Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-03-14
Up the Treasure State, Touching Upon

AT A recent meeting Of the Helena
n Rotary club, Senator M. M. Dun
- can, resident for 40 years OF Vir-
ginia City, first capital of Montana
territory, delivered an eloquent speech
IN tribute to the pioneers whose u
age and OF justice and right
brought to this country a reign Of law
and order, supplanting the rule OF the
road agent, the bad mar and the hos
tile Indian.
The Vigilantes, who cleared out the
murderers and bandits and whose
graves we're made by their executioners
in the hills surrounding Virginia City,
are referred to but briefly in a specific
way by the senator from Madison coun-
ty, but they are given credit for max
ing possible development of the state.
Senator Duncan said in part:
Lure of the Unknown
Mans predominant characteristic is
hat of seeking for something unknown,
and, when found of making it his. An
instance-to discover and acquire.
Because of this characteristic the an
clients sailed over the blue waters OF
the Mediterranean sea searching Tor
new peoples to conquer and loot to
pocket: because of it Agamemnon,
with his Grecian soldiers, took ship to
Ivy OObCA4OAOAJ ~ lCCohO oAAA AOVaAAA
to the bosom of her lord and master,
King Menalaus, his alleged abducted
queen, the beautiful Helen, but actually
to whip and rob old Priam and his
sons; because Of it, Alexander, Caesar,
William the C%OnQueror, and, in u own
time, William II of the late German
empire, fought their wars of agrees
sion; because of 1t, Marco Polo travelled
into the Far East; because OF 1t, Colum~
bus sailed from Palos, Spain; because
of 1t, Pizaro and Cortez robbed and
murdered the innocent Aztecs and de-
StrOyed the last veStage Of their civil
lization in the new world; because of
it, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth,
and the Cavaliers further south; be-
cause of it John Smith owed his life
to the indian maiden, Pocahontas; be-
cause Of 1t, jefferson acquired from
Napoleon the Louisiana Purchase, or
most of that great territory extending
from the Mississippi on the east to the
Texas border and Rockies on the west,
and which territory Lewis and Clark,
with the aid, as a guide, Of that faith
full Indian woman, Sacajawea, explored
in the beginning Of the last century.
Urges Them to Great Deeds
Aye, because of this characteristic
among men to discover and acquire,
Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone be-
came characters of renoWn IN the
mountain regions of Kentucky and
Tennessee and in the Valley of the
Mississippi; because Of it, the Alamo
fell upon the ashes of which arose an
independent nation, now the Lone Star
state of our republic; because of it, the
battle of the Little Big Horn was
fought and Custer and his entire COM
mand went to their death at the hands
of Sitting Bull, Northumberland and
their Indian fighting hordes; because
Of it, Franklin Peary, Amundsen, Byrd,
wilkins and others just as intrepid
have gone and are still going into the
death traps Of the Arctic and Ant
arctic.
And because of this characteristic of
man, which cannot die, it will ever be
the unknown that will urge and lure
him on, and the greater the peril the
more surely will he go.
These things / mention as reminders
only Of what you know.
Pioneer Did 1t
In a few short years, through this
spirit inherent in man, our country has
developed from a barren Waste-either
a wilderness or a desert-intO the
greatest nation on earth. This has
come about through the pioneer spirit
alive in every intelligent heart. Our
start in the making of what we are to-
day and from which we hope to pro-
gress to better things, was made by the
pioneer on the r~ock-bound coast of
New England, and from thence slowly
but surely sweeping from the Gulf to
the Canadian border, and moving west
ward, ever westward, over the mountain
ranges to the east Of us, through the
Valley Of the Father of Waters, trek
king out across the plains, deserts and
tablelandS, and up, over n beyond
the great SnoW-crested mountain ranges
in the Land of the Setting Sun, and
down their western slopes to the sea,
there in the Golden West.
Yet, with what has gone before, we
are reminded that the Pioneer did not
He is a product peculiar to every age.
From the beginning Of human history
in the east until now, he has always
been in the forefront of our battle for
progress. None but he has ever blazed
the trail through the unknown regions
to a better or a higher civilization.
y An Empire Builder
Therefore, all hail the pioneer. AS
an empire builder, he has always been
first on the field of action-a person Of
parts, a positive force. You know him.
He is still in his declining years to be
found among you. He is yet to be seen,
much in his mature but unaffected
glory, on the plains, in the valleys and
in the mining camps of the west. And
still in his vigorous and young nan
hood, he is known to be even now
pushing his way into the great north
west along the upper reaches of the