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Apples are the chief commercial fruit crop, the variety most extensively 

 grown being the Mcintosh Red which reaches perfection in this valley. Hundreds 

 of thousands of trees have been set out in the last few years. Cherries, pears, 

 plums, peaches and berries are also very successful. Fruit tracts are usually 

 irrigated, and water has been brought at great expense from distant reservoirs 

 to insure an unfailing supply. For quality of product and profit yielded the 

 orchards of the Bitter Root valley challenge comparison with those in the most 

 famous fruit districts. 



The mountains are heavily timbered and lumbering is an important industry. 

 At Hamilton is one of the largest saw mills in the state and there are smaller 

 ones at other places. Ravalli county has also mineral wealth — gold, silver, 

 copper and coal. 



Flourishing small towns ars close together, the chief ones being Stevensville, 

 Victor, Corvallis, Darby and Hamilton, the county seat and principal town. Ham- 

 ilton has city water works, sewers, electric lights, a fine city hall and county 

 court house, three saw mills, one flour and oatmeal mill, an elevator, an evaporator, 

 a creamery, manufactories and desires a beet sugar factory. It has one of the 

 finest hotel buildings in the state, banks, large business establishments, good 

 schools, many churches, three newspapers and is the chief trading point of a 

 rich and growing country. 



Stevensville, the next town in population and business importance, has city 

 water works and electric lights, excellent schools, a hospital, six churches, banks, 

 a public library, a newspaper, a creamery and a number of retail stores. 



Victor and Corvallis are flourishing towns in the valley surrounded by good fruit 

 and farming districts. Darby, the terminus of the railroad sixteen miles south of 

 Hamilton, is surrounded by a rapidly developing country. 



All parts of the county present excellent opportunities for the homeseeker 

 to purchase improved or unimproved farms, orchards or farm lands at low prices 

 below their value considered from an investment standpoint, and in many cases on 

 <ery easy terms. 



The estimated population of Ravalli county is 1.5,640 and the assessed 

 valuation is $7,492,264. 



LAND AREA — Ravalli county, which is in the Missoula land district, em- 

 braces an area of 2,391 square miles, including 6,560 acres of unreserved and un- 

 appropriated public land available for entry under the homestead law, 28,778 acres 

 of state land, and 1,131,346 acres of national forests. Of the total area of the 

 county, 388,755 acres are privately owned. 



CROP PRODUCTION— The following gives the estimated crop production for 

 1915: wheat, 250,000 bushels; oats, 1,250,000 bushels; barley, 75,000 bushels; corn, 

 8,500 bushels; potatoes, 425,000 bushels; hay, 50,000 tons; apples, 150,000 bushels; 

 strawberries, 100,000 quarts; raspberries, 27,000 quarts; currants, 17,000 quarts. 



In 1915, the assessor's rolls showed the following livestock: horses, 6,679 head; 

 milch cows, 3,811 head; other cattle, 10,986 head; sheep, 12,072 head; swine, 

 4,437 head. 



RICHLAND COUNTY. 



No county in Montana has enjoyed greater growth in the past few years than 

 has Richland, which was carved out of the northeastern corner of Dawson county 

 in 1914. The territory now^ embraced in Richland county was formerly regarded 

 as the premier stock range of the great cattle country, but is today one of the 

 most progressive farming sections of the state. 



