low-grade properties. In the Coloma district, which adjoins the Garnet district on the northwest, the Mammoth Mining company milled its own ores by stamps. The mill never treated custom ores to any extent, and all prospects in that district awaited development until the operation of the custom plant relieved them. In the spring of 1889 the company that established this plant was organized. The plan of organization, as agreed upon, is to act as millmen and purchasers of ore, and, at present, to operate no mines, depending upon the districts adjoining to furnish the ores. In order to encourage development and production, the highest possible prices are paid. A high degree of extraction was to be made, requiring the best metallurgical skill in milling, and all of the facilities furnished, by the latest improved machinery and methods. By extending testing it was determined that the safest method of operation was plate amalgamation, concentration on Wilfleys, and cyaniding of the tailings. The site selected for the mill was at the point of union of Deep Gulch with Bear Gulch, near the old placer camp of Beartown. At this point the mill is easy of access from Coloma, down Bear Gulch, from Garnet, down Last Chance Gulch, and from the Top o' Deep Mines down Deep Gulch. The longest haul for the miners from any of the developed properties is about seven miles, which is from Coloma, but here, as in all cases, the haul is down hill. The site of the mill is about seven miles from Bearmouth station of the Northern Pacific railroad. Abundance of wood and water is near the mill. The mil cost about $40,000 as completed. The purchase rates are as follows: Upon delivery of the ore, and after treatment of the same, 90 per cent. of the assay value in the gold, and in silver, if over 2 ounces per ton, will be paid after deduction for moisture. In addition to this a charge of $5 per ton is made for treatment. On these figures a fair profit can be made on $15 ore in Garnet which heretorofe was thrown on the waste dump. The expense of hauling is $1.50 per ton, and of treatment is $5, leaving a value of $8.50, of which 90 per cent., or $7.65, is the net profit of the owner. The effect of this ready market for such low-grade ores must be very helpful. There are a number of other mining camps in the county that promise to develop richly, and there are many opportunities offered capital for safe investment in development of promising properties. The area of Granite county is 1,557 miles, or over 996,000 acres, 103,482 of which are assessed. The county derives its name from the famous Granite mountain silver mine, and was organized in 1893 from parts of Missoula and Deer Lodge counties. Some of the first settlements in the state were made in this county. The county is principally mountainous and timbered, but contains the large and fertile valleys of Flint creek, Willow creek and Hell Gate, and large areas of grazing lands. These valleys are notably good agricultural regions, and lying in close proximity to the large mining districts, the farmers find a convenient and profitable market for their produce. All grains, grasses, vegetables and root crops are cultivated in the vallies, and yield well, and all small fruits are grown. The more elevated portions are principally cultivated for hay. All cultivated lands are irrigated, and the available land and water are generally appropriated. The area of farming land could be largely increased by a reservoir system, with which the surplus water in the earlier season could be stored. An extensive reservoir system could be established at comparatively small cost. Improved farms with water rights can be purchased in the several valleys for from $12 to $35 per acre. Fuel and fencing timber can be had convenient to all farming districts. The principal industry of the county is mining, and while the county suffered from the depression of the silver mining industry, new life is being infused, and the mining camps are now scenes of renewed and great activity. The future of Granite county and of its county seat, Philipsburg, is not of the speculative order, but is a certainty founded on its proved and extensive resources. The real estate assessment of the county is $1,205,354, the personal property, $618,130, and the railroads, $304,746, making a total valuation for assessment purposes of $2,128,230. Custer County and Miles City. This Is Not Only the Largest County in Montana, But Is as Well the Largest County in the United States-Sheep, Cattle and Farming Are Its Chief Sources of Wealth Production. Custer county lies in the extreme southeastern part of the state, and is one of the few counties of this mountainous country that may be classed as being all prairie, and it enjoys the distinction of being the largest organized county in the Union of states. The name of the county is in memory of General Custer, who, with his troops, were massacred by the Sioux in June, 1876, in the valley of the Little Big Horn, a historical district that is now included in an Indian reservation in the western portion of the county. Since the frontier days, when the county was described as "all the remaining portion" of the then territory of Montana, and had boundaries that outlined the dimensions of a very large state, it has given to her younger sisters a considerable portion of her princely patrimony, but is still the largest county in the state, if not in the nation, her present landed estate being 26,580 square miles. Some idea of the immensity of this county may be obtained by comparing its area with that of some of the larger states. It is larger than West Virginia, more than two-thirds as large as Indiana, and nearly half as large as Illinois. The topography of the county may generally be described as prairie, though a portion of it is occupied by the Bad Lands, and in the extreme southeastern and southwestern portions there are some mountainous districts. The chief industries of the county at present are those of cattle, sheep and horse raising, and in this general line it ranks with the foremost stock sections of the state. The climatic and other natural conditions will make the county for all time a stock-raising and wool-growing section, but as this is one of the most certainly profitable businesses, the fact is not to be regretted. There are valleys throughout the county, however, where there are many and successful farms, and as irrigation of the more arid lands has made a good start, as the watering of the upper lands is accomplished, general farming will encroach more each year upon the open range, and the agricultural interests will become proportionately more diversified. Aside from the Bad Lands section, the lands of the county are of the richest, and respond, when irrigated, with a growth that is tropical. The aridity is due, not so much to the absence of water as to the limited rainy season, which extends only from the middle of April to the last or middle of May; a scant six or eight weeks, during which time, though copious rains may fall, much of the water passes off in freshets, |