The Harrison times., 1911-08-05
Tales OF a Tramp.
Editor Times:

Having shifted my base from
Spokane, will now tell YOU some
thing of Montana In speaking of
Butte City first | will y that like
Rome of old, Butte City stands
upon a mountain side composed of
gently rolling hills and much
doubt # the Divine world builder
ever fashioned a more perfect or pic
turesque location for a city upon
the American continent, nor was
there one ever more Systematically
spoiled or more hopelesslv ruined
than that upon which Butte, the
modern architectural nightmare,
now stands. The buildings are
thrown up and jammed together
suggestive of the hurried manner
and undecided movements of an out
law cyclone.
All over the city are freaks of dis.
tinction of building material that
would make a cyclone sigh for the
sage brush.
Butte's broadway would be COM
mented on without favor in a Bos-
ton bowery and might with i'm
provement to itself pattern after a
Chinese shopping street. Her plat
ting looks as though it might have
been done for pastime by patients
in some inebriate home and was es-
pecially designed as a Summing dis
trict in Dickens Fleet Street"
But Butte City long ago reached her
zenith and as new fields progress in
their developement the glory of
Butte will die as a mile post fades
out in the wake of fast moving
train. | did not count Butte's brew
dispensaries but was told that she
carried more than a thousand rum
shop licenses upon her records and
was therefore carrying aproportion-
ate amount of crime and misery
upon her book of morals.
Butte City is nearly centrally To-
Gated on the divide of the Rocky
Mountains, Homesteak being ex-
actly at the summit. stopped in
Butte three days and on the morn
ing of the fourth walked out. did
not have to walk for | was by no
means financially embarrassed. |
had the magnificent sum of 80 cents
concealed about my clothing in such
cute and cunning way that the
most observing highwayman would
not suspicion nv wealth. walked
from Butte to Homesteak and spent
two hours in a rain and hail storm
right on the very tip top of the
rockies and that night made my bed
between the awful frown of two
granite boulders. | did not get cold
for had a copy of the Butte Miner
a very warm sheet which | used for
a cover.
walked from Butte to White
Hall, One enters the Rocky range
at a small wayside depot called He'll
Gate and is well named. White Hall
represents the eastern break of the
great granite backbone, He'll Gate
the western extreme. At White
Hall the Northern Pacific bridges the
Madison river at three forks, the
Madison, Jefferson and Gallitin riv-
ers form junction and here is the
head of the Missouri river.
With the exception Of scrubby
cedars, jack pine and grease wood
the Rocky Mountains are certainly
barren so far as | was able to OBJ
serve as a middle Of the track tour
ist. There are spider legged trussels
on this range that would make the
White River road trussels look like
the foot bridges across crooked
creek in south Harrison. | eau
tiously peered down into canyons
that one could chuck the whole Bos-
ton mountains into and have room
lett to store away the Ozark range.
| looked upon split and broken
arches composed of granite that
looked as though their jagged brcws
would scratch the veneering from
the polished sky.
In many places rouring cataracts
were whipping themselves to foam in
frantic madness while now and then
a maddened eagle disturbed in his
lofty solitude would rend the silent
cliffs with threatening screams, |
thouuht as | walked alone in silence