River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-12-31
A LETTER FROM
"OUT WEST. >
"The Mountain Land. "
The Great Plains, the Mountains,
the Flathead Valley.

1t is probable that most people
who know Montana only from the
indefinite statements of those who
"have been there" have miscon-
ception of the Landscape. They
have an idea that the state is severly
mounta1nous-because it is known
that ranges of the Rocky mountains
are located there. As matter of
fact the state of Montana has more
prairie land than Wisconsin or Min
nesota. While the western one
third is mountainous the rest of the
state is a great treeless plain. On
the line of the Great Northern rail-
way, from the Dakota boundary TO
the foot of the Rocky mountains, a
distance of 400 miles Ia level plain,
boundless in area from the view
point, extends in every direction.
No better country for building a
railway, considering the expense
of construction aid operation,
could be found. The grade is but
four feet to the mile, and there is
scarcely bridge, cut, a fill, or a
trestle of any consequence from the
eastern boundary o: the state to
the mountains. But from an agri-
cultural point of viev the land is at
present barren waste. The soil
is fertile and of great depth. The
land lays just right for drainage
and easy cultivation, but the lack
of sufficient rainfallto insure crop
of any vegetation but the scantv
bunch grass discharges cu1tiva-
ton. If this land IS once irrigated
it will produce abundantly, as is
demonstrated by results in the Milk
River Valley where some land is ir-
rigated. The government is con-
sidering plans to build reservoirs
to conserve the waters of the rivers
that rise in the mountains and to
open canals for irrgating the lands
here. Settlements On the line of
the Great Norther I'll Montana are
few and far between. This road
has been in operation but ten or
twelve years and as a consequence
the country through which it passes
is new to sett1enent-but there is in
fact little inducement for settlement
on these great plains where crops
fail to mature. Stock ranching is
the only industry noticeable. AS
you approach the mountains the
aspect of the country changes radi-
cal1y and rapidly. From the dull
monotony of the interminable plain
suddenly there rises on the view
towards the sunset a great white
wall of mountains, and away to the
north, sixty miles across the coun-
try, the Grass mountains appear,
isolated like an island in the ocean.
AS you approach the mountains the
great wall seems to rise before your
vision and the distance between the
towering peaks that seemed when
farther away like serrated sutures
IL he ~, &c Of foIr n
wall widens and the mountains in
dividualize, each presenting dis
tinction peculiar to itself. And
now you are among the mountains
and they area sigh" "a multi
tude of sights, an infnity of sights,
for from every view point the as
pect changes-changes so suddenly
'the view is bewildering." The
sight makes a profound impression
AN impression of awe, of wonder
and admiration, an impression that
words are totally inadequate to de-
scribe.
Passing through the Rockies you
come down into the F1athead Valley,
tract of land 20 to 100 miles
square, with an elevation of 5000
feet above the sea, some fifteen
townships of which are level prairie
the balance of the valley being
covered with timber, most of which
| is merchantable for lumber. The
land is highly productive for hay
wheat, oats and barley, good crops
of all cereals being raised without
irrigation. Here 121 bushels OF
oats, weighing az pounds to the
bushe1, were raised to the acre the
past season. This was an excep
tional yield however. Wheat was {
great crop there this year with some
instances of heavy yield. A Nh
Ziegel raised from a scant ten-acre
/ field, 724 bushels, the grain weigh
ing 81 pounds to the bushel. They
raise apples, prunes, plums, and
small fruit in abundance, but the
fruit is not as good as that raised
in Washington. This was evident
from the appearance and the price:
asked for apples in the fruit stores