NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The Gift of The Publisher REAL PROPERTY INVENTORY AND INCOME SURVEY tSREAT FALLS 'CASCADE COUNTY MONTANA. PEBfeUARV - 1939 REPORT Oil REAL PROPERTY INVENTORY AND INCOME SURVEY GREAT FALLS, MONTANA FEBRUARY - 1939 V\"V>""V'""J*" FEDERAL WORK AGENCY U.S. WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION OF MONTANA 'r SPONSORED BY: CITY OF C-REAT FALLS, CASCADE COUNTY MONTANA /* A f\ tC IS A W.P. 2626:0.P. 665-91-3-73. W.P. 3031:0.P. 65-1-91-26. Report issued September, 1940* Honorable Julius J* '/uort'mcr, Mayor Great Falls.) Montana My dear Mr, Wuerthner: We have the honor to transmit to you herewith a report bearing upon the data assembled by the Real Property Inventory and Income Survey for the City of Great Falls, Montana, and surrounding area. These surveys were made possible by the financial and tech¬ nical assistance of the Work Projects Administration, and were supervised by the staff of the Great Falls Housing Authority, In transmitting this report, we wish to acknow¬ ledge our appreciation of the constructive cooperation of the city, county and the W.P.A. officials, I>uring the progress of this work much encouragement was af¬ forded by the proffered material assistance on the part of many individuals and organizations among uhich we may mention: Earl Vance; Charles L. Brown; Henry J, Angermeier; C. C. Ayers; T. W, Hidkiff; Radio Station KFBB; the press; the C, i.l, St, P, & P. Railway; and the Montana Power Company, To the householders of Great Falls for their patient and courteous reception of our enumerators; to organized labor for its unwavering support; and to you for your own steadfast determination to ascertain the facts about housing conditions in Great Falls, we extend our thanks, May we suggest that the result of this most re¬ vealing study, made possible by your foresight and the beneficial policies of the W.P.A., indicates the vital necessity of every citizen producing his or her proportion, that each may share in, as well as contri¬ bute to, the general welfare; that individual responsi¬ bility must go hand in hand with individual privilege so that our Democracy shall best fulfill its promised benefits to mankind. Very truly yours, Fred A. Fligman, Chairman Great Falls Housing Authority WORX PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION OP MONTANA, JOS. Ei PARKER 0. W. DOWLER Administrator Deputy Administrator W. T. UAUMONT Coordinator of Statistics MABEL LARAWAY Supervisor of Women's & Professional Projects IDENTIPICATION Real Property Inventory (W.P, 2626: O.P. 665-91-3-73) Income & Rental Survey (W.P. 3031: O.P. 65-1-91-26) SUPERVIS ORY PERSONNEL General Supervisor - R. H. Willcomb Enumerator Supervisor - C. Y, Zirkle Office Supervisor - Prank E. McDonnell Survey & Mapping - H, B. Lockhart Preparation of Report - Joseph K, Howard SPONSORED BY: CITY OP GREAT PALLS, CASCADE COUNTY MONTANA JULIUS J. WUERTHNER, MAYOR Report issued, September - 1940 GREAT PALLS HOUSING AUTHORITY Fred A, Fligman, Chairman Fred J. Martin, Vice-Chairman J. George Graham, Member L». E, Taylor. Member Frank E. Wilcocks,.—Member R. H. Willcomb, John L. Slattery,- A. V. Mclver, --Executive Director --Attorney --Architect CONTENTS 1. Beachley was Cold... Pages 1 - 14 (History of Great Palls, Montana) 2. 75 Enumerators Asked Questions... 15 - 25 (History, Purpose. Scope and Method of Surveys; 3. First, the Land... 26 (Land Use Map) 4. The Picture of a City... 27 - 37 (Summary of Findings) 5. Who, Where, Why... 38 - 61 (Tabulations of Data) 6. What They Earned... 62-67 (Income Survey) 7. 400 Men, Working for Five Years... 68 - 79 (Prognosis) 8. What Do You Mean, Substandard?,.. 80 - 85 (Definition of Terms) 11A P S Title Pane Land Coverage • , i , , * 17 Land Use «..*.» 26 Juvenile Delinquency 31 Converted Struoture 40 Mortgage Status ..... 42 Condition of Residential Structures 43 Age of Structure 44 Owner Occupancy 46 Duration of Owner Occupancy 47 Duration of Tenant Occupancy . 47 Sanitary Facilities 51 Average Rental . 53 Persons Per Room 55 Substandard Dwelling Unit 56 Race of Household . 59 ' 'V'/V «,!»«/ A '» » VV /V A" /k CHARTS Number Title Page 1 Rainfall Data 1392 - 1938 10 2 .....Comparison of New Dwelling Units Constructed with Increase in Number of Families 1920 - 1938 12 3 Building Permits for New Dwelling Units by Value by Year Issued 1930 - 1938 39 4 .....Building Permits for New Dwelling Units by Value by Year Issued 1920 - 1929 39 Number Title Pago 5 All Residential Structures and all Dwelling Units by Type of Structure 41 6 Avorago Number of All Dwelling Units Per Structure Isy Ago of Structure 41 7 All Residential Structures by Con¬ dition by Ago of Structure 44 8 All Residential Structures by Con¬ dition by Exterior Material 44 9 All Dwelling Units by Number of Rooms by Type of Structure 45 10 All Owner and Tenant Occupied Dwel¬ ling Units by Persons per Room by Condition 45 11 All Owner Occupied, Tenant and Vacant Dwelling Units by Monthly Rentals 46 12 All Dwelling Units by Type of Structure by Condition 46 13 .....All Owner and Tenant Occupied Dwel¬ ling Units by Duration Of Occupancy 48 14 .....Percentage of Tenant And Owner Oc¬ cupied Dwelling Units Equipped with Various Accessories 48 15 All Occupied Dwelling Units by Persons Pex" Room by Monthly Rentals 53 16 All Owner and Tenant Occupied Dwel¬ ling Units by Number of Rooms 53 17 Tenant Occupied Dwelling Units by Monthly Rent by Condition 54 18 .....Tenant Occupied Dwelling Units by Monthly Rent Per Room by Condition 54 19 All Vacant Dwelling Units by Number of Rooms by Condition 61 20 All Vacant Dwelling Units by Rental Groups and Duration of Vacancy 61 HISTORY 1. Beachley Was Cold... The first complaint ahout Great Palls housing was made in 1883, the Starvation Winter of the Piegans during which 600 Blackfeet on the reservation to the north perished. The com¬ plaint was probably profane and certainly fruitless, for no one heard it. It came from S. A, Beachley, who appears to have been for a time during that terrible winter the sole resi¬ dent, It had to do with inadequacy of heat -- still a factor in any Great Palls housing study. Beachley had a cabin near the bank of the Missouri. He was visited briefly by an Indian scouting party, one of those forlorn groups, perhaps, which scanned the plains for buffalo skulls from which they could strip frozen tissue to be boiled for food, or hunted vermin out of the rocks. For this was the winter that the last of the great herds of buffalo disappeared from the plains, neves to return. The Indians took most of Beachley's food, which was bad enough; nit what was more seri¬ ous, they took his two North Star blankets. And Beachley like to froze to death... His nearest white neighbor at the time was 45 miles away in the thriving town of P.rt Benton, head of navigation on the Missouri. How far away his nearest western neighbor was that winter, God only knew. So he could not complain of being crowd- 1. history ed, as did "Hominy" 'Thompson up in :;he Plentywood country a few years later: "Hominy" rod© fifty nlles to greet his new neigh¬ bors with a gun and order them out, protesting that the plains were getting all cluttered up with people. I.iontanans have always liked lots of room; theirs is a coun¬ try in which a man can stand up. Today, however, little more than half a century after Beach- ley set up housekeeping in his cabin, nearly 10 per cent of the families living in Great Falls are overcrowded. Great Falls is a spacious, sunny, fruitful city. There is light and air and grass for everyone... But something has gone wrong, these last fifty years, with their distribution. The Missouri river at Beachley's door provided his running J water and his hath; anil he had the vast stream to himself. To¬ day, 1,427 persons in this City of 30,000 have neither indoor toilet nor bath -- 6 percent of all Great Falls families -- and 751 persons, a little more than 4- percent of the families, have no installed ruining water in their homes. The pioneer's food -- what there was of it -- was usually preserved in its preparation, as was peroral can, or eaten fresh; he had no particular need for refrigeration. But today's foods and. today's mode of living require mechanical or ice coolers... And 6,000 residents of Great Falls who live under family condi¬ tions (excluding roomers ana hotel tenants) have no refrigera¬ tion of any kind. HIST CRY Before the pioneer, before the Indian, bens of thousands of years ago, what we know as Great Palls lay in the center of a huge glacial lake seven hundred feet deep, In the Pleistocene epoch, the Keewatin ice sheet crept south from the glacial field west of Hudson's Bay, grew and spread out and piled up, absorb¬ ed Canadian granite with whi.oh it ground down the hills and fill¬ ed the valleys, crept ever southward for thousands of years — until it reached what are now the northern and eastern city limits of Great Palls, There it stopped. At the ice sheet's edge was formed the glacial lake which geologists now call "Great Palls Lake," It began about where the town of Valier now stands, swung southeast in a giant half- moon and north again to the valley in which Arrow creek flows, north of the present town of Denton, The lake was about 130 miles long and 30 wide at its widest point, which was directly over today's Great Palls township, V/ere the lake to return suddenly today, only the 500-foot stack of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co, reduction works, on its high hill north of Great Falls, would reach its surface. Ages passed. The lake disappeared, the glacier receded -- ta Gome again, but not so far. Before the ice came, the Mis¬ souri river had meandered peacefully eastward through the coulee south of Great Palls in which Sand Coulee creek now flows west¬ ward (when there's any water in it.) As the lake drew back, it filled the old southern channel of the Missouri with silt, drew the river northward with it. The Missouri cut a new channel, 3, HISTORY made the bend in which Great Palis now lies, and pushed eaat through the Shonkin Sag. Later It returned to Its approximate preglacial course near Virgello and flowod north; but it remain¬ ed in the big bend which now outlines the eastern and northern limits of the townsite later platted by Paris Gibson. Centuries more passed, and men came. lie do not know who these men were, nor do the Indians who live today in Montana. They traveled "the Great North Trail," these men whether from north to south, or from south to north, no one has determxned -- traveled it for centuries before the plains tribes we know to¬ day came to this country. We have found the "tepee rings" of this lost people along the way where they made their camps, cir¬ cles of worn stone exposed by erosion. In one of these rings, west of Choteau, a little boy found a Roman bronze coin cast dur¬ ing the reign of Emperor Hadrian 1,800 years ago; some member of this mystery tribe may have obtained it in trade with Spanish conquistadors. At the site of Great Pails, where the Great Northern Railway bridge crosses the Missouri, was the favored ford on the Great North Trail. Here, for the northbound traveler, was the last still, shallow water: for below thb.I noint there were cascades and rapids, and the Missouri entered deep canyons. Eor him who traveled south it was the first good crossing: here the river narrowed at the end of "Long Pool" and there was not such another ford for forty miles. So here for centuries crossed the people we do not know; 4. and after them finding the legendary trail pleasant and conven¬ ient, came the proud Plains tribes whoso names sing: the fierce Pikuni, the Kutenai, the Isahpo, tho Crooa of Calling Valley, the Salish, sometimes Sioux along the Great North Trail through the buffalo range, Walter UcClintock, author of "Old Indian Trails,11 learned about the. Great North Trail from an aged tribesman, Brings Down the Sun. The Indian told him: "There is a trail we call the Old North Trail. It runs along the Rocky mountains outside the foot¬ hills, It is so old no one knows how long it was used. The horse trail and travois tracks were worn deep into the ground by many generations of Indians, My father told ne that this old trail was started ages ago by an Indian tribe coming down from the north; and other tribes followed in their tracks. It ran from the Barren Lands in the north to the South Country, where people have dark skins and long hair over their faces." So the tribes set up their skin lodges on the flat, grassy plain in the big bend of the Missouri near the crossing and rested here. Theirs were the first human dwellings we know about on the site of Great Palls; and they were good homes. The late Maj, Gen. Hugh L. Scott, U.S.A., lifelong student of Indian life, said of the tribesmen's skin lodges (tepees): "In all my travels I have never found a human habitation better adapted to xts environment. The skin lodge withstood wind and weather; it was warm in winter and cool in summer; it was quick¬ ly and easily moved, and packed in small space; It was well ven- 5. HISTORY tilated and it could be set up anywhere." Today's white citizens of Great Palls, despite their more advanced civilization, have not always succeeded in adapting their shelter facilities so harmoniously to the environment in Tih ich they live . •. The first white men came in 1805. Lewis and Clark had been told of the Great Palls of the Missouri by Indians and in July of that year they oamped near the present city and noted on their maps the series of Missouri river cascades -- Black Eagle, Colter' Rainbow, Crooked, and Great Palls, They marvelled at Giant Spring just east of the City on the river's south bank, and remarked the apparent curative power upon their famous Indian girl guide, Saca- jawea, of Sulphur spring, a few miles farther east. Governor I. I. Stevens, hunting a northern railroad route, made painstaking maps of the Great Palls area in 1854, and Cap¬ tain John Ifullan, who had been a member of his expedition, map¬ ped it for a military road four years later, Thomas P. Roberts and a party engaged by the Northern Pacific Railway Co. to in¬ vestigate navigation possibilities of the river visited the site of Great Palls in 1872, Roberta at that time discovering an aged black eagle which he believed to be the same mentioned by Lewis and Clark. Paris Gibson, who was to become founder of Great Palls, had been a miller in St. Anthony Palls, Minnesota, and a sheep rancher in Port Benton, He read the Lewis and Clark account of HISTORY the expedition's visit hero, and In 1882 he oame to see for him¬ self, "I was so Impressed," ho wrote later, "with the belief that an important oity oould bo built horo that I decided at onco to take steps to aoquire the water power and available lands at the head of the falls for townsite purposes," He sold the idea to his friend Jim Hill, railroad builder, who provided capital with which "soldiers' scrip" was purchased and title to the land obtained. Civil war veterans, by act of congress, could obtain additional homestead land vd.th.out settling upon it, holding title to it in scrip. Land speculators obtained large tracts by buy¬ ing up this scrip from the veterans. Settlers began to arrive after Gibson and his aides completed their townsite surveys. The first frame dwelling was built in April, 1804, at Twenty-sixth street and Third avenue south by H,P, Rolfe, surveyor who had been working with Gibson, The house still stands; made over in¬ to modern apartments, it is a "conversion," but not a substandard one, Great Falls became a statutory community in January, 1085, when it was established as a school district over Sand Coulee's protest; there were 17 children of school age in the town. The first ilethodist church service had been held the year before, in the Cream City saloon. By 1887 the frontier town had 1,200 citizens. It had be¬ come county seat of the new county of Cascade; its envious neigh¬ bors began to sneer at the boastful "City of Wind, Water, and Future." 7. HISTORY But there was no stooging It now; in Ootober of that same year the first train on the now Great Northern line pulled in from Helena, The whole town was thoru to choer it; and from then on for some years everyone hurriod daily to tho depot -- three box cars lined up side by side ~~ to weleomo newcomers. Great Palls' other railroad, the Milwaukee, did not put in its appearance until 1914. There were a lot of newcomers. The silver boom was on at nearby Neihart, Barker, and other mushroom mining camps in the Little Belt Mountains, sixty miles to the south. A month be¬ fore the first train's arrival, the Montana Smelting and Refin¬ ing Company had started erection of its silver smelter above Giant Springs, It was a costly and over-hopeful project; in 1393 the price of silver collapsed and the smelter was closed, never to reopen. Its luxurious office and residential buildings were abandoned to the use of small boys and bums; it was not un¬ til 1928, however, when the tall brick stack was dynamited be¬ cause it had become a hazard, that all vestige of the big plant disappeared. The smelter was operating, however, in '88; and in that year the Belt Mountain Branch of the Montana Central railroad, now a branch of the Great Northern, was built to bring the anti¬ cipated riches of the silver country to Great Palls. The same year saw initial functioning of a city government. Tho first or¬ dinance defined the limits of Great Palls; the second defined as a misdemeanor any act by any pers an who "wilfully and maliciously 8. HISTORY or intentionally and unnecessarily disturbed, the poace and quiet ...by loud or unusual noises, vocal or instrumental..." The fino was §1 to $100: the ordinance was pin-smitod by an alderman whoso neighbor practiced on the cornet. That year haircuts cost a dollar, shaves two bits; an east¬ ern visitor complained about paying 75 cents for a bath. (The number of Great Falls residents who lack private bathing facili¬ ties still appears to be somewhat above the national average.) The same visitor, who hailed from Newburgh, N.Y., was appalled by property values. This town of 1,200, he reported, valued residential lots at $800 to $1,000, downtown business lots at $6,000 -- and in Newburgh, which boasted 30,000 people, the best lot overlooking the Hudson was worth but $300. The Bijou theater appeared In 1890; apparently It was on the music hall order. Culture, however, did not lag far behind; the Grand opera house was rushed to completion within two years. It still stands, unhappily little altered. I'.cKee Rankin opened it in a performance of "The Danites," whatever that was. The first of Great Falls' two present flour mills, the Royal mill, was completed in 1893. There had been one, of brief mem¬ ory, in 1885, arriving almost colncidentally with the first news¬ paper. The newspaper, however, still functions. The city was emerging from the phase of life in which addi¬ tion of a couple of saloons could be hailed happily in the press: "One of the best evidences of a live town." The Royal mill had been finished just in time: the panic of 1893 fell upon the land, 9. RAINFALL DATA 1892- 1938 GREAT FALLS, MONTANA LEGEND OCT THRU DEC. r- a> cn O — (nj 4 e it r- b (7i o <»>a>o>oooooooooo- w> tsim<»mwNeDa>o— — CMK) --NNNNNNNNNNrtlOlOO TEAR *5 4 1XJ.UJ .L VjAJ. although It was moro than a yoar before its effects wore severe¬ ly felt in Great Palls, Nevertheless, frontior optimism, a decade after the city was born, received its first bad shock. Silver prices had col¬ lapsed and mines wore dosing. Tho silver smelter had quietly shut down. Tho bottom foil out of wool and livestock markets. Banks closed and many little now businesses failed. The pioneers realized for tho first time that their little outpost's economy was bound up with vast and little-understood forces "back east." Sapphires, among the finest in the world, had been discovered in Yogo gulch, and there was a brief flareup of optimism; but it was soon learned that the value of sapphires de¬ pended upon their scarcity, and the Yogo gems never provided Great Palls with the hoped-for major industry, because thoir pro¬ duction was firmly restricted. Now was the time for grim appraisal. And out of it grow the first Agricultural Society, dedicated to encouragement of irrigation, improvement of stock strains, promotion of hard wheat 'hi farming, establishment of a creamery industry. This was the first mention of irrigation; within the next decade the work of bringing the water to the dry soils was to start. Today, within tho Great Palls trade area there are approximately 200,000 irri¬ gated farm acres. This was the first public expression, too, of tho uneasy realization that some day the country would have to come to more diversified farming, with less hopeful stress uoon a quick cash crop. Now more than 250,000 visitors annually 10. stream through tho gates of the city's North Montana State fair to gazo upon 3ome 15,000 exhibits, at loast half of thorn agri¬ cultural. Now tho livestock comrilsa ;.on company which establish¬ ed yards in Great Palls in 1936 cm ruoort definite indication that the livestock industry is "coming back," with annual improve¬ ment in quality of herds. This trond has boon oncouragod in re¬ cent years by presentation, in connection with tho fair, of the National Hereford show, bringing 1,700 animals. Yes: through that panic period of 1093-1895 (and through others since) Great Palls tottered somehow, regained its footing and pressed forward. Its dreams of agricultural prosperity, how¬ ever, were not furthered in that altogether-unhappy year of 1895; for precipitation that year plunged to 6.73 inches, from 10.64 in 1894. Much of the city's development since then has been tied to that precipitation chart. Conditions in '96 wore better: precipitation was nearly double that of the year before. And in 1897 it climbed to 17.40 -- which point it has reached or bettered but twelve times since. The Great Palls Iron Ylorks, first successful metal indus¬ try of the city, had been established in 1890. The city's life also became tied to the market price of cop¬ per. A cooper concentrator and smelter had been started in 1891 by the Boston & Montana Consolidated. Copper and Silver Mining Company, in 1910 absorbed by tho Anaconda Copper Mining Company, and. a copper refinery completed in 1893. Later, with erection of a smelter at Anaconda, this portion of the Great Palls plant and the concentrator wore abandoned (about 1914) but in 1916 COMPARISON NEW DWELLING UNITS CONSTRUCTED WITH INCREASE IN NUMBER OF FAMILIES GREAT FALLS, MONTANA 1920 - 1938 CHART NO. 2 THE SERIOUSNESS OF THIS PROGRESSIVE SHORTAGE IN AVAILABLE HOUSES IS FURTHER AGGRAVATED BY THE YEARLY GROWTH IN THE NUMBER OF HOUSES RENDERED SUB-STANDARD OR UNFIT FOR HUMAN HABITATION BECAUSE OF AGE OR DISREPAIR. HISTORY tho zinc plant was addod to tho Anaconda Ooppor Mining company's properties and two years lator tho rod and wire mill camo Into being, as did a forro-manganese plant., Tills poriod also saw ad¬ dition of anothor industry — tho packing plant of tho Groat Palls Meat Co. in 1915. Meanwhile water power development continued. Black Ragle dam, built in 1891, was reconstructed in 1927, to produce 13,000 kilowatts. Rainbow dam was built in 1910, producing 35,000 kilo¬ watts at capacity; Volta (Great Palls) in 1916, with a capacity of 60,000 kilowatts, and I.iorony in 1930, capacity 45,000. The wartime wheat boom collapsed in 1920. Building permits in Great Palls slumped from more than $1,130,000 to less than $1,000,000. Copper was down, too -- bringing a severe economic shock for the mining country after wartime inflation. By 1924 building had begun, slowly, to recover; but despite the hard times there had been a normal gain in population -- home con¬ struction was now lagging seriously behind residential needs. Population in 1900 had been 14,950; in 1910 it was 13,948 (there were generally-acknowledged discrepancies in the 1910 census throughout the country); in 1920 it was 24,121, and in 1930, 28,322. In 1928, for the first time, the new-building curve gained on the population curve; construction was exceeding the rate of Increase of population. But this condition continued only for a little more than a year; tho depression struck and building permit values dropped from approximately $3,500,000 in 1929 to $1,125,000 in 1930 -- and of this only $384,870 represented HISTORY residential construction. Homo buiLding permits plunged the next year to $311,950; in 1932 it totaled only $53,450; in 1933, $74,383; in 1934, $>14,425,, In li.35 tho curve started upward a- gain, with a total of $105,325; but one-third of tho new homes were valued at less than $1,000, Again there had boon r. serious lag in home construction. Census records gave tho total number of families 3n 1920 as 5,704, in 1930 as 7,308 -- a gain of 1,504 or 28,1 per cent. In the same period, howover, only 1 210 now dwelling units were erected — 75,4 per cent of the gain in families. In 1938, esti¬ mated population was 30,000 and the Surveys disclosed that in that year there were 8,343 family units including one-person es¬ tablishments -- a gain of 1,035 since 1930; but new dwelling units erected during this period totaled only 445, or 43 per cent of the population gain. Thus tho total additional families in 20 years for whom no new residential construction had oecn undertaken was 1,384, These people had to live somewhere; further on in this study it will become apparent where they wont_, in the data on the splitting-up of single-family units into multiple-dwelling units -- the larg¬ est part of such conversions having been effected in the 1930- 1938 period. At the time of the Surveys, Croat Falls was celebrating its fiftieth birthday. It had abouJ: 30,000 people; the assessed valuation of real property was $45,744,434, Its economy, due to continued dependence upon the vagaries of climate and moisture 13. HISTORY for agriculture ?. pre,-, »'.«*• *'i /, -uwn »- a few years back — for adequate water-power o vpur;.(,c its Industries -- waa still unstable; but compared winh its v.rly years, the city was firm¬ ly established and could reasonably count upon continuance of nor¬ mal population growth. Nevertheless, the trend of Great Palls housing appeared to be definitely backward -- backward toward the primitive condi¬ tions of the city's beginning, for a sizeable proportion of its citizens• 14. PURPOSE, SCOPE AND METHOD OP SURVEYS 2. 75 Enumerators Asked Questions... The Real Property and Family Income Surveys wore under¬ taken to determine residential property and housing conditions in and near the City of Great Palls, Montana, and to provide gainful employment for needy professional, educational and cler¬ ical workers. Incentive for the Surveys was provided when the Great Palls city council authorized incorporation of the Great Falls Housing Authority under Montana statute. The Need for Housing Montana's legislature in 1935 declared, "as a matter of legislative determination," that "unsanitary or unsafe dwelling accommodations exist in various cities of the first and second class in the state", and that "such unsafe and unsanitary condi¬ tions arise from overcrowding and concentration of population, the obsolete and poor condition of the buildings, improper plan¬ ning, excessive land coverage, lack of proper light, air and space, unsanitary design and arrangement, lack of proper sani¬ tary facilities, and the existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire and other causesj"... and that "these conditions cause an increase In and spread of disease and crime and constitute a menace to the health, safety, morals and wel- 15. fare of the citizens of bhu state ami impair economic values." (Sec. 1, Ch. 140. L. 1905.) It is evident, there 1'oro, that, the problem of housing had been recognized for several years, but little had been done to determine the actual need for rehousing or to provide a sound basis for study of the problem. It is elemental that no logical solution can be devised un¬ til knowledge of current housing conditions is available. Such knowledge may be obtained through a housing survey conducted in accordance with the technique developed jointly by the division of economics and statistics of the Federal Hous¬ ing Administration, the co-ordinating committee of the Central Statistical Board, and the Works Progress Administration, This definitely establishes the number of families in substandard dwellings, their race, size, income, number of boarders and lod¬ gers, doubling up of families, rents paid, and many other facts. Tabulation of such dcta permits formulation of estimates to show the need for new housing and modernization of old buildings, rac¬ ial groups to be served, and income restrictions which must be met. Later these findings can serve as bho basis for city plan¬ ning and long-range zoning, slum clearance and housing programs. Comparison also is made oossible with conditions existing else¬ where throughout the nation, because of use of a standard tech¬ nique In the Surveys. Real Property I.Iany valuable clues to trends in land use and new home con¬ struction are provided. Location of additional utilities, trans - 16. SURVEYS portation and street improvements may be anticipated. Tho ade¬ quacy and correlation of parks, recreational facilities and schools with respect to po.mlatiou density and migration may be judged. Some hint of the effect of mounting taxes imposed upon inflated and speculative land values may be obtained by examin¬ ation of the conversion of s ingle-family residences into multi- family structures, and in the very marked migration to residen¬ tial developments clustered about the outer boundaries of tho city while large areas remain unoccupied within the community limits. These trends and many related questions will be dis¬ cussed in the accompanying study. Employment in the Survey The Montana Housing Authorities Act, hitherto referred to, further declares "that it is in tho public interest that work on such (housing) projects be instituted as soon as possible to re¬ lieve unemployment, which now constitutes an emergency." The Survey, as the initial step in any sound housing program, contri¬ buted to the alleviation of this emergency by placing in useful and worth-while employment about 75 unemployed technical and clerical workers, beginning in November 1938 and extending over approximately seven months. The personnel was assigned by the V/orks Progress Administration. Area Cove red b;/ Surveys The Real Property Survey embraces the entire City of Great Falls and adjacent residential and industrial sections in Cas¬ cade county, a total of about 25 square miles. 17. SURVEYS History of the Surveys The Surveys were sponsored by tho City of Great Falls, as WPA projects. All of the field enumeration, assembling of sup¬ plemental data and the Real Property tabulations were carried out under Work Project No, 2626 (Official Project No,665-91-3-73.) Supervision was assigned by the city to the Great Falls Housing Authority, which provided the sponsor's share of the finances and assumed full responsibility for conduct of the Surveys, The tab¬ ulation of family income and utilities costs in substandard hous¬ ing was provided under Work Project No. 3031 (Official Project No. 65-1-91-26.) Prior to assignment of WPA workers, the Housing Authority staff conferred with the supervisory staff of a similar survey then in progress at Butte, Montana, and suggestions offered were most helpful. Necessary forms were prepared and such data as were available assembled and publicity obtained through local newspapers and the local broadcasting station. The public was given a clear understanding of the purpose of the Surveys and accorded the enumerators splendid co-operation. The Wcrks Progress Administration set up a fund of $25,475 on Oct. 25, 1956, as the estimated amount necessary for opera¬ tion of the project, '^his was augmented Aug, 1, 1939, by $1,167 to complete the income studies. The Great Falls Housing Author¬ ity rented suitable quarters and supplied office equipment; ar¬ rangements were made with the Par is -Fligman Company and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St, Paul & Pacific Railway Company whereby 18. SURVEYS halls were made available without coat for conducting training schools for enumerators, The oity provided a convenient room in the city hall for ©numerators' use during field work; it also furnished certain supplies and equipment, The privilege of com¬ paring the enumeration data with Sanborn insurance maps was ex¬ tended to the checkers by certain local insurance concerns, and the Montana Power Company extended the use of its blue-printing facilities without charge. Training of supervisors and enumerators began Oct. 31, 1938. One week was assigned for this purpose. Assembly instruction was first given in use of all field forms and definition of all termsg groups were then sent into the field, including field and office supervisors, and trial blocks enumerated. The groups were re¬ assembled in one class and forms made out by each independently were then compared and errors explained. Enumerators were en¬ couraged to ask quest! ns in order that any points not entirely clear to them might be clarified. Before being returned to the field, the class was instructed in the responsibility each worker had assumed and the opportunity for impressing the public with the quality and fidelity of employees selected for this important and useful activity. These schools of instrvxetion were repeated until about 75 workers had been selected, trained, and assigned, Enxxmeration began in a section of the city lying south of Central Avenue and east of the Missouri River, in which area there was known to be a stxbstantial number of substandard dwell¬ ings. Completion of this initial study and of a preliminary 19. analysis of its findings provided support for the local Housing Authority's application to the United States Housing Authority for a 156-unit housing project, This was accomplished without interrupting the progress of the enumeration. Much of the developod area of the city wa3 found to bo cover¬ ed by insurance maps published by the Sanborn Co., and there was obtained from a local aviator an excellent series of aerial pho¬ tographs covering the corporate area of the city and much of the suburban section included in the Survey, These photographs had been made the preceding July with standard aerial equipment at a height of 7,000 feet above Great Falls, These two sources of re¬ liable data reduced the field work of the SUrVey section to new construction and outlying areas not covered by either the maps or photographs. It was known before the Purvey began that existing maps were not entirely accurate nor complete, A new base map therefore was prepared and carefully checked with the aerial photographs. In many instances it was necessary to resort to the original plats on file with the county clerk and recorder. The base map was re¬ produced on a reduced scale, photographed, and copies printed on tracing paper for use of the mapping section in drafting presen¬ tation maps . The general enumeration was completed Jan, 23, 1939, and the spot checking was finished March 4. As field work decreased, the force was gradually reduced from a maximum of 77 to 40, who were assigned to mapping and tabulation. Preparation of block tabulations, final compilation of data tables and drafting of 20. SURVEYS presentation maps worn concluded June 23, 1939. Summarization of income data and utility costs was postponed for lack of funds, A request for supplemental funds was submitted to the Works Progress Administration June 9, 1939, and approved as of Aug, 1. The amount was $1,187. Workers were assigned to the income and utility data project Fob. 9, 1940, and their tabulations were completed May 1, Methods of Operation Field work of the two Surveys was undertaken simultaneously with preference given to the Real Property Survey. Method and forms prescribed in Volumes I and II of "Technique for a Real Property Survey" were carefully followed. During preliminary studies it was discovered that certain additional data concern¬ ing income and utility cost for families in substandard housing would be needed to obtain a complete factual basis for a compre¬ hensive housing program, A supplemental form P was therefore prepared to be used in conjunction with Forms B and C, Dwelling Schedule, detailed in the "Technique," It was recognized that some objection to furnishing income data would be encountered, and enumerators were instructed to complete the information required for the B and C forms before seeking answers to ques¬ tions on Form P, Answers to the inquiries on income, however, were received from 57 per cent of all interviews and from 77 per cent of all families livxng in substandard homes. For the purposes of the Survey, the city of Great Falls was divided into three enumeration districts and adjacent areas in 21. SURVEYS the county combined, in a fourth district* Enumerators wore di¬ vided. into squads, normally of eight persons, headed by a squad leader. Squad leadors reported to a field supervisor. Each morning squads would assemble with their respective leaders and receive the assignment for tho day; and at the end of each shift they would reassemble to turn in the day's report and to discuss problems whioh may have arisen. Each enumerator had block iden¬ tification maps upon which assignments could be recorded and each squad leader had a map upon which he marked the area assigned to him and to each of his workers. The squad leaders, after check¬ ing enumeration cards completed the previous day, would report to headquarters, turn in the cards for all completed blocks and confer with office and mapping supervisors and the city director of the Surveys, Routine daily reports were submitted and a mas¬ ter daily progress chart was maintained at headquarters. It was anticipated that wide variation in the accuracy of the workers would be encountered, particularly at the outset. It was deemed necessary, therefore, to "spot check" the enumeration in order immediately to detect and eliminate incompetency and to impress upon enumerators the necessity for careful, complete and accurate work. Four men headed by a leader were selected from the most capable and experienced workers to do this checking. This squad worked under the field supervisor, A check was made of each enumerator, and a record kept of all errors, which wore reported to the squad leaders. As the enumeration progressed, this task became less onerous until the amount of checking could 22. SURVEYS b© reduced to about 5 por cent. Office work was divided between the olorloal responsibility of compiling ana tabula Sing.,, and the technical work of surveying and mapping. The project was fortunate in having an experienced engineer and draftsman to suporviae this technical work; this fact suggested the advisability of combining the surveying and mapping under one supervisor. Preparation of the new base map, mentioned heretofore, was no mean undertaking and required much research. All new residential construction within the city lim¬ its and subsequent to the last revision of the Sanborn insur¬ ance maps and the date of the aerial photographs, was obtained from city building inspector's records. Field work, as explained earlier in this section, was much reduced for the land use and land coverage maps in the city; it is probable, however, that data obtained by land use and land coverage studies in the county areas outside the city did not justify the time required to obtain them. The clerical force was supervised by an office manager re¬ sponsible for preservation, filing, checking, coding and tabula¬ tion of all data submitted from the field. As enumeration cards were received, the corresponding blocks were checked on the con¬ trol map in the office, and all data for each block was filed with an identifying block face card. Information for each block was summarised and transferred to "block tabulation sheets," which gave for each block, the major structures classified by use., year built, condition, rental, and other data. The field data cards, Forms B and C, by blocks, were then grouped by enumeration distri¬ cts and assigned to separate tabulation crews for the final tabul- 23 ation, Tho only deviation from the "Technique" was in making separate Survey data tahlos for tho aroa within the corporate limits of the city, and tho adjnaont county areas. This is not required ordinarily for cities under 50,000 population. The principal reason for this departure from established practice is to be found in the fact that virtually all of these residential areas outside the city (major exceptions are the com¬ munity of Black Eagle and the residential section of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company's property) are characteristically lacking in running water, sewers, and facilities for garbage disposal. It was felt that growth of these unregulated, substandard commu¬ nities around the fringe of the city merited special considera¬ tion, and discussion of this problem is to be found in this report. Income Data The essential data gathered on Form P included the annual in¬ come of the principal family and any extra families occupying the dwelling unit, an '■ their monthly expenditure for heat, light, cooking fuel, refrigeration or Ice, and water, when not included in the rent. Transcription cards were made out for all substan¬ dard dwelling units, and on those was transferred, from Forms B and C, the occupancy standards, race of household, persons in house hold, and rent; and from Form P, the utilities costs and income. The transcription cards then were checked against the original tabulation of substandard dwelling units and tabulations were ma o to show: (1) Tenant-occupied substandard units, classified by race, monthly income, monthly rent and family size; (2) utility payments of tenant families in substandard units, by race and 24. SURVEYS monthly rent; (3) owner families in substandard units, classi¬ fied by race, family income and family sir,©; and (4) extra fami¬ lies in substandard units (both owner- and tonant-occuplod), classified by raco, monthly incomo, and family size. 25. LAND USE MAP 3, First, the Land... In the beginning, the land b.Iongod to all the people. The community is still "residuary legatee"-- in that it has the right to seize land for nonpayment of taxes. It has the right by or¬ dinance (seldom if ever exercised) to prevent abuse of the land by erection or maintenance upon it of structures which can be classified as "nuisances"— unsafe, detrimental to the general good. The land remains the essential basis for all community studies and community planning. Early recognition of unhealthy land utilization conditions enables us -- if we would -- to check a destructive trend. A glance at the accompanying map shows us the trends in Great Falls, It is a young city; there is as yet little intru¬ sion of business and industry into residential sections. Inade¬ quate provision was made at the start, however, for normal busi¬ ness expansion; and on the map we see forlorn "islands" of res¬ idential structures in business areas. Some of these "islands" make up our most seriously substandard areas. There is evident, too, a spread of residential structures of more intensive use than the predominant single-family home. There is an intrusion of two- and four-family structures into areas formerly occupied by single-family homes. Frequently they are conversions. It is apparent that more rigid control of new building and remodeling is needed lest this encroachment upon single-family sections prove detrimental to the community. 26. SUMMARY OP FINDINGS 4, The Picture of a City... The primary needs of man arc food nnd shelter. His food, throughout oonturloa, has changed little -- al¬ though he has improved groatly upon mothods of Its preparation. His shelter has ohangod muohj and it is by the adequacy of his home, its cleanliness, its adaptability to his environment, its structural security, that we judge the degree of his civilization. In the pa^es vhich follow, in the columns of statistics in which are condensed the arm's-length tabulations that grew out of the Surveys, may be discerned the culture of Great Palls, Montana, a small upland city only half a century removed from the frontier. Statistics to have meaning for most of us must be trans¬ lated into "human values" -- into what they mean in terms of people. But this is an official report: we cannot, here, take the reader into the home of one Great Palls family of seven vh ich has no heat, no light, no plumbing, and no stove. We can, however, try to analyze briefly what Great Palls housing means in relation to the men, women, and children who inhabit it. To do this we must approach our statistics with a social, rather than mathematical, attitude of mind. Thus in each study we must keep in mind an intangible but none the less funda¬ mental factor: the importance of the specific condition an the lives of its victims. Only in this way -- by keeping ever in mind that additional column for every table, the column which would remind us that 27 . SULIJIARY these are people, not rows of figures on white paper -- only thus can we detect the significance of our computations. Wo are apt to overlook, in a bowilc'U ring file of decimal points, the singular and disturbing fact about human living which is to bo found therein. It will help us to keep that additional column in mind if we know just what role housing plays in the lives of this city's citizens, and the simplest gauge of this Is time. An employed man in Great Palls spends one-third to two-thirds of his time at home — despite the fact that this city, located on a great riv¬ er and close to motmtain streams, is one of the fishingest cit¬ ies to be found anywhere. Eut, to get on with it -- that man'3 wife spends two-thirds of her time at home; and if she doesn't go fishing with him, it's nineteen-twentieths. inhe time spent at home by his pre-school age child is the same; and for his child of school age, it is half to three-fourths. Great Falls has 8,343 families, and their every function centers in the home: eating, sleeping, procreation, child rear¬ ing and care of clothing. And what kind of homes do these families have for these important functions? Well, they are better than some in the United States, worse than others; better, on the whole, than the national average. Great Palls is young; if present trends are unchecked, there is no reason to believe that it cotild continue to be better. Nationally, about 76 per cent of the people live in single- family houses. In Great Palls it's abou.t 82 per cent. SULiMlRf Our tenancy figures> howov