The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-06-27
YELLOWSTONE RIVER AND VALLEY
An Interesting Geographical Paper Read Before
Meeting Of the Chautauqua Circle
By l.. T. J.

uICy PAGES 1TOU tuc SuOTo. IL IL
nearly four hundred PAGES in cir
conference, two hundred feet high,
and accessible only from the north
east the other sides being a per-
pendicular cliff of light-colored
gritty rock. The soil on top is
five or six feet deep. -. After
enjoying the prospect from this
rock, to which Captain Clark gave
the name of Pompey's Pillar, he
descended and continued his
course You will notice that
there was nothing said where he
got the name from. There is a
large sign on the Northern Pacific
right-of-way for the benefit of its
passengers, which reads something
to the effect, that the Expedition
stopped there on the above date
and while there buried a colored
servant of Captain Clark's whose
name was Pompey. This may &C
count for the Captains knowledge
of the depth of the soil. In pass
ing this rock most any one will be
thrilled by the surrounding coun-
try and knowing of the things
which took place there July 25th,
1906.
About twenty miles further east
we come to the mouth of the Big
horn river, so named from that
animal which used to roam there
abouts. Thirty-fve miles south of
this place is where Clusters battle
with the Indians took place. In
the late 70's and early sos when
the Northern Pacific Railway was
being built the engineers followed
the banks of this river pretty close
in order to obtain as even grade
as possible, but as the road bed
kept continually sliding into the
river, especially at one place, they
decided to tunnel a bluff, this was
about one mile west of the mouth
of the Bighorn river; this tunnel is
known as the ''Bighorn tunnel. "
To this day they are having trouble
in the spring of the year with the
track bed caving into the river,
though they have done a great
deal of Improvement. The North
ern Pacific and Chicago, Milwaukee
and st. Paul cross at Terry, Mont,
and run parallel to each other for
about a hundred miles. The
Northern Pacific follows the Vel.
lowstone almost its entire length.
The banks and adjoining hills of
the Yellowstone have scattered ce-
dar and pine trees, none of which
grow on the islands. The river
passes through soil which will
hardly grow sage brush as we'll as
through localities where the finest
sugar-beets and alfalfa grow. All
sorts of living things inhabit, its
shores, from the rattle-snake to the
noble elk and buffalo. Along it's
banks are mined several different
minerals, as we'll as coal. There
are signs of oil, and in 1912 and
1918 drilling was being done at
Glendive, Mont.
A great deal of coal is mined at
Red Lodge, which is about 30 miles
southwest of Billings. This is not
as good grade as Illinois or Iowa
coal. containing considerable rock
and slack, it is harder than Ignite
which is mined in eastern Montana
and western North Dakota. Many q
farmer in eastern Montana has his
own coal bin out in the side of a
hill or he may have only to go to
his heighbor and get all he wants
by digging it himself. 1t is not
strange to see a vein of coal sever
al feet in thickness protruding
from the side of the hills. Many
of the farm buildings are built of
logs from the islands, but as saw
mills have now been installed the
farmer can get nearly all the lum-
Der he requires for his buildings