The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1888-02-16
A TRIP no rHn AANoAAs.

Ed. DEMOCRAT: II suppose you ana
anma of fine readers of the DEMOCRAT
thonght fiat | recently made some
nrefty fall statements about the yields
6f Grain and the rich character of the
farming country about Great Falls, but
have been over the country, talked
with the farmers, and know whereof L
speak. For grain and stock raising
this is the most wonderful country l
have ever seen. 1t is full of natural
resources which as yet have scarcely
been trenched upon. This became
especially apparent by trip l made
through the grazing country up into
the barker and Neihart mining dis
tricts, is the little belt range OF noun
tains.
Ine first part of our course was
directlv east to the little town or Belt.
For the first four or five miles
from Great Falls, the soil is a
rich sandy loan, already well settled,
then for the next 16 miles sets in arich,
dark clay soil, slightly undulating, free
from stones and as fit for cultivation
as the richest prairie in Illinois. 1t is
nearly all public land, as we only pass
ed one sheep ranch Cat Box Elder cross
ing) in the whole distance. The entire
face of the country is covered by a
thick turf of wild grass upon which
were feeding large bands of cattle,
sheep aud horses belonging to the Belt
creek ranch men. The cattle and
horses at this season roam whitherso-
ever they will, but the sheep have
herders who take care of from 1900 to
to 5000 in each band, corraling them
every night to protect them from the
wolves and other animals, while the
herder is asleep. The herder "batches"
out usually in a 6x10 shanty, and the
life he leads must be lonely one. Day
in and day out he has only the baa, baa,
of the sheep to listen to. Wages are
$50 to S35 per month. Sometimes the
sheep are let out on the shares,
and some of the wealthlest men In
Montana got their start by taking
sheep to herd on these terms, The
sheeep business is at present one of the
most pros rerOus of the industries OF
the territory. They have Sheep
Breeders Association which meets an'
nually at Ft. Benton, where all matters
of interest are discussed, ending with a
banquet, where there is a general feast
of reason and a flow of-Well, some
thing stronger than water.
At Belt 7. o. we came to Belt Creek,
a strerm having It'll source in the Little
Belt range, and emptyiug into the Mis-
souri, Just below the Great Falls, which
are 80 feet in height. One of the great
est advantages of Montana is the
abundant flow of water in the streams,
being GREATEST in the spring and sum-
mer. Here we went into the Castner
coal mine by drift six hundred feet
straight into the side of the bluff,
No stopping or ducking of the
head was required, for but or 10 feet
of the vein is worked, two and half
feet being left untouched in the bottom
of the vein. The coal is a very fine
grade of the bituminOus class.
Our course was now up the valley of
the Belt, which we forded, hub deep, a
dozen or twenty times in the course of
the afternoon. A fine growth of cot
tOnwood lines the bends, and every
mile or so we came to the farms OF
ranchmen who cultivate the rich bot
tom and keep their stock ranging on
the bench lands. One of these ranches
belongs to j. 7. Arlington & Sims, the
big railroad contractors. They have
$4,000 or 10000 sheep. Arlington is
the man who made the famous drive
of $500 sheep 600 miles across the cOun-
try in 1885, to the railroad at Devils
Lake, Dakota The crops of wheat and
oats raised by these Belt Creek farmers
are simply wonderful to an eastern
man. The straws look as big as lead
pencils, and 80 bushels of wheat and 81
of oats to the acre are the common
thing.
As we followed up the creek, the
dark pine forests and cleaning snow
slopes on the mountains drew nearer,
Patches Of pine appeared and, just at
sunset, as we were rapidly gaining Ill
elevation, we approached the point
where the belt issues from its canyon,
and patches Of snow were visible III the
foothills near by.
The next day our road lead us up
until we were on the wide sweep of
bench lands which lie Immediately at
the foot of the main range. A charm
ing country it was. Here and there
strips of pine woods; every few hun
dred yards babbling brook of ice cold
water, fed by living springs,
gQSleu lEOm Gll6 IlCu DldCh
limestone soils, like those of
the famous blue grass region Of
Kentucky. No need of irrigation here;
the elevation is SO great that the mois
ture from the plains is condensed in
refreshing showers, nearly every day i'll
the summer, and Johnson, who has a
fine 160-acre farm and is one of the few
settlers here, tells me that in nine years
experience his crops have never suf-
fered day from drOuth. -Four or five
hours drive, and we pass from the
farming country and leave the lime
stone for the granite of the main range.
Here all is dense forest, rocks and snow
slopes. The scenery is grand, and at
the foot of Old Neihart Badly, over
10000 feet in height, lies one part of
the wonderfully rich Neihart mines.
Ofthis will write another time.