H E L E N --A . W E E Z L Y H E R A L D .

THE TERRITORY.

V aluable In form ation

Concerning M ontana.

Helena—Its Mineral, Agricul­tural and Other Sur­

roundings.

TOWN, CAMP AND COUNTET.

Statistics and Data Carefully Prepared.

Summary Prom the Report of Robert 0. Walker, Secretary of the Helena

Board of Trade.

Montana, one of the largest Territories in the United Stales, lies between the 45th and 49th deg.s of north latitude, and contains 93,000,000 acres of land, of which16.000. 000 are agricultural, 33,000,000 grazing, 12,000, 000 timber, 5,000,000 mineral, and about 21,000,000 mountainous. It is the best watered country in the United States, by pure mountain streams and naviga­ble rivers, and, varied by mountain, canyon and val­ley. presents a physical grandeur unsurpassed on the globe. The tillable lands produce all the cereals (av­erage wheat per acre, lorty bushels,) and every variety of vegetable. The climate is mild and equable. The snow-fall is less than in New York or Maine. The dry, clear air of the Rocky Mountains, and the absence of malaria and epidemics, make a health record for Mon­tana equal to any in the world. Population, 35,000, Product of gold and silver for the year 1878, nearly 16,500,000 ; estimated product for 1879, $8,000,000, which will be augmented from year to year in a proportion equal to the increased capital and machinery employ­ed in mining and milling, there being no intelligent calculation of a time when the suppy of gold and sil­ver will become exhausted in the Territory.

Exports are gold dust, and gold and silver bullion, cattle, wool, robes, hides and iurs. Wool clip of 1878,1.000. 000 pounds. Average wool fleece, 4 pounds. The meats are fat and juicy. Exemption laws, liberal and humane,—a homestead of the value of $2,500 free to everybody f rom sale and execution.

The main chain of the Rocky Mountains in Montana affords numerous passes, through which, with little work, wagon roads have been constructed that may be traversed every day in the year. Of the three project­ed railroads.—the Northern Pacific, Utah Northern, and Helena and Benton,—two have their terminus at Helena.

Within Montana are the sources of two mighty riv­ers of the continent that flow into either ocean. Be­sides there are within her borders the Yellowstone, navigable for steamboats 500 miles, and the Jefferson, Gallatin, Madison, Muscleshell, Deer Lodge, Bitter Root, Big Hole, Big and Little Blackfoot, Dearborn, Teton, Marias, Milk and Sun rivers. All tfce water courses have broad bottoms and rich alluvial lands, capable of bearing heavy crops of all farm and garden products. Montana, whose rich gold placers brought thé first tide of settlement in 1862-3, continues rich in its surface and gulch mines, but the main and perma­nent sources of her metalic wealth lie in her quartz veins, which have been discovered by thousands, and which are only just beginning to lie developed.

When it is known that silver mines which have been worked throughout the world, even as far back as be­fore the Christian era, are producing at this day abun. dance of ores, it is a great satisfaction for us to view our situation, and a duty also to profit by the knowl­edge and to protect and develop the deposits which are so lavishly planted in and about all the ore dis­tricts of Montana. With the historical fact before us, as vouched for by Fuller in his treatise on silver mines, we should remember that in estimating the value of Montana mines there is no evidence of any silver mines of the world that have given out. *

Mexican mines, worked by the Aztecs before the conquest, are still being worked as profitably as ever. The South American mines have constantly yielded their wealth for more than three hundred years, and are as productive as ever ; the old Spanish mines, open­ed long before Hannibal’s time, are still worked with enormous profit; mines.in Hungary, that were worked by the Romans before the Savior’s time, still yield abundance of ore ; the silver mines of Freiburg, opened in the seventh century and worked continually ever since, yield their steady increase. So in Norway, Sweden and Russia, and, indeed, wherever silver mines have been opened, we believe without exception, con­tinue to be worked at the present day, and generally are more productive now ,than at any time in their past history. For permanent and rich returns silver mining has no parallel in any other business.

The famous Penobscot is a gold quartz mine whose wealth no one will protend to estimate, yet there are other gold quartz mints in the Territory that have produced their millions, while the extensions of the Snow Drift as yet have only produced their thousands. Gold mining, therefore, of quartz and placer, comes nex7 in importance to the inexhaustible mines of silver.

Value of the mammoth gold bar (net product of the Penobscot mine, fifteen miles from Helena, for thirty days in February and March, 1878,) melted and cast into a brick at Helena, April 4,1878, $54,262.62.

The light, pure mountain air that quickens the con­dition of the*body, also invigorates the intellect, and as an acknowledged fact the people of Montana sus­tain more home newspapers at heavier cost than any equal number of persons on the face of the earth, and take more newspapers from abroad than any other community in the country.

The grazing lands produce the peculiar bunch grass, upon which subsist hundred* of thousands, of cattle, horses and sheep without other food, in winter or -animer, and upon which they li ve ' xhe year round without shelter or odber care, ex< *pt.the presence of the shepherd or herd*su ta.

Winter wheat is here a < omplete success.The timber lands produce the best of building iem­

ber of yellow and white pine and cedar, and poles for fencing. By special act of Congress uo royalty i« te­lle paid the Government for wood aï u 1 amber for do­mestic purposes.

The mineral lands yield gold, silver, iron, copper, lead and coal <

The hot springs and water powers in varions parts of the Territory invite manufactures in iron, woolen fabrics and machinery.

The disbursements by the Government la Montan* for the payment of troeps and supplies for the army are very large.

Helena, the capital and commercial^metropolis, is eligibly situated in the midst of the largest mineral re­gion in the world, within twelve miles of the Missouri river, overlooking the beautiful Prickly Pear valley, fifteen miles wide, prosperous in agriculture and varied by scenery picturesque and magnificent Its geo­graphical position—central to the principal towns and mineral districts of the Territory—has given to it a

permanence, stability and growth In wealth and pop­ulation second to no town in the Rocky Mountains. Helena has 8,000 inhabitants, and is rapidly increas­ing. Two newspapers—the H er a ld and independ­ent publishing daily and weekly editions, have a cir­culation reaching every point covered by mail and ex­press lines in Montana. There are two banking honses—the First National and Hershfield & Bro.’_ with a large capital, answering the essential wants of the people. In trade are the nsnal number of sterling houses, both wholesale and retail, some of which pay annual freight bills amounting to from $50,000 to $80,000. The principal public buildings are the U. S. Assay Office, Public School Bnilding, County Court House and Jail, Post Office, Masonic and Odd Fellows’ Halls, S t Vincent’s Academy and S t John’s Hospital and Asylum. Places of public worship are the M. E. Church, Southern Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic and Episcopal Churches. The city has a Public Library numbering nearly 5,000 volumes, and a His­torical Society of considerable membership. Helena was located in 1864, along the borders of the famous Last Chance gnlch, from which millions of treasure have been extracted, and from which large amounts of gold dust are still washed annually. I t is probably to-day the most flourishing town of its population in the country, and for its numbers transacts yearly a larger business than any other community in the mountains. Fire risks in Helena are protected by a well-organized Fire Department, with steam and hand engines, hose and hook and ladder companies, assisted by a sentinel constantly on the lookout from the watch tower.

Within a radius of 60 miles, with Helena as a center, are embraced most of the richest gold and silver mines Montana, including those of Butte and Silver Bow and all those famous gold and silver quartz and placers now working and producing, and designated as Phil­ipeburg, Cable, Indian Creek, Lincolq, McClellan, Vir­ginia Creek, North and Sonth Boulder, Blackfoot, Ne­vada Creek, Diamond, Duck Creek, Eldorado bar, Spokane bar, Brown’s gulch, Grewell’s bar, Washing­ton Bar, Carpenter’s bar, Norwegian, Cave, New York, Magpie, White’s, Mitchell, Benton, Holmes’, Tucker, Confederate and Avalanche gulches, American bar, Ming’s bar, French bar, Keatingsville, Cedar Plain, Deer Lodge and Dan Tucker.

The 120-mile radius contains other as great mines, of both gold and silver quartz and placer, designated as the Broadway, Iron Rod, Green Campbell, Victoria, Aurora, Quincy, Borealis, Everett, Hudson, Ajax, Gold Rose, Pony, Highland, Hot Springs, Cherry creek, Mill creek, Alder gulch, Bivens gulch, Wisconsin creek, Bannaek, Emigrant gulch, Sun river, Pioneer, Yam­hill and Flint creek.

Drawing the distance from Helena by a closer radius of twenty miles, within which are found thevenowned Penobscot, which shows hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold in sight, and the other mines in the same district of less celebrity, but all very rich, viz : The Belmont, Black Hawk, Snowdrift, Viola, Grey Eagle, Emma Miller, Green, Whippowill, Mount Pleas­ant, Bine Bird, Northern Light, Griff, {Hickey, Pie- gan, Humbug, and Long Tom, some of which are extensions of the Penobsco.. Also there are the silver mines of the Consolidated Gregory, Comet, Rumley* Alta, Bismarck, Vqu Arnim, Lexington, Mammoth, Legal Tender, Australia, Emmet, Virginia Belle and the galena mines of the Red Mountain and Ten Mile districts. The Montana Company’s mills, concentrator and smelting works at Wickes, are also within twenty miles, and the gold mines of thé National Mining Company and the Columbia Company are at Union- vilie, only three miles distant, which also embraces the gold placers of Nelson, the Park and Scratch Gravel. The smelting works of Midgeon and Farrell and the Last Chance gold mines are within the town proper.

Contributing as all these mines and industries do to the metropolis, it is but reasonable to suppose that ere long it will be the great city of the mountains. And Helena now, with its commodious churches, schools, academies, attractive residences, public buildings and charities, quickened by the liberal and enterprising spirit of her citizens, presents as favorable surround­ings as mav be found elsewhere by the stranger seek ing a home, or by those who with the star of empire take their westward way.

What the Board^of Trade has been the means of accomplishing already for Helena and Montana should redound to its credit and the members indi vidually who have worked at some inconvenience and expense to themselves upon committees and in the Board of Directors. What has been projected by them for work in the future should also entitle them to merit and incite them or their successors to a vig­orous prosecution of these designs as - the legitimate word of a live Board of Trade. Since the organization of this Board it has held fourteen regular, seven spec­ial and four adjourned meetings. The total current expenses for the year were less than $700.

It is not my province to offer any suggestions for the future actions of this Board, nor to indulge in any fancy which imagination might picture for the spright­ly city of the mountains. But with your forbearance,I may be permitted to refer to that other organization or nucleus around which the first mountain pioneers gathered to build up our present prosperous city, that we may the better see by the contrast what other men may accomplish under circumstances that no longer require the vigilant oat-look for the skulking savage or the ready rifle as the guide and guard of the pick and shovel. Some of yon now present were no doubt the companions of John Cowan and John Sommer ville, one of whom, on the 21st of July. 1864, struck “ Last Chance” and the other a few days later gave to the embryo city the name of Helena. To follow the progress of our city from these first days, sometimes with rapid strides overcoming almost insurmountable difficulties, adding wealth at every step, although prostrated under the blighting sconrge of three conflagrations,which took place in 1868,1872 and 1874, would furnish a reflection of cheerfulness and sadness through its light and shade that would immortalize the first comers of 14 years ago. Instead of the strag­gling hamlets that then lined both sides of the pay streak in Last Chance gnlch with its primitive miners’ cabins, we have, as indicated by the vote at the last general election on the 5th of November, when in this precinct there were twelve hundred ballots cast, a city of five thousand people, bound together by con­siderations of mutual dependence, common interests and sooial ties.

The progress of the town and business for the last year is evident upon all sides of us, where costly res­idences and substantial business blocks are built in tbe place of the former less pretentions structures.The freight by water and overland transportation amounting to 16780 tons for the year 1S78, tbe greater part of which is received and distributed in Helena, is also an evidence of prosperity in the sale of goods and supplies made in this place and a proof of the vast amount in imports that are required yearly for the use of a people whose rule is, to buy liberally in propor­tion to their steady receipts from the bounteous pro­ducts from lands and mines. Another evidence of the prtxaperity in onr midst is found in the fact that oar merchants are able to pay freight charges which are ■imply enormous upon all purchases from the States, and whkh this year average seventy dollars per ton from Chicago and St. Louis to Helena. The amoonts paid this year by merchants and others for freight up­on imports is estimated at $1,200,600, of which amount the Helena marchant« are supposed to pay $060,000. It fe woithy of reniArii th*$* he trade of tbe Territory has

- suspended byten of thousands and bankrupts-were declared by the wholeeale, the regular law of supply and demand in Montana went on without any inter-

- ruption, and there was little or no change in all that time produced by the contagion among their neigh­bors east and west of this Territory. The prospérons condition of the people here is well known to ns all* and the plentifulnees of money, good wages, demand for workmen and laborers, the abundant yield of agricultural products, all assure us that we have great reason to be thankful for snch material prosperity, while we have been enjoying the other blessings of good health, freedom from epidemics, storms, floods and casualties that have been so fatal and disastrous in other parts of the country. The assaying at Helena at Government expense of the gold and silver taken from onr mountains and gulches and stamped with the validity of the Government itself, seemingly en hanced in vaine by our remoteness from the fluctuat­ing standard of Wall street, gives a legal tender with­out discount, and.represefited as our bullion on de­posit is by convenient and convertible notes and coin, we have for our circulation the best money in the world. It is now known that the producers of gold and silver in Montana have a U. S. Assistant Treas­urer at the Helena Assay office who will issue Coin Certificates in exchange for bnllion without any cost whatever for transportation. The assays at the U. S. Assay office at Helena for the year ending Jane 30, 1878, amount to $331,460.51 in gold and $385,277.90 in silver, total $716,738.41. Receipt orders issued at the Helena Post office for the year ending June 30, 1878, $55,862*06. Receipt orders paid for the same time $44 ,100.201 Received from other Money Order offices in the Territory for the same time $135,982.00, Amount remitted to New York office during the same time $143,897.00. Receipts of collections of Internal Rev­enue in Montana for the year ending Jane 30, 1878, $27,364.87.

Assessed vaine of property in Helena and Lewis and Clarke County for 1878, $2,SS2,S35. From the forego­ing a pretty fair estimate can be had of the business of Helena and its importance as the commercial me­tropolis of the Territory. That we may form a correct opinion of the present value of the whole Territory, the following exhibit or trade balance is presented as collected from official sources and correet estimates.

IMPORTS AT BENTON by steam boats fer the year 1878, 9,680 tons, valued at $1,936,000. Of this, 1,300 tons, valued at $260,000, were in transit for the North Western police, in the Dominion of Canada.Value of Montana imports at Benton............$1,676,000Imported bv overland freight from Utah

Northern Railroad and connections, 6,500to n s .............................................................. 1,300,000

Merchandize by express and by mail, 400 tons,valued a t....................................................... 100,000

Merchandize in addition to Government freight by steam boats on the Yellowstoneriver, 1,500 tons............................................. 300,000

Freight paid upon imports............................. 1,174,600

T o ta l......................................................... $4,550,600EXPORTS.

From Benton, by steam boat, 1,832 tons con­sisting of 931,000 pounds wool, 75 tons sil­ver ore, 60,000 Buffalo robes, 16,665 Beef hides, 26,400 pounds assorted furs, 1,192 bars silver bullion, 120 bales sheep pelts, 10,000 pounds assorted furs and peltries, 750 headDeef cattle, valued a t................................... 650,000

By overland transportat'on to the terminus of the Utah Northern railroad, consisting of ore, bullion and matte, 3,000 tons, valueda t................................................................... 1,500,000

5,000 head of beef cattle driven to Easternmarkets.......................................................... 875,000

Gold dust and bnllion exported by expressand other conveyance................................... 1,800,000

Gold dust and bullion by private conveyance 260,000Silver bullion by express and freight............. 2,000,000

not been i thatont the 1 over 'late panic. < felt by the] been removodfi er tl)ftt when

|rated by the doll times business through-

so free from the lisions in the no ill effects

have they dlsast*

there

T ota l......................................................... $6,585,000

Which added to the stock of supplies and goods on hand of this year’s purchases, amounting to $1,376,000 will leave a balance of trade in favor of Montana,after paying for goods, machinery and supplies for 1878, of $3,410,400.

Above is shown the cost of purchases for the pres ent year, including freight and all expenses and the net gain for the same time after deducting the whole cost.

This is a proper exhibit for one year, but the best way to get onr present and increasing wealth is to make an exhibit of the condition of the whole Terri­tory as we find it from official sonrees after the assess­ment of 1878.

Assessment value of real and personal estate is $12,500,000.

Agricultural products on hand not- consumed $500,-000.

The hidden treasure that is known to exist in Mon­tana in the value of gold and silver mines, which would probably run up into the hundreds of millions, might be taken into account in the actual estimate of onr wealth at tbe present time, bat it would be premature to set forth in figures how much this would give to eyery man, woman and child in the Territory before the gold is run into bars and tbe silver into bullion.

The following abstract of assessment of live stock in Montana for the year 1873 is obtained from D. H Cutbbert, Territorial Auditor, and is complete, except Custer county, which is not reported:Horses, 37,686, valued a t.................................$1,287,487Mules. 1,665....................... 117,382Cattle. 210,457 ................................................... 2,429,097Sheep, 107,361 ............................ 292,690Hogs, 6,439......................................................... 3,135

The above enumeration and assessment wonld bemore correctly stated by adding to it twenty-five percent in numbers and value, which would make the to­tal valuation $15,625,00.

These are evidences of the prosperity and present condition of Montana that cannot be gainsayed, and warrant a greater feeling of security and promise to each individual than is vouchsafed to any other people of equal numbers anywhere in Ute United States. The spirit of improvement and enterprise in building and investments which now animates the people of town and country, promises also a ready demand for goods, labor and supplies, which, together with our lumber and its manufactures for domestc use, make us a peo­ple wholly independent and self-supporting, with a ready cash balance in onr favor for one year of near­ly half the annual product of our gold and silver mines. While favored with sdeh advantages in onr very midst, and surrounded, as Helena is, by mines of gold and silver (and the great Penobscot only twenty miles away) which have a fame world-wide for their richness and value, we should not be wanting in a just appreciation of the situation that places ns so fav­orably before the business world, nor fail to sustain by onr united action as a Board of Trade all the inter­ests that need fostering, and especially those which give the greatest good to the greatest number.

In order to show the present strain upon the business and resources of Montana and the contributions levied upon her industries, owing to her remoteness from railroad facilities and competition, it is only necessary to refer to the foregoing statement showing that the Territory has paid $1,174,600 freight upon imports in 1878. To these enormous figures may be added the freight upon all exports, which, although correspond­ingly heavy, are not properly chargeable to expenditure account, as these chargee follow tbs shipment, and wonld average about $50 per ton on five thousand tons.Probably no business elsewhere could flourish under euch an unequal ban, and certainly no country but Montana, who*e vitals are ribbed and braced with gold and silver, could stand any such drain and live. But with the near approach of the Utah Northern Rail­road, which has been pushed forward with rapid strides through the indefatigable exertions of Jay Gould, Esq., and the inrther improvement of the navigation of the Missouri river, these high freights and consequent strains upon onr commerce will vanish forever, and Montana, freed from her shackles and isolation, will soon enjoy all the advantages, luxuries and profits that accrue from railroad and water _ ...munlcation. Minnesota.

• Some of the beat lands in Montana can be located under the Desert Land Act th section* of *60 acres by covering them with running water and paying 25 cents an acre in hand and one dollar per acre in three years.

Fencing mostly done with pine poles, at one dollar per rod. Board fencing at two ddttars and seventy- five cents per rod/

Agricultural land generally level and rolling prairie bordering on streams between mountain ranges.

Roads natural and very fine.Cattle, sheep and horses are grown in large bands

or herds upon grazing alone, summer and winter. Dairies are profitable.The cereals and all vegetables are grown with profit

The land is first broken up in July or August, and sown is the spring, hat bottom lands not in sod may he plowed, sown and reaped the same year.

Owing to the great amount of daylight about tbe summer solstice, oats aud barley ripen perfectly sown asiate as tbe middle of Jane.

Hay preserves its natural green color throughout the year, and is not bleached or browned by heavy dews

Best quality of pine timber on public lands without cost, for fuel and domestic purposes.

Building materials of all kinds abundant-. Honses mostly frame, some brick, some stone.

American brood mares will pay. Poultry is a suc­cess. Swine are profitable. Thoroughbred stock can be obtained here.

Flour mills accessible in all parts of the Territory. Oats generally weigh forty pounds .to the bushel

Wheat always over sixty.Fuel is of both wood and bitnminoas coal Iron ore is abundant.Limestone, granite, marble and sandstone in inex­

haustible quantities.There is potters’clay, and white sand for making

glass.Hot springs exist here of valuable curative proper­

ties for invalids, and places of resort for pleasure seek­ers.

Game is very abundant, consisting of elk, moose, buffalo, black and white-tailed deer, mountain sheep, bear, antelope, swans, wild geese, ducks, grouse and rabbits.

Trout in abundance in most of the streams.The Wonder land of the National Parkis accessible

from Helena, Bozeman and Virginia City.Territorial and County fairs held annually No law against the ireedom oi the turf or against

gaming.No legislation as to what you shall not eat and

drink.Politics as you like them.The Territoy is this year Democratic.The Capital, Helena, which is also the commercial

metropolis and largest town. I t is advantageously situated, twelve miles from the Missouri river, in the center of one of the richest mining regions, and over­looks for a great distance the fine farms and product­ive fields of the Prickly Pear Valley.

Other towns ot healthy growth situated convenient­ly to mines and farm lands, such as Batte City, Deer Lodge, Bozeman, Radersbnrg, Virginia City, Missoula, Diamond City, Jefferson, Clancy, Hamilton, Gallatin City, Bannaek, Blackfooc, Sheridan, Silver Star, French Town, etc.

National and private banks at Helena, Batte City. Deer Lodge, Virginia City, Missoula and Bozeman

Good public schools by general taxation. The Cath­olics have convents and their own parochical schools

Churches in all the principal towns and settlements The people mostly young and energetic.No drones or tramps ; all are workers.Two daily and eight weekly newspapers.Mails and express matter daily from the States, via

transcontinental railway and overland coaches.Telegraph communication between all the principal

towns in the Territory, connecting with the outsider world by two independent lines : one over the stage rente to the Central and Union Pacific railroad ; and the other just completed via Yellowstone Valley and the military posts, Deadwood and Bismark.

The nearest railroad, next spring, will »be within 48 hoars stage ride of Helena.

Interest upon money as per contract ; where no ’rate is agreed npon, the law fixes ten per cent.

The exemption laws are liberal and humane Water powers plenty, bat not so desirable as steam.

A few woolen mills for yarns and the coarser fabrics wonld do we’l.

Oxen, horses, mules are used on the farm and for freightirg.

Business generally done on a cash basis. Wages, labors $2.50 to $3 per day ; miners, $4 to $5 per day ; mechanics, $5 to $7 perday; farm labor, $50 per month; female labor, cooks and general house work, $30 to $40 per month.

Floor at present is $4 per sack of 100 pounds; wheat 3 cents per poond ; barley and oats, 2 cents, wholesale ; batter, 30 to 50 cents the year round ; cheese 20 cents per pound ; tnrkeys, $2 to $4 each; chickens, $1.50 per pair; eggs, 25 to 75 cents the year round; potatoes, 1 to 2 cents per pound ; cabbages, onions, tomatoes, cauliflower and all vegetables, 2 to 5 cents per pound ; corn meal, 5 cents per poond ; pork, 6 to 8 cents, wholesale ; lard, 20 cents ; fresh beef, 4 to 12 cents, retaL ; mutton, 5 to 10 cents ; sanssages, 25 cents per pound.

No epidemics.No hurricanes or great storms.Montana is self-sustaining, and needs no imports

except groceries, dry goods, manufactures, machinery and implements. The exports are gold (in dnst and bnllion), silver (in bricks and ores), bides, wool, robes and peltries.

The valleys are all rich.The rivers are the Missouri, Yellowstone, Jefferson,

Madison, Gallatin, Sun River, Teton, Marias, Pen d’ Oreille, Hell Gate, Flathead, Bitter Root, Deer Lodge, Missoula, Beaverhead, Dearborn, Milk River, Muscle- shell, Salmon, Boll River, Smith River and Blackfoot.

The lakes are Flathead, Ashley, Julia, Mystic, Mar­garet, Ryan, Lambert, Twin and Walker.

No scarcity of wood and water, and good camping places on all routes.

No trouble whatever from Indians on any of the public thoroughfare.

The cheapest route to Montana is by the Missouri river, which can be reached from the Mississippi and its tributaries, end by the Northern Pacific Railroad as far north as Bismarck.

Improvements have been begun to continue the navigation of the Missouri river above Fort Benton to a point above the great Falls twelve miles from Helena.

Tbe quickest route is by the Union Pacific and Utah Northern railroads and tbe great overland line of daily coaches to Helena. Immigrants to Montana from the Western States, coming by river, vould do well to bring good American brood mares, which here are ex­ceptionally high and readily sold, and thus provided at once with their own means of transportation,could immediately after leaving the boat and at trifling ex­pense visit different parte of the Territory before se­lecting a home.

TO Eastern Montana and the Yellowstone country is via fMmarRk, thence by steamboat up the Yellowstone river to Forts Keough and Cutter.

For travelers over the Northern Pacific the time to be at Biemasck for the upper Missouri River steamers is from the 1st of April to the 1st of September. The route by the Union Pacific and Utah Northern rail* roads la open at all seasons.

Number of steamboat arrivals at Fort Benton In 1878, forty-six.

Military posts in Montana, with garrisons at each: Fort Keough, Fort Caster. Fort KDb, Fort Shaw, Fart Missoula, Fort Benton and Gamp Baker.

Troops In the District of Montana and the Yellow­

stone are commanded by Major General Alfred M.

Terry, commanding Department Headqoire, S t

[Written for the HeraUL] <•-

EDUCATIONAL OUTLOOK.BY H. P. ROLFS.

A few years have made a marked change in the educational status of Montana. Incited by the example of the public spirited citi­zens of Helena, substantial brick structures in the larger towns are rapidly taking the place of the unsightly relics of former years, while to keep pace with the external progress the old, unorganized, unclassified sys­tem (or rather want of system) is giving way to the graded school plan, concerning which, with competent educators, we may say that it economizes the labor of instruction» makes the instruction more effective, facili­tates good government and discipline, and prevents the necessity of pupils leaving home to obtain higher education. The seeming de fects are so small in comparison with the ad­vantages that they hardly deserve notice, and such as they may appear to be are generally either not real defects or do not necessarily form a part of the system. When we consider that at the time of its introduction very few teachers had had experience in such schools, and that our people, coming from all parts of the wide world, were used to all manner and variety of schools, we may wonder that the graded plan received favor.

In Bozeman the school already appears to give much satisfaction. In Butte the attend­ance has increased to such an extent that it is proposed to sell the present building and to erect a larger and better one. Under the quiet supervision of the present principle the schools are fast becoming well organized. Deer Lodge county, which always takes front rank in educational matters, has this year followed the example of the States fti electing as county superintendent a practical teacher, now in charge of the public schools. The Montana Collegiate Institute was a new departure in this Territory. A commodious and handsome building is now nearly com­pleted, which will be supplied with philosoph­ical and chemical apparatus, with single seats and desks (a most excellent arrange­ment) and with the other apparatus to be found in good schools. About thirty,fpupils are already in attendance, and more are prom­ised after the completion otthe new building. Strange to say the puL.ic schools report an increased enrollment, showing that the popu­lation of Deer Lodge is actually increasing. Under the management of its untiring Presi­dent, one of the first educators in the coun­try, and injspite of many disadvantages, there is much reason to hope for the success of the institution.

In the country schools some*teachers may he found following the old methods, long since discarded in the best schools, teaching children to call the names of letters by a slow process, and to spell words as if the names of letters had aught to do with the pronunciation of the word : teachers who think it their whole duty to blindly follow text books and merely to ask questions found therein. Moreover it is said that in only one district in this county can a globe be found, but on the whole a better and more intelli­gent public sentiment seems to be springing up.

Of the Helena schools we can speak only in part. The attendance has nearly doubled since the new building was erected. Tardi­ness and absence have decreased. By efforts of teachers and pupils, and by the generosity of the public, the school is now well supplied with philosophical and chemical apparatus, globes, maps, charts and cyclopedias, all of which are in constant use. Attempts are made to teach pupils to read by a logical method and in a natural manner, with prop­er modulation; to apply the fundamental principles of arithmetic with accuracy and rapidity, and to put its principles to prac­tical use ; to write and speak the English language correctly ; to learn to spell at the right time and in the right way ; to learn to write easily and legibly,and to have the facul­ties of the mind cultivated in harmony.

To meet the wants of a large number of pupils, and to do its part toward preventing thousands of dollars from being spent in ! Eastern schools, which otherwise would go

the business men of Helena, tbe higher studies have been kept up as under the old system.

From the Normal department several pupils have already engaged in teaching with good success. Efforts have been made to incite the parents to visit the schools at all times. Intelligent examination has been and is de­sired. To interest pupils in their studies and to insure thoroughness have been among the aims of the school. How well it has suc­ceeded we may not say.

Of the 460 different pupils enrolled in tbe year, over 160 are the children of parents who move into town every winter to give their children educational advantages, thus showing that in Helena as in other towns, money spent for schools generally comes back with compound interest to the tax-pay­ers by increasing business. Take away the school privileges from onr towns and you drive away wealth and labor and increase the taxes paid to support criminals and pan- pen. Make your schools equal to those fo o d ie the cities of the States and men of wealth aad culture will not hesitate to bring

■Miles and to invest their means taay enterprises now languishing for

waat*f capital.

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sna H e r a l d favors us with a neat lender for the coming year. We

tbe most creditable job of the kind from a Montana printing office.