WHEATLAND COUNTY. 



Wheatland county is the "baby" county of the state, it having come in as 

 number 43 at the last session of the legislature. It was officially declared a 

 county April 1, 1917, by special legislative enactment. 



The area of Wheatland county is 1,436 square miles, 252 square miles having 

 been taken from Sweetgrass county and 1,1 S4 square miles from Meagher county. 

 It is very compact in iorm, being nearly forty miles square. It is bounded on the 

 north by Fergus county, on the east by Musselshell, on the south by Sweet Grass and 

 ou the west by Meagher. 



Wheatland is well supplied with transportation facilities, as two railroads 

 traverse it. The main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Taul passes through 

 the county from east to west. This is the main line from Aberdeen to the coast. 

 It is at Harlowton, Wheatland county, where the electrUicaticn of the line begins. 

 From here it extends across the main ranges of the Rocky and Bitter Root moun- 

 tains, a distance of 440 miles to Avery, Idaho. This is the most extensive piece of 

 electrified road in the country. A branch of this road runs across the northeast 

 corner of the county from Harlowton to Lewistown. The other road is the Great 

 Northern from Great Falls to Billings. This cuts the county in the northeastern 

 part and supplies a rich part of the county with transportation facilities. 



The main industries of the county are farming and stock raising, which are both 

 well developed. Recently, however, there has been much prospecting for oil. In the 

 territory south of Twodot the indications are particularly favorable and the explora- 

 tion has been extensive. 



Both winter and spring wheat grow equally well in Wheatland, and other 

 grains such as barley, oats and flax yield abundantly. In the production of cattle, 

 sheep and horses it is not excelled by any other section of the state. The county 

 is well watered, the principal stream being the Musselshell river, which flows 

 through the southern part. The rainfall is generous, approximately twenty-six 

 inches annually. 



The bottom lands lying along the Musselshell are especially adapted to the 

 growing of alfalfa, and frcm these, three good crops are annually obtained. 

 Irrigation is practiced to a considerable extent, but this is not required in the 

 growing of the cereals. Dry land farming is most successfully engaged in. and it 

 is upon these the best wheat is produced. Spring wheat yields from twenty to 

 thirty bushels per acre un£er ordinary conditions, while the output from the winter 

 wheat tracts is anywhere from thirty to fifty-five bushels per acre. 



Improved dry land sell at from $20 to $35 an acre, while irrigated lands sell 

 at from $50 to. $75 an acre. Within the past five years Wheatland county has 

 been thoroughly settled by homeseekers, and within its borders there is little desir- 

 able government lands subject to entry. There are 02,761 acres of state land that 

 can be bought for a low price. 



Harlowton is the county seat of Wheatland county, and its population is 2,000. 

 It is on the main line of the Milwaukee railway system, and the eastern terminus 

 of that road's electrification system; it is also a freight and passenger division, and 

 the southern terminus of the Lewistown-Great Falls branch. The city is equipped 

 with water and sewage systems, is a distributing point for the Montana Power Co., 

 is very substantially built with line business blocks and spacious residences, has 

 large flouring mills, three churches, exceptionally good schools, two banks, one 

 newspaper. 



The estimated population of Wheatland county is 5,400. 



The following will give an idea of how productive Wheatland county lands are 

 in the growing of wheat: 



Grower Acres Bushels 



J. H. Leckey 80 55 



Melvin Eads 80 52 



Clarence Morgan 100 53 



Toolev, Baxter & Tice 375 50 



H. B. Myers 60 48 



Labrie Ranch Co 89 43 



L. L. Dixon 116 SSVo 



Wm. McFarland 310 35 



Jim Trimmer 40 47 



The assessed valuation of the county in 1918 is $9,417,585 including railroad 

 property. 



