HEIR 



2760 



HELENA 



entitled Germany, and three volumes of Mis- 

 cellaneous Writings. 



HEIR, air, a term derived from the Latin 

 word heres, meaning one entitled to inherit, re- 

 fers in law to a person entitled to lands, tene- 

 ments or other real property of a deceased per- 

 son. An heir presumptive is one who would 

 inherit if his ancestor were to die at that par- 

 ticular time, but whose right of inheritance 

 might later be defeated by some nearer heir 

 afterwards born. An heir apparent is one whose 

 right of inheritance is certain, provided he out- 

 lives his ancestor as the eldest son. Heirlooms 

 are such personal belongings as go to the heir 

 along with the inheritance and not to the 

 executor of the deceased. See REAL ESTATE; 

 PERSONAL PROPERTY. 



HEKLA or HECLA, hek'la, a volcanic moun- 

 tain in Iceland, rising 5,102 feet, about twenty 

 miles from the coast. It is composed of basalt, 

 lava, ashes and other loose volcanic matter, has 

 five craters and is perpetually snow-clad. Since 

 the tenth century it has been in eruption forty- 

 three times, the most terrific disturbance oc- 

 curring in 1783, when the stream of lava dis- 

 charged was forty-five miles long and fifteen 

 miles wide. In 1845 it again became active and 

 continued for fifteen months to erupt from 

 three craters. The latest outburst occurred in 

 1878. 



HEL, or HELA, hel'a, in Norse mythology, 

 the goddess of the region of the dead. She was 

 the daughter of Loki and the giantess Angur- 

 boda, and her dwelling was under a root of 

 the sacred ash tree Yggdrasil. In the Middle 

 Ages she was confused with the kingdom over 

 which she ruled, but in later mythology is rep- 

 resented as being half blue-black and half flesh 

 color, and of extremely repulsive appearance. 

 Her kingdom was peopled only by those who 

 died of disease and old age. 



HELENA, hel'ena, ARK., the county seat of 

 Phillips County, in the east central part of the 

 state, sixty-five miles southwest of Memphis 

 and 110 miles southeast of Little Rock, the 

 state capital. It is on the Mississippi River 

 and on the Missouri & North Arkansas, the 

 Saint Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern and the 

 Yazoo & Mississippi Valley railroads. Boats 

 ply between Helena, Saint Louis and New Or- 

 leans and other river towns. In 1910 the popu- 

 lation was 8,772; in 1916 it was 10,796, by a 

 Federal estimate. 



Helena occupies a site one mile square on 

 built-in land along the river and is protected 

 by levees. It has a Federal building, county 



courthouse, erected in 1915 at a cost of $250,000, 

 a fine high school, a public library, several 

 monuments to heroes of the Warjof Secession, 

 and is the seat of a United States district court. 

 The shipping of lumber, cotton and cottonseed 

 oil is the chief industry. The city has lumber 

 and woodworking factories, stave mills, box 

 factories, manufactories of chairs, brooms, 

 spokes and handles, cotton compresses and cot- 

 tonseed oil mills. M.W.M. 



HELENA, MONT., the state capital and the 

 county seat of Lewis and Clark County, is situ- 

 ated in the west central part of the state, in one 

 of the richest mineral sections of the country. 

 It is seventy-two miles northeast of Butte, 

 ninety-eight miles southwest of Great Falls and 

 eighteen miles west of the Missouri River, and 

 is on the Great Northern and the Northern 

 Pacific railroads. The population, which in 1910 

 was 12,515, was 13,612, by Federal estimate, in 

 1916. The area of the city is nine square miles. 



Helena lies at an altitude of 4,200 feet and is 

 surrounded by ranges of the Rocky Mountains. 

 The source of much of its wealth is the rich 

 gold, silver, lead and zinc mines, whose total 

 production has amounted to nearly $350,000,- 

 000. The Last Chance Gulch, the name of the 

 mining camp from which the city has grown 

 and from which $35,000,000 in gold was obtained 

 by placer mining, is now the main street of the 

 city. The surrounding country is not only rich 

 in mineral wealth but is also an important agri- 

 cultural and stock-raising section, and is noted 

 for its picturesque scenery. Prickly Pear Val- 

 ley, lying just north of the city, contains 100,- 

 000 acres and is one of the best agricultural por- 

 tions of Montana. On the Missouri River are 

 located the great dams which furnish power to 

 various sections of the state for use in mines, 

 city lighting, manufacturing and irrigating pur- 

 poses. Industrial enterprises of the city include 

 railway shops, smelters, quartz crushers and a 

 number of factories. 



The state Capitol, Federal building, court- 

 house, cathedral, Y. M. C. A. building, Masonic 

 Temple and a library are prominent buildings. 

 Helena contains the Montana Wesley an Uni- 

 versity, Mount Saint Charles Catholic College, 

 Saint Vincent's Academy, the state library, 

 state law library and an assay office. 



The Last Chance Gulch was staked out in 

 1864. The settlement which followed was in- 

 corporated as a town in 1881. Since 1889 Hel- 

 ena has been the state capital. The commission 

 form of government was adopted by the city in 

 1915. L.M.R. 



