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About The Great Falls Leader (Great Falls, Mont.) 1888-1900 | View This Issue
The Great Falls Leader (Great Falls, Mont.), 25 March 1890, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/sn86075267/1890-03-25/ed-1/seq-24/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
22 G R E A T F A L L S A N D E N Y L R O N S . the plants from which it was formed. These varieties give the fol lowing analyses. The analyses of the two last varieties, and the average of the three varieties are given in the following table: Dry Coal. Charcoal. Average. Specific gravity .............................................. 1.372 1.36 1.325 Water at 212 cleg. F ...................................... 2.81 2.25 3.01 Gas or volatile matter .................................. 29.43 25.10 30.23 Fixed carbon .................................................. 56.50 65.60 59.71 Ash, grayish white........................................ 11.27 7.05 7.05 Coke .................................................................. 67.77 72.65 66.76 Weight per cubic foot .................................. 85.75 85.00 82.75 ‘ ‘ These analyses show the charcoal has the least water, the least gas and the most fixed carbon. Though the charcoal forms numer ous thin partings in the coal, it really constitutes a very small portion of the whole bed. But small as it is in quantity, it is a very impor tant feature of this coal, for it prevents the coal from caking and Choking or clogging the furnace. These charcoal partings make a part of this bed of block coal almost identical, in structure and com position, with the celebrated block coals so much used raw in the iron furnaces of Ohio and Indiana.” BBLiT CITY— Af^JVIIJSlGTOrl. Is situated in the Belt creek valley, on the line of the Great Falls & Belt Mountain railroad, twenty-one miles southeast of Great Falls. For years this town has been the trade center for the great agricultural and stock raising industry that surrounds it. To-day there is no place of its size in Montana that presents as thrifty a growth in business and improvements, and before a year rolls around it will rank among the substantial towns of the state. The farm lands of this section are unsurpassed for productiveness. Upon the bench lands, where irrigation is not needed, the yield of crops is enormous. The past season was one of long-continued drouth; yet the crop of this section gave nearly an average return—wheat and oats making an exceedingly good showing. The horse, cattle and sheep industry of this section is second to none in Montana and is fast assuming large proportions, owing to the great extent of pasturage lands. The new town of Armington, two miles above Belt, will prob ably be the business center of that locality as soon as the railway reaches it. A depot and other railway structures, with a liberal system of switching and side tracks, will be put in there. I t was in Belt that the first coal mines were opened up. The product is of a superior quality. Three of these mines are being worked at present, the drift being in from 100 to 200 feet. The veins are all of six feet in thickness, about eight inches of which is good blacksmithing coal, the remainder of the vein first-class cok ing coal. These mines are now under the contract of Armington & Co., who intend to push their development as rapidly as pos sible. The railroad facilities at hand will encourage the opening up and development of other mines in this section, and it will not be long before Belt coal will be in the field of competition. The Castner Coal Company has lately incorporated, and are going to push developments in their claims with all possible speed. ST. CLiAIt*. St. Clair is situated on the Missouri river thirty-five miles south of Great Falls on the opposite side of the liver from Cascade station of the Montana Central R. II. and at the gateway of the famous Chestnut valley, one of the richest in our new state; made so by a naturally fertile soil, watered by the Missouri, and from natural mountain streams; and, besides this fertile valley, with her 100,000 acres of rich land, there are broad ranges covered by fine natural grass that feed the immense herds of cattle and thousands of sheep. An idea may be had of the rapidity of the growth about this thriving town, and how soon it will be ranked among our best cities, when it is stated that ten cars of wire were shipped during the past season, averag ing 25,000 pounds each, or 250,000 pounds in all, for fences; this when made into a three-stranded fence, or one with three pounds per rod, would make 260 miles of fencing if it were put into a.straight line. St. Clair was not surveyed until late in the season of 1888, when J. M. Erskine, the present proprietor of the town site, had the town platted and immediately disposed of a large number of lots. Owing to the present backward season, building has not gone ahead as rapidly as expected; but the outlook for next year’s boom is almost a fact, beyond any reasonable doubt, as Great Falls will
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