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YELLOWSTONE COUNTY. 



With a population of over 37,000, Yellowstone county is one of the most import- 

 ant and well known counties in the state. Farming and stock growing are its chief 

 industries. It is situated in the center of one of the largest irrigated districts in the 

 state. Within the past few years, farming interests have extended over the entire 

 county, practically all government land is settled and the lands above the ditches are 

 now producing wonderful returns. 



Al"al fa and sugar beets are the most important crops on the irrigated lands, 

 the yield of the former being 3 to 6 tens per acre and of the latter 10 to 20 tons. 

 Oats yield from 50 to 90 bushels per acre, wheat from 40 to 60 bushels and corn from 

 30 to 50 bushels. Potatoes yield lrom 200 to 400 bushels per acre and the largest 

 known yield from one acre, 1,213 bushels, was made near Laurel in this county. 

 Vegetables of various kinds are grown success r ully; berries are very profitable; 

 winter apples do splendidly and many orchards have been set out. Fruit growing 

 is an increasing industry, and the products of the orchards sell for a large sum 

 annually. Stock raising in Yellowstone county is going hand in hand with farming. 

 Sugar beet raisers fatten their stock on beet tops, allala and grains. Many of 

 them finish their product on a combination with beet pulp at the sugar factory. 

 Large stock-feeding companies finish thousands each year and top the eastern 

 markets. 



Billings is the county seat of Yellowstone county and has a population of 

 about 19,000, having nearly doubled in population since 1910, when it numbered 10,031 

 citizens. 



Billings is the largest railroad, financial and distributing center in eastern Mon- 

 tana and supplies a huge section of the country in southeastern Montana and north- 

 ern Wyoming, known as the Midland Empire. It is a thoroughly modern and 

 up-to-date city; the home of many wholesale and jobbing concerns; and some of 

 the chief industries located in the city, are a sugar factory, alcohol plant, packing 

 plant, bakery, creamery, flouring mill, pickle factory and foundry. 



The Midland Empire Fair, the largest and most important in the state, except 

 the State Fair, is held under the direction of Yellowstone county at Billings each 

 year. It has the largest covered auditorium in the northwest. Here will be held 

 on January 9, 10, 11 and 12, 1919, the first annual exhibition of the Midland Stock 

 Show Association. 



Yellowstone county has excellent education facilities. All of the towns have 

 progressive schools, several of which maintain accredited high schools. Billings 

 has one of the finest high schools and elementary school systems in the state. The 

 Billings Polytechmic Institute, an institution of higher learning is located in Billings. 

 It has a yearly enrollment of about 160 students. 



The climate of Yellowstone county is delightful. It is located in the southern 

 part of the state, and it is protected by the mountains tempering the climate at 

 all times of the year. The winters are not rigorous and the growing season is 

 long. During the past five years the average temperature for December, January 

 and February has been 29 degrees above zero. Spring opens early, and plowing 

 and planting is commonly done before the rainy season, April, May and June, 

 in which months half the annual rainfall of over 15 inches falls. The long days 

 of sunshine are ideal for the maturing and harvesting of crops. 



The Yellowstone valley is the oldest beet growing section of the state, and 

 the sugar beet factory at Billings pays the farmers a million and a half dollars each 

 year for beets, and manulactures 60,000,000 pounds of sugar. 



Irrigated lands range in price from $50 to $250 per acre. Excellent non- 

 irrigated farm lands range in price from $15 to $50 per acre. 



The other towns of the county are: Laurel, which has a population of 1,500 

 and is a rapidly growing railroad division point with large railroad shops; Broad- 

 view, a thriving town in the non-irrigated district of the Lake Basn. Huntley, 

 Worden and Ballantine are reclamation project towns, situated on the government 

 Huntley Reclmaton Project. Custer, Pompey's Pillar, Acton, Comanche and Shep- 

 herd are rapidly developing towns in good communities. 



The assessed valuation of the county in 1918 is $25,338,553. 



