The Dillon tribune. [volume] (Dillon, Mont.) 1881-1941, 1883-11-03
Wilds Of the Northern Pacific.

"A correspondent OF the Boston
Journal has this to say:
In the valley Of the Jocko river
.(whence these extraordinary names:,
lies the agency Of the Flathead 1n
tians. It is magnificent tract Of :.
1000 acres, (which the wickedw h;te
man has already laid his coyetous
eye upon. He can not understand.
he says, why each family of d;rtv
Indians should possess in fee simple
a tract of five thousand acres Of fer.
tile land, much of it well timbered
The Flatheads may be dirty, but thew
but they are energetic and decided.
and in Helena we were told that the
chief of the Nation has just informed
commission sent to him by the
great white father that he would nor
sell, and that he certainly had no in.
tention Of moving. He has doubtless
accepted the advice of the Jesuit
fathers, who virtually control the
Nation, and have managed to con.
vert most of the Indians to an out.
ward profession of the Catholic faith,
The village around the agency is a
picturesque collection of wigwams,
similar to those used by all the In.
dian tribes, and houses built of log,
and hewn timbers. The men have
good-natured faces, but clumsy, and
in some cases, hideous mouths, and
immense shock heads of coal black
hair. They ought to be happy, for
the United States government sup.
plies them, free Of cost, with thresh.
ing machines saw-mills, etc. They
have fine herds of ponies and cattle
and would be glad to own their
farming land Individually, but have
not yet got past the Indian policy Of
a community in the ownership Of
land-which the chiefs are exceed.
ingly 10th to change. We heard much
of the beauties of Flathead lake, a
great sheet of water twenty-five miles
long and six miles wide but had no
time to visit it. On this reservation,
and near the NISSAN of St. Ignatus,
are the famous Elizabeth and Alice
cascades-two of the most noted
w atcrfalls in America.
Some distance beyond the Flathead
village we entered upon what may
be called the "Forest Section" Of the
Northern Pacific railway line, and
this may certainly be accounted the
most picturesque and interesting por.
ton Of our journey. Here the road
has pierced dense wilderness. ANY
of our eastern friends who may have
had no opportunity to appreciate the
: exact meaning of the phraze ga new
country" should come out here. OF
natural majestic beauty there. is no
lack; river and plain and hill arc on
the same enormous scale to which
we have now become accustomed in
our ride through Dakota and east.
ern Montana. For nearly 200 miles
we have passed through prine,sl
pine and spruce forests, the home Of
wolves and bears, whose dominion
is by no means yet shaken. H.'her'
the muddy waters of the swiftly
flow ing Missoula joins with tn
leaping transparent flood of the PEN
d'Orielle, the mingled streams tax
the name of Clark's Fork of the &c
lumbia river. From this point +
Portland the Northern Pacific I'M
;. is fairly entitled to a rank among tn,
most remarkable in America
Clark's Fork is wild as Swiss tor
rent and wide as the Rhone at Lyons,
Here it forces its way around rocky
barriers, filling the deep valley with
its din of battling waters; here it
flows solemnly and serenely past
sloping banks fringed with pine; here
it waters a still Virgilian meadow,
rich with succulent grass and waving
willows. The track Of the iron way
seems lost in this vast tangled tract
in the northwest. One cannot imag.
inc that he is going anywhere, and
feels like giving himself up for lost
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