Rocky Mountain College - Yellowstone / Poly Yearbook (Billings, MT)

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THE POLY tion must beprovided for by the establishment of institutions like the Polytechnic, that shall train its young people to grapple with the mighty problems of the country in which they live. To harness its water power, build its railroads, tunnel its mountains, reclaim its arid lands, reforest and preserve its timbered areas, seek out its yet undiscovered resources, build its homes, its factories and its cities,-calls for an army of trained workmen. THE SUPREME PURPOSE OF THE INSTITUTION It becomes more and more apparent as we get a better understand- ing of general education as it relates to the life of the nation, that We must offer to overy boy and girl, rich or poor, native born or foreign born, city dweller or child of the farm and the mining camp, an equal opportunity of training that fits for life. The higher education of the past has been too much for the wealthier and more favored classes and not enough for the wage earning masses. Even with these later days of industrial education, the great tendency has been to establish high grade manual training school and professional agricultural courses, which lead to the higher technical and engineering courses and away from the trade, the workshop and the farm. Yet the safety and strength of our Republic and the world depend upon the education of the great mass of citizens who are to be the real workers and producers, the Wage earners in our factories and the laborers on our farms. The love and capacity for making things and growing things lies at the very founda- tion of the well being of all society. Theodore Roosevelt well expressed this idea when he said, It should be one of our prime objects to put the mechanic, the Wage worker who works with his hands, and Who ought to work in a constantly larger degree with his head, on a higher plane of efficiency and reward, so as to increase his effectiveness in the eco- nomic World, and therefore the dignity, remuneration, and the power of his position in the social world. To train boys and girls in merely literary accomplishments, to the total exclusion of the industrial, manual, and technical training tends to unfit them for industrial work, .if- 1.2 P x ., 5: all rggsv' ca. ll SCIENCE HALL

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THE POLY A BIT OF HISTORY Ten years ago the old homestead where the Polytechnic now stands was a sugar beet field. Since then a remarkable change has taken place in what is now well known as the Polytechnic Farms. Ten buildings now grace the campus and one other is in process of construction. There are one hundred and seventy-five acres of campus and farms, laid out with walks and drives, fields and gardens. The original campus pos- sessed one lone cottonwood tree, while today over one thousand shade trees of many standard varieties beautify the campus and many more are growing in the school nursery, to be transplanted about the build- ings as they are constructed. There has been a transformation on the grounds nothing short of marvelous. The beautiful location overlooking the incomparable Yel- lowstone Valley, the wonderfully fertile land, under a splendid system of irrigation, the warm Montana sunshine, the protection of the rim- rocks from the winds and storms of the north, the view of the distant snow-capped mountains, all contribute to make the location of the school ideal. THE FIELD OF THE POLYTECHNIC No institution of higher learning in the entire country has such a magnificent field to call its own. Eastern Montana, Northern Wyoming and the Western Dakotas comprising a territory larger than ten eastern states, have this one institution, the Polytechnic, to call their college. But this field is great not only from the standpoint of dimensions, but it is mighty in the quality of its people, its resources and its possibilities. Space does not permit a review of all the advantages and opportunities that the mar- velous Northwest possesses. Suffice it to say that no other sections of the globe holds within its borders such a variety of natural resources and in such limitless proportions. It has water power to turn the machinery of the world, its hills and mountains are teeming with the richest ores, beneath its surface are oceans of oil and incalculable reservoirs of gas, its coal fields are the richest in the country. It has, besides, a wealth of resources in its great fertile, irri- gated valleys, its boundless wheat fields, its grazing and forest lands, unsurpassed in all the world. ITS DEMAND FOR TRAINED MEN AND WOMEN This is to be a magnificent empire in itself and its future greatness has a close connection with the work of the Institute, for the industrial development of this sec- IVIR. L. T. EATON. President

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THE POLY and in real life most work is indus- i ' trial. It was with a iirm belief in this i sort of education and a supreme purpose to offer to the young people of the great Northwest section a i training that should fit them for the real duties of life that the founders 4 of the Polytechnic threw their lives into the upbuilding of this institu- tion. THE SCUPE OF THE PULYTECHNIC Because of its open door policy and its aim to meet the needs of all classes of young people for a prac- tical training, the Polytechnic offers a large number of courses. It is its policy to meet the conditions exist- ing in this region and supply the various industries that develop here. At the present time the fol- lowing regular departments are maintained: i-ioN. E. T. EATON, Financial Director The Engineering Department meets one of the most crying needs of the world and especially is this true of the Northwest, where men are in constant demand who are able to handle projects in canal build- ing, irrigation, water power development, mining, roads and water works construction. In this vast country is where that work must be done, here also should it be taught. The Commercial Department supplies an ever increasing demand. Trained men and women in this line are always wanted, anyone trained in its details need never be without a position. Our department is now located in commodious quarters in the Losekamp Conservatory and is even better than ever before capable of the most advanced work. Stenography and Shorthand as the other commercial branches increases in its value to the business world. Located as we are, tributary to a large city, the very heart of Montana's business enterprises, we are especially well situated for anyone interested in this line of endeavor. VV'e offer in this line three, six and nine months' courses and our staff of instructors is especially capable of the best of instruction. Highly trained teachers serve the Nation as perhaps no other pro- fession can. This fact alone brings many patriotic girls into the splendid service. But it is a most pleasant and attractive profession as well and teachers are in every community looked up to as they should be. Our course, under the direction of Miss Emma Johnson, herself a well trained teacher with experience, is especially attractive to young ladies who aspire to this line of work. Agriculture is the oldest vocation of man and the most useful. 'Whereas our fathers followed primitive methods, the world realizes