The timber stand in Montana was estimated in 1930 at 49,796,000,00o board ft. (all soft wood). Of this stand, national forests contain 33,509,000,000 board ft.; State forests 2,576,000,00o board ft.; and private forests, 13,711,000,000 board feet. Of the 14,865,000 acres, 7,062,000 were saw-timber, 3,740, 00o, cordwood; and 4,063,000 stocking areas. The rate of cutting in 1923-27 was about 400,000,00o board ft. annually. Destruc tion by fire has averaged 287,644,00o board ft. or 102,878ac. annually. In contrast the annual growth estimate is 859,000,00o board feet. In 1933 there were 20 active saw-mills in the State cutting approximately 150,000,00o board ft., the lumber repre senting a value of approximately $2,500.000.
The vast supplies of water-power in Mon tana give hopes of great industrial development. The hydro-elec tric plants in 1936 had a capacity of 429,000 h.p., an increase of 149,000 h.p. since 1920. Much of this was used for the operation of electric trains. The potential hydro-electric development is es timated at 2,410,000 horse-power. In 1920 Congress passed a bill authorizing the secretary of the interior to lease the undeveloped power sites, and the completion of the developments will add greatly to the electric power available. In 2929 the total value of manufactures was $271,094,446; in 1933 it had decreased to $75,057,907, only slightly over its figure for 1909, but it rose to $121,523,403 in
Transportation.—Montana is served by three transconti nental railways : the Great Northern traversing the north ; the Northern Pacific traversing the south ; and the Chicago, Mil waukee and St. Paul paralleling the Northern Pacific through the mountains, but running north of it for the most part across the plains. At Butte the Oregon Short Line from Utah connects with all three, and at Billings the Burlington from Wyoming and the southeast with the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern. Three transcontinental highways cross the State, the Roosevelt high way in the north and the Yellowstone and National Park high ways in the south. There were 5,145m. of State highway in
of which 1,293 were unsurfaced. Expenditures by State highway department in 1934 (including Federal aid) were $12,984,000.
That part of Montana lying east of the continental divide became a part of the United States with the purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803. The smaller region west of the divide belonged to the Oregon country, which was held jointly by the United States and Great Britain until the treaty in 1846 gave the United States sole title south of the 49th degree of latitude.
Montana may have been seen by white men as early as 1742, depending on whether the "high," "well-wooded" mountains reached by the expedition under Pierre and Chevalier de la Ve rendrye, French traders from Canada, were the Big Horn range, the Laramie range or the Black Hills. The next exploration was by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which reached the eastern bor ders of the State in April 1805. They ascended the Missouri to the confluence of the three streams that form it, which they named the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin rivers. Ascending the Jeffer son, they crossed the divide to the Bitter Root valley, which they descended until Lo Lo Pass gave them an opportunity to go be yond the Bitter Root range into Idaho. On their return they re-entered Montana by the same pass and then divided their party. Lewis led one division up the Big Blackfoot river and crossed by Lewis and Clark pass to the Missouri near Great Falls. Clark, with the other division, ascended the Bitter Root and, crossing the headwaters of the Missouri, reached the Yellowstone, which he was the first to explore. The parties met again at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri. The reports of this expedition stimulated the Missouri fur traders to extend their operations into the region. Manuel Lisa in 1807 built a trading post on the Yellowstone at the mouth of the Big Horn river, the first building in Montana. The same year one of his men, John Colter, losing the trail in the upper Yellowstone country, discovered the future Yellowstone Park. After 1807 Lisa's traders made annual trips into the region. West of the divide David Thompson, of the North-West Company, explored the Kootenai river in 1808; the same autumn he sent Finan McDonald to build a trading house at Kootenai Falls, the first building on the western slopes of the State. Thompson himself built Salish House, a more permanent post, on Clark's Fork the following year. For the next half cen tury the fur trade dominated the region. That on the eastern slope was soon monopolized by the American Fur Company. Kenneth McKenzie was put in charge of the "Upper Missouri Outfit" of this company in 1827, and from Ft. Union, which he built in 1829 near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, he ruled the traders and Indians of the vast territory. The trade west of the divide was controlled by British interests.