The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-05-11
West SIDE moan.

ually ascending plane, a leading place must
be awarded to good roads. From the forest
trail along which the pioneer settler makes
his way, to the railroad with double track and
steel rails-civilization's highway road of
one kind or another is the first prerequisite of
every stage of development, from the I'M
claimed wilderness as it existed prior to the
opening of the trail, to the complex civiliza-
ton whose herald is the locomotive. So close
indeed, is this connection existing between
the stage of civilization at which a country
has arrived and the state of its roads that the
latter is often cited as all index of the former.
Thus, the United States with more miles of
railroad than any other country in the world
in proportion to its population, is frequently
cited as an example of modern %enlighten-
ment and enterprise, while Mexico. where
the mountain roads are in great part not yet
even opened for wheeled vehicles, is NEIL
toned as an illustration of medieval ~inaction
and retrogression.
But however much our national vanity
may be pleased by any comparison in which
the aggregate length of a country's railway
lines is the criterion by which its civilization
is to be measured; we shall have very little
occasion to feel flattered in any such compar-
ison in which the country road is taken as the
standard of measurement. In the matter OF
road-makins our progress is far from regular.
We almost always jump to the utmost goal,
leaving untouched the middle territory which
we ought to have improved in passing over it.
We make wonderful improvements in rail-
road building, but when we take the country
road and compare it with those fine military
roads along which at the first note of danger
the Roman legions could travel from the cap.
ital to the most distant province of the EN-
pire, We begin to understand that our progress
in the past 1900 years has been a mastery
advance backwards in the matter of road
building.
Montana has a road-the Mullan-whose
condition is of the utmost importance to the
whole Territory, but more especially to the
West Side. Starting from Fort Benton, the
Mullan road stretches westward to Walla
Walla, in Washington Territory, passing clear
through Montana on its way. In Eastern
Montana it t~rav-rses a country comparatively
fiat and open, and consequently no great diff
iculties are to be encountered in travelling
over that portion of 1t. 1t is only when we
reach the mountainous districts of the West
that our troubles begin. For these
troubles Mullan must not be blamed too Sc
verely. We must remember that he surveyed
his road long before the discovery of the pre-
cio,,e mota1S in tboSa Mountains on1 D,cn
quently when the requirements of the road,
according to his idea of them, were quite
different from what they ultimately proved to
be-. Mullan saw in Montana, or in the noun
famous region now bearing that name, a
country of rolling hills, of magnificent valleys
and pelucid streams. The hills were the llone
Of the blue grouse and of the graceful black
tail deer; over the valleys loamed elk aud
buffalo in thousands, while the sparkling
streams seemed fairly alive with fish. To add
to its charm, this sylvan paradise was invested
with an atmosphere so transparent as to be
the cause of continual annoyance to the new
corners, owing to the impossibjlity of correct
~ estimating distances; while not a fly OF
gnat or poisonous reptile of any kind
was presen. to disturb the rest of the
traveller. Such a country, thought Mullan,
will surely be the great health resort of the
future, and with this idea he laid out his
road. The road was to be Travelled only by
retired editors and other bloated capitalists
vii ,se journeys over it were to bs made in
pursuit of the health they had lost while &C
quiring their ill-Sotten gains. Now hill
climbing Is a most healthy exercise, conse-
quently a road prepared for the healtn-seekers
must climb as many hills as possible, so
whenever Mullan saw a hill he struck out for
it, never by any accident locating his road
OH level ground when a steep hill was at
hand.
We need scarcely say that such a road fails
to meet the requirements Of the Missoula
county of to-day. The modern Missouliau
does not travel for his health. He is not
compelled to climb hills for the sake of his
digestion. The ostrich is sometimes men-
toned as the possessor OF an excellent Iiges-
ton. He can live sumptuously on glass
bottles, grow fat on door knobs. Some have
even said that lie could "get away with the
hash of a Montana second class boarding
house, and that lie could board for a month
at such an establishment without moulting
his pin feathers through dyspepsia; but per-
SONS making such assertions are careless OF
their reputation for veracity. and their state
n.ents are to be accepted with great caution.
Grant, though, that lie is capable of the latter
achievement and for all that your ostrich is
no where compared with the Missoulian of
to-day in the matter of digestion. Instead OF
following his usual inana policy of hiding his
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