MONTANA. 



497 



over s !.").()( MM MX), of which the niininir districts 

 tributary to Butte produce over *>.->.< iiin.oon. 



The first annual report of the Anaconda Copper 

 Mining Company for the year ending June M<>. IMiii. 

 wa> published in December. The president esti- 

 mates t lie profits for the year at s4.25s.514. The 

 total expenditures at the mines were s5.<>7 1.677.61, 

 and at the works in Anaconda 5.616.516.78, of 

 which amount $1,235,000 was expended on ma- 

 chinery. 



The leportof the Boston and Montana Consoli- 

 dation Copper and Silver Mining Company shows 

 net earnings amounting to $2,357,703.61. The 

 3 earnings were $4,999,231.39. 



Many new discoveries of gold and silver deposits 

 have lieen reported recently, one 42 miles from 

 Great Falls, and one in the Little Rocky mountains 

 not far from Landusky. Madison County, on the 

 western side of the Tobacco Root range, is found to 

 have a rich deposit of gold. A shaft has been sunk 

 in the heart of the city of Butte, which is built 

 over a rich mineral deposit. 



The Cree Indians. A bill appropriating $5,000 

 to remove the Crees from Montana passed Congress 

 and went into effect in May. The Indians showed 

 a disposition to resist deportation unless their chiefs, 

 who had been leaders of the Riel rebellion, should 

 be pardoned by the Canadian Government ; and 

 the Federal troops were sent to deport them over 

 the border, in June, by special train. One, who 

 had been implicated in a murder in the Northwest 

 Territory a dozen years ago, shot himself at the 

 Great Falls railroad station rather than be forced 

 to go back. 



Bounties on Animals. Since the bounty law 

 enacted by the Legislature of 1895 went into effect, 

 claims have been filed for the killing of wolves 

 and coyotes amounting to $137,427, and $59.475 of 

 this had been paid in warrants up to Dec. 1, 1896. 

 The number of coyotes killed during the fiscal 

 year 180(3 was 18.216. The hist Legislature re- 

 pealed the old bounty law. which paid $2 for kill- 

 ing wolves and coyotes, $5 for mountain lions, bear, 

 lynx, and bob cats, and passed the present law. 

 which confines the bounty to the most dangerous of 

 the stock-destroying animals, wolves and coyotes, 

 paying on each a bounty of $3. 



The fund is raised by an act of the Legislature 

 setting aside 5 percent, of the money collected from 

 licenses and a tax of H mill levied on the live stock 

 of the State. 



Opening of Reservations. In February the 

 Secretary of the Interior sent to Congress for ratifi- 

 cation agreements with the Indians of the. Black- 

 foot and Fort Belknap reservations. The Blackfoot 

 Indians agreed to give up about 1.000.000 acres of 

 mineral lands for $1.500.000. to be expended for their 

 benefit at the rate of $150.000 a year, beginning in 

 1 s '.'?. The lands are to be disposed of under the 

 mineral laws, and sold for $2 to $5 an acre. The 

 Belknap Indians ceded 40.000 acres of mineral lands 

 for $360.000. to be expended for the Indians in 

 sums of $90.000 a year. In this case the price is 

 placed at $10. The agreement was ratified, and 

 provision was made for a survey. 



State Lands. The report "of the Register of 

 Lands shows that the State educational institu- 

 tions, together with the public schools, will have to 

 their credit 9,000 square miles of land. The money 

 derived from the sale of these lands goes into the 

 permanent school fund, the principal of which can 

 not be touched. The minimum price at which 

 these lands can be sold is $10 an acre, and the prin- 

 cipal of the funds arising from the sale of sections 

 16 and 36 must ever remain a permanent fund in 

 trust for the support of the public schools of the 

 State. Of the 9,160 sections that will be known as 



VOL. xxxvi. 32 A 



State lands, over 3,000 sections have been sur- 

 veyed. 



The public building grant, of which the Capitol 

 building fund is of most interest, includes is-J.O(M) 

 acres, of which 100.733 acres have !.; 



Two hundred three-year leases and permits, em- 

 bracing 93.5d() acres of land, were i-sued during the 

 fiscal year, from which there is due th- 

 rental annually $9,285.75. 



The Register received $38,185.23 during the year, 

 divided among the following funds: School fund. 

 income $22. 107. 5fi : Capitol building fund. $1.771. 06: 

 school fund, permanent, $8.015.18 : university fund, 

 income, $5.445.43: School of Mines fund, income, 

 $30 ; State Normal School, income fund, $816. 



The list of grants made for the State inMitutions 

 is as follows : Agricultural College, 140,000 acres ; 

 School of Mines, 100,000 acres; State Normal 

 School, 100,000 acres; Deaf and Dumb Asylum, 

 50,000 acres; State Reform School. 50,000 a'cres ; 

 State University, 46,080 acres. These with the 

 grant for the Capitol amount to 668,080 acres. 



Important Decisions. In the case of a negro 

 who was convicted in a U/nited States circuit court 

 of murder committed on the Crow reservation, an 

 appeal was sustained alleging want of jurisdiction. 

 The prosecution in the Federal court relied upon 

 the clause in the Montana enabling act providing 

 that " Indian lands shall remain under the absolute 

 jurisdiction and control of Congress of the United 

 States," but Justice White said it was clear it was 

 not intended that this provision should operate to 

 deprive the State of power to punish crimes com- 

 mitted in reservation by others than Indians. 



In a case involving the constitutionality of the 

 license law, the judge of a district court in Silver 

 Bow County decided that the whole license law was 

 unconstitutional. If the decision had been upheld, 

 the State would have lost about $500,000 a year. But 

 the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the 

 lower court, which was founded upon an article of 

 the Constitution which seems to prohibit the Legis- 

 lature from enacting a license law where part of 

 the proceeds go to the county. The Supreme Court 

 decided that the intention of the framers of the 

 Constitution was to limit the power of taxation and 

 not that of license. 



In a suit involving the question of priority of 

 labor liens and mortgages upon mining property, 

 the decision was in favor of the priority of the 

 mortgage lien. 



Immigration Convention. A convention for 

 effecting a permanent organization to work for the 

 development of the State by securing desirable im- 

 migration and the enlistment of capital in mining 

 enterprises, was held at Helena in March, and was 

 very largely attended, every county being repre- 

 sented. For two days there was a series of papers 

 by specialists setting forth the resources of their 

 respective sections. A permanent bureau will be 

 organized for the preparation of authoritative state- 

 ments of the resources of the State and the dissemi- 

 nation of literature. 



Political. The Republicans held a State con- 

 vention at Butte, May 11. at which delegates to the 

 national convention were chosen. The platform 

 included the following declarations: 



-We reiterate our faith in and devotion to the 

 great Republican principles of bimetallism, pr 

 tion, and reciprocity, announcing as our understand- 

 ing of bimetallism.' the free and unlimited coinage 

 of both gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, inde- 

 pendently by the United States. In the applica- 

 tion of the principles of protection, we insist that 

 the farmer, the miner, and the sheepherder shall 

 receive equal consideration with the manufacturer, 

 and that through reciprocity treaties the produc- 



