Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1867-01-12

in the year, Montana mas great hS'
ricultural capacity, and will one
day support Il large population,
Small grains, root vegetables, and
the hardy fruits, produce abundant
ly. 1t seems far north for barley
and wheat; but in the British pos
/ sessions-still higher latitude-the
Hudson Bay Company has raised,
successfully, every product OF our
Northwestern States. Some even
believe that the true wheat-growing
region of the continent lies north
of the Upper Missouri. Farming
will always be lucrative, because the
transportation of supplies from "the
States" costs from twelve to forty
cents per pound. =,
In a deep canyon Of the rugged
mountain, is the Junction of the
Jefferson, Gallatin and Madison,
whose blended waters form the Mis-
souri,. In Minnesota, ono may
cross the Mississippi by wooden
bridge, with only two spans. Here
we can fling o pebble a.ross the
Missouri. Still higher up, among
mountain springs, a member of the
Lewis d Clark expedition thanked
God that he was able to stand as
tride of the largest river in the
world. We enter White tailed Deer
Canyon, twenty miles long, with
grand and startling scenery, ever
shifting, like scenes in theater'
Immense granite boulders, some as
large as q railway car, lie upon and
against each other, piled up in all
positions, as if the gods had torn up
and hurled vast rocks in deadly bat
tic. Some walls Of the gorge are
gray rock, others clothed in frs
and pines of dark green and purp-
lish brow, mottled with yellow cot
ton woods, Locking back through
the canyons mouth, ! have seen
snowy mountains glorified by the
dying sun, like battlements Of the
Celestial City. Through the oppo-
site gateway, some peaks were OBJ
scured by slabs Of leaden clouds,
dark and sullcn, bridging the gulfs
between them; others SCARED and
gashed, were robed in drapery,
white as milk and soft as down-a
fleece more inviting than that for
which Jason and the Argonauts
traversed the world.
Whirling along slippery banks
and sliding roads, and passing a
spring ten inches in diameter, which
gushes, boiling hot, from the hill
side, we reach Helena, less than two
years old, with a population of
nearly five thousand. Its two prin-
cipal streets are in the form Of
cross. 1t is made up Of rough log
houses, and spacious, barn like
frame buildings, and pleasant cot
tages with latticed verandas. 1t is
the supply point for the placer mines
of the Blacllfoot country and other
portions of Northern Montana, en-
bracing some of the richest diggings
in the world. / have never been
in any region where dust in the
hands of working miners circulated
so freely and in so large quantities.
Several nuggets, worth from two to
four thousand dollars. have been ta-
ken out, and single claims have pro-
duced one thousand dollars per day.
These are rare, exceptional cases /;
but Montana is doubtless the richest
placer mining region ever discover
ed in the United States, and its
quartz veins promise better than
those of any other State or Terrific
ry. This years immigration has
been enormous, both from the East
and the Pacific coast. Tho most
rapid and impressive changes are
going on. Before advancing civili-
zation, even brutal, stolid, savage
faces light up with surprise and be-
wilderment at the new era opening
to their vision:
"Behnd the squaw's light birch canoe
lHt slthlutI lOthS ih'SSi
And city lots are staked for sale
Above old Indian graves.
hear the tread Of pioneers
OF nations yet 10 be
The first low wash of waves, where soon
Shall roll human sea.
The rudiments Of empire here
Are plastic yet and warm
The chaos of a mighty world
Is rounding into FORM
Soon Montana will ask admission |
to the Union as q sovereign State.
At present, nominally, it is ruled
by Territorial Governor, Legisla-
lure and Courts, but actually by the |
"Vigilantcs,' secret tribunal of |
citizens, organized before civil laws
were framed, when robberies and
cold blooded murders were of daily |
occurrence. The highwaymcn were |
called "Road Agents" from their
assumed authority over the stage |
roads and stage companies, trans
cending that of the superintcndents
Coaches and private
eonveyances were stopped by 'Road
Agents" with cooked guns, COM
peiling passengers to hold up their
hands lest they should grasp weap- |
ons, while their persons and vehicle
were rifed. He who resisted was
killed on the spot. An immigrant,
who had shot grouse near the
road, ran TO pick it up, and found
that it had fallen upon the corpse
of one of these victims, lying among
the sage brush. In Virginia bar
Der shop, revolvers were drawn, one
man was shot dead and another
wounded; but such affairs were so
that the barber did not
even stop lathering bis patrons
face, nor did the patron leave bis
chair. After hundred homicides.
the Vigilantes organized, captured, /
tried and executed twenty-four of
the leading desperadoes, and ban