THE PROSPERITY OF MONTANA 



The truth is that Montana has been, and is yet, a 

 marvellously substantial State. It has enjoyed a steady 

 stream of wealth from the mine, the range, and the farm. 

 Its mercantile enterprises have naturally thriven tinder 

 these conditions, and labor has been busy and well paid. 

 It has not been the policy of the people to encourage 

 immigration on reckless lines merely to increase the 

 population. On the contrary, the public sentiment has 

 been notably conservative, and has only urged those to 

 come who could be self-supporting by tilling the soil or 

 establishing other industries. 



Great Falls, located at the most eligible water-power 

 of the Upper Missouri river, has enjoyed a remarkable 

 growth of population, and promises to become in time 

 one of the great cities of the West. In addition to the 

 water-power, it has the advantage of being surrounded 

 by the raw materials of manufacture, in the shape of 

 coal, iron, timber, and the products of the range such 

 as wool and hides while large agricultural districts are 

 tributary to it. There are many important towns along 

 the line of the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern 

 railroads. Of these Missoula is a prosperous mercantile 

 point on the western slope, and Billings is the focus of 

 agriculture in the Yellowstone Valley. 



Viewed as a whole, Montana is a State of substantial 

 achievement and of splendid promise. 



