Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1886-12-18
TRUTHS ABOUT GREAT FALLS.

~ S AOo'S bAS
Central railway will be completed and
put in operation from Great Falls to
Helena and Butte, a distance of 100
miles. The Manitoba railway will
also be completed to Great Falls by
October, LIST, next, thus giving us a
direct eastern outlet. A railroad to
connect Great Falls with the silver
mining camps Of the Belt mountains,
will be commenced within a few
months, and will be completed at
once as far as the coal and iron fields
of Sand Coulee.
By branches from the Montana
Central, Great Falls viii also be
placed in direct communication with
the Red Mountain & Marysville
mining districts. Within twelve
months our town will become one of
the most important railroad centers
of the Harvest. The completion of
these roads to the falls Of the Mis-
souri,, will be followed by a develop
ment Of the water-poWer and the
establishment of important indus
tries, such as the reduction Of ores of
the precious metals, aud the manu-
facture Of steel and iron, for which
Great Falls possesses unriyalled adj
vantages. The establishment, how
ever, of this railroad system in Nor
thern Montana, will be felt more
widely in the development of its
vast agricultural resources, and in the
settlement of a country two-thirds as
large as tue state Of Minnesota.
Probably no other portion Of the
public domain has been as little I'M
derstood and appreciated as this.
With the exception Of Fort Ben
ton and a small portion Of Sun river
valley, all Northern Montana, until
recently, was an unsettled and com
paratively unknown country. In the
subdivision of Montana resources, it
has heretofore been classed as a graz
ing country, only. While Northern
Montana is by far the best grazing
portion of the territory, because of its
more abundant grasses, inyestiga-
tons and experiments made during
the past four years, although on a
limited scale, have proved it to be a
country Of great agricultural re-
sources. Its rich prairies and table
lands, extending three hundred miles
east from the main range of the
Rockies, unbroken, except by the
rich valleys Of the Sun river, Teton,
Marias and Milk rivers, connot be
surpassed in the growth of wheat and
barley and also of vegetables. The
soil is a rich, sandy loan, from two
to six feet deep, underlaid with clay.
which when cultivated. holds in re-
serve the rains of spring and early
summer. The composition of this
soil fits it especially for the produce
ton of wheat, as the average yield,
without irrigation is about thirty-fye
bushels to the acre-many fields Civ
ing a yield Of fifty to ffty-fve
bushels.
Owing to the cool nights and the
dry atmosphere late in July and ear
" in August, wheat is never pinched.
The harvest season, which occurs in
the dry month of August, is unsur-
passed for the gathering and proper
curing Of grain.
During a residence in Northern
Montana Of eight years, the present
year has been the only one in which
we did not have abundant rains in
spring and early summer, to mature
wheat. The past spring and summer
we had no rains and but little snow
during the preceding winter, and yet,
the wheat yield generally gave a
yield Of twelve to fifteen bushels to
the acre, which is equal to the yield
Of Dakota the present year and is
greater than that of Minnesota.
The completion of the Manitoba
railway to Great Falls, as stated, will
inaugurate a very rapid settlement
of this country by farmers; and not