CENTRAL MONTANA 



95 



BUSINESS STATISTICS — Number of railroads, 2; railway mileage, exclusive spurs 

 ami .sidetraiks, 72.27. Number of manufactures, 11; average number wage earners, 43; 

 value of products. $105,204. Number of banks, 4. Number general stores, 10; confec- 

 tionery, etc., 5; groceries and meats, 5: lumber yards, 4; total number merchants, 59. 

 Total assessed valuation 1H22 merchandise, $217,368. Number grain elevators, 3: total 

 capacity, 45,000 bushels. Number creameries, i. Number saw mills, 8. Number of law- 

 yers, 6. Number of physicians, 2. Developed hydro-electric plant capacity, 75 horse 

 power. 



AGRICULTURE (1920 census) — Number farms, 447, farm acreage, 801.801; im- 

 pruvtd farm acreage, 136,839; irrignted acreage, 25,075; average value all propertv, per 

 farm, $33,815. Livestock assessed 1022 — number cattle, 21,654; number sheep, 123,652; 

 number horses. 5.028; number swine (census). 1.575. 



CLIMATOLOGICAL DATA — At White Sulpliur Springs. Elevati.in 5.280 feet. Average 

 date last killing frost in spring. June 2; average date first killing frost in fall. Sep- 

 tember 4. 



CASCADE COUNTY 



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"'ITH mountMins in its back-yard and roUinf? 

 uplands in it.s front, Cascade county, in 

 central Montana, is not only strategically 

 located, but by reason of a variety of nat- 

 ural resources is looking forward to a mul- 

 tiple-industry development along manufac- 

 turing, commercial and agricultural lines. 

 J-^^m^m.' •-'■ ^ 111 popoulatlon it is the second largest 



t^S^ , • -xiata*!-, county in the state, ranks among the first 



°* ten in combined crop and livestock pro- 



duction, and, in developed hydro-electric 

 power and also value of manufactured 

 products, outstrips all other counties. Some 

 of its most important natural resources 



If^^^^^^^K^^M ^ have scarcel.v been touched. Great Falls, 



^^^^^^^^^H^^u%' '^ in this county, is the second largest city 



^^^^^^HHHHHI^ the 



_ ^^^^mWlMM&W^ "^Hl^HB Cascade county is about 60 miles long, 



east and west, and 54 miles wide, north and 

 south. The south half, which is mostly mountainous, is chiefly devoted to live- 

 stock raising and metal mining ; the north half, which consists of rolling up- 

 lands, to farming and coal mining. The soils vary, ranging from clay silt to sandy 

 loam with a clay sub-soil. The INIissouri River runs diagonally through Cascade 

 county, with a sudden descent over a series of falls and rapids, from the moun- 

 tains to the southwest, and with a more gradual flow toward the northeastern 

 boundary, below the Great Falls. Flowing from the north and west is Sun River, 

 which has its conflux with the INIissouri at the city of Great Falls. The Dearborn 

 and Smith Rivers also traverse Ca.scade county, flowing into the Missouri River. 

 Another fertile valley is formed by Belt Creek, a stream which heads in the 

 Little Belt Mountains and flows north 100 miles, emptying into the Missouri near 

 Great Falls. 



In the Sun and Missouri River valleys there are approximately 50,000 acres 

 now under irrigation with a possibility of expanding it to 128,000 acres. Alfalfa, 

 oats, barley and potatoes are the chief crops on irrigated farms, while wheat is 

 the predominating crop in the non-irrigatod areas. In the central and south- 

 eastern areas of the county winter wheat is grown to some extent which normally 

 produces good yields. Many of the non-irrigated sections are below the average 



