Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 68 Smith] received the honor, and others state that the member of the house from Beaverhead is the favored individual. On the whole, we are inclined to think that the compliment was bestowed upon the entire Smith family." McManus, the representative from Deer Lodge, opposed the name Vivion and moved to amend by inserting in place of Vivion, "Ives," a member of the Plummer gang "who was an active agent upon roads at one time previous to his execution." MUSSELSHELL COUNTY was reincarnated in 1911 with new boundaries and a correctly spelled name. By 1889, when Montana achieved statehood, the number of counties had increased to 16. e completion of the Northern Pacific and growing agricultural production in Eastern Montana led to more divisions. Once town boosters pictured the railroad bring- ing in hordes of optimistic settlers, and farmers shipping out vast harvests, the temptation became irresistible. Our own county! Our own county seat! County jobs! More votes in the Legislature! e plains had been little more to the railroad than a long stretch to get across on the way to more profitable places. Now towns at coaling and watering stations provided market opportuni- ties, and where there are opportunities, there are opportunists. e greatest of these was Dan McKay, an entrepreneur of bound- less enthusiasm who, by chance, ran a lucrative business constructing the courthouses and other substantial buildings necessary to new counties eager to prove their importance. His enthusiasm appealed to Montana's farmers and ranchers who felt that the Anaconda Company and the railroads had too much power. Besides, more rural counties meant more legislative votes for rural interests. McKay's greatest ally was the "Leighton Act" which allowed counties to split by a petition, a vote of the people, and taxable revenue. In 1915, e Glasgow Courier expressed some cynicism over McKay's boosterism. "ere has sometimes been a little loose talk going on in Montana about state splitting, but most of our energy has been absorbed in county splitting. When all the counties are split up into the smallest possible fragments we expect that Dan McKay will give his attention to driving a wedge into the Rocky mountain range that will split the state into East Montana and West Montana." Today there are fifty-six Montana counties, and there is no telling how many more there might have been if the Legisla- ture hadn't called a halt to the breakup in 1925. e creation of PETROLEUM COUNTY in 1925 ended the county boom. Dependent on ranching and oil, the county has fewer than 500 residents within 1674.5 square miles. at works out to a little over two thousand acres per resident, giving them more than the average share of Montana's Big Sky. at's a lot of elbow room, but a bit inconvenient if you suddenly need to borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor. IN CASE YOU AREN'T THOROUGHLY CONFUSED YET: • Missoula County was actually created by the Washington Territorial Legislature. It then became part of Idaho Territory in 1863 before settling on Montana in 1864. • Modern references state that the Leighton Act was passed in 1915. How- ever, in 1913, Governor Stewart vetoed a "log-rolling" bill because it interfered with the passage or defeat of the previously introduced Leighton Act. • Granite County was carved out of Deer Lodge County because its boom- ing silver mines had made it a power in the Nation. The price of silver crashed in the nationwide Panic of 1893 and there was discussion in the early 1900s of parceling Granite Co. back between Deer Lodge and Powell counties. • Big Horn County was renamed for Custer in 1877, but the name returned in 1913 when it carved acreage out of Rosebud and Yellowstone Counties. • Custer County was reduced when land was taken to form parts of Yellowstone, Rosebud, Fallon, Prairie and Powder River County, including parts of the Cheyenne and Crow Indian Reservations. • Deer Lodge County today covers less than half a percent of its acreage when it was created by the Idaho Territorial Legislature in January, 1864. Among counties which drew land from it were Silver Bow, Granite, Powell, Flathead, Lewis and Clark. • Powell County's county seat is in Deer Lodge, while Deer Lodge County's county seat is in Anaconda. The nearby National Forest is the Beaverhead-Deerlodge. Deer Lodge County was briefly named Daly County, for the Copper King Marcus Daly. Adherents of Copper King W. A. Clark agitated for Clark County, which would probably have resulted in a lot of mail being misdirected to Lewis and Clark County, with or without the "e." • All the county splitting has left a perplexing tangle of names and dates. Some county sites date their creation a year earlier than state records. This is generally because the county consid- ers their petition and vote the deciding factor, but the legislature takes ratification by the next legislative session to be the official date. Plaque on Lewis and Clark County Courthouse Efforts in the 1930s and 1960s to reconsolidate some counties were unavailing. It is far easier to break an egg than put it back together. FOREIGN VISITORS (THAT IS, PEOPLE FROM OUT-OF-STATE) ARE EASILY SPOTTED WHEN THEY PRONOUNCE HIS (MEAGHER'S) NAME "MEAGER"— PERHAPS APPROPRIATELY. THE MNEMONIC TO HELP THEM PRONOUNCE IT PROPERLY IS TO THINK OF HIS STATUE IN FRONT OF HELENA'S BEAU- TIFUL CAPITOL BUILDING: WITH HIS SWORD UPRAISED, HE SITS ATOP A RESTIVE STEED—EFFECTIVELY "MARRING" THE VIEW OF THE CAPITOL. THE COUNTY NAMED FOR HIM, HOWEVER, IS MEAGHER-VALOUS. LYNDEL MEIKLE LYNDEL MEIKLE

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