Marvelous Montana 



With Opportunities on Every Hand and Unrivalled Re- 

 sources Awaiting Development, Montana, the Treas- 

 ure State, Calls to the New Settler and Investor 



REAT in area, in amount of tillable land, in mineral wealth, in 

 crop production, in livestock values, in forest growth and in 

 power development, Montana is indeed the land where oppor- 

 tunity calls. Although great progress has been made in its 

 development, yet it is only in its infancy in this particular. 

 There remain thousands of acres of tillable land that have 

 never been turned by the plow; there is untold millions in gold, 

 silver, copper, lead and zinc to be uncovered by the miner's 

 pick; there are fortunes to be won from the fertile soil in agricultural products; 

 from the grazing lands in herds of livestock; from the virgin forests that cover 

 the mountains, and from the mountain streams that need but to be harnessed to 

 turn the wheels of giant industries, run the great railroads, operate factories, 

 light towns and lift the water to the dry lands. In no one of these industries 

 has development reached its maximum. Montana, third state in size, but greatest 

 of all in natural resources, invites the world to assist in its development and to 

 share in the prosperity of its people. 



$317,000,000 in 1917. 



Montana added a total of $317,000,000 to the wealth of the nation in 1917, with 

 a population of 762,208 people within its borders. This means a production of $400 

 for every man, woman and child. Yet this was the production in what was termed 

 an abnormal year for the state. A drought struck the state during the growing 

 season, which cut down the crop production to a large extent, in spite of the in- 

 creased acreage planted, while a serious strike in the mines at Butte, cut down the 

 mineral output from $145,000,000 to $113,000,000. This caused a decrease in the 

 total wealth production from $342,000,000 in 1916 to $317,000,000 in 1917. 



Even under these conditions the yield of grain would have been larger had other 

 factors not had their influence. Due to the high price of grain and the increased 

 need for war purposes, a much larger acreage had been planted, yet much of it was 

 poorly put in. When an unusually dry season developed, the farms that had been 

 poorly seeded gave small returns, bringing the yield per acre for wheat, from 19.3 

 bushels in 1916 down to 10.4 bushels in 1917 and for oats from 38 bushels in 1916 

 to 20 bushels in 1917. 



Property Values Increased. 



Yet the property values of the state showed a great increase in 1917 as indicated 

 by the assessment returns. The total assessed valuation for 1917, including railroad 

 property, was $582,286,529, an increase over 1916 of $94,388,176. The total valuation 

 for 1918 was approximately $596,000,000. The railroad valuation is a little more 

 than $82,000,000 and has shown a slight gain each year. Nothing is more indicative 

 of the great advancement made by Montana, and of the unbounded confidence of its 

 citizenship in the future of the state, than this great increase in property value. 



