The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1908-12-29
HE STILL LIKES IOWA

TLENDlVE, montana, December |
25.-At this writing your Vim !
cennes correspondent is good !
many miles from his old home. |
At the present time he is located at
Glendive, Montana, in the employ OF
the Northern Pacific railrc.d company
in the capacity of district claim agent.
This is Christmas morning and even
in this land OF the far north, the day
is almost an ideal one
| have been in the employ of the
Northern Pacific since the first day of
October and my duties are the inyesti-
eating and settling up of all personal
stock and fire claims that occur on
my district. My territory extends
from Manden. n. Oak. on the east,
to Billings. Mont, on the west, COM
prising 421 miles.
My duties also take me over most of
the line, especially in North Dakota
and Montana. This country is vastly
different from the good old state of
Iowa, but there are many good open
! ings and advantages in this section of
the country
| The state of Montana, you might
i say, is still in its infancy and it is
! state of vast resources. The mining
/ interests are large and the stock in
terests are also on large scale, es-
| pecially the cattle and sheep interests.
The Northern Pacific strikes the
/ state of Montana about middle WOW NO
tween its northern and southern
boundaries and touches the Yellow
stone river at Glendive. 1t then fol-
lows that river until it strikes the foot
of the Rocky mountains at Living
stone. At that point it goes over the
is and Clark that was made by those
brave adventurers more than century
ago.
Livingstone is the gateway of the
Yellowstone National park, and the
Northern Pacific has built branch
fifty-four miles long to Gardner Gard
, ner is situated just at tle entrance to
the park and in the summe time
trains run from Livingstone to Gard
ner every day in the week, but in the
winter time they only run ON week
days.
I have not vet had the pleasure OF
visiting the park but hope to do sc
in a short time The Yellowstone val
ley is going to be and in fact is now
one of the best valleys in the state.
! ha nit ,f ;e- Jon
city in this valley and the climate al
this point is comparatively mild
Thousands of ta,-s of sugar beets are
raised in this valley and in the valleys
tributary to it. There is large sugar
refinery at Billings which employees
hundreds of men anG sugar of fine
, grade is turned out at this plant
, Up this valley along the Northern
, Pacific tracks every few miles there
are what is known as beet dumps
They are erected by the company thai
: erected the sugar refinery The com
pany makes contracts with the ranch
eTs and they haul in the beets and loac
them on the cars Sometimes they
NJAiIC III 81 lcSl tilty CdIluoL Scl CdIs
to put them in and they have to pile
them on the ground. The best dump:
are built up high and long drive way!
are built SO the ranchers can drive
upon the dumps and dump them in tn,
cars. The wagon beds are so con
: structed on hinges that all they have t,
do is to take out pin, tilt the be,
up and out roll the beet into TIL
open cars. | have seen day after day
wagon after wagon standing at thes
e dumps. The wagons are large and the
e hold several tons and it takes fou
1t horses to pull them.
y This is a great country for alfalf
a and it would do an Iowa farmer goo
to see the large stacks built out of a
u falfa. Two and three crops are raise
N every year but tle best crops Of a,
kinds grow On land that is irrigated
10 had occasion to visit the city q
II Butte several times and there | ha
the pleasure of meeting Ed S. Booti
who was born and raised in Keokul
% Ed and | attended High school togetl
er in Keokuk in the old brick built
- ing that was torn down several year
: ago and the spot is now occupied by
:. fine substantial building. We sper
III several pleasant hours together, tall
% ing over old school days and lappel
no ings of long ago.
In our times there was a high schoc
p- literary society and the conversatio
ty turned upon the great eloquence tn;
by would occasionally burst forth in til
US High schools historic walls. Wle
Ill ever those bricks are today If the
re. could only speak they could tell of IL
"a grand oratorical feasts that took pla,
of eloquence that would put to shan