McCone County, Montana 1921
McCone County, situated in
Northwestern Montana, with the Missouri River for its northern
boundary, is emphatically a land of present opportunity, due,
paradoxical as it may seem, to the lack of that convenience
considered nowadays as most indispensable to progress, rail
communication. There is at present not a mile of railroad within
the county, though it contains several good towns and a number
of promising villages; yet so rich is the land and so suitable
for farming and grazing that many settlers have been already
attracted and in 1920 the population was 4,747. Its boundaries
had been defined and county government established April, 1919.
Its land area is 2,740 square miles.
The surface of McCone County is for
the most part rolling and is interspersed with many attractive
and fertile valleys. The soil is a chocolate loam richly clothed
with native grasses. Though there are no commercial stands of
timber, cottonwood and ash are found along the streams. The
water supply is adequate and for the most part reliable. The
eastern part of the county is drained by the Redwater River,
while a number of smaller streams empty into the Missouri on the
north and Dry Creek on the west. Lignite coal has been
discovered in various places and the discovery of oil and gas is
a possibility of the future.
The natural advantages of the region,
modified by the lack of rail communication, caused the first
settlers to take up stock raising as the most convenient and
remunerative occupation, and it has since continued to hold
first place, though of late, with the favorable soil and a
growing season of in to 125 days, general farming has made good
progress and is likely to become the leading occupation in the
future. All that is necessary to stimulate the latter industry
is the construction of a railroad through the county giving
access to profitable markets, and this improvement will
doubtless eventuate at no distant date, as the Great Northern
has surveyed a main line through the county, which has been
completed save for a gap of about 150 miles, the temporary
suspension of work being due to the prevailing tightness of the
money market. With improved financial conditions the closing of
the gap is a practical certainty and will mark the beginning of
a new era in this region. The long hauls necessary to reach a
railroad cause land to be cheaper in McCone County than in most
other parts of the state, and have at the same time delayed
heavy settlement, less than half of the tillable area of the
county being now under cultivation.
The average annual precipitation is
greater in McCone than in most of the Eastern Montana counties,
and therefore non-irrigated farming is the general rule, though
there is a small quantity of irrigated land. Corn of excellent
quality is easily raised and the acreage devoted to it has been
for some time steadily expanding. Other profitable crops are
wheat, oats, barley, rye, alfalfa and garden produce. The county
possesses good local roads, and two highways, one running north
and south and the other east and west, have been projected
through it.
Towns of McCone County
The county seat and largest town in
McCone County is Circle, which in 1920 had a population of 452.
Its chief establishments include a large flour mill, two banks,
two newspapers, six stores, a hotel and theatre, two livery
barns, two garages, two restaurants, rooming houses,
blacksmiths' shops and other lines of business. It has three
churches and a high school, the latter accredited for a one year
term. The location of the town on the proposed line of the Great
Northern Railway gives it a good prospect of becoming a division
point.
The next largest town in McCone
County is Brockway, which is also a business center, having good
general stores, a bank, flour mill, newspaper, garages,
amusement hall and a creamery, the last mentioned being the only
enterprise of its kind in the county. Brockway has also a high
school accredited for the two year term. Other towns in the
county are Vida, Nickwall, Sand Creek, Terrace, Riverside,
Weldon, Prairie Elk, Hamblin, Redwater, Paris, Watkins,
Pattonhill, Nina, Bonin and Horse Creek. The coming of the
railroad is sure to open up opportunities in some of these towns
for successful business enterprises.
McCone County has about fifty school
districts and seventy schools, including the two high schools
already mentioned. Its citizens as a class are enterprising and
law-abiding, with good neighborly characteristics, hospitable to
new arrivals and willing to pull together in all things
calculated to promote local interests and the general prosperity
of the county.
Montana Counties 1921
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Montana AHGP

Source: Montana its Story and Biography,
by Tom Strout, Volume 1, The American Historical Society, 1921
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