The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1945-08-16

Near Granite lake, in the Black
well glacier, in the top of the
mountains. there one is likely TO
see mountain goats and may catch d
glimpse of a grizzly bear. Dome
mountain and the two Cedar lakes
are also beautiful sites In many
places near Libby one enters a
primitive area, an area set aside
by the government where nature is
left untouched These primitive
areas are large tracts in the noun
talns covering many square miles.
The government has set them aside
and is preserving them in their nat
ural wild nature. In these print
tive areas one finds the mountains
and forests and streams unmarried
by mans activities. Roads are al
most entirely unknown. If one
wants to visit the rugged and beau
tiful interior of these unspoled
retreats. he will have to hike sew
eral miles or reach his destination
by horseback
Yearly these primitive areas are
becoming more and more popular
with large numbers of people who
spend their vacations close to ma
ture The primitive area south and
west of Libby is one of the most
beautiful on the continent.
A short trip that the vacationist
should not miss is boat ride
through the Kootenai canyon, be-
low kootenai falls west of Libby.
Here the canyon walls rise fully a
hundred feet above one, presenting
the Kootenai canyon. Here the view
is comparable in beauty to the we'll
known Palisades Of the Hudson. In
this same area, the rugged, the mag
nificent canyon of the Kootenai UNI
folds its vastness and grandeur as
ones speeding car glides over a
modern highway beside the beauti-
full Kootenai. This canyon has a
charm all its own and is even more
beautiful that the famous gorge of
the Columbia river.
A traveller will marvel at pc
culiar color of the Kootenai river,
beautiful turquoise green. caused
by the presence of glacial silt in
the water. One traveller wanted
souvenir of the water and filled
jar with some of the Kootenai wa
ter, but to his surprise the water
lost its green color and looked
like ordinary water. Another thing
pleasing to the traveller is the eli
mate-days with no extremes of
heat or cold, nights always cool,
making bed covers always COM
Portable. Here one can wander
through the mountains without fear
as there are no rattlesnakes or poi
sonous snakes or insects Of any kind.
Neither are there floods, earth
quakes nor tornadoes.
e-6ne also finds all kinds Of game
and fish at Libby. One will find
deer in countless numbers. black.
brown and grizzly bears. elk, few
moose, mountain lions. coyotes,
bobcats, mountain sheep and noun
tain goats The auto traveller catch
es frequent glimpses of the deer as
they bound through the dense for
ests.
In the lakes and streams are fight
ing trout and bass such as: East
ern Brook, Rainbow, Native. and
Silver Salmon. The state has a
modern fish hatchery near Libby
which plants thousands of trout in
the surrounding waters. Montana is
known as great game state. A
late estimate gives the game popu-
lation in the Libby country alone as
follows. 10000 deer, $50 elk. 20
moose, 100 mountain sheep, 1870
mountain goats, 900 black bear. 30
grizzly bear, $500 coyotes, $50 bob
cats or lynx, SO mountain lions,
about $500 beaver, fox, marten.
mink. and otter.
Libby is the home Of Bob Baker,
famous mountain lion hunter. He
claims to have captured alive or
killed over 500 lions.