The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1913-06-20
HER TRIP TO THE COAST
Mrs. Stevens Writes Interesting.
]y OF Her Trip From Sisseton
to the Pacific.

You are all familiar with the
trip from Sisseton to Aberdeen;
from there to Terry, Montana, 1
spent in my berth, so | will be-
gin to describe my journey from
the latter place, near which we
first saw the Yellowstone river,
and along which we travelled for
several miles. The plains were
covered with Buffalo grass and
we passed several odd hills,
made up of strata of different
colored rock, one I noticed hav-
inga vein of coal running through
it. Large trees fringe the river
and in some places there are
quite large natural groves.
School houses dot the prairies
here and there and where the
children come from who attend
these schools I do not know.
Once in while we would see a
claim shanty and along the river
we're tiny log houses but they all
looked to be deserted. Farther
on were regular plantation
houses built of logs, that were
falling into decay. From Miles
City on, the country looks more
like "a home for man" There
are large fields of alfalfa and neat
little farm homes. We were still
in the Yellowstone Valley.
At Forsyth we left the river
and rapidly were climbing high
er, although we did not reach the
Rockies for some time. We were
crossing the Montana plains,
which is part of Montana's
great sheep range. We saw two
bands of sheep of about two
thousand each; also the herder
and his dog. we also passed
large herds of cattle and horses
and saw the low buildings of the
ranches. Along the track l no.
ticed funny little dug-out and
the porter said the cattlemen
had built them over the prairie
as protection from the sand
storms. We just touched the
Bad Lands. They looked like
huge gopher hills of black soil.
For a short time we passed
through a desolate country
where nothing grew but sage
brush and cute little prairie dogs
that sat up as we passed.
Then we reached the Mussel-
shell river which was much like
the Yellowstone, except smaller
and the current was more swift.
This we followed until we reached
the mountains. Several little
towns are built along it's banks
and we saw some coal mines.
Soon | saw my first mountain.
1t was long distance away but
looked near and you could plainly
see the snow on it. There is
surely something grand about
the mountains. When I first
got sight of them 1 almost forgot
myself; I felt like cheering and
all fear of climbing them was
gone. 1t didn't take long to
reach them and to see the pretty
little mountain streams with
their clear water-such a change
from the other rivers which were
so filled with mud that they
looked like yellow trails, and
SomeJlmeS you could hardly tell
whether it was river or trail
of sand you were looking at.
Just as we entered the Rockies
we had very severe electrical
storm. I would rather be in
South Dakota where the light
ming comes from the sky. We
were soon above the storm, how.
ever, and could look down on the
clouds.
More and more rugged be-
comes the landscape and higher
and higher the hills. After cross
ing the Castle Hills Divides, an
elevation of 5,797 feet, we passed
through a narrow gorge alOnp