206 MONTANA 19 U 



Fork and the Kootenai rivers. The Clark's Fork in turn is formed by the 

 junction of the Missoula river and the Flathead river, which latter drains 

 the Flathead lake. 



Already great strides have been made in the development of this en- 

 ergy, and electrical power is now used for many purposes throughout the 

 State. Practically all of the cities and towns of Montana are lighted by 



current secured by hydro-electric development; all of the larger 

 Many Uses cities have modern street car facilities, and the use of electricity 

 Made of for cooking and other household purposes is common. In addi- 

 Electrical tion electrical power is used for pumping water for large irri- 

 Energy. gation enterprises, and its use as motive power for railroad 



trains is being rapidly extended. 



The Butte, Anaconda tS: Pacific railway, running from Butte to Ana- 

 conda, a distance of 26 miles, and carrying in addition to heavy passenger 

 business immense ore trains between the Butte mdnes and the Anaconda 

 smelter, is now operated entirely by electricity. Twenty-four hundred volts 

 direct current has been adopted for this electrification, this being the high- 

 est direct current voltage thus far used for this class of work. The suc- 

 cessful electrification of this railroad, which has just been completed, was 

 watched with the closest attention by the great transportation systems of 

 the world, and is believed to mark a new epoch in this field. Already there 

 is indication that in the near future many hundreds of miles of Montana 

 railroads will be operated entirely by electrical power. 



A contract has recently been entered into between the ^Montana Power 

 Company and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company to sup- 

 ply power for the electrification of this line from Harlowton, Montana, 

 to Avery, Idaho, a distance of approximately 450 miles. It is 

 Moving expected that work on this electrification will start within the 



Trains next year and will be completed as rapidly as possible, the 



Across the experience of the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific being that a 

 Continent material economy in operation, together with increased speed 

 By Elec- and efficiency, follows the use of electric motive power. Dis- 

 tricity. cussing this phase of development recently, a well known 



electrical expert said : 



"It appears to be only a matter of time until all the transcontinental railways, 

 in their mountain divisions especially, -will find it necessary to turn to electrical 

 operation. This method of operation not only has the advantage of making large 

 savings in operating expenses on account of the elimination of coal and the greatly 

 reduced maintenance expense of electric locomotives, as compared with steam loco- 

 motives, but also on account of the fact that with the increase in traffic the capacity 

 of the whole line is limited by the tonnage which can be hauled over the steep 

 mountain grades. Inasmuch as electric locomotives can be made with a much greater 

 continuous power capacity than any steam locomotives yet built, it follows that the 

 trains can be hauled over the heavy grades at considerably increased speed and 

 the tonnage hauled over the division increased accordingly, while to get a corre- 

 sponding increase with steam operation would require double-tracking the road." 



The largest use of electrical power for irrigation purposes is made in the 

 Prickly Pear valley, a few miles from Helena, and this use of electricity 



—Montana potatoes have made the state famous. 



