New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-09-24
MINING IN MONTANA.
FROM CANVAS CREEK TO HELENA.

HELENA. Mont, Aug 3d. said in my last letter
that the present terminus of the Utah and Northern
Railroad is in the midst of a lava desert OF course
there is a town there aud bustling thriving place
1t is. The warehouses of the company and of the
freight agencies filled with goods of every kind
waiting for wagon transportation to the north.
There are mining and agricultural machinery dry
goods, groceries, hardware, carriages, furniture,
musical instruments-in short. every article of
comfort or luxury which we-to-do population re-
qures except grain, vegetables and meats.
! saw there especially enormous quantities
of GAINED goods Of every description, for
Montana. like every OTHER mining country
/ have seen, depends upon the packing
houses of the East and of California for almost all
the fruits and large part of the fish and vegetables
that are consumed IN the Territory. few apples
and come berries are now raised IN the Bitter Root
Valley and around Helena, but in such small guam
titles that they still command enormous prices.
Fair Winter apples are worth twenty-five cents
pound on the treos. near Missoula and retail in
Helena for about twice that price. presume that
a majority OF the children born in Montana have
never tasted fresh fruit and hardly know what ii Is
like. Alittlc boy in one of the Helena sunday
schools was asked recently By his teacher why our
first parents were driven from the Garden of Eden,
and he replied very innocently, because they
ate up all of the Lords canned fruit"
The hotels at Camas Creek do a thriving business
The sides and ends of these establishments are
made of boards and the roofs and partitions OF CLOTH
Each one has its runners who bc>et the traveller as
he alights from the train, seize his baggage, and
carry him away almost against his will 10 one or
the other OF these places with higlsounding names
The meals are Indifferent but the prices are not ex-
brilliant. 4 suggestive sign IN the barToom Of
each announces that No beds are considered en-
gagged until paid for" Aside from the freight-houses
and hotels, the town consists of gin-ms, corrals.
dance and gambling-hOuses. and a few stores III
winch dry goods aud groceries, drugs and tobacco
are sold. The permanent residents are the ren who
keep these places and railroad employees, but the
town is always full of mule-skinners and bull
whackers whose wagOn-trainS are loading AT the
stations, and passengers bound for Montana some
times have to lie there twenty-four hours be-
lore they can get a seat in the stagccoach. Those
are red-ettcr days with the thrifty publlcans. The
whole surrounding country is a dreary waste of lava
rock sand and sage-brush, without spear of grass
anywhere to be seen. This town, now so busy, VIII
disappear in few weeks and The Dve," IN the
foothills of the mountains thirty miles north, VIII
for a time be the great trans-shpping point. AL
ready the adyance-guard have settled at the new
terminus, and their camp-fres threw htul light
upon tie tents and slab-houSes already erected as
we passed the place in the early evening.
II took an hour 10 load the Montana stage-coach
at the terminus. The mail alone weighed about
twelve hundred pounds, and besides this there was
an enormous amount of express matter and BAG
gage which filed the boots and WAS piled up inside
The coaches used on all these northern routes are
what are technically known as "mud-wagons"
They differ from a Concord coach in having can
vas instead of wooden top. and curtains on the
sides instead of doors. They are lighter than
Concord coach, but carry eleven passengers when
fully load,d-nine inside and two on the seat with
tine driver. The mud-wagous are drawn by four or
six horses according to the condition of the road.
When the load is small the stage company generally
sends through "jcrky," which IS shaped like n
inud-wagon but accommodates only four passcn-
gers inside and one on the outside. The teams on
all the stage lines on which / have travelled are
good-large American horses, well fed and
,,roomed The. DAYS of the broncho and
kiyus are gone, although many OF the
old drivers sigh for the time when the ordinary gait
of a stage team was "A run and the stock used was
SO tonrh that il could not be injured. " ~ Hunt
lev, an old stage line proprietor Of this Territory.
although still young man, told me the other day
how he used TO run bis coaches to Fort Benton "A
dozen years ago. When boat was about to run
down the Missouri River and IA coach-load of pas
sengers had been obtained, lac went toa corral and
bought six raw kyuS ponies, when II generally
took n many as six to harness or 70 hold after
they were hitched up. When the driver was IN bis
place and had the reins well in hand, the ponies
would be let loose, all the men would shout and
vhip and the team would start of Oh the run start
would be kept at that pace as long as the ponies
could 20. The company attempted TO keep relays
of horses on the prairie but il frequently happened
that the driver could not catch them or that they
would be stolen by the indians, and then there was
nothing 10 do but to camp. lariat the ponies and
wait for them to feed and rest.
Leaving the present railroad terminus at noon,
the monotony of the journey is first broken about
sunset. when the foot Of the mountains IS reached
aud the coach the Pleasant Valley Pass. The
change in the scenery is almost magical. The hills
at first slope gently up from the road which winds
between them. their smooth sides being covered
with rich bunch-grass TO their very tops This Is
one of the peculiari;ies of much of the mountain
land of Montana. Many of the peaks are covered
with heavy timber, and some of them are as rugged
and rocky as the mountains OF Colorado but every
where not only are there beautiful valleys through
which flow sparkling streams. but many OF the
mountains themselves appear, when seen from
little distance, as though they had been artifcally
smoothed and rounded of, and afford the richest
kind of pasturage. even to their very SUBMITS.
The elevation of the pass Is not very gTeat-only
about q, 900 feet above the sea leve-but for some
reason which have never hearu eNpdiHeu' you
cannot 90 over the summit Of the Rocky Mountains,
even AT that low elevation, without feeling touch oil
Winter. The afternoon had been intensely hot and
had found my seat by the driver. even after had
removed my coat and vest, almost uncomfortable.
As we entered the mountains. about sunset. n re-
freshinrly cool breeze famed our faces, built grew
colder and colder until not only coat and vest, but
great coat and muller and gloves, pair of heavy
blankets and the great eathern coach apron would
hardly keep it out. Whenever tho coach stopped
during the night TO change horses. brisk run ana