MONTANA. 



MtJSIO, PROGRESS OF. 519 



houses were erected. The aggregate value of 

 school-buildings is $437,588. 



Mining. This industry continues to be the 

 leading occupation. The product of gold, sil- 

 ver, copper, and lead for 1887 is placed at $26,- 

 000.000. For many years the efforts of miners 

 were directed almost exclusively to the work- 

 ing of the gold and silver only. But additional 

 facilities of transportation have enabled these 

 men to work extensive mines of copper and 

 lead, which are combined with the more valu- 

 able precious metals, principally silver. Out 

 of ten different States and Territories hav- 

 ing dividend-paying mines, the total amount 

 declared since January 1 was $5,111,894, of 

 which Montana properties furnished nearly 

 one fourth. No State or other Territory ap- 

 proaches Montana in this respect. 



Since the completion of the Northern Pacific 

 Railroad, mineral coal has become an impor- 

 tant product of the Territory. Extensive beds 

 near the line of that road have been success- 

 fully worked. It is now known that beds of 

 good bituminous coal and lignite underlie large 

 areas in nearly every county in the Territory. 



Agriculture and Stock-Raising. The season of 

 1887 was favorable for the production of all 

 the staple crops. The average yield without 

 irrigation was as high as 80 bushels for oats, 

 65 for wheat, 40 for corn, and 200 to 300 for 

 potatoes ; and there was also an abundant crop 

 of small fruits. An increased rainfall and new 

 canals, together with the severe losses of range- 

 stock, have given a new impulse to regular 

 farming in the Territory. 



Prior to the severe winter of 1886-'87, the 

 stock-raising industry was in a flourishing con- 

 dition. The great losses of cattle then suffered, 

 estimated to reach $25,000,000, were due to 

 excessive cold and deep snows, added to a short 

 grass-crop occasioned by a drought in the pre- 

 ceding summer. The estimated number of 

 domestic animals in the Territory for the year 

 is as follows: Cattle, 1,400,000; horses, 190,- 

 000; sheep, 2,000,000. 



Railroads. During the year the St. Paul. 

 Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railroad entered 

 the Territory, and built upon its soil as far as 

 Great Falls, on Missouri river, a distance of 404 

 miles of railroad ; and the Montana Central 

 has completed its road from Great Falls to 

 Helena, the capital of the Territory, 102 miles, 

 thus furnishing a continuing unbroken line of 

 railroad from the capital of Montana, by way 

 of Great Falls, Benton, Fort Buford, Devil's 

 Lake, and to Saint Paul, a distance of over 

 1,150 miles. The Montana Central has under 

 contract a continuation of its line of road from 

 Helena to Butte City, "about eighty miles, and 

 will be finished in the early months of 1888. 

 The Northern^ Pacific stretches from Saint Paul 

 on Mississippi river, through the Territory, by 

 way of Helena, to the Pacific waters on Puget 

 Sound. During the year 626 miles of new- 

 railroad were built and put in operation. 



Public Buildings. The Territory of Montana 



has no public buildings. Each county has its 

 court-house and county jail, and a home for 

 the poor within its borders. The United States 

 has built, and now owns and controls, a 

 penitentiary within this Territory, and in 

 that institution are confined the Territorial 

 prisoners. Montana has no asylum for the in- 

 sane and lunatic, or institutions of learning for 

 the blind, the deaf and dumb, or the feeble- 

 minded, or other eleemosynary institutions; 

 but the legislation of her people has made 

 ample and liberal provisions for the comfort, 

 care, and treatment of all these classes of af- 

 fliction upon the people. 



Militia. Twenty years ago a general Indian 

 outbreak was threatened in the Territory, to 

 prepare for which there was issued by the 

 Governor, for the use of the militia, arms and 

 ammunition to the value of $67,561, and the 

 Territory thereby became indebted to the 

 General Government in that sum. The yearly 

 appropriation made to the Territory to arm 

 and equip the militia, amounting annually to 

 something less than $1,400, was credited by the 

 ordnance officer to the account of such indebt- 

 edness, whereby it was reduced on the books of 

 that office in February, 1887, at the end of 

 twenty years, to $35,436. This balance was, 

 under authority of the act of Congress approved 

 Feb. 17, 1887, credited to the Territory, and 

 the account closed. There are now in the Ter- 

 ritory one regiment of infantry, comprising 

 seven companies, and two companies of cavalry, 

 "regularly enlisted, organized, and uniformed 

 active militia," embracing, with the general 

 staff, 473 officers and men. 



MUSIC, PROGRESS OF. Belated reports that 

 have appeared in musical periodicals show the 

 following additional novelties in dramatic 

 music brought out during the year 1885 : 



Operas : " Imilda," by Verhey (Rotterdam, 

 January) ; " Baldaesare," by Gasparo Villate 

 (Madrid, February 18); "DerTrentajager," by 

 Victor Gluth (Munich, March 26) ; " Die Koni- 

 gin von Leon," by V. E. Becker ("Wurzburg); 

 "Der Pomposaner," by Leythauser (Nurem- 

 berg) ; " St. Johannisnacht," by Albert Eilers 

 (Darmstadt) ; " Yvonne," by Ernest Lefvre 

 (Rheims) ; " Noah," by Hal6vy, finished by Bizet 

 (Carlsruhe, April 5); "Marco Botzari," by 

 Bonicioli (Valencia) ; " II Rinnegato," by Man- 

 iiel Giro (Barcelona, June 6) ; " Popelka " (Cin- 

 derella), by Rosny (Prague, Czechish Theatre, 

 June) ; " Der Trompeter von Sakkingen," by 

 Einil Kaiser (Reichenberg, October 31 ; New 

 York, Thalia Theatre); "Cordelia," Russian 

 opera by Solovieff, the libretto after Sardou's 

 drama k ' La Haine " (St. Petersburg, Novem- 

 ber) ; " Der Schmied von Ruhla," by Lux 

 (Augsburg, November 12) ; " Frauenlob," by 

 Robert Schwalm (Leipsic, Stadttheater, De- 

 cember 6) ; " Loreley," by Adolf Mohr (Mentz, 

 Stadttheater); " Ramiro," by Eugeu Lindner 

 (Weimar, December 6). 



Comic operas: "Fortunate," in three acts, 

 by Adolpb. Mohr (Berlin and Hamburg) ; 



