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: THETREASURESTATE 139; 



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Missouri river. The Musselshell river is the western, and the Missouri river the 

 northern boundary. Big Dry and Red Water creeks which empty into the Missouri 

 river have extensive drainage basins. The Yellowstone river flows through a part 

 of the county. 



Stock growing was the first occupation of the settlers in Dawson county and 

 remains a leading industry. Perhaps one-fourth of the entire acreage is too rough 

 to be farmed and will always be devoted to grazing. Agriculture was first allowed 

 as a business In the Yellowstone valley where many thousand acres are irrigated. 



The greatest advance, however, has been in the increase in the acres farmed 

 without irrigation, so-called "dry land farms". Farming without irrigation is a 

 demonstrated success on farms of thousands of new settlers who have filed on 

 homesteads and have transformed a part of the vast range into productive grain 

 fields. Large stock ranches also have been sub-divided and sold as farms and many 

 acres of Northern Pacific railroad lands have been put into cultivation. 



The average annual precipitation at Glendive for the last 25 years was 15.54 

 inches. At places the rainfall is higher and everywhere it is sufficient when pro- 

 perly conserved. The evaporation is much lower than in states farther south and 

 the timeliness of the rainfall increases its efficiency. Of the total of 15.54 inches 

 of precipitation at Glendive, 10.72 inches falls during the crop growing season, as 

 follows: March, 1.32 inches; April, 1.10 inches; May, 2.29 inches; June, 3.39 inches; 

 July, 1.78 inches; and August, .84 inches. 



Wheat, oats, rye, barley, flax and alfalfa are the chief crops. Yields are reported 

 of oats, 100 bushels to the acre; flax, 34 bushels; barley, 42 to 60 bushels; wheat, 

 50 bushels, and corn, 45 bushels. From all parts of the county have been collected 

 reports of higher yields on large fields of all staple crops. 



Dawson county is now reached by the Northern Pacific railway, which maintains 

 divisional headquarters at Glendive, but much of this county, especially the north- 

 western part is yet distant from transportation facilities. The Great Northern 

 railroad, will, however, soon extend its New Rockford-Lewistown branch from the 

 eastern to the western boundary of Dawson county penetrating the central part. 

 Work began on this extension in the spring of 1916, although no definite statement 

 of the time of completing the line has been made by the officials of the company. 

 The Glendive-Helena cut-off of the Northern Pacific is proposed to extend from 

 Glendive to a point of junction with the Great Northern railroad in Fergus or 

 Meagher counties and thence to Helena. 



Dawson county is underlaid with coal which is sold at low prices in the towns; 

 and the farmer who has not opened a deposit of coal on his own place is able to 

 obtain a supply from some coal bank in his neighborhood. 



The principal towns are Glendive and Jordan. The county seat is Glendive, 

 whose population in 1910 was 2,428, according to the census, and is now said to be 

 5,000. It is a division point on the Northern Pacific railroad whicn employs about 

 800 men with a monthly payroll of $75,000. The Northern Pacific hospital has 

 recently been completed at a cost of |125,000. Glendive is a progressive, growing 

 town, is well lighted, has large business blocks, banks, hotels, newspapers, fine 

 public buildings, attractive residences, and has spent more than a million dollars 

 on municipal improvements. It offers an excellent opening for a flour mill and a 

 brick yard. 



Jordan, a large and thriving town, is the distributing point for a great new 

 country which has been opened up in the western and northern part of the county. 

 It is expected that it will have railroad connections with the outside world within 

 the next year. 



