The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-10-07
Matc,less Foresight Displayed by the
Founders Of Great Falls in Pre- .
pairing for the Future.
Natural Wealth in Endless PrOfusit n
at the City's Gates and Il Soil
Infinitely Rich.
Coal. Building stone. and Fire Clay
Deposits of Sand COulee and
Other Attractions.

Matchless foresight has been displayed
in respect to everything pertaining to the
development of a great metropolis at this
point. No one thing could have indi.
Gated the intelligence of the founders
and designers of the city more fully than
the fact that they made it impossible
from the outset to bury the dead within
the city limits, o. at any point so near
the site as to make it likely that the
burial place for the dead might become
a public nuisance. On the contrary, they
went far away from tine city, and selected
a spot well adapted to the use, containing
two hundred and forty acres, which can
be readily turned into an attractive park,
and Of whose existence the community
in general need never be reminded.
In like manner the water plant has
been located with admirable foresight, as
the city must always be down the stream
from the source of supply, and the source
can, therefore. never become contami-
mated. This supply can be increased at
will to an extent which practically has no
limit.
In the valley called the Sand Coulee
which begins at the Missouri river a
short distance above the city and ex-
tends for several miles in a southerly
direction, Great Falls has a region of
beauty and fertility, which could supply
her for all time with abundance Of
vegetables and garden produce of all
kinds. The valley is so admirably shell
tered that it is not at all unlikely it
might be transformed into a fruit pro-
ducing region, where all the fruits of the
temperate zone could be raised in album
dance.
This valley is a great surprise to any
one who visits it for the first time. In
hearing the name of Sand Coulee one
naturally has presented to the mind IA
small ravine that is very sandy. In fact
the picture that the name seems to form
in the mind is one of barren sand dunes.
So far from this name conveying
any notion of the valley, it is de
cidedly misleading. The Sand Coulee
extends for some thirty miles from
the Missouri river with high
hills on either side similar to those Dor
dering the Missouri river or the Sun
river neal Great Falls, and these hills
ale from one to three miles apart. There
is no stream flowing through the valley,
but good well water is struck everywhere
at an easy depth, and the land in all
parts of the valley is extremely fertile
and productive. At this season of the
year the results of the summers pro-
ductlon are seen in the innumerable hay
stacks, which appear in all directions as
far as the eye can reach. The land in
the valley has been taken up and fenced.
and but very little Of it has been farmed
as yet as it has proved So valuable for
hay. and most people have been skepti-
cal about the possibilities of farming un-
til within the last year or two. In less
than five years some of the tinect farms
in the United States will doubtless be
found in the Sand Coulee valley.
The inexhaustible coal fields found in
this wonderful region are one of its great
sources of wealth but only one. At
several points in the faces of the hills
are quarries of white and red sandstone
equal to anything that exists both in
quality and quantity, n some of this
stone is the most perfect material for the
production of plate.g glass that has ever
been discovered. Underlying much of
this stone are ineyhaustible deposits of
fire clay which is equal to the best
found in England. and which will soon
be manufactured into Innings for fur
naces and will entirely supersede in
Montana and the west generally the i'm
ported article. \. large plant in course
- ,rn,tinp nj thn fro ,lnv hpIS about
three miles from the city. will soon be in
operation and will employ IA large force
of men. The railroad going to the mines
passes beside the works, and immediate
ly adjoining this important plant is ii
quarry of white sandstone of endless eX-
tent and another of red sandstone. like
that of which the First National bank is
built,
Hundreds of thousands of dollars 90
out of the state each year for tire brick.
the greater part of which will conc 10
Great Falls within Il short time. All the
quarries will supply building stone Of the
most durable and attractive varieties. not
only TO Montana but also to adjoining
states. The vast iron mines which exist
in the adjoining mountains. and which
lnclude every variety of iron that Is need
ed for the use of man. will q u be eN
plotted. and with the illimitahle water
power at our disposal, together with the
advantage of producing electrical power
at IA nominal cost. will enable Great Falls
to compete with any of the producers of
the world,
With such advantages lying at her
door ii does not require much Of a pro
phct to ~furetell the magnificent future
which lies before the city Of Great Falls,
and the citizens of the state should need
no other argument Ia induce them 10
make Great Falls the capital.