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Warm Springs

Travel Montana

A view from 1939:

Warmsprings (4,852 alt., no pop.), in which is the State Hospital for the Insane (open 9-11 and 1-4 daily). Its trim brick buildings, in modern functional style, and its neatly kept grounds contribute much to the air of sanctuary that characterizes the town.

Just south of the hospital buildings are the springs for which the place was named. A conical mound, built up by the springs' mineral deposits, resembles an Indian lodge with smoke ascending from it. Here came herds of white-tailed deer to graze on the abundant grass around the mound, and obtain salt by licking the rocks at its base. Indians named it It-soo-ke-en-car-ne (lodge of the white-tailed deer). Poetic French voyageurs called it la loge du chevreuil (the lodge of the roebuck); this the laconic ranchers of a later day contracted to Deer Lodge.

South of the State Hospital is the 15-acre STATE GAME FARM (open), established in 1929. Small herds of elk and buffalo are maintained here; propagation of Chinese pheasants, Hungarian partridges, California quail, and Oregon mountain quail is carried on. Showbirds of brilliant plumage include the melanistic mutant, and the golden, silver, Reeves, and Lady Amherst pheasants.

Source: Montana: A State Guide Book; Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Montana; September, 1939.