The Madisonian (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, September 25, 1914, Image 1

LUCKY :POSTMASTER. J. Z. Clem, the genial posmaser, was notified Saturday that he had won the fine eofa pillow that was raffled off by the ladies a the Cath- olic church at Laurin to raise money - to help pay off the debt on the priest's house in that city. Mrs. Clem is re - joking in her husband's good hick. .1* nian VOL XLI. VIRGINIA CITY, MONTANA, FRIOO, SEPT. 25, 1914 No. 52 CHANOES DATES. Rev.. Father Synan of Laurin an-. 'toupees that hereafter services will be held in the Catholic church in this' F city on the second Sunday of each month instead of the first Sunday as heretofore. Hence services will be held on Sunday, October 11, at 10:30.. A good attendance is desired. .What. -. MO.ntana.,Olfers The atter A Stirring Speech Made By Governor S. V. Stewart Outlining the Wonderful Resources and Pos- sibilities of the Treasure State ---He Invites the Settlers and Home Builders to Come to Montana Because for the same labor Mon- tana's soil will yield a larger return, because here farming is new and therefore progressive, because a 'wealth of other resources and indust- 1 ries make certain a constant and prof- itable market, because land values here are low and - are certain to in- crease, and because hying in Montana is invigoratingly delightful the pros- pective settler and purchaser and col- onizer of land should turn to tills - state, ,says Governor S. V. Stewart in The Helena Record. It is hard to •speak of Montana without using superlatives. It is like- wise hard for us of the Treasure State to discuss the wonderful pos- sibilities of our common wealth with- out cauing our bearers to believe that we are given to unmitigated exag- geration; that we have allowed our judgment to be warned by extreme enthusiasm. And yet, reduced to cold facts, the most amazing statements with , •egard to Montana are amply foitificd by the lwernotional statistic.1 issued under the authority of the fed- • al government. fancy that most people find the year book of the department of agriculture rather too dry for 'entertaining reading, and yet there is no publication to which we -- in . Montana - look forward with more eagerness year by year. In its pages we usually find the story of Mon- tana's agricultural triumph; unadorn- ed by catchy headlines; unsupported by decorative rhetoric, the story is always there, entertaining and in- structive and inspiring to those who appreciate and understand the mag- nificent significance of comparative average yields per acre. A plain table of plain facts, but coming from an authority which is never disput- ed, serves to place Montana's agri- cultural supremacy in a position of atagolute security. Farming in Montana is a profitable industry, and with the continued ap- plication of scientific principles to agriculture it will continue to be so. In this connection it is interesting to note that the ten year average per acre yield of wheat in the United States, 1903-1912, was 15.9 bushels, while the ten.. year average per acre for Mon- tana for the same period was 25.85 bushels; that the ten year average yield per acre of oats for the United States, 1903-1912, was 29.84 bushels, while the ten year averam for Mon- tana for the same peridIrwas 44.4* bushels; that the ten year average per acre yield of barley in the Uni- ted States, 1903-1912, was 25451 bushels, while the ten year average for Montana for the same period was 34.61 bushels; that the tek year av- erage per acre of potatoes: for the United States, 1903-1912, was 96.3 bushels, while the ten yeor average of Montana per acre 'folt o the same period was 149.4 bushels. It is not only in qua** of yield that we claim supremacy for Mon- tana products. In quaSty they like- wise distance all comp0190. As far back as the World's Coliitila exposi- tion in Chicago in 1893, lVIOptana pro. .ducts began winning prizes, and this state has lead the procession ever since, its most recent achievement be. the capture of practically half of the grain prizes offere*et the Na- tional Corn exhibit at, Dakles, Texas, February 12 to 24, 1914, 4t this er- position, held two thar miles away from this state a gainst the competition of thirty-se**/*tates and territories and the D01)31'1140- of. Can- ed:1 , , Montana -Pe winte \ ing--and Dudum wheat and ba ere pro- claimed the best in t d ?u d, while Montana oats wpn aga )41 entries from the United Sta It can truly be said agri- cultural way Mootan 'resources have been scarcely se . Of a total land area of ov 93,0000,000 acres it is estimated :Vet at least 35,000,000 acres are avtila.ble for suc- cessful terming opera and of this, vast areeot least 6 t 000,000 acres can be successfully irog A ged. Dur- ing the year, 1913 the meat reliable reports iedicete -autte to' Anteeede 2,564,000 acres were undfle•cUltivation this cultivated area belt* As follows: Corn •T.8,000 acies Hay 660,000 acres Wheat 870;000 acres Oats 500,000 acres Potatoes 36,000 acres , ' Rye 10,000 acres Barley . 60,000 acres Flax 400,000 acres THREE MIlf.16 KILLED 'A FORMER FOREMAN OF THE GRANT MINE KILLED BY A MINE CAVE IN. -William -Bailey, Henry Rodda and James Martin, three well knowo min- ers of Butte, were almost instantly killed last Saturday in Rodda's mine' near Maiden Rock in the, southern part of Silver Bow county on the Big Hole river. Bailey was formerly 'Employed as a foreman of the; Grant mine in Virginia City and is well re- membered by many of the miners GEN. BEZHA ZHANKOV1CH General Zhankovich commands the Sailea corps of the Rervlan arms. -4M116111, here. Rodda was the well known ,blind miner of Butte, who had been conducting a confectionery stand in that city for a number of years. The three were working at the bottom of a shaft about 20 feet be- low a tunnel level that ran in at the side of the hill where the prospect wail located. A cave in from the tun- nel into the shaft, or winze, prob- ably caused by the recent rains, start- ed and caught.the men at the biat Tons of rock and earth fell upon the three men and smothered them to death without the slightest chance to escape. No living person saw the accident. A little black and white aog, \Ber- nee,\ btioinginirtd Harry Retitle -rand his constant . and devoted follower, was with the three men %ellen the ac- cident occurred. With an Intelligence that seemed remarkable, the. little slog ran back to the tent where the men -\had been Camping. It was near- ly a mile and a half from the mine and was next to the tent where 16_ , number of Butte boys web e in camp. \ The dog took a positioil In front of 'the entrance to the tent bnd began to howl. He kept this - up and when the boys noticed him he acted in a frantic manner, rushing off in the direction of the mine 'and. then run- ning back when the boys did not fol- low him. The boys remarked a'aout the strange actions of the dog at the time and thought there' might be some- thing wrong, but the idea of a cave in did not occur - to them. then. • Messrs. Bailey, Rodda and Martin had left for the mine at 8:80 o'clock in the morning and it was about 11:30 when the, dog eeturned with the \warning which r thee little animal sought to convey. William Webb, George Rowe, Ar- thur Treverthan, Bert Haycock, Uren and E. Ferryman, young was given back to the white people men from Butte, were tiv.the adjoin- after -being held captive\ two days. It ing camp. Webb tv's',.....doing the was with reluctance that the Indians cooking for the cro 4n the aft- gave up their white charge. The ex- pedition, after other brushes with the Indians, arrived in Virginia city in 1863, and the Hughes family lived there 22 years. Kate Hughes had the distinction ,of being one of the first Virginia City girls to become a bride in the old camp. She was mar- ried in 1875 and 15 children resulted from the union. Five survive. They are. James E. Spiller of Seattle, IIelen M. of Butte, Sister Agnes Tress According to the report of the United States department of agricul- ture, this small acreage (less than one -fourteenth of the total available farm area of the state) produced in 1913: - 882,000 bushels of corn. 1,188,000 tons of hay. 20,673,000 -bushels of wheat. 21,750,000 bushels of oats. 5,040,000 bushels of potatoes. 210,000 bushels of rye. 1,860,000 bushels of barley. 3,600,000 bushels of flax. With such a record we of Montana feel confident that with the settle- ment of otir public domain and with the breaking up of the millions of acres of virgin soil' yet remaining in this state, the Treasure State will soon take its place in the front rank of the great agricultural empires -of the world. The settler who comes into Mon- tana to secure a homestead on a por- tion of the 15,000,000 acres of good farming land yet remaining open to entry has a wonderful diversity of soil and topography from -which to select 4he land he desires to cultivate. He ca secure his homestead in the beautiful timbered valleys of the western portion of the state, or he can tirm te the rolling plains which constitute the eastern two-thirds of our common wealth. Ile can begin his homesteadi operations high in the hills where snowfall is abundant and only the most hardy grasses sand plants will thrive, or he can find a suitable location at an elevation of. less tl n two thousand feet abovb sea le , where he can -steccessfully raise il actically any crop indigenous to th temperate zone. He can file his h estead in the dry-. land area, where a generous government allows him td appropriate a half section of land, or he can secure a foothold un- der one of the great reclamation pro- jects ;Acre his holdings may be lim- ited t as low as forty acres. The, prospective purchaser, the man tvho is able' to dispose' of his farm en an .eastern state at a high price,' can find here practically an unlimited variety of lands and farms in every stage of development, being FRENCH ENGINEERS Men or the French engineer corps laying mines under cover at breast works at Belfort on the German frontier. RS. KAT{ SPHER DIES A FORMER WELL KNOWN VIR- GINIA CITY LADY DIES SUD- DENLY IN BUITE. ernoon most of the - hunting into the h had also been coo Rodda and Martin, pare dinner at 4 o dinner was ready, b ers did not come, their meal. They dered why the miner (Continued on went off ebb,, who for Bailey, **el to pre - At 4:30 Il'three - i pthers ate .and won - not back. ight.) Mrs. Kate Spitler, for po years a resident of Montana and one of the first brides in Montana, died Sunday at St. James' hospital after an illness of a year and a half-, which, however, did not keep her from ministering to,. the sufferings of her daughter, Helen M. Spiller, who has been ill at the same hospital for several months. Mrs. Spiller was the mother of 15 children, and these she reared with the true devotion of the pioneer wom- en, says The Anaconda Standard. Mrs. Spiller, whose maiden name was Kate Hughes, was born at Du- buque, Iowa, 64 years ago. When two years old her parents joined a caravan of fortune hunters, who Made the ov- erlm e el trip by bull teams through the Bridget pass country. The caravan had several meetings with the In- dians, and the little child, who had, wandered outside of the stockade, was taken by the Indians. 'A detail from the expedition went to the In- dians with the trinkets and the child of Leavenworth, Kan., Mrsj1.4 Bargon of Spokane, and - Mrs. - over of Big Timber. - Mr. and Mrs. Spiller came to Butte 29 years ago. Mrs. Spitler enjoyed the friendship of Mrs. Patrick Largey Catron, who proved her friend in late years. Mrs. Spiller possessed a fine mind, and in the ealy days was a great - favorite with the young people of Virginia City She was educated with the Sisters in , Heln,a. Mrs. Spitler's parents were of •tithrdy, Kentucky stc(k. . Mrs. Spiller's husband, John Spill- er, who is a member of the Grand krmy of the Republic, survives in Butte. LEADING WHEAT STATE . During the 10 years. ending 1918, t the increase in wheat production in the United States, as shown by the government figures, has been from 152,000,000 .to 763'000,000 bushels,, a 38 per cent advance for the 10 year period. In 1904 'Montana- gas report- ecl as raising - two altd:rellitmillion bushels, and in 1913 twenty-one mil-. lion bushels, an increase of over 900 per cent. • • in point of quality, Montana has shown her, right to be placed first among wheat states. Her ;growers won the thousand dollar; prize tit the great New York Land Shew . in 1911; the world's sweepstakes at the Na- tional Corn Show in 1913, and many other of the best prizes so far offered. The Seed exposition of the Mon- tana Seed Growers' association held in Bozeman, December 8 to 10 10 of- fering substantial cash prizes for the leading verities and a good list of special wheat premiums.- The Great Northern railway offers a silver tro- phy for the best bushel of hard wheat. special prizes are also offered lei - the prominent varieties and or the best milling and baking wheat ex- hibited. ' restricted only, to a selection which will appeal to his purse and to his taste. He can purchase large income xielding fruit lands at prices which range as high as $1,000.00 or $1,- 200,00 per, acre; he can purchase beautiful stock and hay ranches with adjudicated water rights and of ba- ronial proportions; he can purchase well developed and well equipped, farms, or at a price much lower he can purchase state or railroad lands at a' cost -which will make their de- velopment.'and operation of much financial ,profit to himself. - The colonizer in Montana can find opportunities, which seem to have been created especially for his' bene- fit and profit. Many of the large stock ranches, some of them' embrae- ing scores of thousands of acres, 'are ideally fitted for fai-ming operatione, and a number of these can be _pur- chased by those - who desire te - cut them up into farms and -dispose of them to actual settlers. The state of Montana is alive to the importance of not only securing new settlers but of seeing that they are successful after their location here. Montana is an empire in the making, and the public spirited peo- ple of this generatien.are anxious to see the state developed as rapidly as \Ts congistent - With an economical util- ization of its natural resources.. The state government maintains a depart- ment of agriculture and publiCity which devotes its energies toward bringing the new settler, the ambit- ious farmer and the colonizer face to face with the opportynities which Montana has to offer him. Likewise the state maintains an agricultural college and experiment station with a large staff of experts in every line of agricultural enterprise, and the chief aim of this institution is to en- able the farmers of the TreaSule State to make the most of the great nataral advantagee under which they Manifold as are nee blessings of Montane none of these are greater than the development, of scientific agriculture in this state at a time when the state's agricultural re- sources were first becoming generally known. The result of this is that with the continue& application of methods now in vogue 'not only do we hope, nd expect -that Montana will be spared the humiliatioh and hard- ships 'occasioned by the many - worn out farms caused by overcropping, but it will -likewise be freed fm' the danger of drouth and the recurring crop failure which has made the lifts of the former so uneasy in some of the older communities. Herb the principles a soil conservation and conservation of moisture are net only generally understood but are Intel- ligently practiced, and this, coupled with the wonderful fertility of our soil, leacts Us to believe that Montana will not only,. contimle to hold its place of supremacy in the, taatter•of acreage yields, but that with the de- velopment of the millions of acres of land which are available for farm- ing, this ,state, which until recently regarded its mines and its livestock as its sole source of wealth, will be- come a veritable agricultural empire, he possibilities of which now 'deg- 7er the imagination. H. BUFORD SELLS OUT. Nelson Story, Jr., has purchased back of Charles H. Buford, the One-half - 'interest which Mr. Bu - ford recently acquired in the stock and business of the. Story Motor Supply company, one of ,the largest garage and automobile concerns in the state. Following the retirement of Mr. Buford, James R. Cochran, an ex- perienced automobile salesman, has been promoted to the post of manager of the busineas. The Story Motor Supply company handles the Ford, Studebakerand Kis- sel cars in this county, and their busi- nes has been a very flattering one during the past year._ Mr. Cochran, the new manager, shuwed•his market ability in automobile salesmanship during the past year when he broke the local records in Ford sales. This season the Story company ,has scild 72 Ford' automobiles, all they could se- cure, and could have sold more had the machines been available.—Bozeman Chronicle. HORSES IN BIGH.MAND BIG SALE OF HORSES FROM THE WESTERN RANGES SOLD AT AUCTION IN OMAHA. \ South Omaha, Neb. Sept. gt.—The ist — r - glisr _range h iTi Iteirfa\:\ son was ... held here this week by the South Omaha Horse and Mule com- pany, a total of 70 cars being offered says the Drover's Stockman -Journal. This is almost double the number of range horses receiv'ed for any pre- ViOUS sale thus far this year. They were nearly all unbroken horses, there being only a very small sprink- ling of native stuff. The large re- ceipts and the extreinely bad weather combined to make a bad market. While there was as Usual a fair at- tendance of buyers the bidding was tint as brisk as usual and prices on an average were about $10 lowre- than two weeks ago. Owing to the large number on sale and the deter- mination on the part of the mareige- ment to clear the barns the sale was prolonged until Wednesday, but even then a few horses were carried over. The wild and extravagant reports that have been sent out by the daily newspapers to the effect that foreign governments were buying horses on the market at , greatly advanced prices may have been responsible, for the unusually' . large receipts. 'Whether that be true or not it might be well for horseme to thoroughly under- stand the situation. In the first place there ate no t foreign contracts for }Parses iht the United States. It is true that ome horses are being bought for th foreign trade hut they are being urchased by subcon- tractors for shipment to the Cana- dians who have contracts for supply- ing horses to the British government. It will he readily understood that this roundabout method of buying horses and shipping them to Canada for ex4 port means largely increased expense and the subcontractors are forced to buy the horses sufficiently low to make good these accrued costs. In consequence of this they will not pay over $75 to . $125 for anything, the latter- price being- the extreme limit. 1 A -gain itwuuld he well for western horsemen to understand that no range horses or unbroken horses of any kind .are beinepttrc.basest ,by the .. subcon- tractors. Their specifications call for well broke horses 6 to 8 years old, 15 to 15% hands high and of good col- ors. No white or light buckskins will be accepted. The fact that during the Boer war in South Africa the British government bought range horses has led many to believe that the same conditions pro.. wailat-t he .prosent-tima.,hut.ss. noted,— _ above no range or unbroken horses are being ,purchased by the subcon- tractors. Thus far this year the range horse market has not been very satisfactory 'to horeemere The demand in fact has been so poor that several markets . that have cut quite a figure in ,the (Continued on page Eight.) GENERAL HOETZENDORF General diMrtu:1 Hoetzendorf is ehlet et staff of dui Austrian army.