The Billings herald. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1882-1885, 1883-09-15
THE SPEECHES..
Verbatim Report Of What Was Said BY
Billings, Evarts, Grant and Willard
at Billings.

sketch Of speeches made by some of thu
distinguished guests. Now, through the
courtesy Of Mr.. Kilner, secretary to Mr.
Billings, we are enabled to publish, in full
the speeches of Msssrs. Billings, Willard,
Evarts, and Gen. Grant
The following is the speech delivered by
the Hon. Frederick Billings, from the
balcony of the Headquarters hotel:
| "LANEs AND GENTLEMEN: suppose you
consider me the father of this town, but a
father is supposed to know something of
| the child before it is born, ana l knew
nothing Of this town before its birth. 30
can't be its father. Nor am its Godfather
for Godfather is supposed to be present
at the christening and had nothing to do
with the naming of this town; and more
over, far from being its owner have un-
luckily never possessed lot in the place.
Being neither father godfather, nor owner
l suppose ain what the lawyers would
call an accessory after the fact; and az this
is the great town of this great valley,
called Clarke's Fork Bottom, j suppose
this town may be looked upon as the bot
ton, fact of this region. And why should
it not be. Here is valley 80 or 40 miles
long and four or five miles wide, of aston
ishing richness, needing only irrigation to
produce every hing that man needs in most
marvellous quantities, and the ditch il
nearly done which is to irrigate this valley
and make it SO productive, that really the
water should have been let in to this city
to-day. Then again right over yender q
few miles distant, are the Bnll mountains,
ct was Sitting Bull yesterday at bismarck,
to-day it is the Bull mountains). There il
the richest deposit Of coal in the i..terior Of
the continent, from which the Northern
Pacific railroad and all this region are to
draw their fuel supply. And there is not
only, but there are deposits of the finest
minerals to the north and to the south, and
I am told that there is a train just coming
in yonder, of bullion from the mines to the
north near Fort Maginnis.
with the immense grazing regions all
round, from which tho cattle for shipment
mHst come to this point; the agricultural
resources, the rich mineral deposits, and
the probability of the Fort Benton road as
well as the coal road starting from here, the
place has unquestionably all the elements
for great material prosperity.
II feel honored by laying my name given
to it, and proud OF its prosperity. The
people of the Northern Pacific, now that
their road is completed are engaging in
some other things. Yesterday for instance
Dakota, at Bismarck. am in hopes when
We come out year or two later we may
lay the corner stone Of the capitol of this
great territory right here at Billings.
know of no spot so central and with 80
many elements in its favor, and 50 dessrv-
ing to be the capital of Montana az this
very town.
whether it il to be the capital or not
this town will always have sny friendship,
and shall be glad to do anything in my
power for its prosperity.
Should it happen to he the capital my
friend Mr. Evarts, of New York, has prom
ised to come out and deliver the address at
the corner stone; and now have the pleas
urs Of introducing him to you"
Mr. Evarts came forward and said:
"LADIEs AND GENTLEMAS:-Hy friend Mr..
Billings and ! are near nsirhbors in our
sunmar homes, il the little State Of Yer
mont. in The valley of tiic little river Con
n.cticut We are there, relatively to the
dimensions wh;ch prevail in that region,
considerable men in ctr way; but us we
have been coming out here, cicr.thna has
been growing bisssr, und wo have hssn
gro wing smaller ans smaller. both in our
own sstecln and unfortunately in the Is
tecn of the pso;,ls we meet. (No.)
We are s.ti.iia.! wi,h the present that
We see here. | netice that tho orators are
apt 10 please the present au!iences along
the road by telling them of their future; /;
but ANYBODY can have Il futures and any
body can talk about the future i'll any
terms that they please. My own judgment
il that your present is the greatest mani
fsstation Of new settlements that the world
has ever seen, You are here with all the
freedom and all the amplitude Of owner
ship that princes might envy, and in your
remote position there is not = trade or fact
Of civilization that II not present with you,
and in your fortunate day and generation
are able to feel for yourselves and to sxem-
plify to the world the difference between
the pioneer training of thousands who
have gone in advance and drawn civiliza-
ton and internal Improvements slowly
after them, and those who have been pre-
ceeded by great walks Of internal improve
ment like this Northern Pacific Railroad
that has drawn wave of civilization never
parted for an instant from the ocean
which it has left
As the train was about to start, Mr..
Billings addressed the citizens from the
platfor,a of his car As follows:
when | said few words to you from
the balcony, l was not aware what an in'-
preston this town and las exhibits had
made upon the gentlemen travelling on this
train. Since then l have had the pleasure
of going through tha cars, and desire be-
fore we leave to say that there is but one
ilnprcs sion--tllat Of unqualified admira-
ton OF the location of Billings, and the
preparatiens which the citizens have made
to show what can be raised here: and
everyone expresses sincere hope that
your highest expectations with reference
to your improvement and prosperity will
all be realized.
ssFor myself, honored by having the
town named after me. you can be sure that
l shall always be its friend in the iuture as
| have been in the past. | fully expect
that this season the road will be con-