Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1876-01-27
Helena Montana, THURSDAY, January II, 1870

river below Fort Benton, it is navigable for
| light draught steamers most of the season.
Within q few years another shipping post for
Montana has been established at Carroll,
about three hundred miles by river below
| Fort Benton This point is about four hun
dred and Fifty miles above the mouth of the
| Yellowstone, and about eight hundred and
| fifty miles above Bismarck, at the present
! terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
| 1t is about two hundred and fifty miles by the
new wagon road from Helena to Carroll.
From Bismarck by the railroad route to the
| Yellowstone river at the mouth OF Glendlve
! creek. it is two hundred and five miles. From
| Glendiye creek to Powder river, about fifty
| miles From Powder river to mouth of Big
| Horn. about one hundred and sixty miles.
From Big Horn to mouth of Shields river,
about one hundred and thirty miles. From
Shields river to the "Yhree Forks" or mead
of Missouri river, about sixty-eight miles.
Making the entire railroad distance from Bis
marck to Three Forks, about six hundred
and thirteen miles On final location it
NAV be a few miles more or less. BY our
| railroad survey it is seventy miles from the
Three Forks to Helena. 1t will, therefore, be
about one thousand and siXty-three miles from
the ..Ihree Forks to the eastern terminus at
| Lake superior, and from Helena, about
eleven hundred and thirty-three miles From
| Helena to Kalama, forty miles below Port
lind. on the Columbia river, by our survey,
! it is lust eight hundred miles, and to Tacoma,
! the western terminus on Puget Sound, nine
hundred and five miles. These distances
serve to show where Montana is, with refer
| ence to the eastern and western water lines
| of the Continent
Montana is eminently a grazing region,
| and there can be no question that it is des-
tined, when favored with proper railroad
! facilities, to become the leading Territory of
! the Union in raising and shipping, eastward
| and westward, cattle, horses, and wool, and
mutton, not to be surpassed by any the world
| can produce.
! What it needs is a railroad, to place it in
connection with the other parts of the
; United States, that these products may be
nrotitably disposed of. But Montana is also
! q great mining region, perhaps the greateet
| that has ever yet been known in the world.
! Montana is one of the youngest of the Terri
tories only child of some ten or twelve
! wears croWth--yet she has sent out, Tor the
! benefit of the whole country, during that
! brief period, about one hundred millions of
| dollars from her mines She has not only
mines of gold and silver, but rich lodes Of
copper, beds of iron ore, and valuable coal
mines, all of which are awaiting the helping
| hand of capital for their profitable deYelop-
| ment. -...
| important elements OF our natlonal exlstence:
| This is largely owing to the immense size OF
our country and the remoteness of its various
! sections from each other. All the resources
| of brains and money have been put in requl-
| s;tion to reduce the cost and time Of carrying
the almost boundless productions OF our peo-
nle between distant districts. The proper
arrangement and manipulation OF more than
! three millions Of square miles OF national
| domain, so as to best accommodate its present
/! and future busy populations, is labor OF
craftsmanship, calling for the highest and
! hest trained judgments. 1t has become OBJ
| yious that the country must rely, for its de-
| velopment and for the efficient transaction OF
| it's already vast and growing business,
mainly upon railroads connecting the distant
| interior with its ocean front and its navigable
| water courses.
Montana is to be connected by railroads
| with the Pacific ocean in the west, and With
the Atlantic slope and its network of rail-
| roads, and its rivers and lakes, in the east.
| If Montana desires to become branch Ter
| ritory--a Cinderella among her sister Terri
,or,es-she can do SO by depending upon
| branch railroad, letting her out by the cir
cnitous route of the Union Pacific and Cen
| tral Pacific; but ii Montana is the great Ter
! ri1Orv it is claimed to be, and which l sim
cereiy believe it to be, it is certainly worthy
of q main trunk line running east and west
| through her territory.
! Lam not an opponent Of narrow-gauge
! railroads, for know that they are advantag-
eous in many places, and l am well satisfied
that they will prove to be particularly so Us
| branches and feeders to main lines in the
| Rocky Mountain country. am not an op-
| ponent Of the proposed narroW-gauge rum
| ming north and south over the passes inter-
! yening between the Union Pacific and hlon-
tana. If constructed. believe 1t will become
! useful feeder to the main line OF the North
ern Pacific. 1t will be more convenient and
! cheaper for those residing along its northern
! half, and even for others farther south, to
! make their outward connections via the
Northern Pacific, than by Ony other llne
J The people of Central Montana could not
! for a moment hesitate concerning the route
[ by which they should travel and through
which they would receive and ship their bus
mess Why should they go five hundred
miles south to Ogden, where they would be
over fifteen hundred miles FROM Chicago,
! when in less than eleven hundred miles they
, could ship BY rail to and from the head of
Lake Superior? Why should they go by rail
over the mountains to Ogden, five hundred
| miles, at considerable cost, On branch road.
when they could go direct on main line all
the way to Chicago, ct1 the Northern Pacific
Railroad, in about the same distance ana
| time that it now takes from Ogden, and at
less cost from Helena TO Chicago, direct, than
it now costs from Ogden to Chicago?
Montana wants a msin trunk line running
through or near the middle of her magnlh-
cent territory. as her railroad backbone: into
which may afterward be framed great nun,