The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-04-19
LETTERS FROM MONTANA,

eastern friends a feeling OF admiration, won
der or astonishment, they skip or ignore the
truth and draw upon their imagination for
material. This is a mild way Of presenting
these cases. Some people would say these
scribblers lie. Not long since a friend a tPony
sent us the printed copy of a letter written by
some one at Walkcrville, and by him sent to
a paper in Maryland, in which it appeared,
The letter contained so many statements at
variance with the truth That we felt called
upon to notice them. Such letters may do
the country much harm abroad, while they
cannot possibly do the writers any good.
Sooner or later the fact becomes known to
the eastern public that the writers of these
senseiess letters have grossly misrepresented
the country, and the writers will have moth
ing to show for their pains but til. contempt Of
their %neighbors and the condemnation of the
public ."2s.fa 7r. .....r w
We have been led to these remarks by re-
ceiving a copy of another one of these letters
nth the request to "notice it, This we do
more readily from the fact that it was written
at Basin City, a few miles only from Butte,
aud besides containing some glaring misstate-
ments, u~njustly reflects upon an honest, in
dustrious and worthy class Of our citizens.
The letter is addressed, ''To the Editor of the
Maritime Farmer" published at Frederic
ton, Canada, dated at Basin City, jefferson
county, NJ. T., Feb. It'll, 1881, and signed II.
&. Nj. The writer sets out with the remark
that "the winter with us up to January Goth,
was as severe as l ever felt in New Bruins
. wick" Possibly this may be true, but he
Immediately adds that, "since that time it
has rained, and we have been blessed with
sunshine, and now the hillsides are green,
and as a matter of course the stock that lived
are again doing nicely" Again this may be
true, but how does the statement tally with
+! what follows. Says the truthful H. e. NJ,
.'Out of one band of sheep that was purchased
in California last season, (and it numbers
$1,000 head9, and was driven through to this
territory, only 700 sheep are now alive, and
they are being fed on the Rea Beneatha
River at Fort Benton. Over IS per cent. of
the stock in Montana has persisted so far this
winter" II. G. NJ, it appears, does not
possess the faculty for telling a plausible lie.
He makes the '.hillsides green at Basin
City, situated near the summit of the Rocky
mountains, early in February, and has sheep
dying of starvation by the tens of thousands
on a mythical river near Fort Benton, which
is at least three thousand feet less elevation
above the sea level. If the 'hillsides were
rVoont: OF Postn in Eabrpor,r flara oo,Il
have been no winter to think of in the vicin-
ity of Benton. For the information of our
readers in Canada, we would state that ac-
cordlng to the report Of the Auditor for the
year ending December 31st, 1880, Montana
had 5S7,34f head of stock. A loss of Is per
cent. would leave the territory with only
146,S3S head. 1t is safe to say that Meagher
county alone has that number grazing upon
her hills.
Il. G.. NJ. having exhausted his knowledge
of the stock question, leaves it and proceeds
to let Canada know where he is, what he is
doing and the market price of a few articles
at Basin. He says 81 am now in a new
mining camp that was discovered last June
in the mercantile business, and perhaps some
Of my prices would be interesting to YOU"
Thinking they would, he sets them up after
the following style: 'Flour is worth $3.50
per Fifty lbs. Eggs, $3.50 per doz., butter 81
per H., potatoes Z cts. per h., overalls s. per
pair, common flannel shirts SIS per pair, sugar
80 cts. per h., whisky IS per gall, or so cts.
glass;" With these heroic prices for the above
named common articles it was hardly neces-
sary for the gentleman to add that, 81 am sat
istied l sell more in one day and handle more
money than any five establishments in Fred
ricton." Maybe he does, but it must be re-
membered that flour is not ST. per hundred,
and whisky so cents q glass At Fredrictsn.
Neither are they at Basin nor anywhere else
in Montana. But Fl. G.. NJ. is supposed to be
telling gospel truths now, and We will not in
terrupt him. He goes on to say: "As 1 said,
this place was discovered In June at that
time there was not a house within fifteen
miles Of this place, nov we have a nice town
about g large as what used to he called
Coopertown, with about 5000 inhabitants,
chiefly prospectors and miners, and only five
women in the camp" We can imagine the
tears of sympathy that we're shed in the Old
Dominion when its warm hearted people read
that there were 5000 inhabitants at Basin city
and only five women in the camp, and
whisky so cts. a glass. II whisky wer. cheap
or those 5000 inhabitants could drown their
sense..of Loneliness in the1aowing bowl, but at
so cts. . glass the boon is denied them. They
can't afford it when -four is SIT q hundred.
Being impressed with the importance Of in
forming his Canada friends in regard to ev-
erything about Montana, II. G. N. occupies
considerable space in the columns Of the
Farmer in ventilating our agricultural re-
sources. He saws. HMontana is not an acri.