Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-02-18

tions were indeed prophetic. A great
many of the recorded speeches were
made at Fourth of July celebrations;
I others on various occasions-but the
national centennial theme was over
+ Swallowed in the dreams of Montana's
potential opportunities.
Butte was smaller then than many
of the lesser county seat towns are
today. Gold mining was the principal
occupation of the small handful Of
people in the area. Virginia City which,
a dozen years before, had boosted of
10000 or more people scattered along
few miles of Alder gulch, was again
becoming just small town; the cap
ital had been moved to Helena, the
placers had yielded the cream, and her
people had begun to scatter to other
camps and to gulches throughout the
mountain region in search of new boz
nanzaS. Butte'S copper possibilities we're
just beginning to show as the probable
basis for a great industry. Little did
Butte folks at that time realize that
they had 'homesteaded" the richest
hill on earth"
W. A. Clark was then merely one of
the crowd in the camp-a successful
and influential leader, it is true-but
his copper kingdom and his industrial
and political wars with the DAILY crowd
were some years in the future. 1t was
Clark who represented Montana at the
national centennial exposition in Phil
adelphia, and on Oct. II, 1876, he gave
a lengthy talk at the exposition, deal
ing largely with statistics on Montana'S
potential industries, and a brief his
tory Of the territory's settlement.
Paints AIluring Picture
His speech painted a picture Of in
dustry rising midst the herds of buff
falo and other wild game in a primitive
land. He boosted that the territory
had five national banks with q cap
italization Of nearly 100000, and a
number Of strong private banks. The
territory's indebtedness was $125, 900 in
10 and II percent bonds, which sold
readily at 80 cents to par. Taxes were,
in the various counties, IL to percent
of assessed valuations. Freight on mer-
chandise was around 500 a ton from
railhead or boat landing to the mining
camps Farm labor was $50 q month,
miners wages SO to IS a day, hotel
board and room cost So to So a week,
and female help is $40 to $50 month.
The climate Clark described In Turing
terms as attractive to the resident or
wayfarer and boon to him who sought
to regain his health.
WndCSVSI may DC achieved Oh re-
nown, of wealth unfolded, science exc
tended, education diffused, patriotism
implanted and manhood ennobled,"
Clark, Montana viii have |
made loyal contribution. Now in the |
freshness Of youth, not yet entered her |
teens, her valleys sparsely settled, her |
soil almost virgin, her mineral treasures |
not half revealed, buffalo darkening
her plains and the Indian trail yet |
fresh on her mountain passes; then in |
the imperial dignity of statehood, on !
the transcontinental highway Of the |
worlds commerce, her valleys threaded |
with railways and teeming with life, |
the smoke Of a thousand furnaces ris- |
ing up to mingle with the pure air /
that envelopS her mountains, and the
fame Of her riches extended to all the |
ends Of the earth"
Plenty Of Oratory
Charles s. Warren at Butte Grated
on the history Of that town and Of /
Montana; Judge Henry NJ Blake re-
viewed the history of Madison county
and Virginia City and the thrilling
days of Montana's earliest beginnings
Judge Francis H. Woody recalled the
Of Missoula city and county
and the Bitter Root valley, going back
10 the coming Of Father DeSmet and
Father Ravalli; Judge Cornelius Hedges