St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-08-15
OPENS A NEW COUNTRY.
Inauguration OF Passenger Train
Service or the Much-TaIked-of
Great Northern Extension.
Something of the Country Opened
for Settlement and Character
istics of the New Line.

The departure of railway train is
not always an event Of such interest as
to call for newspaper mention, for sew
eral hundred hundred trains come in
and go out of st. Paul every day. But
TAO last night witnessed the Inaugural
ton of regular daily passenger service
on the new transcontinental line of the
Great Northern to Spokane, WASH, 1,479
miles from St. Paul. A few years ago
the beginning of traffic on a line OF such
length would have been a matter of
worldwide interest. To st. Paul, how
ever, ii is of supreme interest, because
a large new territory is opened to it.
The Pacific extension proper leaves
the Great Falls, Helena :& Butte line
at Havre, Mont, and runs 512 miles to
Spokane. The Rocky mountains are
crossed through MariaS pass at an ele
walton of $500 feet. the lowest railway
crossing on the continental range. The
approach to the summit is on grade SO
light that the average traveller is
not aware he is going up the
mountains. Light grades and long
tangentS or curves are common to this
line, fact which is to have impor-
tant bearing in Pacific traffic of the tut
ure.
Careful attention has been given
to the roadway. the cuts and fills
having width enough generally for dou
bic track: the rails are Of eighty pound
steel, and the track is baliaSted with
rock gravel from one end TO the other,
making 1t the BEST roadway in the
West.
East of the mountains the road runs
through range country, and bands of
horses and sheep are seen from the car
windows. HE Sweet Grass hills are in
plain view eff to the north, while the
Bear Paw mountains stand Up promi-
nently along the southern sky. The
first sight of the Rockies is had from
Galata, 103 mics from Midvale, at the
foot of the great range. Summit station,
instead OF being on peak, IS III park
of several hundred acres, containing
lake half d mile in length. whose wa
tiers drain east and west, east down tine
Marias and west down Summit creek to
Bear creek, thence to the Flathead
river. along all OF which the track has
Its way i'll the midst of profound scenery.
The Flathead valley, which the road
opens to settlement and development.
is the largest agricultural district in
Montana. Crops are raised without
irrigation, hard wheat being produced
equal, it is claimed. to the Red river
product. The abundance Of moisture is
apparent from the large tree growth
and greater variety of vegetation, as
compared with the east side. The
tamarack, which is scarcely more than
telegraph pole in the Mississippi val
ley, is tree here six to eight feet
through. and makes excellent building
stuff. KaliSpelI and Columbia Falls are
the principal towns Of the valley, the
former with l,5G0 population, tie latter
with LOCO. The valley is well watered
with fine streams, the Flathead river
being navlgable, and for many miles
above the lake is as large as the Missls-
sippi at st. Paul. The Flathead valley
is capable of supporting a large popula-
ton, and is certain Of rapid develop
ment, now that it has railway facilities.
Coal and petroleum are among its
products, while precious metals are
found in the surrounding mountains.
West of the tlathead valley the road
follows the valleys of several streams
to the kootenai mining country. The
kootenai river is reached at Jennings,
whence steamers run to the Tobacco
Plains and Fort Steele in British Co
lumbia. The koOtenai is a majestic
stream and is followed for sixty-two
miles to Bonner's Ferry. The center of
mining activity along the river is at
LlDDy creek, Wnere BONANZA mines are
said to exist. A galena vein fifteen feet
thick has been traced thirty-five miles.
AT Troy change is made from Mountain
TO Pacific time, two hours slower than
Central time. Leonia, the firStfpoint in
Idaho, has fine mineral outlook. From
Bonner's Ferry steamers run north
down the Kootenai to AinSworth, Kaseo,
Nelson and other places in a very rich
mineral district. From Bonner's Ferry
109 miles to Spokane the road skirts the
Pend d'Oreille, Little Spokane and Spo-
kane rivers, entering the state of Wash
ington at Newport
The country traversed is as vast in
resources as ii is varied in geographical
and geological features and varieties of
climate, and its development means
much for st. Paul.