Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-12-21
THE CROWN OF THE CONTINENT
SOME OF The BEAUTIES OF MONTANA DEsCRIBEDA DISTRICT
AS PICTURESQUE AND ATTRACTIVE AS CAN
BE FOUND IN 1iHE WORLD.

splendid! splendid. That sunset alone
pays for the journey" said the New York
doctor as a Great Northern train climbed
the eastern slope of the Rockies, lust
when the sun was dropping behind them.
The clouds, which from long habit
cling about 'the shining peaks"-poetic
lndlanese for our prosaic Rocky Noun
talns'-half obscured his glowing face,
but made his exit tenfold more glorious
by the flying robes of crimson and gold
thrown around the retiring orb. Chas-
ing his famboyant barouche into the
businesses beyond, the train was soon
distanced and swallowed up among the
shadows of rugged mountains on either
hand.
Bolton, Mont, was the situation of aus
picious fate one August day for four
elect passengers, writes a correspondent
TO the New York Commercial Advertiser.
The neat hotel across The track was new
this year and most welcome as saving a
rough ride of three miles IN the night
to the little steamer at the foot of Lake
Macdonald.
TIL main line of the Rockies runs here
about west of north. with a splendid as
sortment of auxiliary peaks and ranges
at various angles, lifting up their spiked
helmets of primeval rock to the height of
eight, ten, twelve and possibly fourteen
thousand feet above seal level. In this
part of Montana, between the Great
Northern Railway and the Dominion
border, is a district as picturesque and
variously attractive as can be found in
the United States. Differing from Yell
lowstone Park and the Yosemite, it does
not suffer in the comparison with these
national pleasure grounds. so prospect
iVplV Va1l19h1a iC if fn,, r,onu .acn,, :.
that the federal government was here
set apart a large area as a forest reserve.
Wardens patrol it on the watch for
breakers of the law against fire setting
and game killing out of season. The in
tentiOn is to make this reserve a national
park, and one could not be better select
ed. Within a square of fifty or sixty
miles. including the parallel ranges of
the Rocky and kootenay Mountain, is ii
concentration of unsurpassed mountain
scenery. varied by lakes, valleys and
miniature prairies, easily accessible aver
now to these who are equal to a little
roughing.
Flathead county, to which this re-
serve belongs is the lak country of the
FEWER Northwest. The lake of the same
name, lying south of Kalispell Gndian
for ear drop" French pen d'oreille,) be-
tween the Mission and abine ranges, is
the largest body of fresh wates west of
the Rockies, and sure to attract a multi
tude of future beauty seekers. 1t should
be rechristened with it's Indian name
Schelish. pronounced Shaylish. of which
Flathead is a tame translation. In the
reserve are lively lakes and lakeIets by
the dozen, ensconced in deep valleys or
resting high up on the shoulders of
mountains.
OF all these lakes Macdonald is queen.
1t furnishes a delightful entrance to the
central and most interesting part of the
region. Forest-clad on either hand lead
to the valley opening between Brown
and Stanton mountains at the head of
the lake. On the left beyond Stanton are
Mt. Helen, with its great snow field and
shining cascade; Mt. Mcfarland, Table
Mountain and Heavens Peak. Beyond
Brown o n the right stand the immense
mass of Goat Mountain and the serrated
ridge called the Garden Wall. This is
the ~sharp-edged watershed of the con-
tinent. From it flow streams westward
into the Pacific and eastward into the
Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. To
the east lie the lovely st. Mary's lakes
the mining district of the Blackfoot res
~ervation, now owned by the government;
Oil Chief Peak. Pyramid Mountain and a
crowd of submits, with and without
names. This tumbled-up central region
is the crown of the continent"
eve Brown and Goat mountains
is a narrow valley leading eastward into
ia wali-formed Avalanche basin. South