(WEST MONTANA) 1883 4 Montana Advertising Directory Contain

Sale 2564 - Lot 326

Price Realized: $ 2,000

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

(WEST--MONTANA.) 1883-4 Montana Advertising Directory, Containing a Complete List of the Tax-Payers of Montana. 3-color advertising plate following page 208. 263, [1] pages. 8vo, publisher's 1/4 calf over printed boards, moderate wear; manuscript table of contents on front free endpaper, occasional pencil check-marks by names, moderate finger-soiling; small later inked owners' stamp on front free endpaper. Helena, MT, 1883

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An unusual frontier variation on the 19th-century city directory, which would normally give street addresses for all residents. In early Montana, few of the settlements had proper addresses (or streets), and the territory was too vast to make a house-by-house canvass. However, each county's tax rolls were available, so they are here transcribed. Each taxpayer's post office and often an occupation is given. Once you get to Puller's Springs or Silver Bow, finding your party would be a matter of word of mouth. This method would not catch most wage laborers, itinerant trappers, or squatters, but it does include more than 10,000 names. Frequent occupations include miner, saloon owner, assayer, farmer, and stockman. The list also includes the occasional Chinese laundryman, such as Ah Min Sing & Quong in Billings (page 133). Numerous advertisements, some illustrated, are also included. None traced at auction.