Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1867-01-12
his ncighborhood, Said he;

life. know English and the sin.
language, aud have picked up u
smattcring of French, Spanish,
Choctaw AID Delaware but one
language can't understand, and
that is this Internal Now York lam
guagcW
The phrases of some Of the miners
are original and suggestive, They
call the fine particles Of gold in the
earth "the color" One Of them re-
marked of n man tried in various
positions and found utterly worth
less.
IL have panied him ont, clear
down to the bed rock, but | can't
even raise the color"
The quartz mining Of Montana,
which has but just begun, gives
rare promise for the future. Gold
and silver, whether found in the
rock or the decomposcd earth, are
gcnii moro potent than those of
Oriental fable. When they wave
their wands, palaces spring up in
the Wilderness, and cities among
the mountain tops. The stream is
imprisoned by the dam, and vcYcd
with the wheel; fruitful farms are
wrestcd from the lonely valleys
shining treasures torn from the dis
cmbowelcd mountains newspapers
and telcgraphs abolish time and
diminish space; the beaver must
dive quickly to avoid the plowing
steamer; and buffalo and Indian
run their ticetcst to keep out of the
way of the locomotive.
Montana is eight hundred miles
from east to west, by nearly three
hundred from north to south. 1t is
a mountain territory, containing
five large basins-four on the At.
lantic slope, one on the Pacitic-and
numberess smaller valleys. While
snow is several feet deep upon the
mountains, cattle are growing fat
among the green bunch grass Of the
valleys, less than a thousand feet
lower.
"lIy fathers empire" said Cyrus
to Xenophon, dis SO large that peo-
pie perish with cold at one end,
while they sutfocatc with heat at the
other" But here one may find
summer and winter, blooming flow
ers and deep snow, less than mile
apart. Sometimes the mantle OF
winter half covers even the hardy
grass of the valleys. Then cattle
still subsist upon the protruding
tops. Horses and antelope paw up
the SNOW, to find the hidden food;
but if the snow is too deep they hive
upon the bark of cottonwood. Cop
per and iron are plentiful, and ag-
ates, amethysts, rubies and garncts,
all abound.
Ny return from Helena to Tir-
ginia was in October, but the wealth
cr was intensely cold, with snow
drifts obstructing the track, and
turning the pine trees into exquisite
white coral Driving stages upon
these bleak, dangerous mountain
roads is an ILL., paid and unattractive
pursuit; yet, like journalism and
scafaring, once tasted, its fascination
seems irresistible The driver is
always Il character often entertain
ing and witty, and no respector Of
persons. There is story of one,
with clergyman on the box beside
him, who swore long and loud at his
baking horses.
my friend" expostulatcd the
preacher, "don't swear so. Rcmem-
bcr Job he was severely tried, but
mover lost his patience"
"Job! Job" pondcrcd Jehu-
.'what line did he drive for?'
Once with the Governor of n Ter
ritory spent night at lonely
desert station. His EXcclleNcy
asked permission to sleep on the
drivers bunk.
"Certainly," was the unaDa,hed
reply, that is if you haven't any
graybacks about you!
But I wander from my winter
Journey. One morning | took lit
tie excursion which was not down
in the programme. We were upon
A sliding mouDtain road, coated
With ice buried under two feet of
light snow. Our six horses were
upon the full run, to take the coach
over before it should slide down the
hill. Suddenly one wheel struck a
hidden rock. The vehicle narrowly
escaped capslzing, and l did not
escape being pitched from the driV-
rr's box. was wrapped in blan-
kcts and buffalo robes, which f3rtu-
nately slipped off without entang-
ling my feet, | was projected fully
twenty-five feet through the air,
describing a section of a circle. As
John Phoenix used to say, that was
he only description of the affair l
should ever have been able to give,
Dut for the friendly snow bank,
which cushioned the ledge of rock
Ip.n which l alightcd head fore
most. The driver seemed 10 enjoy |
he joke, until ten minutes later 1
when a similar rock upon his side |
ient him flying against the brake 4
handle, where he hung, like .
coffin, until he found 1
his lost legs and abandoned seat
Serious, and sometimes fatal aeci- |
lents, occur in winter Rpon these /
lnwOrked roads.
Regretfully l Icft Montana I
Youngest and least developed, but /
'iehest and faircst Of all our Terri /
ories. In scenery, farming land, 4
imber, water, precious and base
all the native clements !