WEST CENTRAL MONTANA 



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Diversified Farming, Fruitgroiving, Lumbering and Smelting Are the Principal 



Industries — First in Dairying and Potato Production — On 



the Pacific Slope Side of the Mountains. 



A pleasant land of timbered mountains, fertile valleys and clear streams, 

 West Central Montana, lying on the Pacific slope side of the Rocky Mountains, 

 embraces the counties of Powell, Deer Lodge, Granite, Missoula, Ravalli and 

 Mineral counties. The principal industrial activities are smelting, lumbering and 

 mining. Its agriculture is diverse in character and well established. It is one 

 of the principal fruitgrowing regions of the state, ranks first in dairying and 

 potato production and third In tame hay acreage. It ranks second in lumber 

 production. Its smelters at Anaconda are the largest in the world. 



In the eastern part of this region, in Powell and Granite counties, stoclcraising 

 and general farming predominate, while in Ravalli and Missoula counties dairying, 

 horticulture, swine and poultry production are becoming increasingly important. 

 Irrigated farming is the dominant type and the tendency is to reduce the size 

 of the farm units. The Bitter Root, Clark's Fork (or Missoula) and Flathead 

 valleys are the best known farming districts. Two large cities are here. 



Lumbering is confined to the western and mining to the eastern and south- 

 eastern districts. Granite county produces annually more manganese than all the 

 rest of the United States. Tremendous beds of phosphate are found, which the 



U. S. G. S. reports are of commercial importance and of higher grade than de- 

 posits in the southern states. They have not been developed. Elevations of farm- 

 ing regions, 2,000 to 5,000 feet ; growing season under three to more than four months. 



POWELL COUNTY 



TOCK raising, agriculture and lumber are 

 the principal developed resources of 

 Powell county, which lies in west central 

 Montana, on the western slope of the 

 Rocky Mountains, with the continental di- 

 ^ ide defining much of its eastern boundary. 

 ^Mining and many varied tourist attractions 

 are resources that have been developed only 

 to a limited extent. 



The county is 90 miles in length, north 

 and south, with an average width of 25 

 miles. Most of its area is mountainous, 

 but there are large mountain valleys and 

 licnchlands in the central and soulhern 

 districts. The northern part ot the county 

 is one of the least explored parts of the 

 state and a noted big game region. The 

 South Fork of the Flathead River rises 

 bore and flows north ; on the southern slope 

 many streams have their source, which flow south and empty into the Big Black- 



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