THE CHURCH ON
THE CHANGING FRONTIER
BIG HOLE RIVER, MONTANA
COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS SURVEYS
TOWN AND COUNTRY DEPARTMENT
Edmund deS. Brunner, Director
THE CHURCH ON
THE CHANGING FRONTIER
A STUDY OF
THE HOMESTEADER AND HIS CHURCH
BY
HELEN O. BELKNAP
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
MAPS AND CHARTS
NEW 
YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1922,
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PREFACE
The Committee on Social and Religious Surveys was organized in January,1921. Its aim is to combine the scientific method with the religiousmotive. The Committee conducts and publishes studies and surveys, andpromotes conferences for their consideration. It coöperates with othersocial and religious agencies, but is itself an independent organization.
The Committee is composed of: John. R. Mott, Chairman; Ernest D. Burton,Secretary; Raymond B. Fosdick, Treasurer; James L. Barton and W. H. P.Faunce. Galen M. Fisher is Associate Executive Secretary. The offices areat 111 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
In the field of town and country the Committee sought first of all toconserve some of the results of the surveys made by the Interchurch WorldMovement. In order to verify some of these surveys, it carried on fieldstudies, described later, along regional lines worked out by Dr. Warren H.Wilson[1] and adopted by the Interchurch World Movement. These regionsare:
I. Colonial States: All of New England, New York, Pennsylvania and NewJersey.
II. The South: All the States south of Mason and Dixon’s line and the OhioRiver east of the Mississippi, including Louisiana.
III. The Southern Highlands Section: This section comprises about 250counties in “The back yards of eight Southern States.”
IV. The Middle West: The States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois,Wisconsin, Iowa and northern Missouri.
V. Northwest: Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and eastern Montana.
VI. Prairie: Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.
VII. Southwest: Southern Missouri, Arkansas and Texas.
VIII. Range or Mountain: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Idaho,Wyoming, Nevada and western Montana.
The Director of the Town and Country Survey Department for the InterchurchWorld Movement was Edmund deS. Brunner. He is likewise the Director ofthis Department for the Committee on Social and Religious Surveys.
[Pg viii]The original surveys were conducted under the supervision of thefollowing:
Beaverhead County—Rev. Charles T. Greenway, State Survey Supe