MONTANA. 



605 



year : Governor, B. Plait Carpenter, succeed- 

 ed by S. T. Hauser ; Secretary, J. S. Tooker, 

 succeeded by "William Webb ; Treasurer, Dan- 

 iel H. Weston ; Auditor, Joseph P. Woolraan ; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, Corne- 

 lius Hedges, succeeded by W. W. Wylie ; At- 

 torney-General, "William H. Hunt. Judiciary, 

 Supreme Court: Chief-Justice, D. S. Wade; 

 Associate Justices, W. J. Galbraith and John 

 Coburn, succeeded by C. R. Pollard. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature met on 

 Jan. 12, and adjourned on March 12. Ninety 

 bills became laws. Among them were the fol- 

 lowing: 



To incorporate the city of Billings. 



To prevent the branding of cattle during certain 

 seasons. 



Creating the county of Fergus. 



To facilitate the service of process upon personal 

 property, and the transfer thereof in certain cases. 



To incorporate the city of Missoula. 



Authorizing county commissioners to award con- 

 tracts for keeping roads in repair. 



In relation to road-taxes. 



For the appointment of road supervisors. 



To encourage the propagation or quail, and to punish 

 the killing thereof. 



Concerning representation of quartz-lodes. 



To prevent persons hunting hi inclosures of others. 



For the annexation of a portion of the Crow reserva- 

 tion to Yellowstone County. 



To suppress prize-fighting. 



To regulate and organize "the militia. 



To prevent the dissemination of contagious and in- 

 fectious diseases among animals. 



To prevent deception in the sale of butter and cheese. 



Creating the office of county attorney. 



For the better protection or the live-stock interests 

 of Montana. 



Relative to water rights. 



To provide for the organization of the Legislative 

 Assembly. 



To authorize the levy of an additional mill for Ter- 

 ritorial purposes. 



To amend an act regulating insurance companies. 



To amend the game laws. 



To suppress hurdy-houses and dance-houses. 



To amend an act to authorize school trustees to issue 

 bonds to build or provide school-houses. 



To provide text-books for the public schools. 



Eegulating assessment of life-insurance companies. 



Valuation of Property. The assessed value of 

 property in 1882 was $33,211,319.12; 1883, 

 $44,698,461.28; 1884, $49,746,268.91; 1885, 

 $52,847,536.40. The property is not assessed 

 at its full value, and the assessment does not 

 include mines. The assessed valuation of the 

 counties in 1885 was as follows: 



COUNTIES. Valuation. 



Beaverhead $2,560,410 00 



Choteau 8,620,029 00 



Custer. 5,249,71 7 00 



Dawson 2,024,143 00 



Deer Lodge 8,899,894 00 



Gallatin 4,969,970 00 



Jefferson 2,026,076 40 



Lewis and Clarke 8,026,94000 



Madison. . . 2,579,836 00 



Meagher. ... 5,687,855 00 



Missoula 2,573,92600 



Silver Bow 7,571,461 00 



Yellowstone 2,057,279 00 



Total $52,847,586 40 



Population. No census of the population of 

 the Territory has been taken since 1880, at 



which time it was 39,157. The total vote cast 

 at the election in November, 1884, was 26,- 

 969. The total vote cast in 1882 was 23,318. 

 The increase has been greater during the past 

 two years than at any other period, and the 

 population may be fairly estimated at 100,000 

 to 110,000. 



Agriculture. The numerous valleys of the 

 Territory are remarkably fertile, and with 

 irrigation yield large returns in wheat, oats, 

 barley, and all kinds of vegetables, unsurpassed 

 in quality. Owing to the high price of labor 

 here, as in all mining countries, and the great 

 distance from the markets of the world, farm- 

 ers have been unable to compete successfully 

 in foreign markets with those of Dakota on 

 the east and Washington and Oregon on the 

 west ; consequently, nothing more is attempted 

 than the supply of the home demand. In those 

 portions of the Territory where attention has 

 been given to the cultivation of fruit-trees, it 

 has been demonstrated that the hardy varieties 

 can be raised. Small fruits succeed everywhere 

 in the Territory, and the yield is enormous. 



Reservations, Three Indian reservations in 

 the Territory embrace an area of 45,000 square 

 miles, including nearly 30,000,000 acres of the 

 finest agricultural and grazing lands on the 

 continent. The Governor urges the necessity 

 of cutting down these reservations to a size 

 commensurate with the needs of the Indians. 

 " The greater portion of these lands," he says, 

 " so necessary for the use of actual settlers, is 

 of no use whatever to the Indians. Since the 

 extinction of the buffalo, there is little or no 

 game, and but a small portion, if any, of these 

 lands are cultivated." 



Stock-Raising. Next to mining, stock-raising 

 is the largest industry. For the fiscal year end- 

 ing Dec. 31, 1884, the whole number of horses 

 assessed was 99,843; mules and asses, 2,534; 

 sheep, 593,896 ; cattle, 509,768. Since the as- 

 sessment, a large number of cattle have been 

 driven into the Territory. 



Of the cattle shipped into the Territory, a 

 large proportion came from Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, 

 and other Eastern cattle-raising States. The 

 animals are all of good grade, and great at- 

 tention has been given to the selection of 

 thoroughbred bulls. Over 90 per cent, of 

 these cattle is owned by fewer than ten com- 

 panies, the members of which are nearly all 

 home capitalists. 



Mining. Gold was discovered in small quan- 

 tities in 1861, but none to speak of until 1862, 

 when mining began in earnest and on a large 

 scale. For ten years the average yield of gold 

 from placer-diggings was $12,000,000 to $15,- 

 000,000 per annum. This class of mines was 

 rapidly exhausted. As the placers gave out, 

 gold and silver quartz - mining was begun, 

 which required capital, and was slow in de- 

 velopment. Ten years ago the yield from 

 quartz-mining was not over $1,000,000 per 

 annum ; now it is about $21,000,000. 



Of the annual product of the quartz-mines, 



