The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-03-26

LOOKING FORWARD.
The people of Great Falls have always
had the utmost confidence in the future
of the city. They have felt from the
very first that Great Falls was destined
to be a great city, a busy city and a pros.
p RUS city. They saw that nature had
laid at her door an untold wealth of re-
sources. and had showered upon her
favors that fall to the lot of few, if any.
other towns east or west. The man who,
gazing out over these rolling prairies,
first conceived the thought that here
was an ideal site tor a city could not
have guessed upon what firm and lasting
foundations that conception vas based.
He pictured to himself the future city
stretching along the banks of the mighty
Missouri. with its busy streets lined
with substantial buildings. On the hills
back from the river he saw comfortable
homes. Following the sweep of the
river he heard the roar OF the falls as the
water dashed over the rocks and as he
listened the voice of the waters was
drowned in the whirr of machinery as his
mental vision beheld large sncltcrs and
immense factories raising themselves
out of the ground as if by magic. And
on the streets, in the houses. an in the
factories he saw a happy. prosperous
people.
~,
How true this vision WAS. witness the
Great Falls of today. \ few short years
only have passed and today a city of
5000 busy people stands where then
was the lonely prairie. Substantial
buildings line its streets. Back from
the river are happy homes. guarded on
the one side by the school, on the other
by the church. Bands of steel stretch
ing away to the east and the west. to the
north and the south. give evidence of a
prosperous III The mighty
power Of the Missouri has been fettered
by the hand of man and now awaits his
bidding. Blessed with a mild and genial
climate, Il happy. healthy people walk
the streets of Great Falls. and looking
forward they. too. see bright visions of
the future.
49,
They see on well paved streets run
ming back from the river. large hotels
thronged with incoming people. They
see busy stores and banks. telling Of
thriving and prosperous business. Elec-
trio cars carry them miles out or the
hills along streets lined with trees. and
they see thousands of elegant homes,
with here and there "A lovely park.
North of the city the river rises the
hum of industry and the whirr of wheels
in the smelters. the mills. the factories
that stretch for miles along it's banks, all
driven by the rcsistless power of it's
mighty waters. From the east comes the
shrill whistle of the locomotive, and it is
answered 10y a second from the basin of
the Judith. a third from the mountains
about Castle and "a fourth from the
sources of the great river. Long trains
of cars filled with wheat from Dakota,
Idaho and Washington. with silver and
copper ore from Barker. Neihart. Castle
inc Butte. with wool from the banks of
the Mussclshell and the Judith. from
Utah and Colorado. with iron from
Choteau, with marble and mineral ores
from Sweet Grass, with coal from Sand
Coulee. Belt and Arlington. wind their
way into the city to supply the Unsuitable
demands of the smelters. the mills and
the factories. Upon n of the hills over
looking the city rises a stately building
within whose halls sit two assemblies
making laws for the government Of "A
mighty commonwealth.
49,
This is the vision Of the future. II it
not to be realized: