Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-11-14
THE GREAT NORTHWEST.
Notes Made on Trip Over the
Northern Pacific r. r.

Northern Pacific r. r.
Taking good map of the line anc
retracipg cur course, got from mem
ory a tolerably complete panorama o
this transcontirental belt, as seen from
the car window Let me try to pre-
sent the Northern Pacific in brief; and
remember, if you please, that the pre-
vailng color in the picture is brown
not green.
Minnesota Lakes, forests, farm
houses, New England thrift. and q
quick succession of Villages; toward
the western border the level bottom ot
The Red River basin.
Crossing the Fargo in Dakota, the
other slope of the Red River valley,
towns of yesterday bright at night with
the electric light, miles of gigantic
prairie farms cultivated by armies OF
men with steam engines; then an un-
dulating prairie, with smaller farms
and fourishing little towns, to Bis
mark and the Missouri River.
Across western Dakota, from the
Missouri to the Little Missouri, max
ed, broken, brown prairie, with buttes;
few water courses, no trees, few settle
ments. The experiment of wheat
raising is in progress here and there,
as at Dickinson and at Richardton;
| practically all of western Dakota is wild
erness still Everywhere bunch grass
which cures into hay as it stands.
Good grazing land; ranches north and
south of the line Under the surface
of the prairie an inexhaustible supply
of imperfect coal.
At the Montana border, the social
ed Bad Lands, in which Nature, gone
crazy, has produced vast agglomera-
ton of fantastic hills of vividly colored
ash and burnt clay-a landscape which
seems to the new conner as unearthly
as if piece of the moon had dropped
upon this spot
Nearly four hundred miles along the
valley of the Yellowstone, close all the
time to the clear river with its islands
and fringes of cottonwood, and shut in
on either side by the cliff edges or ter
raced slopes of the uplands beyond.
Cattle and horses in great herds all
along the line Here and there, in
fant cities which have come to stay.
The scenery of the Yellowstone valley
is pleasing in all respects save that of
color; in the early summer it must be
charming.
All of Dakota, as seen from the rail-
road, is prairie; all of Montan is noun
tain, valley, and canon. The landscape.
in each Territory is alike destitute of
green, The eye becomes accustomed
to the prevailing russet, but it does not
cease to long for the living hue.
At Livingstone we come to the Belt
range, the first spur of the Rocky
Mountains, Snow peaks appear over
the foot hills The road climbs the
range, passing the summit at the alti-
tude of Mount Washington, and des-
cends through a ine canon to Boze-
man and the Gallatin valley, one of
the garden places of the continent
Up the Yellowstone the general
course of the railroad has been south of
west. After crossing the Belt range it
makes north latitude fast. With the
Belt range on the right hand, and the
mountains of the Main Divide on the
left, we run up the Missouri valley to
Helena, between hills that look as il
they had been tufted by an upholsterer.
This valley, too, is charming in every
respect but that of color. We cross the
Missouri agaiu. 1900 miles above the
point where we passed it at Bismark.
Beyond Helena another climb over
the Rockies. The mountain scenery
is on the whole disappointing. The
eastern front of the main divide is bold
and rugged, but not particularly i'm
posing The scenery on the western
slope, as the road descends from the
Mullan Pass, is hilly rather than
mountainous.
In few miles we have passed from
the waters of the Missouri system,
| flowing to the Gulf of Mexico, to those
of the Columbia, and the streams that
are now followed for nearly thousand
miles are of the color of pale green
quartz, and they rush to the Pacific.
The Bitter Root, Clark's Fork, Snake
River, and the main stream of the
Columbia itself seem to have sucked
the green out of the country which
| they drain.
The extreme northwest Of Montana
and the little strip of Idaho crossed by
the railroad is region of picturesque
scenery, great gorges, mountains, rush
ing streams, and tall forests. Skirting
the beautiful Pend d'Oreille lake, the
road turns southwark again into Wash
ington, and cuts the corner Of that Ter
ritory through 200 miles Of sage brush
and sand, dismal beyond description to
the eye, but which will speedily be de-
veloped into one of the richest winter
wheat regions on the continert.
At the Oregon line we join the main
stream of the Columbia, a ID accom-
pany to Portland and the Pacific a
river which is nobler than tie Hudson
and finer than the Rhine.
Portland, with 10000 people, is al
ready laid cut to accommodate a pop
ulation as large as that Of Paris. Spec
ulation in real estate has carried prices
to extraordinary figures. If .-e town
was ten times bigger than it is, the
value put on land in desirable or pros
pectively desirable quarters could hard
ly be higher For example the owner
of a corner lot 80 by 100 feet said that
he had recently refused $40, 900 for the
property His lot is away from the
present line of business improvements
and is occupied by cheap two-story