Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-13
MONTANA SHOWS
MOST TOURISTS
FOR LAST YEAR
Blue Book Man Finds State
Distanced All Others Dur
ing Season.

Montana. relatively speaking, had
the best tourist year this season of
any part Of the United States, accord
ing TO ID. z. Wood, representative of
the Blue Book, auto road guide, who
was in Great Falls Wednesday and
Thursday.
Of the western states, Montana was
the only one to report increases in
travel, he said. He saw in this signs
that Montana and especially Great
Falls will become the greatest dis
tributing points of tourist travel in the
northwest.
"The line of tourist travel was easy
to mark" said Wood. who has beer
trict. 1T extended no further west
than Spokane, and it increases as you
come east. At Spokane, the tourist
season was about the same as last
year. At points east of these coming
into Montana, the reports showed in
creases. Here in Great Falls, | I'M
derstand, the increase in travel over
last year was marked.
Slump In California
81 don't say this to hand Montana
anything, but it is a fact that western
tourist travel outside the state has not
been up to expectations. California
had two or three big conventions such
as that of the Shriners that brought
many persons. The rest of the season
the tourist centers of that state were
starving.
The reason for it lies partly in the
fact that the visit of these large par
ties during the summer naturally held
other persons back in the east to care
for the business interests these rep
1o.4 Thn- -ln- 4 $3.50
might have been expected to begin
travelling, we had the railway strike
with it's effect on business. The re-
suit was to discourage persons from
leaving their business.
That tourist business, walled back
and bottled up this year. is going to
break on us in 1923 and result in the
biggest season by far hat the west
has ever seen. Our representatives
in many parts of the east say that
the queries coming to our offices show
that clearly.
Montana and Great Falls are
located logically to be the gate of that
travel through the northwest. The
card and will be greater. 1t is the
only district, of the northwest that
surpassed Montana. And it left Mon
tana in the dust. Last year about
5000 automobiles visited Vancouver.
This season there were 10000 cars
entered the city carrying tourists.
Many of them had come by way of
the Canadian Rockies.
Cross Country Travel Permanent
Booze did that.
'"The beauty of the district-and
booze-will continue to draw tourists
to that country. Great Falls, if it
perfects it's northern communication, is
without competition as the logical dis
tributing point of travel from the east
and south through the northern lands.
Then we have Glacier park, a
playground certain to increase in pop
ularity, especially as the highway is
made through it from east to west.
When that happens, the travel that
goes through Yellowstone is going to
stream northward through Great Falls
to the northern park. The travel from
the west will be greatly increased and
the eastern travel will be bettered.
The permanence and popularity of auto
cross country travel can no longer be
questioned and Great Falls will grow
more and more the junction 6point in
northern transcontinental rou