Jefferson County, lying north of Madison, and divided from it by the Jefferson fork of the Missouri, contained 5,000 square miles and 2,500 inhabitants.
It was, after mining, chiefly a dairying county, though there several farming settlements sprang up in the valleys of Prickly Pear, Boulder, Crow, Pipestone, and other streams. In 1878, 50,000 lbs of butter and 20,000 lbs of cheese were produced. The farmers raised 50,000 bushels of grain, and there were about 10,000 acres of improved lands. The sawmills in the county cut about 1,500,000 feet of lumber. The stock of the county consisted of 25,000 range cattle, 2,000 milch cows, 10,000 horses, and 15,000 sheep. The pioneer Woolen-mill of Montana was established in Jefferson County, and was completed in 1878. Strahorn’s Montana, 67.
The first woollen-mill begun was at Virginia City in 1877. Madisonian, Oct. 27, 1877. The property valuation of the county in 1884 was about $1,000,000.
Radersburg, situated in the valley of Crow Creek, near the line of the Northern Pacific railroad, is the county seat, and had 200 inhabitants at the last census.
The towns and settlements made in Jefferson County are Aurora, Basin, Basin gulch, Beaver Creek, Heaver Creek Camp, Beavertown, Bedford, Boulder City, Boulder Valley. Cataract, Cheatem, Claggett, Cold Spring, Cornet, Cornet Mine, Crow Creek City, Eclipse, Gregory, Gregory Mine, Gregoryville, Harrison, Holter’s Sawmill, Iron Age, Jefferson City, Jefferson Island, Keatigville, Little Boulder, McDaniel Station, Middle Fork Buffalo, Milk Ranch, Mitchell, Montana, O’Neil’s Mine, Whitman’s gulch. Overland gulch, Parnell, Pipestone, Prickly Pear, Remley, Rocker Mine, Spokane, Springville, St Louis, Warm Springs, Whitehall, Wickes, and Woodville. In this county are the Boulder Hot Springs and Clancy Warm Springs, both popular resorts.