Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-11-14
Census Taking No1u and in Pioneer Days
First Enumeration of Monta11ans Was Made in 1870

visor and a large corps of office clerks,
stenographers, adding machine opera
tors and house to house and farm to
farm enumerators. Thousands of dol
lars will be required to meet the tx
penSeS.
Hugh McQuaid had one clerk, the
late Massena Billiard, and McQuaid's
pay for his work in connection with
the job was the meager sum of $500.
That was all he received, except he
was permitted to frank his kilograms.
There were telegraph wires in Mon
tana in advance of the railroads. There
were no extras. Yet for this meager
sun he furnished the most complete
Of records and very fine data about
the territory.
McQuaid worked 80 enumerators
during the month of June and with
them he covered the entire territory,
the only modes of conveyance being
stage, cayuse or 'shank's ponies" In
1920 it took 243 enumerators in one Of
the three districts Of the state.
The largest job of any of the 80
enumerators was that given the EMU
merator in Dawson county, which COW
cred one-sixth of the whole territory.
He had his headquarters at old Fort
BufOrd on the Missouri river in what
is now Roosevelt county.
One instruction to deputies was Ito
report daily" Tom Irvine, sheriff Of
Custer county, covering a large por-
ton of southeastern Montana, wanted
to know How in HI" he could do it
when there was but one post Office in
his whole district which extended from
the mountains almost to the state line.
39,157 Here in 1880
In 1880, Helena was the largest city
in the territory, a distinction it has
never since enjoyed, except politically
1t had a population around 3,700, while
Butte had 3,400. Then, as now, every
community wanted to make a big show
ing and McQuaid had a lot of trouble
p%acifying the various places because
they did not have as many people as
they wanted.
OF the 39,157 people, McQuaid's
enumerators found, 28,l80 were males
and 1852 were females. There were
IS, 408 white and 1868 colored. 1t is
interesting to note that the "colored'
list, which did not include Indians,
was almost one-half Orientals, who fol-
lowed in the wake of early day placer
mining.
BY 1880 Montana had made rapid
strides toward education and a COM
pilation of the figures, just before Nc
QUAD took the census, showed there
were 7,049 pupils in the public schools
of the territory. Elizabeth Ireland,
state superintendent, recently told the
teachers at Great Falls that there are
now LAT, 900 children of school age in
the state.
Montana also had started in for
higher education. The College OF
Montana was being conducted at Deer
Lodge and st. Vincent's Academy at
Helena had been a popular school for
more than 10 years.
There were eleven counties in 1880
and the population was divided among
them as follows: Beaverhead, 2,712t
Chouteau, 3,058; Custer, 2,510; Daw.
son, 1870; Deer Lodge, 1916; Gallatin
3,643; jefferson, 2,464; Lewis and Clark
6,521; Madison, 1916; Meagher, 2,744
and Missoula, 1888. There were only
six towns with a population OF 1000 OF
more.
The Census of 1890.
The next census was in 1890, the
year following Montana's admission tc
statehood. The population then hac
increased to 1924, which included
O,765 Indians living on reservations
who were enumerated for the first time
The number Of towns with a popula.
ton of 1000 or more had increased tx
IA, and the number of counties in the
state to 16.
The percentage of females to thu
population had increased to 28.04 II
1880 and to $3.50 in 1890, just one.
third of the inhabitants being females
There was o decrease in the numbeI
of Indians living on reservations t.
lO,573.
The largest increase in population
took place in the decade between 1911
and 1920, due largely to the tremendou
influx of settlers to Montana to TAX
up lands and to the introduction 0
non-irrigated and power farming. II
the light of that increase one should b
able to speculate closely on the show
ing which will be made in the presen
decade when the 1920 figures are com
pleted.
Comparison of 1910 and 1920
In 1910 the population Of Montan
was 376,033, of which 242 ,633 wa
rural. There we're 26,214 farms, in
GLIDING 13,545, 603 acres Of which $3.50,
BIT were improved, the average acreag
per farm being Sic with q value pc
acre of $25.6 SO. Farm buildings wer
valued at $44, 6l5, 154, and Montan
farms represented 0.41 ner cent of tn
farming land Of the nation.