New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-28

~ur HrAp.wATEns OF THE M1ssoURr-A PIcT
uREsouE AND FERTILE REGION JUST
BEING OPENED UP.
f,povA STAFF CORRESPONDENT or rHE rRIBuSE.l
con,yfoht, 1880; By The New' York Tribune.
Great Fails, Mont, July Ia.
A.. cro.. Falls the Missouri River becomes
macnidcent. vastly entertaining volume might
no written concerning the moods ana humors, the
.,ao,s o,6 tbc manners Of this incomprehenSible
,,ream Now II is bright, sparkling and shallow
honncinp and skipping over pebbles and rocks as
oavIv as a mountain brook. Now 1t Is swift,
ao,L and deep, like mill-race moving into action.
Now ~ is utterly sleepy and dull, and looks and
h.boves for all the world like weary beauty
when the ball is over and the damp night air has
straiehtened out her bang. Now 1t is filthy,
odorous of marsh, and despicaby muddy. Now
4, is meancr and more treacherous than an army
mule. and given over TO low tricks and deliberate
schemes to ground everything that floats upon it.
The like Of this river is not elsewhere to be found,
and some Of its qualities certainly unworthy of
emulation But when il becomes magnificent, il
does so in great shape and in this respect as
IN others it has no parallel Niagara is more
awfully grand, the Yellowstone is sublimcr, the
Yosemite takes its long leap with dainty grace
and serene confidence that give it solitary
place among the waterfalls hut the Missouri RACES
and frets and battles with its environment with
that peculiar individuality which characterzeS all
It's many movements. 1t seems to have the human
quality of thought and motive.
From the point at which the three
forks of the Missouri meet. the stream
runs rapidly It's course is through u mountain
and prairie region of great beauty, and, as u
bends, stretches of open country and rocky noun
tain heights are suddenly developed, affordlnS
constantly many novel and delightful surprises
As it approaches the new town of Great Falls
city scarcely three years old, the river bottom
declines precipitately and for ten miles there
is a steady and rapid fall. In those ten miles
the river drops 500 feet. with movement of vast
spirit and power. There are three distinct
cataracts one of 90 feet, another, about a mile
further of as feet and third of % feet Lewis
and Clark discovered the Falls of the Missouri
when they journeyed under President Jefersons
orders overland from Louisville to the Paclhc
Coast They named each of the cata1cts, calling
The first one they approximation they travelled
up the stream and had reached that confusing
region where you say " down North and up
South" calling the first one Great Falls. the
second Rainbow Falls. and the third Black Eagle
Falls Three years ago the country just as
Blackfeet sill prowlcd over mountain and prairie
and scarcely sign of civilization appeared above
the earth. Three years, Only think of it! Now
upon three railroads daily trains running into
city of nearly 5000 people, and the country
for "a hundred miles around is taken mp by farm
ers whose golden grain mods and gliStens upon
10000 acres The three years history OF Great
Falls is of the most marvellous tales that
Western settlement can boast Of
Much has been said recently in depreciation
Of the people who have created an empire within
q single decade from desert country larger than
the original thirteen States. Ii has been repre-
scntcd that they were mostly foreigners ignorant
of American ways and the American Governmental
system, men who had pride in country,
who could be voted in herds according to the
pleasure OF through whose instrumentality
they came hither and. in brief that they con-
stituted an inharmonouS and unnatural element
of our population. All such representations are
mistaken. This is Il subject to which l have
given especial attention. My trip through these
Territories has been limited only by their bound
airy lines, and has taken me into every settled
region from st. Paul 10 the Pacific Coast Con-
corning the character of the population | am not
in the least afraid to anticipate the census. The
great bulk of the people are American-born.
The largest element came from the older Western
States, particularly Illinois, Ohio, Indiana. Mis-
souri,, and Michigan. The second element, in
respect of size, came from the South You hear
constant expressions of surprise from Northwestern
travellers at the number of South
ern who have settled here,
particularly in Montana and Washington
and yet it need surprise no ono. After the war
enterprising Southern men could not be satisfied
at home. Their country was laid fcarfully low
ha1 fo no nd to oqf
were compelled to migrate somewhere, and natu-
rally they came West. Thousands locked direct
into Montana where gold had just been discov-
cred. They came from st. Louis up the Missouri
river TO Benton. and then across the country TO
Bannack Deer Lodge, Virginia City and Helena.
Another host went out TO Nevada and California.
anti of these considerable party worked their
way northward along the coast into Oregon and
Washington. The third element is composed of
young people from pennsylvania, New-YOrI and
New ngland, who came in with the Northern
Pacific Railroad Fully half of these are college
bred men. 1t will interest you to learn that there
is IA Harvard Association in Montana and Wash |
ingto. Actually there enough young men
out here who have been graduated from this one
university 10 justify the formation Of exclusive
society. 1t would be safe TO bet that as large ii
proportion of the population of Washington Ter
H'ory are college graduates as of the State of
pennsylvania. In every Of these Western |
towns there is society sensitive of the refine
ments OF life as any society in the East A Shrug
OF the shoulders is the poltest reply that can be
MADE TO the person who would venture 10 deny
this proposition.
Foreigners will be bound TO occupy the fourth |
place In the stratihcation Of Northwestern society
But If they occupied the second, or the first; if.
indeed, they constituted clear majority Of the
people, as they actually do in certain conmuni |
ties, there would be no cause whatever for alarm
Castle Garden receives large body of ignorant
and vicious creatures from the semi barbarc reoons
OF Central EurOpe. hnf ihat is NM H. l. II |