Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-09-11
NEAR THE JUNCTION.
WHAT THE VILLARD PARTY saw 1T
GRAY CLIFF IN MONTANA.
A Sight that Interested the Foreign Visi-
tors-Indians and Cowboys in JuxtapOsi-
tion-ExceIlent Displays of the Products
of the Country.
Especial Correspondence of.the Globe.l

two first sections of Wizards party reach
ed Billings, Montana, at about 10 o'clock
a. m. on Thursday the 9th instant, the
third and fourth sections, owing to slight
accident, to the third section, being de-
tanned several hours.
Billings was attired with most elaborate
decorations. A band of military music
occupied the grand stand at the depot no.
| tel and greeted the party with national
airs. A great crowd was gathered at the
depot. Near by had been erected small
summer house, of unique character, be-
ing composed entirely of sheaves of wheat
aDd oats, whose appearance indicated
great fertility of soil. A large stand, with
some remarkably fine Montana vegetables
and several specimens of beef of more
than usual excellence, attracted much at
tention. A large piece of coal, weighing
several hundred pounds, was also exhibit
ed. It had been mined in the Bull noun
tains, about forty miles distant from Bill
ings.
The party after having examined the
specimens presented were driven in car
riages about town, and upon their return,
gathered about the grand stand, where, In
response to urgent calls, Mr.. friedrich Bill
ings, the former president of the road and
the gentleman after whom the town was
named, appeared and made the following
address:
| Ladies and Gentlemen: The people
here seem to think that am the father of
this town; but a father usually knows
something about his children, before they
are born, and knew nothing about this
vi hafo
think, then, that am its God father; but
I wasn't even here when it was christened.
Then you must think own the town; but,
unluckily, l never had lot in it in my
life. I was simply accessory after the
fact; and, as this town is the great place
in this beautiful tract of land called
'Clark's Bottom" am inclined to think it
is to be the 'bottom fact" of all this ter
ritory! Applause. And why shouldn't
it be? With this magnificent
valley here, with the ditch now completed
30 that the land can be irrigated and made
capable of producing hundred bushels of
oats to the acre, and everything else that
anybody can want, with those great Bull
mountains over there Git was Sitting Bull
yesterday-it is Bull mountains
to-day with those Bull noun
tains over there, which are going to sup
ply all this region with coal, with these
immense cattle ranges about here, why
shouldn't it be the great region of Mon
tanaF Applause.[
Now, we Northern Pacific people, having
completed the Northern Pacific road, have
gone into another business. Yesterday
we laid the corner stone of the capitol
building of Dakota; and I am in hopes
that when we come out year or two later
we may lay the corner stone of the capitol
building of Montana here! Applause.
And if we do, whether I am here or not,
you will always have my friendship and
good wishes, for the people here are pee-
pie of the greatest devotion to good
things; the town is settling up and you
are going to have a great place here whether
it ls the capital or not. But, if you do
have the capitol here, we'll come out, when
the corner stone is laid, and the Hon.
William M. Evarts will come too, and he
will make speech to you. Applause and
cries of ''Evarts, Evartsw
Thereupon, Mr.. Evarts came forward
and said:
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr.. Bill
lings and myself have the felicity to be
nei9hbors in the little eastern state of
Vermont, in the pleasant valley of the
Connecticut. We are there, relatively to
to dimensions that prevail in that region,
considerable men, Ito Mr.. Billings), are
we not?
Mr.. Billings: One of us is! Laughter.
Mr.. Evarts: "But, when we get out here,
and aswe have been going on for days,
everything has been growing bigger and
bigger, and we have been growing smaller
and smaller, both in our own esteem and,
(unluckily), in the esteem of the people
we meet wherever we go! Laughter and
applause, and cries of 'No, Mop But as
for you, we are satisfied with the presence
we see here. 1 notice that the orators are
apt to please present audiences along the
road by telling them of their future; but,
anybody can have future, and anybody
can talk about the future in any terms
that they please. My own Judgment is
that your present is the greatest NANTES
tation of new settlements that the world
has ever seen! Applause You are here
with all the freedom and all the amplitude
of ownership, that princes might envy; but
in your remote position there is not one
trade or fact of civilization that is not
present with you; and you, in your fortu-
nate day and generation, are able to feel
for yourselves, and to exemplify to the
world the difference between the pioneer
training of thousands who have gone in
advance, and drawn civilization and inter-
nal improvement slowly after them and
those who have been preceded by great
works of internal improvement, like this
Northern Pacific railroad, that has drawn
a wave of civilization, never parted for an
instant from the ocean which it has left!
App!ause.
Just as the first and second sections
were about leaving Billings, a bullion train
from the mountains arrived, and became
an object of much interest. 1t consisted
of twelve large wagons, drawn by oxen,
and with large armed escort. The train
contained 10000 pounds of silver bullion,
taken from the mines some $50 miles dis
tant. An opportunity was given the visi-
tors to inspect some of this silver.
From Billings the ride was through a
most interesting section of the country. 1t
appeared as though the wild lands of the
west had at last been reached. Looking
from the train one could see prairie dogs
seated upon their mounds, while every
here and there would be found corraled,
emigrant wagons, which evidenced that the
old way of travelling westward had not yet
fully been done away with by the iron horse.
Occasionally a group of COW boys would be