The Newport miner. [volume] (Newport, Wash.) 1899-current, 1909-01-14
BEAUTY IN A DESERT,
How One Persons Persistence
Transformed Great Falls.
MONTAhA'S FINE PARK CITY.

Trains Run Through Avenue Of Trees
to Vine Covered Railroad Station
Paris Gibsen's Enterprise In Start
ing Its Parking System.
Great Fails, Mont, has several points
| OF distinction that can be copied by
other towns and might well excite the
envy Of the largest cities. The success
sion OF cascades through which the
Missouri river flows In passing It's site
affords the town an aggregate avaua-
BILE water power greater than any 9th
er in the country. These falls, togeth-
er with the Giant springs, comprise one
Of the wonders Of the west, but their
beauty, like that Of Niagara. is des-
tined. to gradual destruction as the ap-
plication Of the water to commercial
purposes extends In educational IA
ciliues this comparatively small town
Is rich, and tt contains nineteen church
es, being one to every thousand Of its
population, which Is proporttonally
twice as many as Chicago has and two
and half times the number possessed
in New York
But the feature In which Great Falls
takes the greatest pride and that which
1usttf1es its claim to being the most
beautiful city Of the northwest Is its
parking system, says the Craftsman
for November. After passing through
hundreds Of miles Of treeless country
the westbound traveller comes with de-
lighted surprise upon this orderly lit
tie town in its leafy setting. The rail
road station and yards, which are usu-
ally the ugliest part Of a new settle
ment, here have been converted into
place Of beauty The train runs
through an avenue Of trees and depos-
its one at a vine covered building that
Is in striking contrast to the usual
grimy structure. The approach to the
station on the town side Is rendered
attractive by well Kept grass plots and
flower beds, through which are broad
carr1ageways.
THIS APPROACH Is but an Introduction
to the sylvan beauty Of Great Falls.
Extending along the river front is the
principal park, its natural loneliness
enhanced by well tended lawns and
artificial lakes This wealth of wood
land Ia the desert Is strongly signtd-
cant Of the spirit Of homemaking, and
the tree lined streets, with their pretty
villas set on rerraced grass plots, seem
to extend silent welcome to the stran-
ger.
1t Is only In the present generation
that the idea Of raising trees on "dry"
land was seriously considered and put
into practice Great Falls was pto-
neer in the movement. 1t has no prec-
edent to encourage or guide it, but it
has definitely solved the problem and
proved that a desert city may be made
as beautiful and comfortable As any
situated In the humid states.
twenty-five years ago, when Paris
Gibson and his family migrated from
Minneapolis to Montana, the land upon
which Great Falls now stands was a
barren tract Of sand, th1nly covered
with buffalo grass and patches Of sage
brush. For miles in every direction
the country was devoid Of human hab BIZ
tatton, except perhaps the rude shelter
Of sheep herder or the solitary shanty
Of 4 sQuatter.
1t was from the park system of Min
neapolis that Gibson derived the in
sptration which prompted him to at
tempt tree planting in his new home.
He preached the subject to his fellow
settlers, but they treated his sug2es-
ton with derts1on. The thing had
never been done; therefore it could not
be. This attitude they maintained un-
til 1t was absolutely proved to be er-
roneous, and several years elapsed be-
fore the effort OF this one individual
developed into municipal movement.
Failing to find sympathy or support
for the enterprise among his fellow
townsmen, Gibson determined to IN
dertake alone what he believed could
and should be done for the benefit Of
the infant city. Regardless OF the
a
number Of young trees upon the ground
along the river, covering a tract which
is now included in Margaret and Whit
tier parks. He bore unaided the ex-
pense and care Of looking after the
young shoots, and many cynical Jest
was aimed at the cumbrous tank wag-
ons that labortously supplied them
with scarcely sufficient dole Of water.
They grew, these nrst paintings of
cottonwood and box elder, and Glib
son ventured to add to them young
elms and ash. No such trees had ever
been seen in that part Of the country,
and so the scofers were encouraged
to predict that they would never grow.
But they did. and birch and maple
and oak were added to the list and
nour1shed like the rest Before this,
however, the courageous founder of
the Great Falls park system received
the recognition that his enterprise and
persistence deserved. The city coun-
Gil at length responded to his appeals,
and gradually increasing number Of
he 0ff5