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On both shores of Flathead lake are fine farming and fruit growing districts, and 

 south of the lake is the Flathead reservation which was opened in 1910. The climate 

 is excellent and it is never very hot or very cold. Kalispell is 2,965 feet above sea 

 level; the annual precipitation is 15.45 inches and crops grow without irrigation. 



Many varieties of apples are successfully grown; a mature orchard will yield 

 500 boxes per acre and a box will sell at from $1.25 to $1.75. Crab apples are raised 

 in abundance and often pay better than the regular apple. Probably the most 

 profitable crop raised is cherries, and especially the large sweet cherry. Fruits 

 mature in any part of the valley, but the lake shore is a favored spot owing to the 

 equalizing influence on the atmosphere of a large body of water and because the 

 residents have become fruit specialists. Orchards are free from pests and a wormy 

 apple is unknown. 



The county is adapted not only to diversified farming and fruit growing but 

 to dairying and truck farming, and its natural resources, when developed, will support 

 a dense rural population. 



The southern portion of the county, that embraced in the former Flathead Indian 

 reservation, has been handicapped by lack of transportation facilities, but official 

 announcement has been made that a branch line of the Northern Pacific, running 

 north from Dixon, will be constructed at once and it is confidently predicted that 

 when this road is built this region will experience rapid development. 



The country is rich in water power. At Big Fork is the plant that supplies 

 Kalispell with electric light and power. Immense power is available in the Flathead 

 river at Poison which is to be used for pumping water for irrigation and to furnish 

 power for other purposes. 



Kalispell, Whitefish, Poison and Columbia Falls are the chief towns. Poison, 

 the principal port on the south shore of Flathead lake, is the shipping point for a 

 large and productive part of the Flathead reservation. It is a thriving town, having 

 grown from nothing to be an incorporated town with a population of 2,000 in six 

 years. It has city improvements, good schools, churches, banks, large business 

 houses, electric lights, telephones, a weekly newspaper and steamboat service to all 

 points on the lake. A five story brick flouring mill, having a daily capacity of 200 

 barrels of flour, was erected in 1912 and adjoining it is an elevator of 30,000 bushels 

 capacity. On the shore of the lake, near the docks, the Farmers' elevator, having 

 a capacity of 35,000 bushels of grain, has been constructed. A large warehouse has 

 been built at the docks and the grain storage capacity of Poison is about 100,000 

 bushels. 



Big Fork, in a fine fruit district, is the trading point for the Swan river 

 country. On Whitefish lake, a beautiful body of water seven miles long at the head of 

 Flathead valley, is Whitefish, which has grown in a few years to be a modern, 

 progressive town of 2,000 people, having city water, electric lights, telephone, sewers, 

 brick business blocks, banks, business houses, a weekly newspaper, and a good fruit 

 country adjoining. Columbia Falls, at the head of the fertile eastside of the Flat- 

 liead valley, has a bank, stores, a newspaper, lumber mills, the State Soldiers' Home 

 and is an important trading point for a rich agricultural district. Somers, the 

 principal port on the north shore, is the terminus of the branch line of railroad 

 from Kalispell and is the center of a great saw mill and of a tie pickling plant. 

 A state fish hatchery has been established at Somers. Dayton and Big Arm are 

 towns on the west shore. Belton is the entrance to the Glacier National Park, a 

 region of wonderful scenery to which thousands of visitors are yearly attracted. 



Kalispell, the county seat and the business center of northwestern Montana, 

 lias 200,000 acres of rich agricultural land tributary to it, and sliips large quantities 

 of apples, cherries and small fruii«. The population, in 1910, was 5,549. A United 



