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FERGUS COUNTY. 



Fergus county, which includes a large territory in the central part of the state, 

 was created by act of March 12, 1885, and named for James Fergus, a noted 

 pioneer. It is the second largest county in the state, and one of the richest and 

 best developed. 



The greater part of the western part of Fergus county consists of the Judith 

 Basin, which extends approximately sixty miles east and west and ninety miles 

 north and south and comprises about 2,000,000 acres of table and gently rolling 

 fertile farm lands, having an elevation varying from 3,500 to 4,500 feet. The Little 

 Belt mountains bound it on the west and lesser ranges in other directions, making 

 it a sheltered country. It is drained by the Judith river and tributary streams. 

 The Missouri river forms the northern boundary and receives the Arrow river and 

 smaller streams. The eastern part of the county is drained by the Musselshell river. 



Stock growing, farming and mining are the industries. Before the advent of 

 railroads stock growing, for which the conditions were ideal, was the main industry 

 and it remains a very important one. Producing gold mines are located at Kendall, 

 Maiden and Gilt Edge and there are undeveloped mineral claims in other sections. 

 The country is underlaid with coal and there are many large and numerous small 

 coal mines. 



A unique and important industry is the mining of sapphires at Yogo gulch 

 about fifteen miles southwest of Utica. The best of the Yogo sapphires are of the 

 first grade in color and quality and bring high prices. These mines are owned by 

 an English syndicate which distributes the gems through all markets of the world. 



In the last eight years agriculture, from being comparatively unimportant, has 

 grown to be the leading industry. The transformation of the Judith Basin from a 

 stock growing to a farming country has probably been more rapid than has ever 

 occurred in any other part of the United States. Township after township which 

 a few years ago were open range lands are new among the most productive grain 

 districts of America. 



The opportunity for the land seeker in Fergus county is to purchase farm land 

 at $.30 an acre and up near railroad lines, cheaper land farther back, or to take up 

 a homestead in the unsettled section. Land that may be relied upon to raise year 

 after year thirty or more bushels of high grade wheat or other crops in like 

 proportion before many years will have a fixed value perhaps amounting to double 

 the price at which lands in the Judith Basin may now be bought. 



Lewistown, the metropolis and county seat, even when an inland town eighty 

 miles from a railroad, was a very busy and prosperous place and has expanded its 

 activities in all lines as the country has developed. The population returned by the 

 census of 1910 was 2,992 and is estimated to be more than 6,000 now. The city 

 has an abundant supply of pure water, supplied by a municipal plant constructed 

 at a cost of $150,000, boulcvarded streets, cement sidewalks, a sewerage system, a 

 fire department, and a public library. The business houses are chiefly of stone or 

 brick; there are four elevators, a flour mill, a brick yard, five wholesale mercantile 

 establisliments and a number of retail ones. Four banks have deposits of more 

 than $3,750,000; there are good schools, churches, and a hospital; an electric light 

 plant, telephone systems, one daily and one weekly paper, large machine shops, 

 hotels, theatres and many handsome residences. A great many costly business 

 blocks and fine residences have been erected in the last two years. 



Mooro, twenty miles south and west of Lewistown, in the center of a rich 

 agricultural district, is the second town in importance, and had a population in 

 1910 of 573. 



