The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1883-09-12
Last Spike Ceremonies.
Special 10 the River Press.
HELENA. September 10.

Special 10 the River Press.
HELENA, September 10.
About $50 persons who had received
invitations to attend the celebration of
the completion of the Northern Pacific
railroad were on hand at the Helena
depot at o'clock on the morning Of the
| Sth of September, awaiting the depar-
| ture of the special train to take them
| over the mountains. The party was
| composed of the leading citizens Of the
Yellowstone towns, Bozeman and Hell
ena, and a few from the outskirts, in
Guiding the Fort Benton delegation and
the representative Of the RIVER PRESS
| 1t was all of o'clock before the train
| pulled out, and a twenty minutes run
over smooth road brought us to the
| foot OF the range. Here we fou:id one
train getting ready to ascend the grade,
and had to wait until it got sufficient
distance ahead before we started The
climb up the mountain on the overhead
line is one of great interest. Just ahead
of us was the train above referred to,
and as the road is of necessity very
winding one, at some points stone
could almost have been thrown from
one train to the other across a deep ra-
vine while still further up the hill we
could now and then catch a glimpse
through the trees of another train and
hear the puff of the laboring locomotive
that drew it. AT the summit stop was
made to allow the trains in front to get
far enough ahead before the descent be-
gan, and then down the mountain we
sped and in few moments were rum
ming on the leyel again, with the coal
mines of Carbon Moor, near the old
Blackfoot stage road, three-quarters Of
mile to the right. by the way, we un-
derstand that L. c. Power has an inter-
est in these mines.) Soon we were run
aing along near the banks of the Little
Blackfoot, through the canyon, and to
the junction of the Utah & Northern
and n. p. railroads, where guests from
Butte and Deer Lodge were taken on,
and then in a few minutes reached our
destination. The mouth of Indcpen-
dence gulch, at it's junction with the
Hellgate, in the county Of Deer Lodge
selected by President Willard to lay the
last rail and drive the golden spike. It
is commonplace LOCATION to any one
at all familiar with the Rocky noun
tains, and may be described as being
willow and cottonwood covered flat en-
closed by nothing but grass covered
hills. Between side track and the un-
finished 1000 yards of the main line
platform had been laid some 200 yards
in length with the intermediate space
planked over some 500 feet in length by
200 in width, and pavilion $50 by so
feet, with comfortable benches to seat
the visitors On each side Of the en-
closed square stood two pumps made of
evergreens. The pavilion was festoon-
ed with evergreens and bunting, with
flags dropping from each end, the one
from the center seeming the creature of
magic.
The day dawned cloudy and with
rain, rendering vague and indistinct
hill and valley, but as the sun adj
vanced, mist and smoke and clouds
cleared away. and at 8 o'clock, as if in
happy approval of the designs of man,
the sun shone out brightly, to be reflect
ed from the headlight and FURNISHED
machinery of the engine drawing the
Portland train which then arrived. Ten
minutes after the arrival of this train
came the regular passenger, and at 10
o'clock the arrival of President Willard Is
train created hurrah of yells mingled
with the roar of the cannon and the /
martial music Of the band. At 1915 the
train bearing Gen. Grant arrived upon
the scene, followed by other trains, the
last to reach its destination being the
one assigned to the visitors from Helena,
its passengers swelling the assembly to
total of $500 or 1000 people. Following
our arrival came the ceremonies of the
day, which were opened with an adj
dress from President Willard, in which
he spoke Of the expedition of Lewis