U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



MONTANA AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE 



T5a 



P.O. BOX 4369 " HELENA. MONTANA 59604 

 (406) 449-5303 



FOREWORD 



This year marks the 125th anniversary of Agricultural Statistics. 

 Abraham Lincoln called agriculture the "largest interest" of the nation 

 in 1862 when he asked Congress to establish the Department of 

 Agriculture. One year later, in July 1863, the first Crop Report 

 rolled off the presses. 



Montana, at that time, was a territory and had little agricultural 

 importance. In fact, 1863 was only 58 years after Lewis and Clark made 

 their historic exploration journey up the Missouri River and was also 

 the year they discovered gold in Alder Gulch near Virginia City. 



The first agricultural statistics collected for Montana was the cattle 

 count made in 1867 when the Montana herd numbered 67,000 head. The 

 first estimates of Montana wheat production were published in 1873 when 

 only 11,000 acres were harvested. The yield was 20 bushels per acre 

 and the crop sold for 98 cents per bushel. In contrast, during 1987, 

 sales from Montana's 23,300 farms and ranches contributed over 1.7 

 billion dollars to Montana's economy. 



This publication provides a comprehensive historic record of state and 

 county agricultural data for Montana. It's part of the State-Federal 

 service provided to data users through a cooperative agreement 

 established in 1945 with the Montana Department of Agriculture. 



We appreciate the outstanding public service provided by Montana 

 farmers, ranchers and agri-businessmen who voluntarily cooperate by 

 answering survey questionnaires. Thanks also to our dedicated staff of 

 statisticians, support personnel, and field and phone interviewers who 

 collect and summarize this information. We especially appreciate the 

 dedication and hard work by Wendy Bruski who had overall responsibility 

 for layout, design and computer processing. 



hi^at 



Lylfe H. Pratt 

 State Statistician 



