The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1917-01-05
DANIEL WEBSTER
FOUGHT THE WEST
FAMOUS STATESMAN WOurTn
HAVE SURRENDERED THE
OREGON COUNTRY.
Opposed the Building of a Railroad
Through tine Northwest Because
He Considered This Section a Bar.
ren Waste; Montana Thought to Be
Desert.

At this time when thu construction
OF h 1900 miles of railroad
is proposed, projected or already con
tracted for in Montana, it is i~nterest-
ing to recall that Daniel Webster
raised his voice in the United States
senate in derisive protest when it was
suggested that the great northwest
might some day become valuable
territory with the building of a rail-
road up the Missouri river and across
the Rockies through the present Mon
tana to the headwaters of the Colum-
bla. Webster, as we'll as many other
statesmen of the day, was in favor
OF surrendering to Great Britain, the
oregon country, including all of Mon
tana west of the divide, on the
ground b a neither that territory nor
the prairie country a of it was
worth the cost OF administration.
Ihose who fought surrender of the
oregon country, as all of the north
west west of the Rockies was then
called, admitted freely that the area
now known as Montana was worth
less, but they commended that the Ore
gon country was worth having, if for
no other reason, at least, because the
Mlssouri-Columbia valleys offered the
most feasible route for a railroad to
the Pacific coast.
When Webster Disapproved.
1t was this suggestion that brought
the following outburst from Web
ster:
What do we want with this vast
worthless area, this region of savages
and wild beasts, of deserts of shifting
sands and whirlwinds Of dust, of a G
tus and prairie dogs? To what use
could be ever put those great deserts
or endless mountain ranges impene-
trable and covered to their base with
eternal snow? What can we ever
nope to do with the western coast, a
coast of 5000 miles, rock bound.
~cheerless, uninviting and not a har.
Dor on it; what use have we for such
a country? Mr.. President, I will
v vote one cent f ON the public
treasury to lace the Pacific coast
n inch nearer to Boston than it
now u.s."
Nor was this any mere idiosyn-
cracy of Webster's, the belittling of
the value of the western country.
Edward Everett, William L. Dayton.
George D. Prentice, George McDuffie
and many other orators or editors OF
the day raised their voices in derision
OF the idea that the western prairies
or mountains might ever become any
thing else than a trapper's paradise.
In the vernacular of the time the far
northwestern country was eft only
for Indians and the DEVIL"
This is what McDuffie had to saw.
IN the senate, of the present Mon
tana:
There are 700 miles this side of
the mountains that are uninhabited.
wher the rain never falls, mountains
Wholly impossible, except through
gaps and depressions to be reached
only by going hundreds of miles out
OF the direct course. Have you made
an estimate of the cost of a railroad
to the mouth of the Columbia? Why.
the wealth of the Indies would be in
sufficient. OF what use would it be
for agricultural purposes? I would
mo- for that purpose give a pinch of
snutf for the whole territory. I wish
the Rocky mountains were an impass-
able barrier. If there were an en-
bankment of even tive feet to be re-
moved, l would not consent to expend
five dollars to remove it, and to en-
able our population to go there. I
thank God for His mercy in placing
the Rocky mountains there"
The Desert of Sahara.
The whole country is as ire
claimable and barren and waste as
the desert of Sahara" said Senator
William l.. Dayton. "Nor is this the
worst; the climate is so unfriendly
to human life that the native popula-
ton has dwindled away under the
ravages of malaria"
In his Louisville Journal, George
D.. Prentice, editor and poet, said:
RUSSIA has her Siberia and Eng
land her Botany bay, and if the Unit
ed States should ever need a country
to which to Danish her rogues and
scoundrels the utility of such a re-
glon would be demonstrated. Until
then we are perfectly willing to leave
his magnificent country to the In
dlans, trappers and buffalo hunters
that roam over it's sandbanks."
Even the dryness of Montana's
SAAAioIc, "AICl lOudy is TeSurQ6Q as
an important asset, was used as a
point in the argument Of those who
contended that there was nothing
worth while in the upper Missouri
country.
1t was admitted on all hands that
the greater part of the country was
a desert, but they contended that
even if a few cases of natural fertili-
ty of the soil should be discov-
cred the dryness OF the air would
prevent the growth of vegetables and
most other crops.
Washington Irving suffered in his
reputation for ~veracity by disputing
this point. Referring to the territory
now embraced in Rosebud, Custer,
Prairie, Dawson, Wibaux and Rich
land counties, Montana, Irving in his
Adventures of Captain Bonneville"
said:
"The atmosphere of these elevated
regions is said to be too dry for the
culture of vegetables; yet the voy-
ayers, in coming down the Yellow
c<1~1 hol ~nnt nth ~1rvn~ -.