THE ST A TE 



thian $100,000,000 has been added to this total. Followinrr the decline of 

 placer mining, vast deposits of silver were developed, and these yielded, 

 during the twenty-year period from 1885 to 1905, a total of over $400,000,000 

 worth of silver at market prices. Almost coincident with the development 

 of the silver industry and continuing- with increasing importance down to 

 the present day, camie the era of copper mining, and from the opening of 

 the first copper vein in 1882 down to the close of 1912, Montana, by virtue 

 of this industry, had added over $750,000,000 to the wealth of the world. 

 In the late enighties, we took premier place in the production of live- 

 stock. With its great rolling prairies extending from the main range of 



Home of the greatest herds of cattle ever assembled in the Northivest. 

 the Rocky Mountains to the Dakota boundary, well supplied with native 



grasses, on which fed in countless thousands the buffalo of 

 Cattle Add pioneer days, and with an ample supply of water, it was but 

 to the natural that this State should become the home of the great- 



Great est herds of cattle which have ever been assembled in the 



Wealth. Northwest. This was the day of the free and open range, when 



the annual roundup of the larger ''outfits" extended over terri- 

 tory greater than a good sized eastern state. Cattle-raising developed rap- 

 idly and laid the foundations for some of the largest fortunes of this State, 

 reaching its height in 1894 when 302,655 head of beef were shipped to 

 market. The sheep industry had attained large proportions at the same 

 time and early this centur};- Montana became the banner state for sheep, a 



— Montana is blessed with cool summer nights. 



