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•160 MONTANA- 191G • 



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In 1910 the Flathead Indian reservation, the southern part of which is in 

 Missoula county, was opened to settlement. The reservation is about 60 miles 

 long and about 40 miles wide and contains a million and half acres. While the 

 greatert part of the area is mountainous and grazing land, the agricultural area is 

 very extensive. Mission valley is one of the most beautiful and fertile in the state. 



Large yields of grains, grasses, vegetables and fruits are too common in the 

 Bitter Root and Missoula valleys to excite comment and the reports that come from var- 

 ious neighborhoods in the Flathead reservation indicate that a very extensive country 

 is coming into cultivation which in quantity, quality and variety of products will 

 rival those of the valleys that have made western Montana famous. In parts of the 

 Mission valley, all the conditions for successful fruit growing on a commercial 

 scale are present. With the coming of a railroad, rapid increase in the acreage 

 in cultivation will take place but remarkable progress has already been made in the 

 short space of six years. 



The fruit growing industry is a leading industry in Missoula county and is 

 very profitable. Apples, cherries, plums, pears, berries, peaches in a few places, and 

 grapes at St. Ignatius Mission are grown. Bing and Lambert cherries have been 

 shipped in carload lots to New York. Many varieties of apples are grown but the 

 Mcintosh Red, which is the leading variety, attains perfection. This apple, beautiful 

 in color, excellent in flavor and of good keeping quality, is in demand in all the 

 markets of the world and many carloads are shipped to New York and other 

 eastern points. The apple raising industry is capable of great development and 

 markets for fruit of the first quality should never be lacking. 



Lumbering is a very important industry, and the lumber mills at Bonner are 

 among the largest in the northwest. Smaller mills are numerous. 



The towns are Missoula, Bonner, Ravalli and Ronan. Ronan the chief town in the 

 Flathead reservation, has a population of 500, is incorporated, has a bank, a news- 

 paper, business houses, and is loking forward confidently for the arrival of a 

 railroad that will hasten the development of the fertile region of which it is the 

 trading point. Ravalli and St. Ignatius are growing towns in the reservation; at 

 Bonner, six miles east of Missoula where the Big Blackfoot river emerges from 

 a canyon, is an electric power plant and one of the largest lumber mills in the 

 northwest. An electric railway connects Bonner with Missoula. 



The city of Missoula is the metroplis of the western part of Montana. It is 

 conveniently located at the northern end of the Bitter Root valley which extends south 

 for about 65 miles, has the Missoula valley adjacent to it, is close to the Flathead 

 reservation on the north and to the Big Blackfoot valley on the east. Missoula 

 is a well built, progressive city that has all modern improvements, good public, 

 business and private buildings, banks with large deposits, electric lights, power 

 and street railway, two daily newspapers, numerous large business houses, a number 

 of manufacturing establishments and openings for many more. A beet sugar 

 factory is shortly to be opened here. The Western Montana Apple show is an 

 annual event in Missoula and wonderful displays of Montana fruits are made. The 

 secretary of the State Board of Horticulture, who is also the chief inspector of fruit 

 and fruit trees, maintains an office in the city. The headquarters of the United 

 States forestry service for district number one are also in Missoula, at which is 

 also located the United States land office for the district. Fort Missoula is an 

 army post in the suburbs. Missoula is the seat of the University of Montana which, 

 in the few years since its establishment, has grown to be an institution of great 

 usefulness. It is a delightful place of residence and is known as "the Garden City." 



Missoula is an important railroad point, being on the main line of the Northern 

 Pacific and the Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound railways, both of which 

 have built extensive passenger and freight stations, have large yards, and a pay- 



