SOUTH WESTERN .MONTANA 73 



lUiirkft. coast and middle western buyers usually contract in.u: them in the pus- 

 tur«"s for delivery at the loadinj^ stations. The unusually nutritious grasses permit 

 the handling of cattle in this way, a method followi'd in no other northwestern 

 districts. The lower valleys, like the Beaverhead, run more to mix(>d farming and 

 smaller holdings. Small grains, potatoes, seed peas and alfalfa are the principal 

 crops. ]Much of rhe farm truck finds a ready market in the adjoining mining 

 county of Silver Bow. Considerable grain is rai.sed on the non-irrigated bench 

 lands, but irrigated farming is the dominant type. 



The irrigated acreage is being enlarged. Near Dillon all the preliminary 



field work has been completed on the East Bench project for the reclamation 



of 23,000 acres of land and near Lima in the south end of the 



Enlarge county a project is nearing completion that will reclaim 



Irrigated from s,(KK) to 10.000 acres. The lands to be irrigated near 



Acreage Lima are partly settled but the project was put in so that 



additional settlers can be taken care of on land heretofore used 



for grazing. 



Beaverhead comity has abundant mineral resources, many of which have 

 not been developed. It has conunercially produced gold, silver, copper, lead and 

 graphite. The graphite is said to l)e the best in quality in the United States. It 

 also has coal, oil shale, phosphate, manganese, iron, mica, l)rick clay and lime- 

 stone, sandstone and quartzite. A plant for the treatment of oil shale has been 

 built. The principal mining districts are in the Elkhorn Mountains in the northern 

 part of the county. Industries include flour milling, lumbering and dairy prod- 

 ucts. There is a primary horse market at Dillon. 



The Oregon Short Line railroad from Salt Lake to Butte runs through the 

 center of the south half of the county and then continues north near the eastern 

 boundary. A subsidiary of the Northern Pacific runs west and south through the 

 south end, and a narrow gauge railroad penetrates the Elkhorn Mountains. 



Dillon, the county seat, is the largest town in southwestern Montana. It is 



modern in all respects and one of the most important livestock shipping points in 



the state. Armstead is a trading center for the south end of 



Old West the county and a district in Idaho. Lima, in the southern end, 



Lingers is a thriving little town of 500 persons, a division point between 



Idaho Falls and Butte with railway shops. 



The county is rich in historic lore of the early days and holds many other 

 attractions for tourists ; excellent hunting and fishing, large cattle ranches in the 

 Big Hole basin where the flair of the old west still lingers, and three hot springs, 

 the Zeigler, near Apex, Elkhorn. near Dillon, and the Hotel Hot Springs, at 

 Jackson. The main trunk line highway between Montana and Utah and California 

 traverses the county, and also the western scenic route between the Yellowstone 

 and Glacier National Parks. 



BEAVERHEAD COUNTY — Rank.? twenty-ninth in popnlation (7,36!)); seconrt in 

 area (3,620,480 acres); second in combined 1922 crop and livestock value; twelftli in 

 t920 mineral production; eleventh in bank deposits, 1922; seventeenth in assessed 

 valuation, 1922. Acres public land, 625,212; acres state land, 205,299; acres national 

 foiests, 1.399,676; acres Indian military resei-vations, five. 



WEALTH PRODUCTION — Kstimated 1922 crop value, $2,405,300; estimated live- 

 stock value, .Tanuarv, i:)23, .$4,960,000; metal production, 1920, $287,064; 1921 lumber 

 cut, 213 M feet; total bank deposits September 15, 1922, $3,823,676. 



TAXATION 1922 — Total assessed valuation, $24,776,027; total ta.Ka1)le value, 

 $7,930,826. Total outstanding- county bond indebtedness?, .$30,000; total outstanding 

 count.v wanant indebtedness, $18,909; total outstanding scliool bond indelitedness, 

 $275,955; other school debts, $7,315. Total general and special county taxes, $154,580; 

 total geneial and distiict scliool taxes, $154,030; total municiptal taxes, $39,657; total 

 state taxes, $40,015; total tax (inclusive municipal), per capita, $52.69. 



EDUCATIONAL — Numbei- graded schools, 41; eni-ollment, 1,235. Number high 

 schools, 3; enrollment, 272. Other institutions. State Nornial School, Dillon — 1654 stu- 

 dents and 82 instructors. 



