ronan pioneer 01191912

THE RONAN PIONEEREntered as second-class matter May 12, 1910, at the post Located in the Heart of the Great Flathead Indian Reservationoffice at Ronan, Montana, under the Act of March 3, 1879

Volume II. No. 38. RONAN, MISSOULA COUNTY. MONTANA, JANUARY 19, 1912. $2 Per Year

Ronan to Be Terminusof Mission Valley Road

A prominent business man ofRonan was down to Missoula lastweek and while there met a rep-resentative of the Northern Pa-cific railroad who is probably bet-ter posted on what that road willdo the coming season than anyother official, aside from thoseconstituting the board of direct-ors of that road. In conversa-tion with this gentleman, it waslearned that there is now nodoubt but what the NorthernPacific will build a branch linefrom Dixon into the reservationthis season, and also that it willnot be extended any farther forthe present than Ronan.

Just why this branch will notbe extended to the Great North-ern is apparent when one stopsto consider what the effect ofsuch a move would be. It wouldmean that the Northern Pacificwould be building a feeder tothat road which would take awayfrom the main line and divert tothe rival all that portion of thebusiness which might be shippednorth from this section, while ifthe branch only penetrated farenough into the reservation tocatch the bulk of the business itwould still not divert anythingaway from that road.

To build to the lake would beto place the road in competitionwith water transportation and bejust as risky a move as to builddirect to Kalispell or some otherpoint on the Great Northern.Then the fact remains that shouldthe road build as far as Ronan itwill have done enough to get allthe big business of the reserva-tion, as it is from here and thesurrounding territory that all thegrain is raised which makes upthe big business a road expects'to get. During the past seasonthe steamers on the lake havebeen entirely adequate to handlesuch business as Polson gets, andwith nothing particular cominginto that place it would not payany road to build into that town.Probably when that town hasbuilt some good summer hotelsand a sufficient number of peopleseek the shores of that beautifullake in the summer to make it apaying proposition to run a lineinto that section, then the roadwill be extended, but not at thepresent time. Railroads do notmix sentiment with business andno matter how eloquently thepeople of Polson may plead theircause and expound upon thebeautiful scenery they have toshow the people; a railroad wantsto be and must be assured ofsomething tangible to haul inand out before they can be in-duced to spend the money itwould require to tunnel into thattown.

This means a great deal to Ro-nan and the towns south on thereservation. It means all thatvast section between here andthe railroad, something like 22miles long and 15 miles wide,will be rapidly developed andwill supply a business for thebranch line far in excess of whatthe tonnage has been in the past.It means that St. Ignatius willbe provided with shipping facil-ties far better than at presentand that some other small townwill be established midway be-tween here and Dixon which willadd to the convenience of all indoing the business of the coun-try. To Ronan it means thatwith this town the terminus fora number of years, it will growand become one of the best townsin Western Montana.

f How could it be otherwise?There will soon be more acresunder irrigation contiguous toRonan than any other town inthe world. That is a broad state-ment, but it is a fact, neverthe-less. With more irrigable acressurrounding the town than anyother can boast of, what is thereto prevent it becoming one of thebest in all the state? Nothingcan and nothing will.

There is no intention of boom-ing Ronan, and that we shall en-deavor to prevent. What iswanted is a steady growth in thefuture such as has been the casein the past, and with this con-dition prevailing, the comingseason will find the town forgingahead and steadily taking frontrank.

Traveling Salesman Booster

William P. Anderson, who is atraveling salesman for a SanFrancisco dry goods house, butwho is also a homesteader on theFlathead, made final proof Mon-day last on a claim just acrossthe river near Sloan's Ferry.Mr. Anderson has spent a neat Isum of money improving hisplace and has built a substantialhome, wherein his mother andfather reside., and they all thinkthere is no place like the ranch.

In submitting his proof of im-provements and cultivation ofthe land, Mr. Anderson furnishedsome exhibits in the form ofphotographs taken when he firsthauled lumber thereon withwhich to build his house andbarn, then he has another show-ing the house in course of con-struction, another when com-pleted, another with the chickensand other live stock around theplace, and his mother is a promi-nent figure in the foregroundfeeding the chickens, and stillanother showing the growingwheat and other crops. It willbe an inovation to the interior.department to find attached tothe proof photographs showingthe different stages of improve-ment.

Mr. Anderson is one of Ro-nan's most persistent boosters,too. He travels over California,Oregon and Washington and istalking Ronan and the Flatheadat all times. He is looking fondlyforward to the time when he canretire from the road and estab-lish himself permanently on hisfarm and when that time comeshe will be heartily welcomed byall his neighbors and the citizensof the Flathead in general.

-Will Build Sidewalkst-t Some of those citizens who live

in Scearce addition do not intend-to wait for a city council to ordera sidewalks in before they pro-

t ceed to build walks along theiri premises. Lumber is now on the

2 ground to construct a four footwalk from the A. M. ThornburghI corner south across the street,e thence west in front of the resi-

t dence property of Harvey Cox,C. F. Rathbone, W. S. Hollings-worth and J. J. Rogers. It is

- more than likely that other citi-t tens along that street will extend

n the sidewalk so as to cover the- southwest portion of town and

11 afford an easy manner of gettingr to and from their homes.- May other portions of the townt emulate the good example beforer them.s Reservation Pine. Reserva- i

tion Land & Lumber Co. See ad.

GETTING HIS CHARACTER.

REGULATION /

o/flCEL/rLG / S

/ /.

-Macauley in New York World.

Turkey Red Wheat

"Men of large experience inthe milling and wheat businessabout Minneapolis and St. Paulwere very enthusiatic about Mon-tana's turkey red wheat," saidJohn H. Hall, state commissionerof labor, industry and agricul-ture, recently while discussinghis stay at the recent land showat St, Paul. "Advise your far-mers, said one of the big wheatbuyers there," continued Mr.Hall, " 'to quit the other varie-ties and go in for the turkey redwheat.'

"That statement made mecurious and I said to him, 'Whydo you talk that way about tur-key red? Most of the buyerswant to grade it down to a num-ber 2 wheat.' Replying he saidto me, 'I base my statementon my own experience and youcan draw your own conclusions.I bought and sold more than amillion bushels of Montana tur-key red wheat for the 1911 sea-son. Every bushel was handledat a good profit. The southernmillers are offering a premiumfor Montana turkey red wheatas a high grade number 1 hardwheat. That is why I adviseyou as I do."'

Commissioner Hall said thiswas but one of the numerouscases that came to his attentionabout the standing that Montanaturkey red wheat has in themarket of the Twin Cities. "I'lltell you that sort of argumentsounds good to me, " said Mr.Hall. "We are going to exploitthat sort of material for it is thesort that convinces."

School House Inspection

Missoula, Mont., Dec. 16, 1911-To the School Trustees andTeachers of Missoula County:The following letter has been,submitted to me by the CountyHealth Officer, Doctor Anderson,and I trust the school officersand teachers of Missoula countywill co-operate with DoctorAnderson and myself in secur-ing better sanitation in ourpublic schools. Doctor Ander-son will inspect your school sometime in January.

Most respectfully,PEARL T. MARSHALL

County Superintendent ofSchools.

"I desire to call your attentionto the fact that many of theschools and premises of thecounty are not in as cleanly or

sanitary condition as they shouldbe.

2 "All schools should be swepts daily and all sweepings and1 waste paper should be burned,- not thrown out.I "All schools should be scrub-r bed once a week and more often- as demanded by bad weathere on-

I ditions. No number of sweep-V ings will do as a substitute for

- an occasional thorough scrubbing.t All toilets should be kept clean

and fly proof. There should be- a sufficient external embankmentI to exclude air and they should be

screened. Some suitable disin-a fectant as slack lime, chloride ofV lime or creolin should occasion-

- ally be used."There should be individual

- and not one common drinkingI cup. A covered earthen jar oft! suitable size with a faucet in the

side near the bottom should beused. The jar should be cleaned

z with scalding water frequently.- A close observance of these rules- will do much to prevent the dis-I semination of many contagious

a and deadly diseases."Very truly yours,

E. C. ANDERSON,County Health Officer.

a Says It's a Compromises A news dispatch from Helena

s in the Great Falls Tribune saysthere has been held a conference

a of the republican factions in thise state, and that as a result a pol-

1 icy has been agreed upon whicht is a compromise between pro-

gressives and regulars. The dis-t patch purports to give the namese of those who met secretly in Hel-

ena and committed the balanceof the republican voters to a pol-icy which they may have deter-

1 mined upon. Just what thatcompromise consists of is notsaid, but it is a compromise any-way.

To a great many thinking re-publicans, there is to be no com-promise this year. Progressives

s have wearied of the leadershipY of those who have had the des-r tinies of the party in hand and

are determined to wrest fromr them the control of the party

machinery. This being the case,e it will not leave a very good

taste in the mouths of some toread that it has been agreed bycertain ones in this state to com-promise.

n Do your hens lay? If not,e come to the Ronai Market ande get some green ground bone-itr will do the rest.

Senator Dixon's Letterto a Valley View Settler

The homesteaders in the ValleyView district recently sent a pe-tition to Senator Dixon askingthat work on the irrigation sys-tem for that section be startedand completed at an early date.The petition was sent in by Mr.A. H. Hudson, who recently re-ceived the following reply fromSenator Dixon:

"Yours relative to the irriga-tion of the lands in township 22,range 21, W., is received. I knowthe condition in which the settlersfind themselves and I assure youthat I have done and am doingeverything that lies within mypower to expedite the matter. Infact, I have spent more time andenergy in trying to raise moneyto irrigate the Flathead countrythan on any other one matter hereat Washington and have succeed-ed in getting an estimate of$250,000 submitted for the ap-propriation for the coming year.You understand, of course, thatthe irrigation of the Flatheadland is primarily for the purposeof "irrigatingIndian allotments."This is the theory that we havegone on in getting congress toappropriate the money.

As the Flathead project is notunder the control of the Recla-mation Service, what money wehave obtained has been underdifficulties. The new House ofrepresentatives is now of a diff-erent political complexion than isthe senate and the story is theyare going to make a record for"economy" during the presentsession. The chairman of the In-dian committee in the House hasbeen very strenuous in his criti-cism of the practice of appropriat-ing money for the "irrigation ofthe white man's land under theguise of irrigating Indian allot-ments," the Flathead country hasbeen cited as one of the examplesof "using the public moneys forspeculative purposes."

"In addition to these difficul-ties a small delegation of Flat-head Indians have recently beenhere protesting against the useof "their money" in irrigatingthe "white man's land."

"There was organized lastweek here in Washington the"Brotherhood of North AmericanIndians." The purpose of thisnew organization is to have themoneys from the sale of the landof Indian reservations paid di-rect to the Indians. Under theoriginal Flathead act I providedthat all money received from thesale of land, timber, townsite,etc., should be first used for theirrigation of the land, Indian andwhite alike. This is what theIndians have been protestingagainst. -

"The reclamation engineers,in order to avoid criticism fromthese various sources, have feltthat the best way to proceed wasto first irrigate the land wherethe Indian allotments were mostnumerous. I fully understandthe impatience of the white set-tlers at the delay in constructingcanals to irrigate their home-stead. I appreciate what the ir-rigation of the entire Flatheadvalley means and it has been myaim and ambition to try and se-cure the money from year toyear to keep the work going un-til all the land is brought underirrigation and a high state ofcultivation. I have felt and stillfeel that the final consumation ofthis great work is the one greatmonument that I hope to erectout of my ten years of congres-sional service.

"We were very much hamp-ered a year or so ago in our ef-forts here to secure money tocarry on this work by newspaperattacks from the reservation andKalispell alleging "that the Flat-head country did not need to beirrigated." These marked news-paper articles were forwarded tomembers of congress and depart-mental officials and undoubtedlycreated some feeling againstlarge appropriations for continu-ing the work. How local leadersof public opinion could have beenso near sighted was an enigmato me. They were only cripplingand hindering us in our work

here in trying to bring about re-lief to the settlers who had ingood faith gone in and taken upthis land. As to particular placeswhere work is to be done, I ampowerless to dictate as that is amatter wholly under the controlof the engineers.

"I get here many inquiriesfrom settlers situated as you arewanting to know when their landcan be irrigated. I wish youwould give full publicity to theinformation contained herein asit will explain' to the settlerssome of the difficulties underwhich I have labored in tryingto bring about the long soughtfor relief.

"Assuring you that I am at alltimes glad to be of any possibleservice to you in any way, I am,

Yours very truly,JOS. M. DIXON."

Great Falls Objects

The business men of GreatFalls are objecting to the ex-pense of two telephone compan-ies when one would answer thepurpose just as well or better.They are situated similar to mostof the other large towns in Mon-tana, and have taken the iniativeto have the two lines consolidate,or else one buy the other out andstop the expense of being com-pelled to have both phones. Ameeting of the citizens has beenheld and the initial steps takento compell the consumation ofthis object, It is said that shouldthis not be possible, then stepsare to be taken to take over bothcompanies and maintain a mun-icipal owned telephone line. Thatwould be a most sensible moveon the part of the city, as itwould, insure then against anyextortionate rate which might beput into effect by either com-pany having a monopoly of thebusiness.

It occurs to a great many herein Ronan that if the businessmen of a city the size of GreatFalls finds it too expensive tomaintain two lines, then how willit be with the business men ofRonan. One line could and wouldanswer our purpose very nicely,but with present conditions pre-vailing, it becomes almost neces-sary to bear the double expense.

Some of the merchants an-nounce that they will not be im-posed upon by being made to putin both phones, and were thismethod adopted by all it wouldsoon solve itself.

Ronan is not in a position toabsorb the telephone systemshere now, and that's a pity, too.As a matter of principal, thispaper believes in municipal ownedpublic utilities, but when thereis not the means to do so, thenthe next best course must bepursued.

y

More Held to Grand Jury0

On Saturday last the prelimi-g nary examination of Ovilla Cour-

11 vill, charged with introducing)f liquor into the Flathead reserva-

tion, was held before the U. S.Commissioner in Ronan, andafter hearing the evidence, hewas held to answer the chargeshould the grand jury find anto indictment. On Monday Mal-,r colm McLeod was also held to

,d answer a similar charge, thet_ bond in each case being fixed at

>e $300. ____

.o Preaching Servicest-i --

y Rev. G. W. White, Presbyter-it ian minister at Poison, willpreach at the Methodist churchin Ronan on Sunday evening next

n at 7:30. This is not a denomi-g nation service in any way and.k Ithe entire public is invited.