Missoula

Missoula, a city and the county-seat of Missoula county, Montana, U.S.A., on the Clark Fork of the Columbia (here called the Missoula river), about 125 m. W.N.W. of Helena. Pop. (1900), 4366, of whom 1020 were foreign-born. It is served by the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound railway, and by the Northern Pacific railway, which has shops here and of which Missoula is a division headquarters. There is an electric railway from Missoula to Hamilton, about 48 m. south. The Northern Pacific railway maintains a large hospital here, and St Patrick's hospital is maintained by sisters of charity. Missoula is about 3200 ft. above sea-level, with Mount Jumbo immediately north, and University Mountain immediately south of the Clark Fork, and the Bitter Root range to the west. The city is situated on the bed of a prehistoric lake. Missoula is the seat of the Sacred Heart academy (for girls), of a Christian Brothers' school (for boys), of the Garden City commercial college, and of the state university (founded in 1893, and opened in 1895), which occupies a campus of 40 acres. On the Bitter Root river, 4 m. distant, is the United States army post, Fort Missoula. Missoula has considerable trade with the surrounding country in farming, fruitgrowing, lumbering and mining. The Clark Fork furnishes water power, and at Bonner, 6 m. east, is the Clark dam (28 ft.), which furnishes electric power. Missoula was founded in 1864, and chartered as a city in 1887.