Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1886-12-18
Choicest Portionof Montana
Some Facts of Interest for the Intend
ing Settler-The Fertility of the
Valleys and Hills-Great Pro-
misses of Wonderful Devel-
opment i'll the Future.
Wr2Hen FIR tie Tribune:

few years ago Montana was almos
dnheard of: to-day she is attracting more
general attention than any other territory
III the Northwest. Perhaps if one por
ton of Montana is watched to-day with
more breathless interest than another by
argus-eyed capitalists all the country over
it is this town and its immediate surround
ings. This being so, it may not be here
out of order to give a description of some
of the best portions of Northern Montana
for the benefit of those who seek a good
place to settle in, but do not know where
to find it.
Leaving Bismark, {Dak.) on a passenger
boat, We steam up the broad bosom of the
Missouri, a distance Of 1900 miles by wa
ter. Git is much less by land as the river
is very tortuous.) The scenery on the
way, which lies for the most part through
the celebrated bad lands Of Dakota, is
really grand. For a long distance we see
on either side of the river, towering to the
sky, huge cliffs and detached hills, whose
grotesque forms excite the curiosity Of the
most ignorant and call forth explanations
of admiration and surprise from all
lovers of Natures handiwork, while those
deeper souls we sometimes meet, stand in
silent rapture, imbibing to the full the sub
Unity of the scene.
AS onward we speed in the midnight
hour, when soft Luna asserts her mystic
sway, the poetry of the occasion blends
our whole being into a subdued and peace
full rest. The tender light thus shed upon
our environments, reflects itself in us.
Watching the towering forms on either
hand, feeling the pulse of the engines as
they perform their need of work, and
looking along the stretch Of silvery flood
to a point where it enters the shadow and
is lost, and hearing its tinkling ripple we
are wooed, as by some SIRENS song, into a
sweet forgetfulness Of life's joys, and sor-
rows, and discontents. But this too
pleasant oblivion must cease, and the re-
awakening to who we are and what we
are, causes a throb and a pang to rebound
throughout our frame. But we recall the
shadow wherein the moon-iit water fled |
away and although we could not pene-
trate the folds of the dusky shroud, we
knew there was something beyond. And
we applied this smile to our own selves.
feeling that life was but a light, mingling
and playing with shadows and that after
the greatest shadow of all was passed, our
infinite beings would be doubly recon-
pensed by the glories of the Great Beyond.
And thus it is that our innermost beings
are influenced by the outward surround
ings.
AS thus we muse day by day our desti-
nation is drawing nearer. After spend
ing three weeks stemming the current of
the mighty waters and seeing little that
was not formed in the matrix of Dame
Nature, we steam around a bend one fine
afternoon and behold in the distance
what appears to be Il great city. We rub
eyes in establishment. Surely this is
no hallucination, for we see smoke curling
from the chimneys. Upon in
quiry we find that this city in the wilder
ness is the renowned
FORT BENTON
This city was at one time a military post,
but the troops have long been withdrawn.
Situated practically at the head of nayiga-
ton, this place was in the old days when
freight wagons were the only means of
transportation, of the utmost importance
and a busy sight it was to see the huge
caravans, drawn by horses, mules or oxen:
soine unloading at the door Of great ware
houses, some loading up and others wend-
ing their way across the valley with ser
pentine movements. Wagons Of all kinds;
men on horses and men on foot were hur- l
rying in every direction; the shouting of I
The teamsters, the sharp and frequent I
cracks OF their rawhide lashes and the $
tinkle Of the bells about the necks Of the
lead animals, all tended to make a lasting
impression as to the great traffic and i'm {
p~ortance of the place upon the mind of a {
new a
A large mount of this traffic has dis /
owing to the competition caused T
~ the completion of the railroad. t
The general character of the soil around a
Benton OF both sides of the river is adobe $
md this makes travelling bad in wet wealth f
r because there are no artificial roads, the k
onntry being new. il
From the top of the hill across the river il
Fort Benton we see a mountain i