Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-01-04
THE COMING COUNTRY.
An Empire to be Founded in the North
west

An Empire to be Founded in the North
west.
Impressions of Two Months Winter
Trip Through the Way.off Fields
of the North.
[Denver Daily Times, Dec l3.
Its big country, isn't it p
Mr.. Robert E. Strahorn, who has just re-
turned from two months tour of the North
west smiled. 1t was complacent smile, not
unmixed with pity and perhaps little con-
tempt.
Big, do you say? Well, yes, l should
say it is rather large" Crossing his legs
comfortably and looking at the Times man
thoughtfully, he continued: 1.-THE drain
age of the Columbia river covers an area of
four hundred thousand square miles That
doesn't look very big, does it? No; it
doesn't convey very graphic idea Of the
extent of the Northwest. But you'll under
stand it better when you look in your atlas
and learn that it is larger than all of
New England, New York, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and
Iowa. That's about the size of the North
west; comprising Idaho, Montana, Oregon,
and Washington. There's enough room up
there for almost everybody, for the country
is more adapted to and is more susceptible
of close habitation than even thickly set
tied New England is. Why, if its valleys
were settled as those of France, they would
contain 100000 people, or as those of
England 5,OOO,OOO-about $4,000, 900 more
than we now have in all of the United
States. There is no limit to the greatness OF
the future which this country has the quail
ties to achieve. It has been two years since
made q tour of the Northwest. Did I see
any change? Yes; more than l can tell
YOU of and more than you would have room
to print. I can mention one change which
will give you general idea of the develop
ment of the country in that short period
and that, too, before the era of railroads had
dawned. On this trip I saw miles and miles
of farms along the Columbia river on land
which, when was there two years ago, was
considered absolutely worthless. 1t is sur
prising to me how that far-off country made
any advance The obstacles which stood in
the way seemed insurmountable. In the
first place, it was comparatively unknown,
and not at all correctly known. Added to
this wlgs the difficulty which the settler had
in reaching it, There was not much to
tempt man to travel 500 miles by stage in
a country which common report said was
wet enough to drown him, or cold enough to
freeze him ii he should escape death by the
first evil. But in the face of these supposed
dangers $1,000 persons have settled in
the Northwest the past year"
II understand that the railroad companies
have had agents in Europe for several years
advertising the Northwest, and using every
effort to direct emigration to that part of
America" said the reporter.
That's very true; but the $4,000 who
went there this year did not come from
Europe. They were of a much better class
of men to build up new country than could
be found in Europe, or in many parts OF the
United States. They were piOneers-men
who knew what wild life was, and went
prepared to endure it. Many of them had
few thousand dollars in their pockets. They
were from all parts of the country, but prin-
cipally from Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Mis-
souri, and Ohio-States which were not very
long ago considered out West by the stay
at home New Englanders. And there were
not a few from Kansas and Nebraska. said
q moment ago that the climate of the coun-
try had been so egregiously misrepresented
that wondered anybody dared brave it, So
1t has. / don't believe there is more de-
lightful climate in the world than that which
belongs to almost the entire Northwest-ex-
cepting of course, at some seasons, the damp
ness of the coast and Puget Sound. Even on
Puget Sound we found roses and other flow
ers blooming in the open air in December.
If it had been very severe climate, think
we would have discovered it on our recent
trip. We left Denver on the 18th of October,
and were gone two months, lacking q day.
and wife and my wife and slept on the
ground with no covering but few blankets
most of the nights, and l assure you didn't
take cold until 1 slept in a San Francisco
hotel No one could ask better climate
than one which will permit him to sleep on
the ground in winter.
The beginning of the country's growth
will date with the coming year. The year
which will end in a few days has been an
era of railroad construction in the Northwest
The Northern Pacific has built line of road
across the northern borders, and the Oregon
Short Line of the Union Pacific has been
pushed into the heart of Idaho, and before
the end of another year will have made con-
nections with the Oregon Railway & Naviga-
ton Company's road at Baker City, which
will furnish a direct line from Omana or
Kansas City to Portland, Oregon. What is
there in this country that should warrant so
much railroad building before immigration
has fairly begun, do you ask? Seriously, l
think it would be easier to tell you what
there is not in the country than what
there is.
There are four pursuits which man can
follow in the Northwest with more show OF
success, l think, than anywhere else
gheat raising, mining, numbering
and fishing. The great wheat belt extends
from Boise in Idaho, to Walla Walla IN
Washington Territory. and North into the
British possessions In this belt there are
fifty million acres of land. You can calcu-
late the capacity of this gigantic wheat field
by estimating the yield at twenty bushels to
the acre and you will have one thousand
MILL ON bushels as the result; more than is
required to feed America, France and Great
Britain. Every one in Colorado knows some
thing about the mines of Idaho and Mon
tana, and in regard to this industry will
only say that there are 10000 tons of ore
wing in the vicinity of HALEY waiting ship
naent. The mines in the Wood river country
are panning out even better than it was be-
ieved they would. In fact, with the Oregon
Short Line up there early next spring,
would not be surprised to see the population,
nroductiou and general activity, which char