BEAVERHEAD COUNTY. 



Beaverhead county is situated in the extreme southern portion of Montana. 

 It is one of the largest counties in the state containing 5.G32 square miles and a 

 total of 3.G04.4S0 acres much of which is open for entry to the homesteader. Par- 

 ticularly in the uplands are dry farm areas. The county is 50 miles wide and 75 

 miles long making the total area greater than the combined areas of Massachusetts 

 and Connecticut. 



Beaverhead is chiefly a livestock county. The annual assessments for 1918 

 revealed the fact that livestock, both in sheep and cattle, had increased during the 

 year and that the raising of horses was above the average. That the cattle king 

 and the sheep baron need have no fear of losing their ranges, reposes in the fact 

 that the county contains a vast area of land that is good only for grazing and that 

 it is almost entirely surrounded by national forest reserves which insure an 

 abundance of feed for the great herds of cattle and flocks of sheep in the summer 

 and fall months. 



In 1918 the wool clip from Beaverhead county netted the growers more than 

 two million dollars. Almost four million pounds of wool passed through the 

 Dillon wool warehouses in the months of June and July. The mutton crop netted 

 the Beaverhead flockmasters almost as much. 



The number and quality of cattle to be found in Beaverhead county cannot be 

 duplicated in the state and over a million dollars' worth of beef steers were sold 

 in the spring of 1918 being fattened on native wild hay in the Big Hole basin, Grass- 

 hopper, Redrock and Centennial valleys. The immense herds of cattle are being 

 replenished and better bred each year by the shipping in of high grade stock from 

 famous eastern herds. 



The Beaverhead horse industry is a good one and six times a year big auction 

 sales are held at Dillon this market being second to Miles City in the United States 

 for handling of native horses. 



The agricultural industry is making rapid strides in this county. During the 

 past ten years hundreds of families have located on the benchlands where grain, 

 particularly Turkey red winter wheat is being raised in great quantities. Some 

 of the wheat harvested on the benchlands have tested as high as 60 per cent gluten. 

 There is land in this county that raised 100 bushels of oats to the acre but this is 

 irrigated land. More wild hay is cultivated in this section than any other place in 

 the United States. At the Panama-Pacific exposition Beaverhead county won first 

 prizes for hay and forage crops, oats and potatoes. 



The mineral wealth of Beaverhead county is just beginning to be exploited. 

 The high price of silver has resulted in the opening of many silver claims and at 

 the present time more mining is being done than in years although the development 

 is not a starter to what it will be some day. Gold mining is the particular industry 

 although it is claimed the Elkhorn section contains much copper. Several com- 

 panies are drilling for oil and one corporation is at present installing a plant for 

 the retorting of oil shale of which there is a great quantity in almost every part of 

 the county. Manganese mining is one of the new industries. 



Dillon is the county seat of Beaverhead. It is a bustling little city of five 

 thousand people and there is an automobile for every fourth family which best shows 

 the prosperity of the community. There are four banks in Dillon with deposits of 

 more than seven million dollars. The State Normal college with an attendance of 

 350 is located in Dillon and the Normal training school with more than a thousand 

 children is conducted in connection with that institution. The county high school 

 is also located here. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been expended in the 

 residence sections of the city the past few years and Dillon has some of the most 

 pretentious of homes. 



The assessed valuation of the county in 1918 including railroad valuation is 

 I $12,389,945. 



