UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



725 



to do business in Montana. According to the 

 statement of the Auditor 79 fire insurance com- 

 panies wrote risks to the amount of $45,001,910, 

 for which they received gross premiums of $925,- 

 339. They paid losses aggregating $525,252, of 

 which $487,026 were incurred in 1900. llisks car- 

 ried by the fire companies at the close of last year 

 amounted to $20,260,168. Nineteen life compa- 

 nies increased their risks by nearly $3,000,000, 

 making an aggregate of $29,813,479. Insurance 

 to the amount of $6,155,612 was written. For 

 this premiums to the amount of $962,311 were re- 

 ceived. The losses incurred amounted to $222,- 

 824. Miscellaneous companies, including 16 acci- 

 dent, liability, boiler, and glass companies, wrote 

 risks amounting to $4,774,494, for which they 

 received premiums of $1,183,188. These incurred 

 losses amounting to $68,307, and paid losses of 

 $64,746. They carried risks aggregating $7,633,- 

 897 at the end of the year. 



Banks. A table prepared by the Auditor in 

 September shows that the State banks, with the 

 exception of the JEtna (a new compnay in Butte, 

 which did not report), have a capital stock of 

 $1,190,000, deposits of $10,582,377.40, cash on hand 

 $1,379,470, and total resources $13,337,791.77. 



Irrigation. An important public work was 

 dedicated in October when the Dearborn irri- 

 gating canal was filled with water and opened 

 for use. It is the first one built under the Carey 

 act of Congress and the act created the State 

 Arid-Land Grant Commission. The Dearborn val- 

 ley is about 50 miles north of Helena, with Dear- 

 born river on the south, Sun river on the north, 

 Missouri river on the east, and the Rocky moun- 

 tains on the west a territory of about 782 square 

 miles. The canal begins a short distance up the 

 Grand Canon of Dearborn river, diverting its 

 waters and carrying them over the hills to Sum- 

 mit lake, where they are divided into smaller 

 canals and streams, from which they are dis- 

 tributed to the small valleys known as Flat creek, 

 Auchard creek, Dry creek, Simms creek, and 

 Spring Coulee. The Dearborn Canal system com- 

 prises about 100 miles of main waterway, with 

 several hundred miles of laterals. The reservoir 

 system covers about 3,000 acres, with an average 

 depth of 20 feet storing 60,000 acre feet. The 

 main canal is 38 feet wide and 5 feet deep, with 

 an average grade of 3.1 feet to the mile. Sub- 

 sidiary canals range from 16 feet wide, on the 

 bottom, to 7 feet. 



Timber-Land Frauds. It is alleged that 

 great frauds have been committed to secure tim- 

 ber and stone lands in Montana and Idaho. The 

 law provides that any citizen may file on 160 

 acres of timber land by paying $2.50 an acre; but 

 in making proof on his claim he must make affi- 

 davit that he is not taking the land for specu- 

 lation, and that he has made no arrangement to 

 sell to a second party. It is charged that agents 

 of certain large proprietors induced numbers of 

 persons to take lands on these conditions and 

 transfer them to their principals, paying each 

 locater $100 above the cost of the land and other 

 expenses. The Government has brought suit to 

 recover the lands and the value of the timber that 

 has been taken from them, and 102 indictments 

 for perjury were found against individuals who 

 secured lands in Montana by swearing falsely. 



Lawlessness. A white man alleged to have 

 assaulted a girl of five years was taken from the 

 jail at Helena in the early morning of Oct. 2, 

 by a mob of about 200 masked men, and hanged 

 to a telegraph-pole in Haymarket Square. A 

 grand jury was called to investigate the lynch- 

 ing, and after several days' session, during which 



38 witnesses \\<T< \\ l( . j,, rv n .j )0r t c d 



that it had lx:en irrulij.. in |,;-M-nro. siiUk-if-nt evi- 

 dence to iind any iti<li infill-. It. recommended 

 the dismissal of the pnl j win. delivered the ac- 

 cused to the mob, and of one jiolieeiniin found to 

 have boon derelict in dm.; . 



Legislative Session. Tho --ion of 



the State Legislature began .1,1,1. ~ !; i ended 

 March 7. In the Senate wen; \<> I ; ,. :ii( , ., ; ,t -, ?> 

 Republicans, 1 Populist, and 4 Indo|..-,-id< 

 crats; in the House, 27 Democrats, 2."; I :;.> ih- 

 licans, 6 Populists, 9 Labor party, and "> Inde- 

 pendent Democrats. 



George H. Stanton was President pro Inn. of 

 the Senate, Frank E. Corbett was Speaker ui 

 the House, and John Baker Speaker pro tern. 



The new State administration was inaugurated 

 Jan. 13. 



Two Senators were to be elected one for the 

 seat to which W. A. Clark was elected by the 

 Legislature of 1899, for the term ending in 1905 r 

 the other .to succeed Senator Carter, for the term 

 ending in 1907. W. A. Clark was elected Jan. 16 

 for the long term, by a vote of 57 against 31 

 for T. A. Carter, 4 for M. Maginnis, and 1 for R. 

 B. Smith. The ballot for Senator for the short 

 term continued through the session. On the sixty- 

 sixth ballot, March 8, Paris Gibson was chosen 

 by 47 votes against 33 for T. H. Carter, 11 for 

 John MacGinniss, and 1 for H. L. Frank; the 

 two last-named had withdrawn before the final 

 ballot was taken. 



Among the important measures passed was a 

 bill making eight hours a legal day's work in 

 all smelter-mills and underground mines. An- 

 other bill in the interest of miners was to prevent 

 dealing in time-checks and the coercion of em- 

 ployees of companies that carry on general mer- 

 chandise stores in connection with their mines 

 or smelting-works. Wages are to be paid in law- 

 ful money or by bank-checks, and unpaid wages 

 may not be assigned to employers. 



The law against gambling, making it a felony 

 punishable by imprisonment, was repealed, and 

 a new law was passed limiting the punishment to 

 a heavy fine. Proprietors of places having slot- 

 machines are also subject to fine. The law pro- 

 vides that officers may break into suspected places 

 to search for gambling devices and arrest gam- 

 blers. 



In cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants the 

 Governor is to appoint 6 park commissioners for 

 terms of two years. 



The offices of game and fish warden and coal- 

 mine inspector were created. The Governor ap- 

 points the warden. No one is eligible to the office 

 of coal-mine inspector unless he is at least thirty 

 years old, has been engaged in coal-mining the 

 ten years prior to his appointment, has a com- 

 petent knowledge of all the systems of coal-min- 

 ing and working and properly ventilating coal- 

 mines and the nature and constituent parts of 

 noxious gases of coal-mines and the various ways 

 of expelling them from mines, and is a graduate 

 of some recognized school of mines and holds a 

 diploma, which shall be deposited with the Gov- 

 ernor before appointment. Further, it is to be 

 his duty, when he is not engaged in examining 

 coal-mines, to inspect quartz-mines, if called upon 

 by the Governor to do so. The term of office is 

 four years, and the salary $2,000. 



A State board of health was created, to con- 

 sist of the Governor, the Attorney-General, 4 

 members appointed by the Governor, and a secre- 

 tary appointed by the Governor or the board. A 

 board of 3 osteopathic examiners was authorized. 



The Land Commissioners are authorized to sell 



