The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1868-03-27

an elevation of from $3.50 feet 10 S.242
feet, for distance of 80 miles, a. taken
from the report Of the Secretary of the
interior. The greatest elevation being
at the Black Hills. S,242 feet; Rattle
snake Hills, 1872; and at DOdge's sum
nit, of the water shed, 7,l0S; and the
lowest point reached on this section is
at the crossing of the Medicine Bow riv-
cr, $3.50 feet; and vet this road viii be
finished and cars running Overit within
a very few months.
From Fort Benton the point to which
large numbers of steamers ascend the
Missouri every year with large numbers
Of passengers and heavy stocks Of mer-
chandise for the Rocky mountain dis
tlict) 90 the western line of Minnesota.
near Fort Abercrombie is 793 miles
This part of the route passes over roll
ling prairie country, near the Missouri
crossing number of small rivers. on
which Will be found a supply of timber
for the road, and passing through a
country susceptible Of supporting a large
population tine entire distance. From
the western boundary of Minnesota TO
Lake superior, - miles il "a very rich
agricultural country, already settled
wiz railroads running ina different d.
recdons at ell seasons of the year and
yet there is always more snow i'm win
Ter ia Minnesota and Eastern Dakota
7 than ON any other portion Of the route, /
I excepting about the SUBMITS of the f.
I ranges of the mOuntliHs crossed and at +
these places the route lies through hea- f.
Wy timber, So that the snow viii not .
/ drift.
From Cadotte'- Pass, which Is i'm lat- +
/ tIde II degrees, Is minutes. TO longitude .
( - degrees 10 minutes. on the head wa .
/ tiers OF the Jefferson fork there are no .
| less than seven weli-knOwn passes .
/ through the Rocky mountains. In fact (
/ tlle whole range Is 50 completely bro
ken down for two hundred and fifty
miles in length that the waters Of the
/ Columbia and Missouri, rising ON the
mountain spurs and very often beyond
each other are in some instances
brought down III bitches for mining
purposes-the waters Of the Missouri ov-
er to the Pacific slope, and those of the
Columbia 10 the Atintic slope.
In regard TO the climate Of this portion
of the Rocky mountains I have crossed
the summit at different places ON this
section in mid-Winter, both last winter
and the present one, on horseback and
in the stage, and so free from snow are
these passes from the effects of wind
currents coming from the great plains
of columbia and the Pacific ocean. that
time and I did not find the snow over
SIX inches deep or the 30-h day of De-
cemter The settlers and miners pass
back and forth over the mountains al
most every day during the winter. and
large herds of cattle and horses are win
tered on the Deer Lodge and Little
Blackfoot rivers Withinte ten miles the
summit of the Rocky mountains with
out nl0r7el of food being provided for
them.
know of one party who las TWO
hundred head and another has thirteen
hundred head Both have wintered
their cattle here for two seasons. and
have never put up any hay for them.
but leave them 70 Craze during the vim
termOnth~. And at Fort Benton, for
the last twenty-five years, there has not
been SNOW enough for the fur company
ID take their goods tO the different posts
on Slcd- in winter having 60 use carts
for that purpose.
have learned that this is no unusual
thing. In conversation with Victor,
head chief OF the Flathead nation, and
who IS now about seventy years of age,
and remmebors distinctly when Lewis
and Clark came through this country,
he stated that, since the memory Of the
Indian, they had passed through these
mountains. year after year through the
winter months often with their women
and children, with pack animals laden /
down with fIrs ami meat Other ludi-
ans and trappers have Joid me the :
same.
1t Is evident that this route Possesses
gr ater natural advantage than any 9th 5
err route across the continent in soil and 1
climate, capable OF sustaining animal {
life. from the fact that it was the route {
selected by Lewis and Clark ~ixty-threc
years ago TO cross to the Pacific ocean q
THEN information OF the country must. ?
of course have been obtained from I
mountaineers and Indians. who had {
been Ted into the country by the large :
numbers of game known % rove through {
these passes for ages. The scientific en-
giueer may find il policy to cut through i
some mountain spurs or tunnel some +
lofty SUBMITS but the great practical. G
paying routes viii be found to be those v
first marked out by the deer thousands f
of years ago ina passing from one we'll y
watercd and good grzing ground to an a
otner. And on Its track followed the y
Indian in the chase; next the trapper r
with his pack horse; after him the pio- [
neer with his wagon; and finally there y
follows over the very same general route e.
the greatest and highest achievement of d
science and civiliZatiOn-the iron horse Il
and lightning messenger Had it not a
been for the accidental discovery of II
gold in California this would undOubted- 4
~ have been the route first selected for n
the Pacific Railway. I
have been asked by persons here, a
% VIII the Rocky mountain district ev- a
er be settled ~ In reply, ! would say a
that on the first of last November 1851 @
| left Walla Walla on horseback alone fl
to 90 into the Rocky mountains on bust n
ness, passing through the eastern part q
Of Washington, the northern part of +.
Idaho, and travelling more than l,5OO n
miles in Montana, and pat upat house T
every night with good accommodations, II
and had grain for my horse in every in Il
stance. I.
Montana at this time has a population Fl
of % 600 souls and has towns OF from 81
3 900 to 5000 inhabitants, with fire-prOOf
buildings costing SO ,OO0, and stocks of j.
goods worth from Sl0O 600 to 500, 600; | n
and valleys producing 100000 bushels of n
wheat and public schools and churches; II
and its daily and weekly newspapers, | q
which would be a credit to any country, | t,
and yet all this Improvement and set q
Element has been made within three or
four years, and that, too, without the
prospect OF railroad, ana - -
none Of the aids and excitement which | O.
the starting and commencing of such =
an enterprise would be most certain TO l,
furnish. -
Another reason why the northern D
road should be built j. that it runs near 10 IL
the British possessions for 800 miles,
and would drain all that rich agricultu rC
raj region of the Red river and Saskat- te
Gilman country, east of the mountains, p
and all the rich gold mines on the kOO- L
tenay, the ThompsOn's, and the Fra n
zier rivers, on the west, and lying IT
north of the 18th parallel. Fl
The revenue of our Government from 81
this source alone would be very great \
indeed anda road would then not be a
attempted to be built by England, and 81
the whole country would soon become C,
so thoroughly AmercaniZed las already r.
more than half the miners of that b
are Americans that they would a
in a short time be asking for annexation I,
to the United States, and the time that n
our population would need more terrific e
ny, the British Possessions would be- r
come ours without conquest, and al n
most without purchase. o
Here l would just add that petition P
has already been circulated in British ?
Columbia to the home Government | Il