14 MONTANA : INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES 



It is likely that tho first stop looking; to an iron and steel indnstry in Mon- 

 tana will be a plant doini? machine work and making steel castin.^s from serap 

 steel in an electric furnace. Scrap iron from the agricul- 

 An Iron turai and mining re^iions is comparatively abundant and is of 



aiul Steel the hii^hest si'iidi^ f<>i" reworkinjr. There is no plant in the north- 

 Industry west utilizins; the scrap, althoujih the market is large for steel 

 castings. It is asserted the differential in transportation costs 

 in favor of such a home plant would insure its success against present holders of 

 the market. In California there are over sixty such steel foundaries. At present 

 steel castings must come from either Minneapolis or Salt Lake. The demand 

 from such a plant consists of steel castings for mining and smelting machinery, 

 railroad eiiuipment. oil-field equipment and many small repair parts for 

 tractors and farm machinery. 



A pliint turning out bearing metals, of wliich large (luautities are used 

 by extractive industries already established in the northwest, would logically 

 seem to follow, especially in view of the fact that Montana is one of the 

 largest producers of the metals in such alloys. 



In the resources required and the market availal)le Montana seems well 

 adapted to the manufacture of certain kinds of paper. To be successful, how- 

 cA'cr. the manufacturing processes probably would have to be 

 Adapted carried to the point of making the in-oduct ready for inime- 



to Paper diate use, and not selling it to distant paper-goods plants, 



Manufacture otherwise the marketing advantage gained from location would 

 be lost. The available demand is in the intermountain states 

 for newsprint from newspaper publishers, egg-case fillers from poultry farms, ice 

 cream cartons, butter ])ackages, wiapping paper, etc. This market is now sup- 

 plied from eastern or Pacific Coast points. 



In the manufacture of all grades of paper except the heavy board suitable for 

 packing, egg-fillers, etc., several basic materials besides straw are essential. The 

 straw fiber is short, giving a soft paper with little tensile strength. For tougher 

 paper essential for most purposes, wool pulp is mixed with the straw. Corru- 

 gated board, for instance, for making heavy packing boxes, utilizes strawboard for 

 the inner corrugated layer that gives resistance to crushing loads, but requires a 

 strong thin paper made of better material for the outer .sheets. Ice cream cartons, 

 butter packages and Christmas boxes are made from chip-board which is some- 

 times obtained by working old paper and cotton waste into the stiff board used 

 in making ordinary boxes. 



Both the raw and process materials vetiuired for paper are found in Montana- 

 wood pulp fi'om western Montana, straw from the agricultural districts, coal and 

 limestone from a score of coiinties, sulphuric acid from the smelters. Gypsum, 

 used as a filler, is found in seven counties. Bentonite. used as sizing, is reported 

 from one count.v. and barite, used in the same wa.v, is found in four counties. In 

 one district alone, on the West Fork <if the Flathead river, the L'nited States 

 Forest Service estimates there are 400.000,000 to 500.000.000 feet of spruce, white 

 fir. balsam and lodge pole pine suitable for the making of pulp. 



Enough has been said to indicate some of the problems and possibilities in- 

 volved in bringing manufacturing to Montana. The first essential in any con- 

 templated industrial program will be a detailed and compre- 

 An Economic hensive survey of the r:iw and process resources of Montana, 

 Survey not alone of their location, but of their properties, chemical 



Is Essential and physical and also of their quantities. Once this informa- 

 tion is assembled, a manufacturer can be specificall.v advi.sed 

 of where and in what amount the materials reepiired by his industry are to be 



