The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1882-10-06
THE NEW. NORTHWEST: DEE
the NEW ERA

An engine aud train OF cars entered Deer
Lodge for the first time on Tuesday, Octo.
Der 3, 1892. This marks new era in the
history Of the town. Whether FOR good or
for i'll remains 10 be seen. We have had
plenty of croakings; plenty Of admonitions
against railroads; plenty Of prophecies that a
railroad will "kill the town." etc., ETC., etc,
III all the lugnbriou. variations. Weli,-if
the town has TO die il were better TO be vig-
orousiy killed by one Of the vital energies of
the nineteenth century than TO exhaust of
dry rot with nothing but OK trains TO remove
the remains and nothing but mud wagons 10
carry the news of the demise. But we do
not take so doleful view. Railroads are
the means Of inland traffic and travel the in
telligence of this century has developed.
That their operation has In instances injured
towns is true. That they have built up q
hundred where one has gone down, is equal.
ly true. There have dozens Of Montana
towns died and been obliterated from the
face of the earth and nearly from the mem:
DRY of man within the past twenty years
when there was no railroad to lay the charge
to The railroads have not killed any town
yet. In fact, except Silver Bow and Butte,
Deer Lodge Is the first Of the old Montana
towns railroad has reached. In the mean
time they have made and built up where be-
fore was a desert, several more important
business towns than any We have had for ten
years, except Helena and Butte. Montana
is not like an old, thickly settled, fully occu.
pied country, with every acre under tribute
to industry and With well established cen
tiers of trade. The few thousand people who
have occupied this empire of territory are as
nothing to what IL Is destined TO support.
We have taken up a few ranches; worked
out few placer claims; lived an easy, indo-
lent, isolated, hundred percent. life and
been content. We have been on the skir-
mish line, as it were, foraging on a rich
country. With the exhaustion Of the placels
came the necessity for the reserves To come
up. We felt II. The population depleted
and there were hard times. Then began the
development of quartz lodes and reduction
Of the ores. That interest demanded quick
and cheap transit to compete with like in
terests elsewhere. That interest encouraged
and will maintain agriculture and manufac-
lures. The railroads are here, or coming, TO
encourage aud maintain mining, and each
responds to the other in building up pros.
porous and populous community. There is
no town reached by railroad in Montana
that will be injured by it. In the case Of
Deer Lodge, we will have two years hence
double the population we have now; n, where
is one cultivated farm aud home there will
be three; where is one industry there will be
half dozen; and homes, business houses,
and manufactures will increase proportion.
ately. The price Of labor will be reduced ;
so too will be the cost Of living. One will
compensate the other. Dealers will not make
so great per cent. on each dollars worth
sold, but they will sell more dollars worth.
The system of business will change. A more
frugal, closer dealing people will come
among us and people will buy where they
can get the most goods for a dollar II will
be people with less extravagant habits thar
we old timers have, and unless we are alive
to the circumstances, manage as they man.
age, and do business as they do, or have a
competence, we will get left. This will he
the hardest lesson we will have TO learn In
the new era. But that learned, and we have
noticed generally that the old timers do ul.
II Iaa ha ptau lie wi na md
we will find our condition bettered, while
amid populous, prosperous, and growing
community, with facilities for rapid and
comfortable travel; with quick transporta.
ton of goods and cash business, and with a
feeling that we are touching elbows with al
the world, we will date the better history OF
our town from the day the railroad entered
it. a ".''" -
We make this prediction not for next week
or next mouth; perhaps not for the next
year. There will be rival towns and ru
mors of towns and uncertainty of mind
But all the time Deer Lodge will be growing
steadily. Its locality is good, it has the adj
vantage Of established institutions, ofbeauty,
health, and permanency, and aside from its
agricultural surroundings it has southeast OF
1t an extensive mineral belt that is natural.
ly tributary to 1t and which within two years
will develop into Importance. We believe
| this the dawn of better and greater day
and two years hence, if we still write for the
press, will refer to this prediction Of the in
fuence of railroads on Deer Lodge and con-
fess error of judgment or take pleasure in
saying az told you So" sa .@f .ai0|. 7r