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and SO rainy. The normal rainfall, about 15 inches, is sufficient for all properly 

 cultivated crops. More than half of it falls during the growing season. Cottonwood 

 and ash grow near streams and pine and cedar in the hills. The county is underlaid 

 with lignite coal which provides cheap fuel. 



Nearly every grain, vegetable and fruit known in the northern part of the United 

 States grows in Custer county. Oats, wheat, barley, rye, corn, cabbage, rutabagas, 

 pumpkins, squash, egg-plant, cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, radishes, 

 peas, beans, celery, asparagus, make a partial list. Watermelons have a flavor and 

 crispness that are unequalled, cantaloupes grow to perfection, and strawberries are 

 of fine flavor, color and size. Peaches, pears, apples, crab-apples, gooseberries, cur- 

 rants, and raspberries do well. There is a home market for fruit and vegetables 

 and an unsupplied demand for alfalfa, dairy products, eggs and chickens. 



Horses, cattle and sheep thrive on alfalfa, which is the leading crop, and sells 

 at from $5 to $12 a ton; an acre, cut three times a year, yields from four to five 

 tons. Oats yield from 50 to 100 bushels an acre, barley does well, and 50 bushels 

 of wheat is not regarded as an exceptional yield. 



The transformation of Custer county from a stock to a farming country is pro- 

 ceeding with astonishing rapidity. Recently it has been demonstrated beyond question 

 that Custer county is in the "corn belt" and the raising of corn, both for the grain 

 and as a forage crop, has become an important phase of the farming industry of 

 this part of the state. 



The chief town is Miles City, the metropolis for all this rapidly developing 

 empire, and the county seat. It is located at the junction of the Tongue and Yellow- 

 stone rivers, and is an up-to-date, growing, progressive western town of more than 

 7,000 people. There are two daily and three weekly newspapers, a number of 

 manufacturing establishments, many wholesale and retail stores. It is the distri- 

 buting point for a large and developing territory, ships more horses, catte, sheep 

 and wool than any other town of its size in the country, and is a division point on 

 the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railway, whose large monthly pay roll con- 

 tributes to its prosperity. Many opportunities exist for the investment of capital 

 in manufacturing and other enterprises, a canning factory and sugar beet factory 

 being especially needed. 



The population of Custer county is estimated at 25,850 and the assessed valua- 

 tion is $14,272,833. 



LAND AREA — Custer County, which is in the Miles City land district, embraces 

 an area of 7,111 square miles, including 1,598,400 acres of unreserved and unappro- 

 priated public land available for entry under the homestead law, 205,814 acres of 

 state land, and 341,293 acres of national forests. Of the total area of the county, 

 1,443,232 acres are privately owned. 



CROP PRODUCTION— The following gives the estimated crop production for 

 1915; wheat, 700,000 bushels; oats, 850,000 bushels; barley, 28,000 bushels; corn, 

 210,000 bushels; flax, 95,000 bushels; potatoes, 85,000 bushels; hay, 30,000 tons. 



In 1915, the assessor's rolls showed the following livestock; horses. 22,224 head; 

 milcli cows, 1,378 head; other cattle, 52,998 head; sheep, 113,339 head; swine, 1,509 

 head. 



DAWSON COUNTY. 



Dawson county, organized in 1869, and named for Andrew Dawson, for many 

 years a leading man in the fur trade, is the largest county in the state, having an 

 area of 9,280 square miles, consisting for the most part of prairies, bench lands 

 and hills. There are no mountain ranges, although the mountain sheep hills parallel 

 the Yellowstone river in the eastern part of the county and form a divide between 

 the drainage basin of the Yellowstone and the much larger area that drains into the 



