Beginning with Missoula, the first settled and organized, and the most western, it contained about 30,000 square miles, distributed in forest crowned mountains and sunny valleys, affording a charming variety of scenery, and a fortunate arrangement of mineral, agricultural, and grazing lands. About 36,000 acres were occupied, and 5,196 cultivated. Its principal valley, the Bitterroot, […]
Meagher County extended from the Missouri River on the west to the Musselshell River on the east, and was sandwiched between Gallatin and Choteau Counties. It contained 20,000 square miles, embracing mountain ranges clothed in forest, and veined with mineral deposits, high grazing lands, and low agricultural lands. The valleys of the Judith, Musselshell, Smith,
Madison County, rendered forever famous as the district of country containing the Alder gulch of worldwide renown, 4,900 square miles in extent, had also a population of not more than 4,000 at the last census. It is a county rich in resources, chiefly mineral, although agricultural to a considerable degree. Its chief export was gold,
Lewis and Clarke County, occupying a central position, although comparatively small in extent, having only 2,900 square miles, was the second in population, its inhabitants numbering about 13,000, and its assessed valuation being in 1884 over $8,000,000. Its mines have already been spoken of. From 135 farms in Prickly Pear Valley was harvested, in 1878,
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
Gallatin County, containing 10,000 square miles, was divided between the two valleys of the Gallatin and Yellowstone Rivers, and the Belt and Snowy ranges of mountains. The three forks of the Missouri met within its boundaries, making a remarkable and beautiful combination of river and meadow scenery with bench land and mountains. The basin formed
Deer Lodge County, also west of the Rocky Mountains, and the second settled, was much less in size than Missoula, containing 6,500 square miles, but fully equal in attractions and natural wealth. It had 25,000 acres under improvement, and raised 130,000 bushels of grain in 1878, made 150,000 pounds of butter, produced 50,000 bushels of
Dawson County, owing to Indian wars and other causes, remained unorganized down to a late period, and although having an area of 32,000 square miles, and good stock ranges, contained in 1880 only about 200 inhabitants. It occupied the northwestern portion of Montana, and was divided by the Missouri River, and crossed by the Yellowstone,
Custer County occupied in 1884 an area of 25,500 square miles, divided by the Yellowstone River, which is navigable, and watered by numerous large and small tributaries. It formerly included the Crow reservation, a 5,000,000 acre tract, which was surrendered to the government in 1882, and thrown open to settlement in 1883. Several mountain ranges
Choteau County, containing 27,380 square miles, the first inhabited on the east aide of the Rocky Mountains, having their summits for its boundary on the west, and the vast, unorganized area of Dawson county on the east, the British possessions on the north, and Lewis and Clarke and Meagher Counties on the south, was a
