The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-07-06
OVER THE RANGE.
Tho Greatest CaMp-The Garden City
crossing the Divide.

Tho Greatest CaMp-The Garden City
Crossing the Divide.
Round q curve wo swing and before us
lies the greatest mining camp on earth. the
city of Bate. We are q long time getting
into the depot even after the city lies before
US, the route is a circuitous one. We look
down and sec the immense Parrot smelling
plant. Large beds Of ore cover the ground
about it from which arise a dense yellow
smoke-they are roasting the ore to drive
away the sulphur. You will cough and
choke, for the fumes seem to penetrate
vour lungs. Above you on the hills are the
Blue Bird mines md smelters, the Anaoon-
da mine, this richest copper mine in the
world, the Gagnon and many others. The
CITY Is dimpled with mines; in the very
busiest portions will be found quartz mills,
reineries, reduction works. assay offices,
smelters and stamp mills. Butte, like most
cities in Montana, lies in a valley sur
rounded by mountains. The name arises
from the number of small buttes with which
the city is e%nvironed. Looking from the
summit of one of these buttes down over
the city it appears like the interior of an
ant-hill the streets are as dry and devoid
of vegetation as a city in the desert, people
are constantly surging to and fro on the
making money in the shortest possible
time. 1t Is truly a wonderful CITY. The
buildings, except a few on the main streets,
are mean in size and architecture.
The greatest of its smelling works are
found at the little town of Anaconda.
from some of the largest of Butte's mines.
After spending two days in the Smoky
City we board the train for the Garden City
of Montana, Missoula. A few years ago
Missoula was a little village containing
some comfortable homes and business
Ls--y- M Atl- - r~A <Hn%
way, and the village soon became the third
city in size in Montana 1t is situated on a
plain 5000 feet above the sea level. with
the Missouri river almost bisecting it. On
all sides are mountalns-some bald, some
denselv wooded. and others snow-capped.
beauty. healthfulness. and climate. In the
matter of buildings Missoula compares ia
vorably with most other western cities. 1t
is indeed a city of honest was never a
camp. We leave Missoula with a sigh, we
have become enamoredo of its lovely sur
over the divide. The road runs parallel
for a considerable distance with Hell
Gate river. We wondered if it
were the river Styx, and if Charon was
awaiting to ferry lost souls over: but this
could not be, for a prettier stream of water
it would be hard to lind. and the river Styx
is not SO pictured. For miles we rode
through deep ravines and wooded valleys.
We are beginning a glorious climb. Up!
up! We go; the air grows cooler, IL our
lungs seem scarce able to take in oxygen
enough. The engine stops to take breath
We have reached skyline" upon the noun
tain top. The world was at our feet. The
loving sky had come SO near, almost within
grasp, and 1.-THE home over there" eemed
just beyond. At the summit, of Mullan
pass we gained our highest point of the
Rocky mountains and are 5,873 feet above
sea level. How wonderfully clear and pure
the air is and how glorious the sunlight.
Scarce have these thoughts taken shape
before we plunge into utter dark
ness, from heaven lowell, to the other
place. 1t seems minutes to US before we
again emerge into daylight, but in reality
it is but a short time. Doubly glorious
does it seem to us as we again behold it and
breathe once more the fresh air. We are
on the down grade now, the mountains
covered with a dense growth of pine and fir,
the haunts Of the grizzly, the wolf, and the
mountain lion, shoot past us. the pretty
little valleys remain in view but a second,
the houses in these valleys seem so small as
hardly to be worthy the name of house.
Over high ~trestles we creep, then again gain
speed while going over a level strip. The
excitement, awe and rapture that filled our
mind and the exhilaration that permeated
our body during that memorable rid can
never be fully effaced.
At 1850 p. m. the train entered the depot
at Helena, and we wero driven as fast as
hack horses could take us to our home at
the Broadwater. We took a plunge in the
famous natatorium and prepared for a two