fight
is giving to the Treasure state" I'M
doubtedly will bring them.
Those who live here-and love it
explain the smallness of the popu-
lation in this way:
Whenever folks travel across the
continent, it usually is from Chicago
directly west through Nebraska, Col
orado, Nevada and Utah. Even those
who must go to Seattle and the other
cities of the Pacific northwest, take
6 that route and then go north along
the Pacific coast.
Overland travel through Montana
therefore has been small. Only a few
have travelled our northern route tt
the Pacific northwest. Therefore
only a rare few persons ever have
been in Montana; only a comparative
few ever have seer the glories of on,
state.
: "And so Montana, really the won
der state of the Union, has remainet
almost unknown to Americans beyont
: its border"
Which is Americas misfortune.
: Montana has a climate delightful
ly cool in the summer, but with win
n tiers of real severity. 1t grows col
y in Montana, and the little town o
: Havre, near here, is regarded as tn
= chilliest spot in the United States.
. But, as is always the case in tn
mountainous countries, the extrem
: cold is not so intense or so piercin
=: as In the coast cities; rather, it is a
= e~xhilirating cold.
= The general idea that Montana is
state of wild wastes such as Nevad
" and Utah is shattered by a railroa
= ride through it, by automobile tour
along its roads-and by crop Stats
ties. Rivers-many of them-maB
their way all through the state. Vei
citation is not exactly luxuriant, bl
- Montana need not yield much to agr
" cultural Minnesota in the quality
its soil.
The land in some spots is natur
:. farming acreage. In others it pro
ably will have to be nursed along f
n a few years before it can produ
" maximum crops. But in ten yea
Montana could be transformed in
=. the greatest farming district in t
IN world.
- Right now Montana averages
bushels of wheat and 40 bushels
pU- oats TO the acre-the record for t
lat nation. When it is remembered tn
-nu the national average is 10 bushels
wheat and 80 bushels of oats to t
us acre, the greatness of Montana as
ors farming country becomes startling
apparent
'lsC For more than 40 years Monta
Is has produced minerals in tremendC
quantities. The supply of preciC
OK ore In it's many hills seems inexhau
pee IDLE. Before one field has bt
9ral worked to its limit new and grea
ones have been discovered.
The only thing that keeps Monts
from becoming the greatest mine
producing commonwealth in
Union is lack of a legion of worke
Some day they win be here-s
then watch Montana.
This Treasure state" produ
gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, M
ganese, coal and sapphires. To d
more than two billion dollars wo
Of metal has been taken from it,
it is said that only the surface of
mineral wealth has been scratch
Althmph the male adnl4 -o.Io4