The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-12-24

q" of years; yet, all
are to mark the opening up to posi-
tive development vast areas Of ma
turalIy resourceful territory.
In terms Of years, Montana is young,
while in terms of development, her record
is vaSt-almOSt ncOmprehensible. This
state was the Old Vests last stand and,
short as the time may seem since first
the intrepid adventures, traders and ar
gOnauts crossed the Plains to the Rockies
eastern shadows, the West that WAS is
gone.
This immense commonwealth, which the
uniformed Tor misinfOrmed) legislators
Of an effete East, in the sixties, were wont
to term a bOundless desert of wind-swept
plains and SnOw-bOund mountain defileS,
has been marvelOusly transformed. The
Union Pacific, Northern Pacific and Great
Northern railways, whose shining steel
rails blaZed trails through an unbrOken
Wilderness, have been followed by other
lines and a net HOrk of branches. Immense
valleys and plains o nee Overrun with
brown grass, stubborn sagebrush and the
wild deniZens of an uninhabited area, are
now the waving green fields which feed a
nation. The waterfalls, at whose beauty
and magnitude explorers maryeled, have
been harnessed for the generation of indus
trial energy. Thriving cities have sprung
up, developed by the taking from Nature
of her rich stores of treasure. The Indian
has long since become accustomed TO the
whistle of the locomotive, and his home on
the reservation, provided for him by the
federal government, is typical Of thrift,
enterprise and a practice of the customs of
a white mans civilization. Hundreds of
thousands of Americans have been prOvid-
ed with comfortable homes and a cOntented
livelihood.
All Of this. then. followed in the wake of
the coming westward of the "steel rails;
this alone made possible by the dauntleSS
pioneers, those engineers, construction
workers and financierS Wh0 so bravely and
hopefully set their faces frOntierward, re-
fuSing to look back. and, in the face Of
most trying difficulties, dangers and pri-
v%atiOns, blazed pathways which today end
leSSly CLEAN the rays OF a bright west
ern sun, monuments to their memory and
a blessing to poSterity.
What Are the "SteeI RaiIs"?
These present DEVELOPMENTS we have be-
fore us; yet, few there are, who possess
anything like an accurate knowledge of the
railroad and of railroad exploration. But
comparatively few can now appreciate the
ventureSome work of engineers and rail
road construction workers. Fiction and a
distorted Western air have grossly sOiled
and hclicd those noble characters. The
hlOOdSuckerS and parasites. the gamblers
and thieves, the SalOOnkeepers and dance
hall operators who preyed upon the habit
ueS of these camps, gave to them their
black name. As is always true, the dark
deeds of these totally eclipsed the innum-
cradle acts of unSelftShneSS, courage and
actual herOism which, among the workers
were daily and hourly events-all "jn a
days work along the route.
tdllEOdlS are uOL LltiOc udllN. IeODlG dIt
not alwavS lawn" steel rails, but the
people who live along rail lines and who
naturall! profit most by their being, con
~tinually show an inclination to dictate tC
their management and foster Legislation
against their we'll being. But, what is thu
railroad? How come?
Commerce Is the life blood of the nation
The immense trade marts of the East art
the nations heart. Radiating from these
the "steel rails" and the highways are thu
arteries and the veins which respond t
the ebb and flow Of the nations vitality
Sever an artery and some member of tn,
human system suffers; wreck the "stee
rails" and thousands may face starvation
1t was, then. a vitality important adjunc
which the pioneers Of industry and com
merce brought up through POrtneuf Can
yOn and out over the lava plains to "Old'
Red Rock, Montana, in the summer o
1880.
Had it been the privilege of mOdern-da,
MOntanans to travel by stage in the siXtie
and early seventies, that bandit and savage
infested route from COrinne, Utah, to Wiz
ginia City, Montana, we might better b
able to picture those daring engineers an
construction workers, backed by an equal
ly daring capital, as they pushed tn
"steel rails" nOrthward for the succOr Of
vast commonwealth then in travail.
It is less than IS years since this vas
empire, extending from the MISSISSIPPI