Power Brings Progress 



Great Hydro-Electrical Plants, Harnessing The Cataracts 



and Swiftly Flowing Rivers, and Furnishing Power 



to Supply an Empire, Have Placed Montana 



First in Electrical Development 



TRUE account of the great development of hydro-electric power 

 in Montana, is surprising to one who is not familiar with the 

 actual facts. By electricity, generated from flowing water, 

 monster freight and passenger trains are driven over 530 miles 

 of track, across three mountain ranges; the great mines and 

 smelters of the state, with their tremendous output, are oper- 

 ated exclusively; over fifty towns and cities of the state are 

 supplied with light, heat and power; water is raised into irri- 

 gation ditches that supply thousands of acres of land and dozens of mills, streets 

 and interurban railways, cement factories and dredges are supplied with power. 

 The Montana Power company has at the present time, twelve hydro-electric 

 plants, scattered over the st^te, generating 171,530 kilowatts; 1864 miles of high 

 tension transmission lines, connecting 75 sub-stations and over 1000 men employed 

 in running the plants. It has one site nearly completed that will supply 40,000 

 kilowatts more and undeveloped sites that will supply 121,500 kilowatts. By great 

 dams it has controlled the flow of rivers and so harnessed them as to bring 

 electrical power within the reach of thousands, for economic and convenient use. 



Nature Favored Montana. 



Montana easily leads all states in hydro-electrical development. Nor does any 

 other state have so much power capable of development. Nature was indeed lavish 

 to the state in this regard. Two of the greatest rivers of the continent, the Missouri 

 and the Columbia, have their source in the high mountains of Montana, and travers- 

 ing the state for great distances leave its borders at comparatively small elevations. 

 While these mighty rivers are considerable streams at elevations from 5,000 to 

 7,000 feet above sea level, both of them leave Montana at about 2,000 feet elevation, 

 having a fall within the state of from 3,000 to 5,000 feet, which can be utilized for 

 power development. These great rivers are fed by innumerable mountain streams, 

 which with their cascades and cataracts offer an almost illimitable opportunity for 

 the cheap development of power. Conservative electrical experts have estimated 

 that by the mere harnessing of the larger streams of the state more than 1,000,000 

 horsepower can be quickly made available for the use of the growing industries. 



The main range of the Rocky Mountains divide Montana into two parts, the 

 eastern section of which is drained by the Missouri river and its tributaries, the 

 Madison, Jefferson, Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers. The western part is drained 

 by the tributaries of the Columbia, the Clark's Fork and the Kootenai rivers. 

 An important tributary of the Clark's Fork river is the Flathead river, which drains 

 the Flathead lake. Upon all of these streams there are either large power plants or 

 power sites waiting development. 



Great Electric Eailroads. 



Montana was the pioneer in electrical development. Here was built the first 

 high-tension, long distance transmission line in the world, and here likewise was 



