[Montana]

Williams "The Gem of the Project" [caption title]

Williams, Mt. Western Office, [ca. 1920]. 8pp. Two loose folio sheets. Previously folded, with several separations repaired with tape along old folds. Even tanning. Good. Item #1265

An unrecorded promotional for the town of Williams, Montana. In its post-World War I heyday, it thrived as a result of its proximity to the Valier Irrigation Project and its location on the purpose-built spur from the Great Northern Railroad, but today is a ghost town east of Valier. The text extolls these geographic virtues of the town, as well as the agricultural benefits from the irrigation project and the good prospects from Montana's other industries in the region. Perhaps most valuable are the descriptions of the town as it existed in 1919 -- its businesses, its residences, its attractions -- and accompanying photographic illustrations. At the time of publication, Williams was an electrified town with its own grocery, bank, train station, blacksmith, pool hall, and grain elevators, situated in the midst of 125,000 acres of reclaimed land, but the fortunes of its investors declined and the town dwindled to nothing before World War II. Not in OCLC.

Price: $675.00