The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-09-21
ing Helena, the Capital of Montana,
the United States Assay office The

ing Helena, the Capital of Montana,
the United States Assay office, the
neighboring gold mines and the Mullen
tunnel. sleeping in the cars at night"
No wonder Helena was excited! For
two nights and a day it would enter
tain the great of the land. And those
who knew the Helena of that day would
have no doubt as to the entertainment
afforded. Helena never did anything
by halves. We may presume there was
little sleeping in the cars during those
two nights.
AS I have stated, the spike driving
had been set for the first week in Sep
TENDER. The company underestimate
the ability of its employees, for the work
reached completion Aug. %, 1888. Com
menting or this, the Herald calls at
tention to the fact in these words:
1T is certainly remarkable for a rail-
road, OF anything else, to finish on
time, but here we have the greatest
railroad on the continent and in the
world, in many respects, actually fin
ishing and at work two weeks and a
half before the time officially an
nounced for driving the last spike which
would hold to its place the last rail
completing the continuous line not
simply from sea to sea, but from every
side and portion Of the continent
through the heart Of our Territory"
And let me add that this concluding
sentence but feebly expresses the feel
ings Of Helenaites, who would, most of
them, have required a larger vocabu-
larry for the purpose and a longer SEN
tence.
Again the Herald remarks:
"Our people who travel will no longer
be restricted to 40 pounds Of baggage,
with 20 cents per pound for every ad-
ditional pound, and though he pays this
extra has to walk up every hard and
long hill to enable the coach to haul
his extra baggage, for which he was
made to pay such heavy extra. Nor will
men who travel in Montana hereafter
be compelled to take robes, blankets,
overalls. ETC., and undergo the constant
peril of roasting, freezing and breaking
his neck, if oppressed with sleep atop
a stagecoach, or clinging desperately to
the ropes that held a pyramid Of mail
sacks and express goods to the frail
body of a read-ax wagon"
Good Description
Old timers will appreciate this de-
scription of the joys of stagecoaching,
and agree that it is not overdrawn. The
sledge, coach, jerky and wagon all used
as weather or roads dictated. The dead
ak wagon. tolerable when drawn by
oxen, became an instrument Of torture
because of its lack of springs as it
jolted over rough roads behind two or
four trotting horses. I have tried in
one journey all four methods of loco
motion, making my first entrance into
Helena on a rainy night Of early March,
1873, in the aforesaid dead-ax wagon.
It should be remembered that the COM
fort of the passenger was not then con-
sidered. The coaches ran to carry mail.
While the Herald's editorial gives
Tuesday as the day of the spike driv-
ing, its lengthy account Of the ceremony
cites Wednesday correctly as the date.
It appears that no special cars carried
to the end of the track those from
Helena who attended the celebration.
Two cabooses carried them, unless some
we're admitted to the pullman coach in
which the commissioners from the west
were to ride.
The train left at $50 a. m. bearing
with it nearly all the prominent citizens
Of Helena, judging by the list Of names
given. How they managed to stow them
selves within the cabooses is problema-
tical, but they did, and arrived at Gar
rison by noon.
Going a few miles farther. the cars
came to a standstill, when the passen-
gers alighted and set out ahead at a
brisk pace until they reached the spot
where the tall staff and floating banner
indicated the two sections were to meet.
The first to complete their work were
the western trackmen, and as they
drove their last spike they were hearth
" cheered by all present, the locomo-