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MISSOULA COUNTY. 



Missoula county was one of the counties in the state at the time it was admitted 

 to the Union. Since then the flourishing counties of Ravalli, Missoula, Sanders, Flat- 

 head, Mineral and Lincoln counties have been formed from Missoula county, which 

 still retains an extensive area, with a large variety of natural resources. The 

 county is in the extreme western part of the state. It is on the western slope 

 of the continental divide and has an average altitude of 3,000 feet. Its area is 3,022 

 square miles; its estimated population, 30,000. 



Agriculture, in various forms, constitutes the chief industry of the county, 

 though lumbering is of almost equal importance. Mining, milling and manufactur- 

 ing are also prominent. 



Missoula county has become widely known for her yields of grain and fruit. 

 With these two products, she has time and again won first prizes at state and 

 national expositions. But profitable as are these two forms of agriculture, farmers 

 of the county are fast coming to realize that natural conditions in Missoula county 

 offer the greatest reward to dairying and stock raising. This is practically a new 

 view point on agriculture in this county, but already it has gained a good foot- 

 hold and is rapidly spreading. 



Grain and fruit ranches in many cases have given way to this new form of 

 agriculture. Mild climatic conditions, cool nights and warm days, an abundant 

 supply of clean water, and luxuriant growths of clover, alfalfa and peas combine 

 to afford to dairying advantages which are exceptional. The growth of this in- 

 dustry is making itself manifest in the many new creameries which are springing 

 up in the county. The Missoula creamery, situated in Missoula, is probably the 

 pre-eminent example. It has only recently been constructed but already has the 

 largest business of the kind in western Montana. In all recent state tests for 

 richness and purity, Missoula creamery butter has led. 



Stock raising, too, is rapidly gaining in importance as a form of industry in 

 Missoula county. Here, again, conditions of climate, soil, an1 nature in general, 

 are especially favorable. There are in the county, two breeding herds deserving 

 special mention. They are those of T. L. Cape of St. Ignatius, and of Harold 

 Haegg of Ronan. Both are Holstein herds. The success with which hay may be 

 grown in the county, is another inducement to stockraising. Clover, alfalfa and 

 some varieties of wild hay grow in abundance. 



The fruit of the Bitter Root valley and the grains of the Missoula and Mission 

 valleys, are still counted as the county's most important crops. Bitter Root 

 cherries and apples are in first demand in the eastern markets. The Mcintosh 

 Red apples grown in the Bitter Root have been adjudged the best in the world at 

 national expositions. Missoula county wheat has for years won first prizes at 

 state and national fairs. 



Lumbering is carried on extensively in the county. The Anaconda Copper 

 Mining company's mill at Bonner, the Western Lumbering Company's mill at 

 Milltown and the Harper and Baird mill at Hayes spur, are the most important 

 of the saw mills of the county, though there are many others being operated. 

 This year the output of the A. C. M. mill alone will be 150,000,000 feet. 



Missoula, St. Ignatius, Ronan, Bonner and Ravalli are the more important of 

 the towns of the county. 



The city of Missoula is the metropolis 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 in operation 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." 



