Belt Valley Times
J.E. Sheridan - Editor
R.H. Bemis - Business Manager
September 9, 1897
Belt History and merchants supplement
Belt, the famous “Black Diamond City of Montana,” is one or the most substantial towns in the state.
It is eligibly located in the Belt Valley, in the very midst of one of the greatest coal regions of the United States, and surrounded by a vast swill of compact and well defined mountain foothils of which are natural hay and grazing land. Affording perfect stock ranges and sheep pastures. Thus, the trade of Belt has been legitimate growth the town never having the inflation of a (boom) bubble woing to it’s diversified resources, and everything that has been put in town will remain here for its own welfare.
The spring of ’93, with Mr J.K Castner’s old log tavern, Mr. E.R. Clingan’s log store, D. McLeod’s pioneer livery stable, Ed Dougherty’s log cabin saloon and Harry Millard’s log hut, togethere with a few primitive dugouts, saw the nucleus of the town. Even at that recent date, coal mining has comparatively in it’s infancy, being conducted on a very small scale the output being teamed to Ft. Benton.
The metamorphosis began at teh advent of the railroad in thew same year (93) when the Neihart train on it’s way to the ilver camps would drop off a few coal cars here, and by fall the then straggling village showed considerable animation, many additional residents joining the original quitette of pioneers.
By the time the little burg contained about 75 souls; now in ’97, our thriving and wide-awake town reaches a handsome population of over 4,000 inhabitants.
The following year (1894) the Anaconda Copper Mining company started to develop their coal mining interests here, which has grown to enourmous proportions.