Great Falls tribune., 1890-01-11
THE eeLT CREEK REGION.
An Enchanting Pen Picture Of Eastern Cas-
eads County.

This Is the most picturesque part OF
Cascade county, where the skies are ever
blue and the fields are ever green. Fol-
lowing the course of the Belt, u typical
mountain stream fed by the melting
SHOWS Of the mountain tops and living
springs from their sides, ITS cold, shark
ling waters come dancing down through
the narrow mountain gorges. tumbling
over rapids, catching n thousand irridis
cent lights, gliding with ripping laugh
ter between grassy banks in the low lands
or stopping II moment in some shady pool
to coquette with a troup Of speckled
beauties hidden there. No region was
ever more favored by the water nymph>
than this, and as though Nature meant to
smile exclusively upon this lovely valley,
an almost impossible mountain barrier
rises abruptly on the farther side of the
Belt, hedging us in with II background of
landscape in It's noblest form only found
in mountain regions. To the dwcllcr of
the plains
1T is grandeur never felt, glory never
Aloft, On hill and mountain top. arr t;,ai's
great pictures hung
often this mountain barrier rises AL
ruptly from the stream il perpendicular
cliffs Of rock from two hundred to tive
hundred feet in height beside which the
world renowned "pali>ades" Of the Iud
son dwindle into inslgniticence. and for
.,f Il II 1nla
iors "Pctured Rocks" are like "a "Nothcr
Goose" illustration compared with one Of
Turner's master pieces: sometimes the
tessellated pillars are capped BY turrets
that seem chis-led by some master hand;
again through an arclled aperture that
suggests the Gothic in architecture, opens
II gem starred cave Of no mean proper
tons, hung with graceful stalactites and
rejecting every color of the rainbow To
the wierd light OF single torch.
GENERAL OUTLINES.
Sweeping away to the eastward and off
toward IIiyhwood mountains lies the
garden OF Cascade county. The surface
is undu)ating, broken here and there by
picturesque coulees trimmed ut their
edges by fir trees and watere,l by living
springs. The soil is rich black loan,
rich in both mineral and vegetable sub,
stance as the sturdy grain stalks and
enormous vegetables will testify.
ABUNDANT CROPS.
Wheat oats r,o onI l,rl,,, nra ,r.nu,,,
% perfection. Sixty bushels e the acre
Of wheat IS considered a small yield fav
orable seasons, and IA yield OF hundred
bushels has been reported, but this is en-
ceptioml No fertilizers have .s yet ever
been used in this country, and the crops
show no deterioration. although sown to
wheat for successive seasons. The Weld
Of oats is double that Of any other coun-
try known; likewise the otlier grains.
The past season has been exceptionally
lry and yet upon the benches (the driest
sections) wheat yielded thirty and forty
bushels 10 the acre. Cats fifty anil sixty
Compare this with Dakota and the season
varying but little. We had light rain
the first of July. Dakota had none. That
was the only difference. and from one of
the best farms in Southern Dakota the
owner writes: "From three hundred
acres of wheat threshed only one hun
dred and fifty bushels; did not thresh
any other grain Mt all
VEGETABLES GNsU URpAS>ED.
Old-timers WHO claim to have been in
Montana thirty years say the past season
was by all odds the d1iest they have ever
known, yet very fine vegetables have been
grown here the past summer without care,
save the planting. irrigation is practi-
cal!y unknown. Potatoes dropped in the
furrow on virgin sod rs late us
June yielded fairly we'll, good size and
fine quality. Those planted earlier on
ground previously broken were simply
immense and the yield phenomenal. This
would seem to he the natural home of the
cabbage and caulitlower: either grows to
perfection without being started IN doors
or in Il hotbed. Sowed in the hill. dry us
Il has been, scarc.ly'a seed failed. Field
peas are very successful crop and coined