Charitable and Penal The penitentiary is located at Deer Lodge. Con victs are given outdoor work on the public highways in different parts of the State, on parole. The system gives highest satisfaction both to the inmates and to the guards. It is no uncommon sight to see from 50 to 100 con victs at work, absolutely unguarded. Of the inmates a small proportion is native born, the remainder being from other States. Many criminals flee to the mountains, and Montana undoubtedly helps care for the criminal popu lation of many other States. Charities and reform are placed in the hands of a board of three members, appointed by the governor for four years. The reform school for boys is located at Miles City. The school for deaf, dumb and blind, and for delinquents, is located at Boulder. The soldiers' home is at Columbia Falls, The asylum for the insane is at Warm Springs. A sanatorium for tuberculosis patients with capacity for 80, is located at Galen near Deer Lodge.
Government Reservations.— Notwith standing the large area of the State much of it is set apart by act of Congress as reserves. The Glacier National Park includes 915,000 acres, or about 1,450 square miles. The forest reserves, with about 16,000,000 acres, or nearly 15,000 square miles, are mentioned elsewhere. In the early days the Northern Pacific Railway Company received a grant from Congress of every other section for a distance of 50 miles on either side of the railroad, approximating 15,000,000 acres in Montana, or nearly one-sixth of the area. Of this amount much has been sold. Approximately 3,500,000 acres are yet in the hands of the company. There are several large Indian reservations in the State. In recent years the only reservation west of the divide, the 'former Flathead Reservation, was opened for settlement. Each Indian was given an allotment, and the remainder was opened for settlement, the homesteader paying a stipu lated amount per acre. This money was placed in a fund for the Indians. This reservation covered 2,240 square miles, and is now largely in farms. In the northeastern part of the State, with its southern boundary made by the Missouri River, is the former Fort Peck Reser vation, comprising 2,775 square miles. This, also, has been been opened to settlers, and has been homesteaded. Four Indian reservations are left: the Crow, in Yellowstone and Custer counties, covering an area of 5,475 square miles, larger than the State of Connecticut; the North Cheyenne, in Rosebud and Bighorn counties, 765 square miles; the Fort Belknap, in Blaine and Phillips counties, 840 square miles; and the Blackfeet, which includes about a third of Teton County, or about 2,000 square miles. The total land now comprised by Indian reservations is about 3,700,000 acres, and about 3,800,000 have been opened for settlement. There are about 300,000 acres in military reser vations. The State lands comprise about 3,000, 000 acres. The National Bison Range, under the control of the United States Biological Survey, located at Ravalli, a few miles west of Missoula, contains nearly 20,000 acres. In it are buffalo, antelope, elk and deer. The Willow Creek Bird Reservation, about one sec tion, is near Augusta, in Lewis and Clark County, and is for the protection of plover and avocets. The Flathead Lake Bird Reserva tion consists of two small islands in Flathead Lake.
History.— The first explorations are be lieved to have been made by Pierre and Cheva lier Verendrye, who, with two Canadians and a party of Indians, are supposed to have entered Montana about 1743. The route they took and the points to which they reached are puzzling and the records conflicting. It was at first thought they had gone as far west as the Gate of the Mountains, and is so recorded in the (Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana.> It seems to be generally agreed by later investigators that the party went only into the southeastern part of the State, and it is doubtful if they came into Montana at all. While in the country of the Choke Cherry In dians they planted on an eminence a leaden plate on which were engraved the arms of France, and erected a monument of stones. In 1913, 170 years later, this leaden plate was found by some school children, but this was in Pierre, S. D., much farther east than had been supposed, as it was supposed to have been buried near the Great Falls of the Mis souri. For 50 years the country remained un known to history. The whole territory was ceded to Spain by France along with Louisiana in 1764. In 1800 the country again passed to France by treaty. In 1803 the Louisiana grant, embracing a large part of what is now Mon tana, was ceded by France to the United States for a consideration of $15,000,000. The por
tion of the State west of the Rocky Mountains was embraced in the Territory of Oregon, when Oregon was organized in 1848. In 1863 a new Territory of Idaho was formed, includ ing Montana. In 1864 the Territory of Mon tana was organized with its boundary the same as that the State now has, except that about 2,000 square miles have been added in the southeast. In 1804 President Jefferson sent an expedition to explore the northwestern territory. The expedition was under the di rection of two army captains, Lewis and Clark, and has become famous in history as the Lewis and Clark Expedition (q.v.). They ascended the Missouri, explored some of its tributaries, crossed the range to the Pacific Ocean, and returned in safety to Saint Louis. The first trading post was that of Manuel Lisa, built in 1807 on the Big Horn River. In 1827 another was established on the Missouri at the mouth of the Milk River. In 1829 Alexander Mac kenzie, for the American Fur Trader Company, built Fort Union on the Missouri above the mouth of the Yellowstone. In 1832 the steam boat Yellowstone ascended to this point. Previ ous to this all supplies were taken overland, a distance of nearly 2,000 miles. In 1835 a steam boat went 60 miles up the Yellowstone. In 1846 Fort Benton was built. Steamboats as-• cended the Missouri to the fort in 1860, and the property was turned over to the United States in 1869. On the western side Father DeSmet established Saint Mary's Mission at Stevensville in 1845, still standing in 1919. Later he founded Saint Ignatius' Mission in the valley at the foot of Flathead Lake and in the shadow of the beautiful Mission Mountains, which for 50 years was a great power for good among the Indians. From 1840 to about 1860 the history of Montana is occupied mainly with the missionary labors of Father DeSmet and his associates among the Flathead Indians. About 1855 there were rumors of gold. In 1852 a half-breed named Francois Finlay, commonly known in Indian as Benetesee, found gold in the sands of Gold Creek in Deer Lodge County. Rich discoveries were found in 1861. In 1862 Grasshopper and White's Bar were discovered, and Bannack in January 1863. Gold dust to the amount of $25,000,000 was taken from Alder Gulch in a few months. Last Chance Gulch, where Helena now stands, produced many fortunes. The early mining was largely from placers, but the introduction of machinery made the treatment of ores of silver, gold and cop per very productive, and made the permanent prosperty of Butte. The introduction of so many settlers was not without a struggle. The Indians resisted the advance of the white men. Many minor conflicts occurred, but two are worthy of special mention. The war with the Sioux opened in 1876, and was a desperate conflict. General Custer was dispatched against the Sioux, under the leadership of Sitting Bull, numbering 6,000 warriors. Pushing up the Rosebud to its headwaters Custer found the Indians encamped on the Little Big Horn. Custer was surrounded and his entire com mand massacred, not a man escaping. Within a year a series of victories under General Miles had destroyed the power of the Indians. In 1877 Chief Joseph, of the Nez Perces in the western part of Idaho and his tribe prepared to cross the Bitter-Root Mountains against the orders of the government. They crossed the mountains and passed up the Bitter Root, pur sued by soldiers under the command of General Gibbons. At the Big Horn a bloody and in decisive battle was fought. Chief Joseph passed through, up the Madison, through the Yellow stone National Park, across the prairie to Snake Creek and was captured only a few miles from the Bear Paw Mountains—a trail of over 1,500 miles, more than half of which was a running battle. A convention met in Helena in January 1884 which adopted a State constitution. This was approved by the people in November of the same year. Congress re fused to sanction the request for statehood, and this was not granted until 1889. Since then immigration has brought many citizens from other States. The former restless popu lation has changed into people who are desir ous of making permanent homes. Agriculture and fruit culture, through irrigation, has added a new industry to the State, and the people of the farm join hands with the toiler beneath the surface in the mines, in an exchange of products, to the advantage of both and for the material advancement of the State.