- • V F—.330-342 Tacoma----..342-345 The Seattle Branch--.--. 346 Seattle. 346-349 Other Towns on Puget Sound..... 35 °~ 35 2 Pacific Division: Tacoma to Portland... 354“359 Portland, Oregon_ 359“363 Oregon Railway & Navigation Company: Wallula Junction to Bolles Junction_ 364-367 Waitsburg to Dayton_ 367-368 Dayton to Lewiston..--..368-370 ^long the Columbia River: Wallula Junction to Umatilla Junction..-. 37 2- 374 The Baker City Branch Line__— 374 _ 375 The Main Line to The Dalles.....-.- - 375 -385 Dalles City to Portland.. -- 385-397 By River to Portland..398-401 A Trip to Alaska 403-439 I LLU STRATIONS. rAGE The “ Dacotahs’ ” Farewell to the Buffalo.-..Frontispiece Pictured Rocks on the Nachess River, Washington,.__ 5 Headquarters and Offices Northern Pacific Railroad Company, St. Paul. 23 The Falls of St. Anthony, from the Stone Viaduct across the Mississippi. 49 Coal Docks at Superior, Wisconsin.....64 Iron Ore Docks at Ashland, Wisconsin_____68 Northern Pacific Railroad Bridge over the Columbia River at Pasco, Washington ________79 Detroit Lake, Minnesota.,......92 Plowing on a Bonanza Farm _____ hi Seeding on a Bonanza Farm_____114 Harrowing on a Bonanza Farm______117 Harvesting on a Bonanza Farm _____127 The Northern Pacific Railroad Bridge over the Missouri River_152 Buffalo Hunting in Early Days___160 Buttes in Pyramid Park.._...172 Pyramid Park Scenery..__........176 Eagle Butte, near Glendive, Montana...iq2 Current Ferry over the Yellowstone___207 Big Horn River, Bridge and Tunnel____.209 Pompey’s Pillar, Yellowstone Valley, Montana...211 Indian Camp, on the Line of the Northern Pacific Railroad..215 Valley of the Yellowstone above Billings, Montana...219 Driving Cattle from the Range to the Railroad... ..225 Trout Fishing on the Big Boulder....229 Gate of the Mountains, near Livingston_ 1 _..-235 Three Forks of the Missouri—Gallatin, Madison and Jefferson.243 The Gate of the Rocky Mountains, Missouri River, near Helena, Mon_248 ( 11 ) 12 Illustrations. PAGE Silver Mine and Mill at Butte, Montana..264 Beaver Hill, Hell Gate Canon, near Missoula, Montana-.270 Marent Gulch Bridge..-. .274 Thompson’s Falls, Clark’s Fork of the Columbia, Montana..285 Along the Clark’s Fork_____287 Cabinet Gorge, on Clark’s Fork__—..293 Skirting the Clark’s Fork.....-.. -..294 Lake Pend d’Oreille, Idaho.... - 2 99 - Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho_____ 3 01 Spokane Falls, Washington-----313 Medical Lake, Washington.__•...324 View in Yakima Canon, Washington....334 Eastern Slopes of Cascade Mountains, near the Stampede Tunnel-336 Western Portal of Stampede Tunnel....338 Three Bridges and Tunnel, on Green River, Washington..340 View on Green River, Washington____341 Hop Picking in the Puyallup Valley, Washington__343 Distant View of Mount Tacoma........347 Loading Lumber at Tacoma...—349 Glaciers of Mount Tacoma_____— 351 Glaciers of Mount Tacoma....... 353 Mount Tacoma from Commencement Bay--- --355 “The Tacoma,” Tacoma, Washington..—....35S Salmon Leaping up Falls at the Dalles of the Columbia River..360 Cape Horn, on the Columbia River.....-362 Iron Mountain, Cow Creek Canon, Southern Oregon....371 Mount Hood, from the Head of the Dalles, Columbia River-382 Along the Cliffs of the Columbia....388 Multnomah Falls, Columbia River..—....391 Cascades of the Columbia River---394 Pillars of Hercules and Rooster Rock, on the Columbia River-396 Castle Rock, on the Columhia River...... ..4C0 Sitka, Alaska.......402 Fort Wrangell, Alaska....... 4 r 7 Alaskan Grave and Totem Poles at Fort Wrangell.....424 Juneau, Alaska........ 4 2 9 An Alaskan Steamer Approaching the Muir Glacier.. 435 INTRODUCTORY. HE region which is in process of develop¬ ment by the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the railroad systems with which it is in direct connection, embraces, in whole or in part, no less than seven of the largest States and Territories; viz., Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon ; or, at a rough estimate, one-sixth of the area of the United States. The distance between the extreme eastern and western termini of the main line, on Lake Superior and Puget Sound, Ashland, Wis., and Tacoma, Wash., is 1,983 miles. The Northern Pacific Railroad is connected with the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis by a lateral line 138 miles in length. It has also various other branches, including one to the Yellowstone National Park, which represent a total of nearly 1,500 miles of track. In addition to these branches, the trunk line has for its immediate tributaries the extensive system of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, in Oregon and Washington. This great Northern Pacific system of railroads has opened to settlement, during the past few years, one of the fairest sections of the country—a region exceeded by no other part of the ( 13 ) 14 The Northern Pacific Railroad. United States in its wealth of natural resources, and not sur¬ passed in any of the conditions of climate or of soil which are best adapted to the well-being of the human race. The Great Northwest has already become famous for the prodigality of its cereal productions; the salubrity of its climate is an accepted fact; the extent and variety of its mineral deposits, and the value of its grand forests, are everywhere acknowledged, while the marked diversity and extraordinary attraction of its scenery are recognized as not the least promi¬ nent of its features. Now that the Northern Pacific Railroad is finished, the in¬ viting regions of the Great Northwest, hitherto remote, are made easy of access. The tide of travel and immigration flows naturally with a strong current through this new and pleasant channel, and to pilot the wayfarer this Guide Book has been written. The aim has been to furnish the tourist, traveler and settler with precisely that information which would seem requisite through the successive stages of the journey. The book em¬ braces facts with reference to the history, present population, productions, resources and natural features of the country trav¬ ersed by the Northern Pacific Railroad and its branch lines, and by its Western connection, the Oregon Railway s prominent in the Northwest. The aggregate of all of its manufactured products in 1888, including flour and lumber, was $83,075,101. The University of Minnesota, a State institution, is located in the eastern part of Minneapolis, and is provided with sub¬ stantial buildings and spacious, well-kept grounds. It is lib¬ erally endowed, and takes rank with the leading institutions of learning in the country. The two sections of the city separated by the Mississippi river are connected by two iron bridges and a suspension bridge. The river is also spanned near the city limits by four railway bridges; one of which is a substantial stone viaduct erected by the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Company at an expense of over one million of dollars. The Northern Pacific Company have two handsome iron bridges, one cross¬ ing the river over the deep gorge below, the falls, and the other spanning its broader expanse in the western outskirts of the city. All the railroads running into St. Paul have a connection with Minneapolis, either over their own or over leased tracks, so that the two cities, in reality, constitute a single railroad centre. Cattle, grain, and other heavy freight are transferred at Minnesota Transfer, about midway between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Frequent local trains run between the two cities over three lines of road. Lake Minnetonka. —Fifteen miles west of Minneapolis hes Lake Minnetonka, the most popular summer resort of Min¬ nesota. It is a beautiful sheet of water, about twenty miles long, of very irregular form, having a varying width of from half a mile to three miles. Its shores are bold and prettily wooded with oak groves, affording admirable sites for summer residences. A large number of visitors come every summer to Minnetonka from the Southern .States, attracted by the cool and agreeable climate, the excellent hotels and facilities for Minneapolis. 41 boating and out-door life. The principal hotel is the Lafayette, which is capable of accommodating 1,200 guests, and is equaled in size, architectural beauty, and the comforts it affords, by very few of the great summer-resort hotels of the East. The Lake Park Hotel has room for about 500 guests, the St. Louis for about 300, and numerous other summer hotels and private cottages have summer boarders. A fleet of nearly a score of steamboats, large and small, ply upon the lake, and hourly trains are run during the season to and from St. Paul and Minneapolis. The Mammoth Flour Mills. —It is aptly said that the history of the flour mills of Minneapolis is like the story of Aladdin. In i860 the product was 30,000 barrels, and in 1885, 5,473,000 barrels. There are twenty-six mills in operation, the maximum daily capacity of all being 32,000 barrels. An idea of the gigantic proportions which this branch of industry has assumed may be obtained by remembering that the number of barrels of flour manufactured by one of the largest mills in the course of twenty-four hours is greater than that produced by an average-sized mill in the course of a year. The capacity of the largest mill, the Pillsbury “A,” is 5,200 barrels per diem; that of the Washburn “A,” 3,000 barrels; and six other mills range from 1,200 to 2,000 barrels a day. The estimated quan¬ tity of wheat required to supply these mills in 1888 was 18,000,- 000 bushels. The capital invested in the flour-milling industry is enormous, and the amount is constantly increasing. This is the result of the changes in the mode of manufacturing flour, which have been almost radical within the past few years. The use of the old mill-stone has given place to the system of gradual reduction by iron rollers. The new process has not only raised the grade of flour, from the dark and inferior quality formerly produced, to the standard of the best Hunga¬ rian fancy brands, but has increased the quantity obtained from the grain, as well as the capacity of the mills: thus better 42 The Northern Pacific Railroad. flour is now made at less expense than that which the inferior quality previously cost to manufacture. The flour of the Min¬ nesota mills finds a ready market in all the Eastern cities, and also in Great Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Spain and Italy. Single orders are frequently taken for from 10,000 to 15,000 barrels, and the millers find it necessary, in securing the best trade, to control a great manufacturing capacity. Other¬ wise they would not be able to fill large orders promptly, nor obtain that uniformity in quality without which both the for¬ eign and American market would soon be lost. Moreover, there is economy both in the construction and operation of a large mill over a small one. For example, the cost of one mill with a capacity of 4,000 barrels daily, is much less than that of sixteen mills of 250 barrels capacity, or of eight mills of 500 barrels capacity, or even of four mills of 1,000 barrels capacity. The relative cost of operating a large mill is still less, and the chance of a uniform grade of flour is in¬ creased in the same ratio as the capacity of the mill. So medium-sized mills, a few years ago considered the safest and most profitable, have been superseded by those of great capacity. In order that some idea of a large Minneapolis flour mill may be obtained, the following facts relating to the Pillsbury “A” mill are given. This establishment is 180 feet in length by 115 in width, the building material being Trenton limestone, rock-faced, and laid in courses to the height of seven stories. Inside, on the basement floor, is a stone wall, 125 feet in length and 15 in height, which holds the water from the canal after its passage from the falls before it descends to the wheels. Within this canal are the wheel-pits, dug out of the solid rock, fifty-three feet in depth. Inside these pits are flumes of boiler iron, twelve feet in diameter, in which two fifty-five inch wheels, each weighing, with the shafting, thirteen tons, are placed. The hydraulic power of a column of water twelve feet in Minneapolis. 43 diameter, with a fall of fifty-three feet, is enormous. Only the strongest and toughest metal could withstand the strain. Seventeen thousand cubic feet of water rush down each flume every minute, and the combined force of the wheels is esti¬ mated at 2,400 horse-power, equivalent to that of twelve steam engines, each of 200 horse-power. This power is geared and harnessed to the machinery requisite to grind 25,000 bushels of wheat in every twenty-four hours. On the first floor there are the main shafts of the driving apparatus, with pulleys twelve feet in diameter, weighing 13,000 pounds, over which runs belting of double thickness, forty-eight inches wide, at the rate of 4,260 feet in a minute. From the shafts also run thirty-inch belts perpendicularly to the attic floor, over eight-foot pulleys, at the rate of 2,664 feet per minute, furnishing the power which drives the bolting and elevating machinery. There are other pulleys and belting attached to the shafts for operating the roll¬ ers and purifiers, the electric light and other machinery. On this floor, also, is the wheat bin for stowing grain. This holds 35,000 bushels, and extends through to the ceiling of the floor above, where it is connected with the weighing hopper. On the sec¬ ond floor the wheat is ground; the third floor is mainly devoted to packing; the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh floors are filled with bolting chests, middlings-purifiers, bran-dusters and other machinery. Before going to the rollers to be ground into flour, the wheat is cleansed by passing through eight different sets of machinery. It is purged in this manner of wire, nails, cockle, small and imperfect kernels, and becomes actually pol¬ ished before it is converted into flour. On the packing floor the flour is discharged constantly from twenty-four spouts, and accumulates so fast that a car is either lorded with flour or bran every twenty-five minutes throughout the day. Any lack of transportation facilities at once clogs the mill. To every bushel of wheat there are thirteen pounds of bran or shorts; but for this “ offal ” there is a steady demand on the 44 The Northern Pacific Railroad. part of stock-raisers in the East. There are railroad tracks on either side of the mill, and the loading and unloading methods are complete. The establishment is provided with fire apparatus, electric lights, passenger elevator, machine shop, and every appliance for its convenient working. In fact, it is one of the model flouring mills of Minneapolis, and the visitor who examines its features in detail will be well repaid. The process of manufacturing flour in a typical Minneapolis mill is clearly described by Ernest Ingersoll, in Harpers Magazine: “ When the wheat comes in, it is unloaded from the cars, by the .aid of steam shovels, into a hopper bin, whence it is ele¬ vated to the fifth floor, and fed into a receiving bin, the bottom of which extends down to the fourth floor. Out of this it empties itself into conveyors, consisting of small buckets, traveling upon an endless belt, and is taken to storage bins on the first and second floors. Here it rests until wanted for milling. When this time comes the wheat travels by con¬ veyors to the top floor, whence it is fed down into the grain separators in the story beneath, which sift out the chaff, straw, and other foreign matter. This done, it descends another story upon patented grading screens, which sort out the larger- sized grains from the smaller, the latter falling through the meshes of the screen, after which the selected portion drops into the cockles on the floor beneath, and, these escaped, falls still further into the brush machines. All this time the wheat remains wheat,—the kernel is entire. Its next move, however, begins its destruction; for now the ending stones are encoun¬ tered, which break the germinal point off each grain. This mat¬ ter accomplished, the wheat is shot away up to the attic again, and, traversing the whole length of the mill, falls into an aspi¬ rator on the seventh floor; having passed which, it slides down to the second floor, and is sent through the corrugated rollers. These rollers have shallow grooves cut spirally upon them, with rounded ridges between. The opposing rollers are grooved in an opposite direction, and it is impossible for a grain of wheat to get through without being cracked in two, though the rollers are not sufficiently near together to do much more than that. Minneapolis. 45 It comes out of this ordeal looking as though mice had chewed it, and, pouring into special conveyors, speedily finds itself up on the seventh floor again, where the flour dust which has been produced by this rough handling is bolted out in reels, and all that is left—no longer wheat —is divided into ‘ middlings ’ and ‘tailings.’ The tailings consist of the hard seed-case and the refuse part, and go into market as ‘feed’ and ‘bran,’ while the middlings are reserved for further perfection into flour : they are the starchy, good centres of the grains. “ The first operation toward this end is the grading of the middlings, for which purpose they pass upon silken sieves arranged in narrow horizontal troughs, and given a gentle shaking motion by machinery. There is a succession of these bolting cloths, so that the middlings pass through ten grad¬ ings. Next they go to a series of purifiers, which resemble fanning machines, and thence to corrugated rollers, each suc¬ cessive set of which are more closely apposed, where the meal is ground finer and finer. There are five of these corrugations in all, and between each occurs a process of bolting to get rid of the waste, and a journey from bottom to top of the mill and back again. Nevertheless, in spite of all this bolting, there remains a large quantity of dust, which must be removed in order to make the flour of the best quality. And hereby hangs a tale of considerable interest to Minneapolis men. “ In the old mill which not long ago occupied the site of this new one there stood upon one side the usual rows of buhrs, in this case twenty in number. Through the conveyor boxes connected with them was drawn a strong current of air that took up all the fine particles of flour dust, and wafted it with the strength of a tempest into two dust-rooms, where it was allowed to settle. The daily deposit was about three thousand pounds, which was removed every morning. In addition to these small chambers, there were several purifiers on the upper floors, that discharged their dust right out into the room. The atmosphere of the whole mill thus became surcharged with exceedingly minute and fuzzy particles, which are very inflammable, and, when mixed in certain proportions with the air, highly explosive. This mixture had apparently been brought by the millers to just about the right point, when fate supplied a torch. A piece of wire fell between the buhr stones, or into some rollers, and began a lightning express 46 The Northern Pacific Railroad. journey through the machinery, in the course of which it became red hot, when it found an exit, and plunged out into the air. It was a most startling instance of the conversion of heat into motion. A lighted match in a keg of powder is the only analogy to illustrate the result. One room down-stairs burst into flames, and the watchman had only time to pull the electric fire alarm near his hand, when he and the mill together disappeared from the face of the earth. A terrific explosion, generated throughout that great factory in an instant, rent all parts of the immense structure as suddenly as a child knocks over a tower of cards, leaving nothing but blazing ruins to show where, a twinkling before, had stood the largest flour mill in the country. Nor was this all. The land was dug from under the foundations, and the massive machinery buried out of sight. Two other mills and an ele¬ vator near by were demolished, so that not one stone remained above another; while of three other mills, cracked and totter¬ ing walls and charred interiors were the only mementoes of the day’s flourishing business. “The good that came out of this seemingly wholly harmful episode, which scratched an end mark to one era of the city’s prosperity, was the introduction into the new mills of a system of dust-saving that renders such a calamity improbable, if not impossible, in future. Now, instead of being thrown abroad into a large room, the dust is discharged by suction pans into close, fire-proof receivers, where it accumulates in great quanti¬ ties, and is sold as a low grade of flour. This dust having been removed, what remains is the best quality of flour. It is barreled by the aid of a machine permitting the precise weight of 196 pounds to be determined, packed and branded with great speed. “Bakers, however, use what is known as ‘wheat’ or * straight ’ flour, which is the product of the five reductions, all the subsequent processes through which the middlings pass in making fine flour being omitted. ‘ Fancy ’ flour differs from the ordinary superfine in that the'middlings are ground through smooth rollers.” Minneapolis, 47 Interesting to Tourists. —Tourists stopping at Minne¬ apolis should visit at least one of the great flouring mills. They should drive across one of the bridges to the Exposition building, where annual fairs are held in August and September of every year, and to the University. On the western side of the river, where the principal hotels and business houses are located, there are many pleasant drives. Interesting excursions can be made, by steam motor lines, to Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet and Minnehaha Tails. 48 The Northern Pacific Railroad. ST. PAUL DIVISION. St. Paul to Brainerd.—Distance, 136 Miles. Between St. Paul and Minneapolis, ten miles, the Northern Pacific runs through the suburban or rather inter-urban vil¬ lages of Hamline and St. Anthony’s Park, passing the new State Fair Grounds and the new Northern Pacific shops in the vicinity of the Hamline University. It crosses the river just below the Falls of Saint Anthony on a superb bridge of masonry, which ranks among the finest railway via¬ ducts in the United States, and then runs into the new depot in the heart of the city. After leaving this spacious, hand¬ some depot, the road passes through the extensive yards of the company, and by its large freight house across the Missis¬ sippi on a substantial iron bridge of five spans resting upon masonry piers. The first station is North Minneapolis, in the suburbs of the city. After leaving Minneapolis, the course of the railroad, follow¬ ing the east bank of the Mississippi river, is somewhat west of north, the route being through a level or gently undulating region. The surface of the country is, however, diversified by lakes, rivers and small tracts of prairie and growths of hard¬ wood timber. The first important town is Anoka. —This town, the county seat of the county of the same name, is situated twenty miles from Minneapolis, at the mouth of Rum river, one of the most important logging streams in the Northwest. Anoka has 6,000 inhabitants, and is a flourishing manufacturing town, being principally engaged The Falls of St. Anthony, from the Stone 50 The Northern Pacific Railroad. in the sawing of lumber and the grinding of wheat. It has numerous churches, excellent schools, newspapers and hotels. Itasca (36 miles from St. Paul; population, 300) has a good water-power, a hotel and a number of stores. Elk River (41 miles from St. Paul; population, 1,500) is the county seatof Sherburne county, and is located on the Missis¬ sippi at the mouth of the Elk river, a logging stream heading in the great pineries. The town has a water-power, three hotels, two public halls and newspapers, churches and fifteen stores. Princeton , a village of 1,200 inhabitants, which is the head¬ quarters of the lumbermen of the upper Rum river, is 19 miles to the northward, and is reached by stage. Big Lake Station , nine miles further, deriving its name from the beautiful sheet of water on which it is situated, is the nearest point to the German and Swedish settlements near Eagle Lake , some miles distant. Becker and Clear Lake Stations, the next halting places, afford outlets to a rich farming and grazing region, which stretches away on both sides of the Mississippi, for many miles of its course, and whence large quantities of wheat and dairy products are shipped to the markets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The populous agricultural and milling towns of Groton, Monticello, Clearwater, Buffalo, county seat of Wright county, and Fairhaven , are embraced in the area tributary to the railroad stations named. East St. Cloud (76 miles from St. Paul) is a suburb of the active manufacturing and commercial town of St. Cloud, which is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi, and with which it is connected by a fine iron bridge. St. Cloud (76 miles from St. Paul; population, 8,000) is one of the most important manufacturing and commercial towns and railroad centers in Northern Minnesota. It is the county seat of Stearns county, one of the most prosperous ag¬ ricultural counties in the State, and has many fine public and St. Paul Division. 51 private buildings. One of the State Normal schools is located here, and the city is also the seat of a Catholic Bishop. The city is built upon a high plateau, about fifty feet above the Mississippi, and most of its business blocks are built of yellow brick. One of the main lines of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway runs through the place. A branch of the same system extends to West Superior; another branch runs in a southwesterly direction to Sioux Falls, Dakota. There are a number of valuable granite quarries situated at distances varying from one to four miles from the city, on both sides of the Mississippi river, which furnish excellent material for build¬ ing, paving, etc. At one of these quarries, on the eastern side of the Mississippi, the State of Minnesota is erecting a peniten¬ tiary. Jasper is also quarried near St. Cloud. The Mississippi is dammed just below the city and furnishes a valuable water¬ power which is used for various manufacturing enterprises. St. Cloud has two large hotels, three newspapers, three banks, and many handsome churches. Sauk Rapids (75 miles northwest from St. Paul; popu¬ lation, 1,200).—The village of Sauk Rapids, the county seat of Benton county, lies on the east bank of the Mississippi river, at the falls of Sauk Rapids, from which its name is derived. The Mississippi river at this point is 600 feet wide, and has a fall of eighteen feet in one mile. The place is of much importance on account of the extensive beds of granite in its immediate vicinity, the stone, it is said, being equal to the celebrated Quincy granite of New England, varying only in color, and also for the reason that a fine water-power is furnished by the rapids which begin where the Sauk river enters from the west, at the upper end of the village. The rapids continue over a bed of granite a distance of half a mile, and, viewed from either bank, present a picture of great beauty. A substantial bridge, crossing the river just below the 52 The Northern Pacific Railroad. main falls, affords a fine view of the scenery above and below. The village has a graded school, three churches, four hotels, two flouring mills, with a capacity of 500 barrels daily, a saw mill, four general stores, a large hardware store and workshops. Rice’s (88 miles from St. Paul; population, 200).—Rice’s is situated in Benton county, one and a half miles east of the Mississippi river, and two miles north of Little Rock Lake. It is in the midst of a good farming community, and is the point of departure for the Rum river lumber regions. It has five general stores and two good hotels, capable of accommo¬ dating 100 guests each. Lumber and wheat are the principal exports. There is good hunting and fishing in the neighbor¬ hood. Royalton (95 miles north of St. Paul; population, 800).— Royalton was founded in 1880. It is situated two miles east of the Mississippi river, in the midst of a prairie dotted with groves of hard-wood trees. The population, composed of Americans, Germans and Swedes, is enterprising, and the town is growing fast. There are three churches; two good schools; a saw mill with a capacity of 20,000 feet per day, which may be easily increased; four hotels; two grain warehouses, each capable of storing 8,000 bushels; a steam elevator, close to the railroad track, with a capacity of 30,000 bushels; a livery stable, and numerous stores and shops. Two excellent mill sites, well adapted for the manufacture of flour, are offered by the Platte river, a pleasant stream which skirts the town. A large amount of wheat is annually shipped from the station by the surrounding farming population. There are three lumber settlements on the west side of the Mississippi, in the heart of the hard-wood timber region, within six miles of Royalton, named North Prairie, Two Rivers, and Elmdale. These places are tributary to Royalton, employing hundreds of teams in St. Paul Division. 53 hauling logs, cordwood, and railroad ties to the station. Every year, thousands of cords of hard wood, principally maple, are shipped, and the railroad draws largely upon the neighborhood for ties, thousands of which are piled up on either side of the track. Hunting and shooting in this vicinity present their attractions. Deer are plentiful, and feathered game so abundant that prairie chickens, wild geese, ducks, and grouse are shipped in quantities during the season to the markets of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Gregory , five miles beyond, is simply a side track. Little Falls ( 105 miles northwest of St. Paul; population, 2,000).—This town was named from a fall in the Mississippi river. It has one of the best water-powers in the United States, constructed in 1887-88, at an expense of $250,000. The dam rests upon a solid rock bed, and is firmly supported by a rocky island in the center of the river. The water-power is utilized by flouring-mills and factories, and the town is evi¬ dently destined to become an important center of manufactur¬ ing industry. It is built on both sides of the Mississippi river, on a sandy plateau. It is the county seat of Morrison county, and the junction of the Little Falls & Dakota Division of the Northern Pacific R. R. with the main line. A hand¬ some new hotel called “The Antlers” has recently been built for the accommodation of sportsmen, summer visitors, and travelers. There is good shooting for deer in the big woods west of the Mississippi, and for ducks along the river and on the numerous lakes and ponds in the region. The scenery near Little Falls is diversified and interesting. Finely wooded bluffs cropping up between rich prairies make the neighborhood favorable for hunting. Five miles east is a pleasant inland lake named Rice Lake , from the large quantity of wild rice growing around its shores. This is a resort for wild ducks, and in season large numbers are bagged. The woods abound with partridge, and the prairies with grouse, or prairie chickens, while deer are found in great numbers within easy distance. 54 The Northern Pacific Railroad. LITTLE FALLS AND DAKOTA DIVISION. From Little Falls to Morris.—Distance, 88 Miles. This branch runs in a course slightly south of west, traver¬ sing first the wooded country which skirts the western bank of the Mississippi, and then coming out into a fine rolling prairie country, dotted with numerous lakes. There are a number of large brickyards on the line of the railroad near Little Falls which ship their product to Minneapolis and St. Paul. La Fond (7 miles from Little Falls; population, 60).— This place contains a saw mill and a general store. The prin¬ cipal industry is lumbering, and shipments are made of lumber, wood, posts, piling, etc. Swanville (16 miles from Little Falls; population, 150).— Swanville has one hotel, general stores in all branches of trade, elevator, and three saw mills. This is a thickly timbered region, and also well adapted to grazing. Grey Eagle (26 miles from Little Falls; population 300) has one hotel, three saw mills, two general stores, a church and a school-house. The country is well wooded with fine hard wood, and the chief industry is the marketing of wood, ties and lumber. The woods are well stocked with game, and the many beautiful lakes with fish. Twin Lakes , just east of the town, are situated near the railroad, and are a favorite resort for hunters and fishermen. Mound Lake , three miles northeast of the town, has a high, firm beach. Old fishermen say this is the Little Falls and Dakota Division. 55 best lake in Minnesota for fishing. Birch Lake , lying one mile west and a half-mile south of the town, is noted for its fine gravel beach, and is considered the finest pleasure resort in the surrounding country. Upon the shores of the lake, an hotel has been built to accommodate the pleasure seekers who go there to spend the summer months, or to enjoy the fine hunting and fishing found in the vicinity. In Birch Lake, fish of from ten to twenty-five pounds weight are often caught. Spaulding' (29 miles from Little Falls; population, 100).— Spaulding has one hotel, three stores, and a saw mill. The shipments are lumber. The surrounding country is heavily timbered, and also affords good pasturage. Sauk Centre (37 miles from Little Falls; population, 2,700).—This town is situated on Sauk river, at the outlet of Sauk Lake. It forms the natural geographical and business centre and outlet of an extensive area of rich agricultural country, well supplied with timber and water, and finely adapted to raising grain and stock, as well as to dairy pur¬ poses. There are seven churches, and a fine brick school build¬ ing. Sauk Centre has three newspapers, two large flouring- mills, three banks, numerous stores, machine shops, manu¬ factories of agricultural implements, and also a water-power that might be used far more extensively. The railroad crosses an arm of Sauk Lake; but only a small part of it can be seen from the cars. The lake is twelve miles in length, and is partially hidden by a point of land projecting into it. There is very good pickerel, bass, and perch fishing. Prairie chickens are found only a short distance from town, and, in season, ducks and geese come by thousands to the marshes west of and along the line of the railroad. Westport , 48 miles from Little Falls, is a small wheat-shipping village. Villard (5 3 miles from Little Falls, and 116 miles from Minneapolis; population, 500).—This village, named after the 56 The Northern Pacific Railroad. ex-President of the Northern Pacific Railroad, is situated in Pope county, and dates from 1883. The soil of the sur¬ rounding country is a black loam, with clay subsoil. Farmers bring their wheat twelve miles to the village for shipment, and large quantities are forwarded to market. The chain of lakes near the village are: Lake Villard, one and three-fourths of a mile north and south, and one and one-fourth of a mile wide; Lake Amelia, four miles long by one mile wide; Lake Levan, two miles long by one and one-half miles wide; Lake Ellen, one and one-half miles long by one and one-third miles wide. These lakes are all connected. Their banks are lined with maple and oak of heavy growth; the waters are pure and clear, and the bottoms gravelly. They all abound with black bass, which makes them one of the best fishing grounds in the entire section. There are plenty of water fowl, and, in fact, there is no end of amusement for the sportsman. Between two of the lakes, for a distance of nearly one mile, the railroad track runs, there being just room enough for a single track,— the roadbed sloping down on either side to the water. From the car windows the view makes a very pretty picture. Glenwood (60 miles from Little Falls; population, 1,000) the county seat of Pope county, is situated in a small circular valley at the eastern extremity of Lake Minnewaska. It has two hotels, three stores, two newspapers, and a brick yard. The hills on the north and east rise 280 feet above the level of the lake, and a little above the surrounding prairie. These emi¬ nences are cut up with deep wooded dells or ravines, through which flow clear creeks of spring water, pursuing their way across the valley to the lake below. The railroad station is prominently situated 200 feet above the valley, and offers a pretty view of the village, with its substantial brick court house, school building and church, its neat residences, and the silvery lake, whose shores are fringed with oak and maple. Lake Little Falls and Dakota Division. 5*1 Minnewaska, now in sight from the cars between Glenwood and Starbuck, and anon hid from view by hills or groves of timber, has a clean, gravelly beach, which affords a delightful drive, over six miles in length, shaded by a growth of forest trees. Minnewaska is one of the largest and handsomest lakes in Minnesota. It is over ten miles long and from two to three miles wide, and is surrounded by a picturesque rolling country. It is becoming a favorite summer resort. The lake abounds in fresh-water fish of all kinds. Many times in spring, wagon loads are taken away, the result of a night’s or day’s fishing. Many springs gush from the hill slopes on the north shore of the lake, within half a mile to two miles from its eastern end. Some of these springs are pure, sweet water, while others contain iron and potassium, or are strongly impregnated with sulphur. One of these fountains, coming out of the bluff just behind the village, forms a considerable stream, which has been dammed by the owner, and made to furnish the power to operate his mill. Of the excellent medicinal properties of the mineral springs, there is ample evidence, as invalids using the water will testify. Starbuck (69 miles from Little Falls; population, 500).— The town of Starbuck, situated on the western end of Lake Minnewaska, is an active mercantile town and an important wheat-shipping point. The first buildings were erected in 1882. Pickerel, red-horse, buffalo bass, and perch abound in large numbers. Flocks of ducks and geese offer an excellent oppor¬ tunity to the sportsman, as well as prairie chickens in their season. Scandiaville (79 miles from Little Falls; population, 100) has one hotel, an elevator, and general stores. The country is well suited to farming, and an abundance of small game is found in the vicinity. Morris (88 miles from Little Falls; population, 1,800).— Morris, the county seat of Stevens county, is the present west- The Northern Pacific Railroad. era terminus of the Little Falls and Dakota branch. The town has five churches, a graded and high school, two public halls, two banks, three good hotels, two newspapers, two flour- ing-mills, three elevators, and a large number of business houses. A good quality of cream-tolored brick, manufactured here, is used in the construction of the buildings. The principal buildings are the public schoobhouses, and the handsome court¬ house. The chief industries of Morris are stock-raising and agriculture. The shipments are wheat, barley, oats, and corn. There are several lakes well stocked with fish in this vicinity, and flocks of prairie chickens, snipe, plover and ducks, are found here in their season. A/. Paul Division. 59 ST. PAUL DIVISION. [Continued from page 53 .] Belle Prairie (109 miles from St. Paul; population, 800).— This town, in Morrison county, four and a half miles north of Little Falls, on the east bank of the Mississippi, derives its name from the beautiful, level strip of prairie, about twelve miles long, and varying from two to four miles in width, upon the edge of which it is situated. The soil of Belle Prairie is a rich, black sand, and well adapted to all kinds of agricultural products, especially wheat, potatoes and garden vegetables. The population of the country tributary to Belle Prairie is r,ooo, the majority being French Canadians, who are mostly engaged in agricultural pursuits and lumbering. There are here an hotel, a postoffice, stores and shops, an elevator, a public hall, district schools, a Roman Catholic church, and a convent, with which a school attended by fifty scholars is con¬ nected. This town is one of the oldest settlements of north¬ ern Minnesota. Mr. Frederick Ayer, the missionary, settled here in 1848, and erected a commodious school-house for the education of Indian children. Fort Ripley (119 miles from St. Paul; population, 500).— This station derives its name from the now unoccupied fort, distant one mile, on the west bank of the Mississippi river, which, in the time when Minnesota was occupied in a great part by the Sioux Indians, was an important frontier military station. The old block house and barracks are still standing. It is the shipping point of a rich lumbering and farming 60 The Northern Pacific Railroad. region into which settlers are rapidly entering. Albion , five miles beyond, is only a siding; Crow IVing, 128 miles from St. Paul, is an unimportant station, but has interesting associations in connection with the Indian history of the region. Brainerd (136 miles from St. Paul, and 114 miles from Duluth; population,10,000).—Brainerd, City of the Pines, is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi river, on the main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, at an elevation of 1,600 feet above the sea. It is one of the most important, picturesque and attractive towns on the line of the railroad-, north of Minneapolis, and west of the great lakes, in Minnesota. There are nine churches, five school buildings, one of them a noticeably handsome structure; a court house and jail, a fine brick hotel and several small hotels, three weekly newspapers, an opera house, and a public hall. Approaching the town from the south and east, the eye is attracted by the lofty smoke-stack (no feet high) of the railroad company’s shops, which here cover an area of about twenty acres, and consist of a round¬ house, containing forty-four stalls; machine shop, with ca¬ pacity for handling twenty-two locomotives at once; boiler shop, copper shop, blacksmith forges, foundry and numerous other accessories of the headquarters of the motive power of a great railroad. Passing by this busy hive of industry, going west, the traveler is at once ushered into the business por¬ tion of the city, which stretches along parallel to the track on the south side for a distance of nearly half a mile. On the north side of the track are obtained glimpses, through the timber, of picturesque residences, the Episcopal and Congre¬ gational churches; Gregory Park, inclosing ten acres of stately pines; and the court house and jail, erected at a cost of $30,000. Here also is the building belonging to the railroad company, and occupied as the headquarters of division offices. 1 he Brainerd Water and Power Company, with a paid-up capital St, Paul Division. 61 of $100,000, supplies the city with water from the Mississippi river, and also with electric light. A strong clam was built across the Mississippi river about two miles above the business centre of the city in 1888 by a water-power company, which furnishes power for mills and factories. The dam created a back-water lake, which is one of the most capacious storage reservoirs for logs to be found on the Mississippi river. The principal manufacturing industries of Brainercl are, making lumber and brick. The railroad company has, on the western bank of the river, a large and handsome Sanitarium which is supported by a small monthly contribution from all the em¬ ployees of the company engaged upon the eastern divisions of the road. These employees have the right to surgical and medical treatment and board, free of charge, when sick or in¬ jured. The hospital stands in the midst of a grove of pines, and has an excellent record for successful work. Brainerd is the gateway to the vast lumber region north and east to the sources of the Mississippi. Good wagon roads penetrate the forest in all directions, and a stage line and semi-weekly mail service is maintained to Leech Lake and Lake Winnekagoshish, which the United States government is con¬ verting into huge reservoirs, at an expense of half a million dollars, to regulate the stage of water in the upper Mississippi. Leech Lake contains an area of 200 square miles, Winne- bagoshish half as much more. During the season of naviga¬ tion a small steamboat plies between Aitkin and Pokegama Falls, where the Mississippi takes a sudden leap of seventeen and a half feet, around which is a short “ carry,” or portage, whence a small government steamer penetrates to the govern¬ ment works above. A hundred lakes, at varying distances of three to twenty-five miles from Brainerd, and of easy access, are stocked with black bass, wall-eyed pike, pickerel, mascalonge and other varieties of fish, all of exquisite flavor; numerous rice lakes afford breeding places for myriads of water fowl, while the forest is full of game and fur-bearing animals. Red 62 The Northern Pacific Railroad. deer and pheasants may be taken by the sportsman, within easy strolling distance of the town; and a black bear, wolf or wolverine often add piquancy to the hunter’s quest. There is an hotel at Gull Lahe, twelve miles distant northwest, with accommodations for twenty guests, and at Serpent Lake , six¬ teen miles northeast, there are accommodations for perhaps an equal number. Mille Lac Lake , twenty-two miles southeast, is the largest, and perhaps the most charming, of all the Minne¬ sota lakes. Embowered in a magnificent forest of butternut, ash, sugar maple and other hard woods, its solitude has rarely been disturbed by the sound of the woodman’s axe. It has an area of nearly 400 square miles, and a gravelly beach skirts its shores for nearly 100 miles. This lake is the source of the Rum river; its waters teem with fish, many of which are of marvelous size; black bass of ten and twelve pounds each are often hooked. Its shores abound with game, attracted hither in the fall by the immense crops of mast in the forest, and wild rice in the thousand lakes. Openings in the forest, bits of prairie and meadow, produce wild strawberries, blue¬ berries, raspberries and cranberries, hundreds of bushels of which are annually shipped from this station; the under¬ growth is rich with ferns, and flowers and flowering shrubs of exquisite beauty. Wisconsin Division. 63 WISCONSIN DIVISION. From N. P. Junction, Minn., to Ashland, Wis.— Distance, 86 Miles. The Wisconsin Division of the Northern Pacific Railroad extends from N. P. Junction, the point of junction with the main line, to Superior, and thence on eastwardly to Ashland, on Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior. The length of this division is 86 miles, and Ashland is the extreme eastern termi¬ nus of the Northern Pacific system. The division traverses a heavily wooded country for its entire length. The forests consist mainly of pine, and important lumbering operations are carried on. Superior (population 15,000).—The district of Superior fronting upon the Bay of St. Louis, and facing the city of Du¬ luth, is known as West Superior. It was laid out in 1884 by a strong company, which cleared away the forests, drained the ground, and platted the town, and made other important im¬ provements. This was done with the idea that a much larger city is destined to grow up at the head of Lake Superior than can find convenient space for its commercial and manufactur¬ ing operations within the limits of Duluth. The situation of West Superior, on a handsome level plateau, with extensive water frontage, is peculiarly favorable for commercial activity, and especially for railway terminal purposes. The Northern Pacific bridge across the bay gives easy communication with Duluth. The growth of West Superior has been very rapid, Coal Docks at Superior, Wisconsin Division. 65 and it is already an important railroad centre, and ranks among the leading shipping ports on the upper lakes. It has five large grain elevators with an aggregate capacity of 8,250,000 bushels, two immense coal docks, and a merchandise dock. As a manufacturing town, it is already one of the foremost in the Northwest. An iron and steel plant was begun in 1888 with a capital of two millions of dollars. There are two large lumber mills which make an annual cut of about 75,000,000 feet. The coal receipts are over a million tons a year. Coke ovens,owned by the Lehigh Company, make coke from Pennsyl¬ vania and Ohio coal. A handsome hotel of large dimensions, called “ The West Superior,” was completed in 1889. In 1888 West Superior was consolidated with the old city of Superior into one municipality, called by the name of the older place. The new city of Superior, thus constituted, stretches along the shores of the Bay of Superior and the Bay of St. Louis for a dis¬ tance of nearly five miles, and is separated from Duluth, at the nearest point, by only a narrow strait connecting the waters of those bays. The railway terminal facilities are very extensive, and are used by the Northern Pacific, the St. Paul & Duluth, the Eastern Minnesota, the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis &: Omaha, and the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic roads. The remarkable commercial and manufacturing development, of re¬ cent years, at Superior, must be regarded in connection with the parallel progress of Duluth. The prosperity of both of these places, separated as they are by only a narrow channel of water, is a direct result of the rapid settlement and general development of the great Northwest which finds, at the head of Lake Superior, its nearest point of access to the water high¬ way of the great lakes. The old city of Superior was projected and laid out before the civil war by a company of well-known citizens, among whom may be named: Wm. V. Corcoran, of Washington, D. C.; Robt. J. Walker, of New York; Geo. W. 5 66 The Northern Pacific Railroad. Cass, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Horace S. Walbridge, of Toledo, O.; D. A. J. Baker, of St. Paul, Minn.; James Stinson, of Chicago, Ill.; Senator Bright, of Ohio; Senator Beck, of Kentucky; and J. C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, formerly Vice-President of the United States. Stephen A. Douglas, after whom the county is named, was also interested in Superior in its early days. Tourists visiting the old town will find a large and handsome new hotel called “ The Euclid,” which overlooks the bay and the entrance to the harbor—an attractive stop¬ ping place. Among many points of interest in the vicinity of Superior is the magnificent Black River Fall, ten miles south of Superior, and only a few miles distant from the track of the Northern Pacific Railroad. This cataract is 210 feet in height, and the water is of ebony blackness. It is one of the most in¬ teresting and aw r e-inspiring sights in the Northwest. The Aminicon Falls, 110 feet high, are also noted for their grandeur. The forests in the vicinity abound in deer, bear, and other large and small game, and the streams and lakes afford excel¬ lent trout fishing. Between Superior and Ashland, the Northern Pacific road runs through a picturesque forest region, traversed by many small trout streams which flow into Lake Superior. The sta¬ tions are: Maple Ridge , Muskeg , Moquah , and C., St. P., M. 6° O. Junction. The most frequented trout stream on this road is Brule River, which is much visited during the fishing season by sportsmen from St. Paul and Minneapolis. A St. Paul club has erected a rude, but comfortable, log house for the use of its members. Boats and Indian guides can be pro¬ cured there. Ashland (population 10,000) is the county seat of Ashland county, Wisconsin, and is the extreme western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad system. It is an important shipping and manufacturing point, This prosperous town has abeauti- Wisconsin Division. 67 ful location on the picturesque Bay of Chequamegon, facing the Apostle Islands. It has an excellent harbor and consider¬ able lake commerce. It is the northern terminus of the Wis¬ consin Central Railroad, running to Milwaukee, and to many important towns in the centre of the State. The Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railroad also terminates here. The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha system has a line extending from St. Paul to Washburn, a few miles distant, across the bay, with a branch to Ashland. Ashland is the largest shipping port of iron ore in the United States. The ore is brought from the mines on the Gogebic Range, about 30 miles distant, by two lines of railroad, the Wisconsin Cen¬ tral, and the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western; and is shipped by steam and sailing vessels from three immense ore docks, one of which belongs to the former railroad company, and two to the latter. These docks handle over 1,000,000 tons of ore annually, affording cargoes to nearly 800 vessels, the greater part of which are bound for Cleveland, O. The docks and approaches are over 3,000 feet long; and the docks proper are 1,405 feet long. On each side are 117 pockets holding 120 tons each. The capacity of each dock is 28,000 tons, and each required over 5,000,000 feet of timber for its construction. Ashland manufactures a great deal of lumber and makes char¬ coal, and iron and steel from the ore of the Gogebic Range. A large blast furnace was erected in 1887. Ashland has a great reputation as a summer resort. It has a number of hotels; the Chequamegon House is one of the best summer hotels in the country, and is filled with guests during the warm season. The cool breezes from Lake Superior make the sum¬ mer climate always agreeable, and the opportunities for yacht¬ ing, rowing and fishing upon the beautiful water, and for drives through the pine forests, render Ashland a delightful place in which to spend the summer months. Minnesota Division. 69 MINNESOTA DIVISION. From Duluth to Fargo.—Distance, 253 Miles. Duluth (population 35,000) is the third city in Minnesota, and is one ot the most important wheat markets and wheat¬ shipping points in the world. The city is built upon high ground overlooking Lake Superior, and the Bays of Superior and St. Louis; and is over seven miles long, fromi ts extreme eastern suburbs on the shore of the lake, to its western limits on the Bay of St. Louis. Its harbor is capacious and entirely land¬ locked, being entered by an artificial channel, cut across a long, narrow, sandy peninsula, known as “ Minnesota Point.” The grain elevators, which are the most conspicuous structures in the commercial district, have an aggregate capacity of about 12,000,000 bushels. The neighboring elevators in West Supe¬ rior are operated in close connection with the Duluth elevators, and the wheat stored and handled in both places is represented in the operations of the Duluth Board of Trade. The grain is shipped in steam and sailing vessels of heavy tonnage; a steam propeller usually taking two or three sailing craft in tow. Nearly all of the wheat shipments are to New York, by way of Buffalo and the Erie Canal. A large grain steamer with a capacity of 90,000 bushels, equivalent to 180 car-loads, can be loaded at Duluth in half a day. It has often happened that such a steamer arriving at the elevators by 7 o’clock in the morning has been outside of the harbor with her cargo aboard before noon of the same day. Duluth has become in recent years a more important wheat-shipping port than Chicago, and in the volume 70 The Northern Pacific Railroad. of grain annually dispatched to the East it now leads all West¬ ern cities. Next to wheat, the most important article of com¬ merce, is coal; the receipts of which in 1S88 were 1,535,000 tons. The manufactures of the city consist of lumber, flour, iron and steel, and railway cars. The railways centering in the place are the Northern Pacific, the St. Paul & Duluth, the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha, the Eastern Minne¬ sota, the Duluth, South-Shore & Atlantic, the Duluth & Win¬ nipeg, and the Duluth and Iron Range. The latter road runs northward to the great iron mines in the Vermillion Range. The fisheries of Duluth are an important industry. White fish and trout are caught in large quantities, and shipped to St. Paul and Minneapolis, and to all the towns in Minnesota, Dakota and Montana. Duluth has two large hotels, “ The St. Louis ” and “ The Spaulding,” and a number of smaller establishments. It has two daily newspapers, ten banks, and numerous churches and school buildings. This part of Lake Superior is one of the most interesting points to the geologist on the North American continent. It is on good grounds considered the oldest region in the world. The theory is that the formation of the lake is due to some great volcanic action, long prior to the ice period ; perhaps that the lake itself was the mouth of a great volcano. Duluth is built on the rim of this lake basin, upon foundations of trap and conglomerates of every conceivable description, with seams of quartz and veins of iron, copper and silver often cropping out at the surface. The ancient lake bed extends some twenty miles above Duluth, over Grassy Point, Spirit Lake, and the bed of the St. Louis river, as far as Lond du Lac, around which the lake rim curves, inclosing a region of striking beauty. The chain of hills is here cut through by the St. Louis river, causing that wonderful series of rapids, which, in a distance of twelve miles, have a fall of 500 feet through masses of slate, trap, granite and sandstone, and are fast Minnesota Division. 71 becoming celebrated as the picturesque regions of the Dalles of the St. Louis. The mean temperature of Duluth, during the summer, is as follows: June, 57 0 9'; July, 6i° 9'; August, 63° 6'; Septem¬ ber, 58° 5'. Summer visitors find here every convenience for fishing, hunting and sailing parties. Tourists and scientists usually have an abundance of time at their disposal, and are able at leisure to find out the most desirable localities. But there are many who come by lake, and have only a day to spare, or the brief period that a boat is waiting. To the latter class a trip to the Dalles of the St. Louis, via the N. P. R. R., is one of the most profitable ways of spending the time. For the benefit of those who come by rail, and who delight in the “gentle pastime,” a list of the trout streams on the north shore of Lake Superior, and their distances from Duluth, is appended: NAME OF STREAM. DISTANCE FROM DULUTH Lester river. French river .... Sucker river. Knife river. Stewart river_ Silver creek. Gooseberry river.. Encampment river Split Rock river .. Cross river. . 5 miles. .14 “ 16 “ .21 “ -32 “ -33 “ -38 “ -41 “ .48 “ .85 “ The Gooseberry river is considered the best trout stream on the north shore, then Split Rock, and Stewart and Knife rivers, in the order named. Among the fine bays and islands most popular with tourists are Knife Island and Stony Point, Agate, Burlington and Flood Bays. Agate Bay, especially, is visited, and the name is very appropriate. Its shores are lined with agates, among an endless variety of other variegated and curiously colored conglomerates, all specimen chips from the neighboring rocks and hills, but worn more or less smooth 72 The Northern Pacific Railroad. by the perpetual friction and grinding of the wave-washed beach. The north shore is very precipitous, and abounds in fine scenery. Cascades and rapids are to be found on nearly all the above-named streams. Northern Pacific Junction (23 miles from Duluth, 131 miles from St. Paul, and 91 miles from Brainerd; population, 1,000).—This is the junction of the St. Paul & Duluth and Northern Pacific Railroads, and a branch of the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad, known as the Knife Falls Branch, which runs six miles north to Knife Falls and Cloquet, where three saw mills are established, and large quantities of lumber are man¬ ufactured. Northern Pacific Junction has several hotels, two public halls, a church, good schools, and the county jail. It does a large business in supplying the numerons lumbering camps which are situated in the vicinity. Two saw mills are here, which run summer and winter, and are supplied with logs during the winter by a logging train. Pine Grove , 28 miles from Duluth, is only a side track. The same may be said of Norman, 33, and also of Corona , 39 miles from Duluth. Cromwell (45 miles from Duluth; population 350) is sit¬ uated on a beautiful lake, which is stocked with pike, pickerel, and perch. Cromwell has a section house, telegraph office, two hotels and a water tank. The principal shipments are wood and ties. Game: deer, bear, rabbits and grouse. Tam- arack , 57 miles; M'Gregor, 66 miles; and Kimberley, 75 miles from Duluth, are small places of little importance except as points for the shipment of wood, ties, fence posts and tele¬ graph poles, which are cut from the neighboring forests. Aitkin (87 miles west of Duluth, and 27 miles east of Brainerd; population, 1,000).—The town has three hotels, a number of stores, the usual shops, three public halls, churches, schools, three saw mills, a planing mill, a flour mill, a bank, and a weekly stage line to Grand Rapids, Minn. During the Minnesota Division. 73 summer a small steamboat runs up the Mississippi from Aitkin to Grand Rapids. The Mississippi river has its source in Itasca Lake, in the vicinity of which an immense lumber trade is carried on, the trees being cut into logs, and floated down the Mississippi to the Minneapolis mills. The Mud river rises twenty-five miles southwest, and flows through sixteen large lakes, which are full of fish. Red Cedar Lake , with its fifty miles of shore, and five other lakes of good size, situated four miles west of Aitkin, are excellent places for hunting and fishing. Crystal Lake is distant two and a half miles south. Lake Mille Lac , twelve miles in the same direction, is noted for its beauty; and all are well worth a visit. The country around the lakes is surpassed by none in point of attractiveness to the eye, being undulating and park-like. The glades and meadows are spangled with wild flowers in great variety, and the pebbly shores of the lakes, and azure, transparent waters, present a scene which impresses the be¬ holder by its rare beauty. The hunting here is excellent. Elk may be found within seventy-five to one hundred miles north of this point, and in the immediate vicinity of Aitkin are deer, bear, geese, ducks, pheasants, grouse and woodcock. Visitors to this portion of Minnesota, desiring to see the red man in his wild way of living, may have their wishes gratified by driving out to the great and beautiful Mille Lac Lake and Chippeway Indian Reservation, about twelve miles from Aitkin. Cedar Lake, 92 miles west of Duluth, is only a side track. Deerwood,(97 miles west of Duluth; population, 50) is a favorite retreat for the hunter, and one of the wildest, least known and most beautiful points on the Northern Pacific Rail¬ road. An unbounded forest stretches in every direction, in which deer and bear tempt the adventurous sportsman to share with the Indians the excitement of the hunt. The small streams and clear lakes, of unknown depth, invite the lover of 74 The Northern Pacific Railroad. the rod to make his camp here. The invalid who craves repose, yet does not care to be too far away from the post- office or telegrams, finds here his Mecca. A small hotel has been built, and accommodation may also be found among the farmers at this point ; or, if camping out is preferred, it is easy to obtain milk, eggs, ice, fresh vegetables and berries from the same source. In a radius of Three miles, there are over twenty known lakes, whose waters fairly teem with mascalonge, pike, black bass, whitefish, pickerel, croppies, wall-eyed pike, sunfish, rock bass, catfish, bullheads and suckers. It is not uncommon to take pike weighing upward of twenty pounds, and black bass six pounds, with a trolling spoon, while at the mouths of streams bass weighing from half a pound to two and a half pounds can be caught with the fly. The lakes vary in size from little gems a few hundred feet across, to larger ones of several miles in diameter, many containing islands. Some of them have high rocky shores, pebbly beaches, and deep blue water; others, fringed with a growth of wild rice, are the feeding and hatching grounds of numbers of wild fowl. The more distant lakes can be reached by pony and buckboard, or by birch canoes, the latter carried over portages. There is a little trading post at this point, which, from its various shipments of furs, fish, venison, game, maple sugar, cranberries, raspberries and huckleberries, gives a very good idea of the resources of the adjacent country. Here, also, the civilized Indians can be seen at their several occupations, from making maple sugar and birch-bark canoes in the spring, to gathering wild rice in the fall, and hunting and trapping in the winter. The sportsman finds here in their season deer, with an occasional caribou, black and brown bear, wolves, foxes, coon, beaver, black and gray squirrels, the great northern hare, Canada grouse, wood ducks, teal, mal- Minnesota Division. 75 lards and bluebills. Kimberley (108 miles from Duluth) is a side track. Six miles beyond Kimberley the train reaches Brainerd, and unites at that place with the line from St. Paul. [J 4 description of Brainerd will be found under the heading “ St. Paul Division,"page 60.] Gull River (143 miles from St. Paul; population, 500.— Gull River, so called from the river which runs through the town, is a lumbering point from which great quantities of lumber are shipped for building purposes. One of the largest saw mills in the State is situated here; also a sash and door factory, and a planing mill. There are four hotels, two general stores, a school-house, and the necessary shops. Gull Lake lies four miles north of the town. . This is another of Minne¬ sota’s beautiful lakes, abounding with fish of all kinds. There is a steamboat on its waters which carries the tourist from eighty to one hundred miles around its shores. Two miles west of Gull River is Sylvan Lake^ also a very pleasant resort in summer. There are a great many deer, and some moose, in the neighborhood of these lakes. A moose was recently killed that weighed, when dressed, 800 pounds. Wolves and bears are also to be found. In the spring and autumn the rivers and lakes are alive with ducks and other water fowl. ' Years ago, one of the greatest battles between the Chippeways and Sioux Indians was fought here. “ Hole-in-the-day,” one of the Chippeway chiefs, was shot in this vicinity. “ Bad Boy,” so called by the Indians because he saved many of the white settlers’ lives at the time of the Indian massacre in 1862, lives here. Motley (158 miles west of St. Paul; population, 600).— Motley, named for the historian Motley, has three hotels, a school-house, and a church. It is situated in a lumbering district, and its two saw mills cut 12,000,000 feet of lumber 76 The Northern Pacific Railroad. yearly. There are several lakes near the railroad, and among them Lake Shamiveau, about six miles south of the town, and Alexander Lake, twelve miles distant in the same direction, both affording very good fishing. This is also one of the best of hunting grounds in Minnesota for deer. The few Indians remaining in this neighborhood are industrious; a large num¬ ber of them, having given up their wild mode of life, are at work in the saw mills. Stages run Wednesdays and Saturdays to Long Prairie , eighteen miles south. Staples Mill (165 miles from St. Paul; population, 150).— This place contains two saw mills and a grain elevator. The inhabitants are engaged in lumbering, cutting wood, railroad ties, piles, etc. Game is plentiful in the neighborhood. Aldrich (172 miles from'St. Paul; population, 125).—The town, situated on the Partridge river, a beautiful little stream with well-defined banks and rapid current, thirty-six miles west of Brainerd, lies in Wadena county. The land surrounding the village is mostly covered with timber, consisting of birch, oak, maple, tamarack, spruce and pine. Large quantities of wood, railroad ties and piling, are shipped from Aldrich, to supply the demands of settlers further west, and millions of feet of pine logs are floated down the river in the spring of the year. A high ridge of land runs north of the village, and upon it is the principal road leading to the outlying farms. The soil, a rich clay loam, produces large crops of wheat, oats, corn and potatoes, as well as garden vegetables. Aldrich is supplied with several stores, an hotel, a saw mill capable of cutting 20,000 to 30,000 feet of lumber daily, and an elevator. This is a good point for game of all kinds, while the Partridge river and the neighboring lakes are well stocked with fish. Verndale (153 miles west of Duluth, 175 miles northwest of St. Paul, population, 1,000).—This town is pleasantly situated in Wadena county, in the Wing river valley (one of the most Minnesota Division. 77 fertile and beautiful valleys of the Northwest), of which it is the commercial centre. This valley is twenty miles in length, by five or six in breadth, and consists of a number of small prairies or openings, so admirably arranged by nature that almost every settler has timber and prairie. The village is about one mile east of the river in a beautiful opening, or small prairie, sheltered on the north and west by a dense growth of pines, while about two miles south and east can be seen the dark line of the Big Woods, which stretch away for many miles. In its vicinity are many fine farms, the richness of the soil and the thrift of the inhabitants leaving nothing to be desired. Wing river, about one and a quarter miles distant, furnishes a fine water-power, which is used in supplying the mills. There are four hotels, two banks, a newspaper, two public halls, a church, good schools, several general stores, as well as a flour¬ ing mill and a saw mill. The best timber lands in Wadena county, besides the Big Woods to the south, are adjacent to the village, and lumber is easily shipped from this point. A stage line to Hubbard, in Hubbard county, over a good road constructed by the State, crosses the southern frontier of Hubbard county. It contains much fine agricultural land, and a great deal of valuable pine land, and has attracted consider¬ able settlement of recent years. Wadena (183 miles west of St. Paul; population, 1,400).— This town is the county seat of Wadena county. The first line of buildings, which are mostly devoted to business pur¬ poses, are about two hundred feet from the track, leaving an open and unoccupied space extending along the entire front of the town site. The educational facilities are good, there being a graded school in a large brick building, costing $10,000. Churches are well represented by five religious de¬ nominations. The country adjacent to the town is a slightly rolling prairie, dotted at intervals with picturesque groves and 78 The Northern Pacific Railroad. strips of timber. Oak, poplar, birch and ash are the most common growths. A few miles north of the town begins the timber line, beyond which lie some of the famous logging camps of Minnesota, where are found large tracts of white and yellow pine. Wadena is, therefore, a convenient shipping point in winter for cordwood, ties and piling. Wadena depends not alone for its support on the country wherein it is located; but, being favorably situated, draws a great amount of trade and business from Todd, Otter Tail, Becker and Cass counties, which are immediately adjoining. The fact that the town is so important a shipping point encourages business enterprises, among which may be mentioned two banks, a manufacturing company, devoted to the production of plows and general foundry work, numerous stores, six hotels, one patent roller flouring mill, with a capacity of ioo barrels per day, and two grain elevators. The products are wheat, barley, corn, oats and potatoes. A semi-weekly line of stages runs to the agricultural village of Wrightstown , twelve miles, distant, with 175 people, and to Parker s Prairie , twenty-five miles distant, with 350 inhabitants. Wadena is the eastern terminus of the Northern Pacific, Fergus & Black Hills Railroad, which runs into the Southeastern part of North Dakota. This road also furnishes the citizens of Wadena with convenient and easy access to Battle and Clith- erall Lakes, thirty miles southwest, which are popular picnic and fishing grounds, and also to Fergus Falls and the Red river valley. Northern Pacific R. R. Bridge over the Co'umbia River, at Pasco, Wash, 80 The Northern Pacific Railroad. NORTHERN BLACK PACIFIC, FERGUS & HILLS BRANCH. From Wadena to Milnor.—Distance, 120 miles. This branch of the Northern Pacific system runs in a gen¬ eral southwesterly direction from Wadena to Fergus Falls, thence nearly due west, crossing both branches of the Red river, the Otter Tail and Bois de Sioux, at Wahpeton, and terminating for the present at Milnor, 120 miles from Wadena. The country traversed between Wadena and Fergus Falls be¬ longs to the beautiful and picturesque lake and park region, which is a combination of prairie and wooded knolls, inter¬ spersed with numerous lakes. West of Fergus Falls the road descends into the level valley of the Red river, which it traverses for the remainder of its length. It will be extended at an early day to some point on the Missouri river. Deer Creek (10 miles from Wadena; population, 250).— This place is situated in the midst of a good wheat-growing and timber country. It has five stores, one blacksmith shop, an elevator and two hotels. Parkton is a new station, four miles west of Deer Creek. Henning (18 miles from Wadena; population, 400).—The town contains about fifty buildings, of which eight are stores, carrying on a general business, and two hotels. Here the Mississippi river and the Red River of the North Northern Pacific, Fergus 6° Black Hills Branch. 81 almost interlock. Forty rods east of the village site runs Leaf river, which empties into the Mississippi, and the same distance west the streams flow into the Red River of the North. Two miles south of the village are the Leaf Mountains, or Painted Hills, rising about 200 feet above the plains, making an eleva¬ tion of about 1,700 feet above the level of the ocean. From these eminences a beautiful view is presented of the surround¬ ing country. Henning occupies a central location to three of the finest lakes in the park-like region; viz ., Inman Lake , on the east, with its crystal waters and heavily wooded shores ; East Battle Lake , on the west, with its islands, bays, rocks and headlands, embowered amid the shades of the primeval forest; and Leafi Lake , on the north, with its deep, clear waters, and its shore line of twenty-five or thirty miles bordered by thick woods. There are several other charming lakes, such as Round. Lake, with its white, gravelly beaches ; McHonald, Buchanan and Otter Tail Lakes, the latter the largest of all, being ten miles long by three miles wide. These lakes all abound in many kinds of excellent fish, such as whitefish, pickerel, pike, catfish, and black and rock bass. This region has always been the resort and breeding ground of large numbers of water fowl, and no less than seventy varieties of birds have been found here. Vining (24 miles from Wadena).—This station lies in the midst of a good grain-growing country, and the region is well timbered with oak and maple. Clitherall (29 miles from Wadena ; population, 250).— This new town, half way between Wadena and Fergus Falls, is situated near three of the finest and largest lakes in the renowned Minnesota park region ,—Clitherall Lake, and the two noted Battle Lakes, west and east, respectively. There are two hotels, stores, a large elevator, and a lumber yard. Clith¬ erall Lake is a beautiful sheet of water, somewhat in the shape of the capital letter Y, extending from northeast to southwest, 6 82 The Northern Pacific Railroad. about four miles in length, with an average depth of sixty feet. It teems with every species of fish known to the Western lakes, from the monstrous buffalo of forty and fifty pounds avoirdu¬ pois, or the shy pickerel of twenty-five pounds, down to the beautiful perch of a couple of ounces. The lake is also haunted by water fowl in great numbers, from the pelican and goose to every species of duck. On its shores there is a small Mormon settlement, the oldest in Otter Tail county, the peo¬ ple having made their homes here as early as 1865. They are followers of Joseph Smith, and bitter denouncers of polygamy and their cousins at Salt Lake. Their settlement is one mile and a half from the station, and is finely situated in a beautiful grove of oaks on the north shore of the lake. They have about five hundred acres under cultivation, and the railroad runs through their fields in sight of the settlement. South of Clitherall, for ten miles, stretches a grand prairie, and he must indeed be a poor shot who can not here bag as many grouse as he wants. The Leaf Mountains are the favorite haunts of deer, which are killed by hunters, in great numbers, every autumn. The Indians say that these mountains have been visited every year by them, in pursuit of deer, as far back as their oldest people can remember. Not even the presence of the white man and the railroad can drive the Indian from his “ hunting ground.” Even now, at all seasons of the year, the tourist can see here and there a wigwam on the north shore of the lake, and the eyes of a shy papoose peeping at him from behind a bush. Battle Lake (33 miles from Wadena ; population, 500). —Ere beautiful Lake Clitherall is lost to view, as the train speeds along through pleasant groves and picturesque scenery, it rounds a high bluff, and another picturesque sheet of water is seen, covering an area of four by nine miles. This is the well-known Battle Lake. The town of Battle Lake lies at the Northern Pacific, Fergus 6° Black Hills Branch. 83 west end of the lake, and a large amount of wheat is marketed here. There are two elevators, one hotel, a school-house, a church, and a steam flouring mill. A lookout has been erected by the Northern Pacific Railroad, the view from which is magnificent. Seventeen beautiful lakes can be seen within a radius of five miles, all of which are well stocked with fish. Besides these there are many ponds where, during spring, summer and autumn, aquatic fowl are abundant. There are two Battle Lakes, West Battle Lake and East Battle Lake. West Battle Lake, the queen of Otter Tail county lakes, lies One mile north of the station, and is the largest of the three lakes named. It is a favorite resort for fishing parties, and the finny tribe seems inexhaustible. This lake has an average depth of seventy-five feet. A steamer, sail-boats and numbers of row¬ boats ply its waters. East Battle Lake is hidden among the islands and woodland hills, and is renowned for its romantic scenery. The lake is quite irregular in form, its shores being broken by grottoes, dells, lovely little coves and bays. It is about four miles long and from half a mile to two miles wide, containing three large islands. Wild ducks congregate here in the spring and autumn in countless numbers. The Battle Lakes take their name from the famous and bloody conflict which was fought on the neck of land that divides their waters, between the Chippeway and Sioux Indians, in which the former won a dearly bought victory, killing every one of their enemies, but losing 500 of their own warriors. The battle ground is only a mile and a half from Clitherall, where the fortifications, breastworks, rifle-pits, and even the mounds over the graves, still remain as a record of the bloody and fatal strife between the savages for the possession of this most coveted hunting ground. On the north side of the lakes is still another earth fortification, where at some time another terrible battle was fought between the Indians. A breastwork, in circular form, incloses about an acre of ground, and inside 84 The Northern Pacific Railroad ,’ the circle are a number of rifle-pits. Arrow-heads, shells and other relics have been found in this place. Maplewood (39 miles from Wadena) is an unimportant station. Underwood (41 miles from Wadena; population, 75) nestles amongst hills and beautiful lakes, which exhibit very fine scenery. The country adjacent can not be surpassed for richness and productiveness of soil. The climate is healthful, and the summer season sufficiently long to mature all crops. The settlers have the advantage of an abundance of hard¬ wood timber, and find lucrative employment in shipping wood to Western markets. The town contains a chair factory, three stores and one elevator. The inhabitants consist principally of Scandinavians. The whole country is dotted here and there by beautiful lakes, varying in area from two to twenty square miles. These lakes abound in varieties of fish, such as pick¬ erel, pike, bass, etc., and offer favorable resorts for the tourist. Large flocks of ducks and geese resort to them in spring and autumn, thus affording excellent shooting. Fergus Falls (52 miles from Wadena; population, 8,000), the county seat of Otter Tail county, the largest well-settled county in Minnesota. The city is three miles square, and is built up more or less for nearly two miles up and down the Red river, and over a mile in breadth north and south. To the north, overlooking and protecting the valley, are groves of timber, through which stretch narrow strips of prairie. South of the river the land is for the most part prairie, on which are several planted groves of rapidly growing trees. The princi¬ pal street, Lincoln avenue, is built up compactly on both sides for half a mile, and business overflows thence up and down the cross streets. Within an area of two miles north and south, by three miles east and west, are six distinct water-powers, with over eighty feet fall. The Red river at this point leaves a high upland region, and descends a distance of over 200 feet in a few miles to the level of the Red river plain, furnish- Northern Pacific, Fergus N Black Hills Branch. 85 mg 10,000 horse-power, which is used for milling and manufacturing purposes. The favorable situation of Fergus Falls at the southern end of the celebrated Red river valley, surrounded by a rich, well-developed agricultural and stock- raising country, and in the midst of the famed park region of Minnesota, gives the place a front rank among the thriving towns of the Golden Northwest. Fergus Falls is on one of the main lines of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba roads; a branch line of the same road runs northward to Pelican Rapids, a town of 600 in¬ habitants, twenty-two miles distant. In Fergus Falls are thirteen churches, a fine court house, two large public school houses, also substantial brick structures, ten hotels, one of which is one of the largest and best equipped hotels in north¬ ern Minnesota, two public halls, a Masonic temple, Odd- Fellows hall, three banks and about one hundred and fifty stores. The government land office is located here, and there are seven manufacturing establishments, including three flour mills and a paper mill. The city has the electric light, a telephone exchange and water and gas works. Ames and Ever dell are small stations on the Fergus Falls Branch, which are gradually growing. Breckenridge (77 miles from Wadena; population, 1,000) is the county seat of Wilkin county, Minnesota, and is situ¬ ated on the eastern bank of the Red river, at its junction with the Bois de Sioux river. It is one of the oldest settlements in Northern Minnesota, and was an Indian trading post as long ago as 1857. The town was burned during the great Sioux Indian outbreak in 1862, and eight of its inhabitants were killed. A battle was subsequently fought between 80 soldiers fortified in a stockade, and a large force of Indians. The savages were finally driven off after two days’ futile effort to capture the stockade. Breckenridge was not rebuilt until ten 86 The Northern Pacific Railroad. years later. In 1873 the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, now the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba, was completed to the place, and the surrounding country began to be occupied by farmers. Breckenridge has a handsome brick court house, a fine school building, two elevators, four hotels, three churches, and a num¬ ber of stores. Wahpeton (78 miles from Wadena; population, 3,000).— This town, situated on the Bois de Sioux, just above its con¬ fluence with the Red or Otter Tail, is the county seat of Rich¬ land county, one of the best agricultural counties in Dakota Territory. It is forty-six miles south of Fargo, and at the head of navigation on the Red River of the North. Wahpeton has a water-power, formed by the Otter Tail, with a fall of sixteen feet, furnishing a steady and reliable volume of water. In 1869 the first claim hut was put up on what is now the town site. In 1873 a trading house was established, and traffic was carried on with the Indians, who occupied nearly the entire country from Big Stone Lake to the British Dominion for miles on both sides of the river. In 1876 the place was laid out in lots, and soon afterward was recognized as an eligible town site. Wahpeton has now an opera house; a court house, erected at a cost of $30,000; three newspapers, several churches, three banks, school buildings, and five hoteis, while all branches of business are well represented. There are two elevators of 150,000 bushels capacity, two large grain warehouses, a steam flouring mill, a steam factory and repair shop, two railroad depots and four lumber yards. The town is in the midst of an agricultural country of superior fertility, and ranks, as a commercial centre, among the first in North Dakota. There are various kinds of timber in Richland county, consisting of oak, ash, elm, box elder, linden and cottonwood. West of Wahpeton, Ellsworth , Wyndmere and Mooreton, are small villages. Northern Pacific, Fergus &= Black Hills Branch. 87 Milnor (120 miles from Wadena; population, 600), the present terminus of the road, was founded in 1883, and rapidly became an important business point. The surrounding country consists of rolling prairie, and is all fertile to a high degree, there being scarcely any waste land. Milnor is the county seat of Sargent county, North Dakota, and has 600 in¬ habitants, two hotels, one bank, and a public hall, one news¬ paper, several churches, and about twenty stores. There is an inexhaustible supply of limestone in the immediate vicinity. The wheat shipments are large, and constantly increasing. Fort Sisseton Indian Agency is thirty miles south. There is communication by stage from Milnor to Sargent, Lisbon, and other places west, north and south. 88 The Northern Pacific Railroad. MINNESOTA DIVISION. [Continued from page 78.] Bluffton (187 miles west of St. Paul; population, 600).— This town, very near the divide between the Mississippi and Red river valleys, is situated on Bluff creek, a branch of Leaf river, into which it empties about half a mile below the town. It has an hotel, a church, a public hall, a school, blacksmith and wagon shop, a saw mill, a planing mill, a grist mill, a flour¬ ing mill, an elevator, and a post office. Its principal industries are the raising of wheat and the shipping of wood, ties, lum¬ ber, wheat and flour. Small game and fish are plentiful, and deer are abundant in this region. Amboy , 190 miles from St. Paul, is simply a side track. New York Mills (195 miles west of St. Paul; popula¬ tion, 500).—This is the largest Finnish, settlement in the United States. There are over 500 Finns in the town, and nearly 3,000 in the surrounding country. A weekly paper is published in the Finnish language, and religious services are held in that language in two churches, one in the town and one about six miles distant in the country. The Finns have only commenced emigrating in considerable numbers during the past ten years. They prefer Northern Minnesota to any region in the West because of its close resemblance in climate, scenery, soil, forests, lakes, etc., to Finland. The Finns in and around New York Mills are engaged in lumbering, farming, and the mechanical trades. There are a number of general stores in the town, a school, a church, a town hall, and an elevator. The surrounding country is well timbered, and the soil is a Minnesota Division. 89 rich, black loam, which can profitably be cleared, and a ready market found for the timber in the form of railroad ties, fire¬ wood and saw-logs. Perham (206 miles west of St. Paul; population, 1,200).— This town, situated in the northeastern part of Otter Tail county, on an open prairie of five by ten miles square, is one of the most prosperous places on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The population of the town and tributary country is about half German, one-quarter American, and the other quarter composed of Poles and Scandinavians. The Poles have a church in the place. Every branch of business is well represented, and manufacturing enterprises are flourishing. Among the latter are a carriage and wagon factory, and a barrel and stave factory. The town supports two good hotels. There are five churches, several good schools, and a newspaper. Perham has a five-story steam mill, fifty-four feet by fifty-six feet in dimensions, and worth $60,000, with a capacity of 250 barrels of flour per day. In connection with the mill there is a large warehouse, with a capacity of 35,000 bushels. The scenery about Perham is attractive. I11 coming from the east, for some distance nothing can be seen but pine forests, which suddenly open into a beautiful rolling prairie, through which the famous Red River of the North passes. To the right, only a short distance away, lie two beautiful lakes, called Big and Little Pine Lakes. The latter is about two miles wide and four miles long, while the former is nearly three times as large. The view from the passing train is very pleasing. After leaving Perham there are lakes without number, which, to travelers from Eastern cities, would be considered marvels of beauty. All of these lie in sight of this thriving town. They are now becoming popular, and many tourists spend the summer on their banks. Among these resorts is Otter Tail Lake , four miles wide and eleven miles long. It is situated 90 The Northern Pacific Railroad. eight miles south of the town. Marion Lake , three miles dis¬ tant, in the same direction, is perhaps three-quarters of a mile in diameter, and nearly circular in form. No better hunting ground can be found in the Northwest than that surrounding Perham. The lakes are full of fish of every description, in¬ cluding pickerel, pike, mascalonge, black and rock bass, cat¬ fish, sunfish and whitefish. In spring and autumn ducks and geese are killed in great numbers. During the season the prairie and groves are alive with quail, grouse, swan, brant, woodcock, prairie chicken, partridge, snipe, curlew and rabbits. In early winter the deer, elk and moose are an easy prey to the sportsman. There is a small Indian village about two miles from the town. These Indians are Chippeways who belong to the White Earth reservation, but prefer to remain in their old home. They are self-supporting, the men working in the pineries and the harvest fields, and the women gathering berries for sale. Luce is a small station between Perham and Frazee. Frazee (217 miles west of St. Paul; population, 300).— Frazee City, situated in Becker county, was established about eight years ago. It boasts of having one of the largest flour¬ ing mills west of Minneapolis, the product of which is shipped to all parts of the world. In addition to the flour mdl there is a large saw mill, which is supplied with timber driven down the Otter Tail river from ten to twenty miles. There are two hotels, one public hall, a good school and a grist mill. Frazee City is surrounded by a first-class farming country. Otter Tail river, running through the town, is full of all kinds of fish, and so are the numerous lakes that find an outlet through this river. McHugh , five miles beyond, is a small lumbering and farming settlement. Detroit (227 miles west of St. Paul; population, 2,000).— Detroit, the county seat of Becker county, is situated in a Minnesota Division. 91 beautiful timber opening, the surface of which is gently undulating, the soil being of a sandy nature. Half a mile east of the village runs the Pelican river, which stream is the west¬ ern boundary line of what is known as the “ Big Woods ” of Minnesota. To the west there is but little timber, and on the north the country is about equally divided between timber and prairie land. South of Detroit lies what is known as the Pelican Lake country, one of the finest, as well as the most fertile and beau¬ tiful, sections of Minnesota. The surrounding region is very productive, and each year the farmers are blessed with abun¬ dant crops, for which a good and ready market is always found. The advantages of Detroit are many. Its abundance of ex¬ cellent oak, maple, elm, birch, basswood, tamarack and ash timber, suitable for the manufacture of all articles made from wood, invites industrial enterprise. The business houses and public institutions comprise six hotels, two newspapers, three drug, one jewelry, one boot and shoe, two millinery and four general stores, three wagon and blacksmith shops, a furniture factory, a hardware and farm machinery establishment, a grist mill, livery stables and two banks. The village has churches of the various denominations, and also one of the best graded public schools in the State. The new county court house, erected at a cost of $25,000, is one of the handsomest buildings of its class in northern Minnesota. Prominent among the features of this section are its advan¬ tages as a summer resort. Detroit Lake , one of the most beau¬ tiful sheets of water in Minnesota, lies only half a mile from the business portion of the village. Each year it becomes more popular with the people of the neighboring towns, and also with those who are accustomed to flee from the hot and dusty cities, and from the treeless prairies, during the summer months. The lake, which is about a mile and a half wide, and Detroit Lake Minnesota. Minnesota Division. 93 seven miles long, in form somewhat resembles a horseshoe, with a sand-bar reaching from shore to shore, about midway between the two ends of the lake, which is converted into a most delightful driveway. Here is a high bank towering above the clear waters of the lake, and there the broad and pebbly beach, with an occasional “opening,” where a sturdy frontiersman is carving out a farm. To the east, Detroit Mountain, whose heights are covered by a dense growth of timber, towers far above the surrounding country, lending its rugged charms to the scene. The lake is stocked with all kinds of “ gamey ” fish, which are an attraction to the sports¬ man, the variety including pickerel, black and Oswego bass, wall-eyed pike, perch, and also California salmon, which were planted in the lake some time ago by the State Fish Commis¬ sioner. In 1882 the Detroit Lake and St. Louis Boat Club purchased and improved a handsome piece of property fronting on the east bank of the lake. They have now a fine and commodious club house, and a number of cottages. The club is limited to 100 members. Detroit Lake, however, is only one of many which abound in the immediate vicinity, the following being also within the township, and varying from one to four miles in length; viz., Floyd Lake, Lake Flora , Lake Rice, Oak Lake, Edgerton Lake,- Long Lake and Lake St. Clair. Here, too, are mineral springs, iron and sulphur, the health-giving qualities of which have been known to the Indians for many generations. The Detroit Lake Pleasure Grounds are the most popular place of amusement in northern Minnesota, and are to be made more than ever attractive. A handsome steam yacht, as well as sail and row boats, are furnished on these grounds to visitors at a small cost. The Hotel Minnesota, built in 1884, answers the double 94 The Northern Pacific Railroad. purpose of a first-class hotel for the town, and of a summer resort, being kept open the year round. It is four stories in height, with wide piazzas and well-furnished rooms. In its architectural and general management, it is entitled to rank with the best class of summer resort hotels in the State. The advantages of Detroit for summer tourists and residents are numerous. The place is situated on a high plateau, near the headwaters of both the Mississippi and the Red River of the North. This plateau has a constant sweep of the cool breeze blowing over the great Northwest forests. Excellent drives through woodland and farming country, with numerous lakes, are here; and, for both fishing and hunting, the place has few rivals. Although the country immediately surrounding the town is well settled, a short ride brings the sportsman to the primeval forests where elk, moose and bear are killed in large numbers every year. The lake abounds in water fowl and fish. Tri-weekly stages run from Detroit to Rich- wood, White Earth, Cormorant, Spring Creek, Pelican Rapids and Carsonz'ille, which are also favorable points to visit in search of feathered game, and also for bear and deer. The latter are met along the woody margins of streams and lakes, while Bruin confines himself mainly to the coppices and forests. The White Earth Reservation. —Twenty-five miles north of this village is the White Earth Reservation of the Chippeway Indians. These Indians, who call themselves Ojibways, have always been the friend of the white man. They were a kindly disposed race, and contact with white men had dragged them down into a depth of degradation never known to their fathers. The deadly fire water flowed throughout their country, and disease, poverty and death held a carnival in every Indian village. Their friends secured for them this beautiful reservation, as fair a country as the sun ever shone Miunesola Division. 95 upon. This action might have been prevented by the pioneers of the Northern Pacific Railroad; but in this case, as in every other where the rights of the red man were concerned, the railroad company was his friend. A few years after Bishop Whipple had commenced his mission here, the Treasurer of the company, the Bishop, Lord Charles Hervey and others paid the Indians a visit. The Bishop consecrated their hos¬ pital, and held confirmation. After the services, the Indians made a feast for the Bishop and his friends. When all had eaten, the chief, Wah-bon-a-quot arose, and, addressing the Bishop, said: “We are glad to see our friends. Do they know the history of the Ojibways? If not, I will tell them.” In a few graphic words he described the Indians as they were before the white man came. The woods and prairies were full of game, the lakes and forests with fish, and the wild rice brought its harvest. “ Hunger never came to our wigwam,” said he. “ Would your friends like to- see us as we were before the white man came ? ” Suddenly there appeared a tall, athletic Indian, with painted face, and dressed in a robe of skins ornamented with porcupine quills; and by his side a pleasant¬ faced woman in wild dress. “There,” said the chief, with eyes gleaming with pride, “ there see Ojibways as they were before the white man came.” Turning to his guests, con¬ tinued he, “ Shall I tell you what the white man did for us ? ” Then dropping his voice, he added, “ The white man told us we were poor; we had no books, no fine horses, no fine canoes, no tools. ‘Give us your land, and you shall become like the white man.’ I can not tell the story: you must see it.” Then stepped out a poor, ragged wretch, with tattered blanket, and face covered with mud; by his side a more dreadful specimen of womanhood. The chief raised his hands: “Are you an Ojibway ?” The Indian nodded. Sadly the chief said: “Oh, Manitou, how came this?” The Indian raised a black bottle, and spoke one word, “ Ishkotah wabo ” (fire water). “ This 96 The Northern Pacific Railroad. is the gift of the white man.” It went like an electric thrill through every heart, and brought tears to many eyes. The chief said: “A pale-faced man came to see us. I am sorry to say he has seen me and my fellows drunk. He told a wonder¬ ful story of the Son of the Great Spirit coming to save men. He told us his fathers were wild men; that this religion had made them great, and what it had done for them it would do for others. We did not hear;, our ears were deaf; our hearts were heavy. He came again and again, always telling one story of Jesus, the poor man’s friend. We knew each summer, that, when the sun was high in the heavens, the Bishop would come. He gave us a red minister. At last we heard. Shall I tell you what this religion has done for my people ? You must see.” There stepped out a young Indian in a black frock coat; by his side a woman neatly clad in a black alpaca dress. “ There,” said the chief, “ there is only one religion which can take a man in the mire by the hand and bid him look up and call God his Father.” There are 1,500 civilized Indians at White Earth. They have two churches,—Episcopal church and Roman Catholic. Visitors are always received with kindness, and no excursion on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad will be more pleasant than a visit to White Earth. Audubon (234 miles from St. Paul; population, 250).—This settlement, in Becker county, is principally of Scandinavians. It was founded about 1872, and named after the celebrated naturalist. It has had a slow but steady growth, being a good point for the production of wheat, oats, barley, rye, potatoes, butter, cheese and eggs. Audubon has four general stores, three churches, two wheat elevators, a grist mill, a saw mill and the usual shops. There are several lakes in the vicinity which afford good fishing, and small game also abounds. Lake Park (240 miles from St. Paul; population, 800).— This is an active business town in the western part of Becker Minnesota Division. 97 county, situated in the midst of a rolling prairie country, inter¬ spersed with lakes and groves of hard-wood timber. It has three grain elevators, and a fourth, and larger one, is in the course of construction. There are also two banks, several dry- goods stores, hardware and drug stores, two churches, a public hall, a flouring mill and an elevator. The population is chiefly Scandinavian. The large farms of Thomas H. Canfield are in the neighborhood. Mr. Canfield has five sections, most of which is under cultivation, affording employment to a large force of men and teams. The principal production is wheat; but the raising of blooded stock is also extensively engaged in. Lake Park is situated on Flora Lake. The town has a sum¬ mer hotel, accommodating a hundred people. Twenty-two miles northwest of Lake Park is the White Earth Indian Reservation, a pleasant place to view the manners and customs of the red men, who are on friendly terms with the whites. They have farms under a good state of cultivation. Winnipeg Junction (251 miles from St. Paul; population, 200), is a new place created by the building of the Duluth & Manitoba road in 1887. It has two hotels, two stores, and a number of mechanics’ shops. Hawley (251 miles from St. Paul; population, 350).—The town, named in honor of Gen. Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecti¬ cut, lies in the depression east of the hills which skirt the Red river. Its population is largely Scandinavian. It is supplied with a school and two churches, one of which is Methodist, and the other belongs to the United Brethren. From the town, the distance is but a few minutes’ walk to the Buffalo river, where there are two large flouring mills. All branches of trade are represented. The town has three hotels, a public hall and two elevators. Silver Lake , three miles south, a beautiful body of water covering 300 acres, is an excellent fishing resort. Good hunting and fishing are also to be had in the surrounding coun¬ try, geese, ducks and grouse being quite plentiful, while deer and bear are found in the timber regions southward. 7 98 The Northern Pacific Railroad. THE DULUTH & MANITOBA AND THE NORTHERN PACIFIC & MAN¬ ITOBA RAILROADS. From Winnipeg Junction to Winnipeg, 266 Miles. The Duluth & Manitoba Railroad, a branch of the Northern Pacific system, extends from Winnipeg Junction, a station on the Minnesota Division of the Northern Pacific, 251 miles from St. Paul to Pembina. Dakota. It is 200 miles long, and runs for the first 105 miles through one of the most productive wheat regions in Northern Minnesota; then crossing the Red River of the North at Grand Forks, it runs for 95 miles almost due north, through the lower Red river valley, a region scarcely surpassed anywhere on the globe for natural fertility, and now producing a larger average yield of wheat per acre than any section in the United States with the excep¬ tion of the Pacific coast. At the international boundary, two miles north of Pembina, the Duluth & Manitoba connects with the Northern Pacific & Manitoba Railroad, which runs down the Red river valley to the city of Winnipeg. A branch of this latter road runs from Morris, 30 miles north of Pembina, into Southwestern Man¬ itoba, and another line, owned by the same corporation, runs from Winnipeg to Portage la Prairie. The Northern Pacific & Manitoba road was originally chartered by the Manitoba Provincial Government to build a system of roads in the Province to compete with the Canadian Pacific. The charter The Duluth Manitoba Railroad. 99 was subsequently confirmed by the Dominion Government after a stubborn opposition on the part of the Canadian Pacific Company. The first stations north of Winnipeg Junction on the Duluth & Manitoba are Hitterdale , Ulen , Twin Valley , Heiburg , Gary , Fertile and Tilden. Fertile (45 miles from Winnipeg Junction) has a popula¬ tion of about 500, and is an important local trading point. The road now reaches Red Lake Falls (69 miles from Winnipeg Junction), a growing manufacturing and milling town at the junction of the Clearwater and Red Lake rivers, with a population of 1,500. There are no less than thirteen valuable water powers on these two rivers, in and near the town, and just below the junction of the rivers is a very large power, now being improved by a stock company. Red Lake Falls has two flour¬ ing mills, two saw mills, two weekly papers, eight hotels, and a number of mercantile houses. The road now turns to the west and crosses the level valley of the Red River of the North. The stations are Huot, South Euclid , Buffington , Key¬ stone , Rockwood, Crowell and Sullivan. East Grand Forks (105 miles from Winnipeg Junction) has a population of 500, and is situated on the Minnesota side of the Red River of the North. The railroad shops are located here, and there are two grain elevators and a number of stores. The town is connected by both railroad and highway bridges with Grand Forks, Dakota (105-J miles from Winnipeg Junction; population, 10,000), a busy and prosperous city in the midst of a magnificent wheat country, situated at the junction of the Red Lake river with the Red River of the 1 North. Besides the Duluth & Manitoba Railroad, Grand Forks is on two branches of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Man- 100 The Northern Pacific Railroad. itoba road. The river is navigable for steamboats up to Fargo and down to Winnipeg. Considerable grain and other freight is brought by boat to Grand Forks. The city has two daily newspapers, water works, gas and electric light, a large saw mill using logs floated down Red Lake river from the Min¬ nesota pineries, eight churches, the Territorial University of North Dakota, and numerous important manufacturing and mercantile concerns. North of Grand Forks the stations on the railroad are Kelly s , Meckinock , Beans , Gilby, Johnstown , Forest River , Voss and Grafton (154 miles from Winnipeg Junction; population, 3,000), county seat of Walsh county, one of the great wheat- producing counties of Dakota. The land in this county, as in all the lower Red Lake valley on the Dakota side, is rolling prairie, with occasional strips of timber following the course of the streams which run into the Red River of the North. The yield of hard spring wheat has seldom fallen below twenty bushels, and often averages as high as thirty bushels. The crop of Walsh county in 1887 was estimated at 5,000,000 bushels. Grafton has water works supplied from an artesian well 912 feet deep, which discharges 1,500 gallons per min¬ ute. It has seven churches, two national banks, two weekly newspapers, a fine public school building, and a handsome court house. North of Grafton the stations are Salt Lake , Drayton (population 500), Bowesmont , Joliet and Pembina (199 miles from Winnipeg Junction; population, 1,000), county seat of Pembina county, is the oldest town in the West, having been settled by the Earl of Selkirk’s colonists as long ago as 1801. Pembina has a beautiful situation at the junction of the Pembina river with the Red River of the North. It was for many years one of the posts of the Hudson Bay Company. From a fur-trading post, frequented by Indians and half-breeds, its character has been changed in The Duluth 6 ° Manitoba Railroad. 101 recent years to that of a prosperous market-town for a rich farming country. Pembina has a handsome court house, a large public school house, a flouring mill, a weekly newspaper, and numerous stores and shops. About a mile above the town stands Fort Pembina, a military post occupied by two com¬ panies of infantry. The national boundary line between the United States and the Dominion of Canada is two miles from the town. Just across the Red River of the North, in Minne¬ sota, is the town of St. Vincent, and immediately north of the international boundary line is the important town of Emerson, with a population of 2,000. Pembina and St. Vincent are con¬ nected by ferry across the Red river. Pembina county is largely settled by Canadians, French-Canadians, and Iceland¬ ers, with a considerable native American element. A trip to Pembina can be highly recommended to the tourist who wishes to see something of the rich wheat country of the lower Red river valley, and at the same time to visit a town which has an interesting frontier history, reaching back to the beginning of the present century. West Lynne, Manitoba (202 miles from Winnipeg Junc¬ tion), is the first town on British territory. It has about 200 people, and is a suburb of the large town of Emerson (popula¬ tion, 1,500), which is situated on the opposite side of the river. The two places are connected by a fine iron bridge. Emerson has many substantial brick blocks, and is a place of considerable trade. Letellier and St. Jean are unimportant stations. Morris (225 miles from Winnipeg Junction; population, 500) is a prosperous wheat-shipping station, and a centre for considerable country trade. Near Morris is a large colony of Mennonites who speak the German language, although they, or their ancestors, migratsd from Russia. They live in small villages, and are an exceedingly plain and thrifty people in their 102 The Northern Pacific Railroad. habits of life. They are industrious, and have a reputation for strict honesty in their business transactions. Many curious articles of domestic furniture, brought from Russia, can be seen in their houses. The most conspicuous feature of these dwellings is always an enormous stove or furnace, constructed of bricks or stone, which occupies the centre of the living room. After passing the small stations of Silver Plains, St. Agathe, St. Norbert and Portage Junction , the railroad crosses the Assiniboine river within view of its junction with the Red river, and enters the city of Winnipeg. Winnipeg (population 20,000) is 266 miles from Winni¬ peg Junction and 517 miles from St. Paul. It is the capital of Manitoba, a province of the Dominion of Canada. The city is built upon a plain where the Assiniboine and Red rivers unite, and has a suburb south of the Assiniboine called Fort Rouge, and a more important suburb across the Red river called St. Boniface. Winnipeg is a well-built and prosperous city, with trade relations extending throughout the Canadian territory as far west as the Rocky Mountains. It was origi¬ nally a Hudson Bay Company trading post, protected by the military garrison at Fort Garry, and was first settled by fur traders in the early part of the present century. A long and interesting frontier history is associated with the place. Nothing now remains of old Fort Garry but its stone portal. The Hudson Bay Company is still the most important mer¬ cantile concern in the city, conducting large wholesale and retail stores and a depot for furs. All the operations which this venerable corporation carries on in Manitoba, Assiniboia, Alberta, and the unorganized territories of the Canadian Northwest are directed by a chief commissioner in Winnipeg. Among the points of interest to tourists in the city may be mentioned the old Episcopal church, built by the Hudson The Duluth 6 ° Manitoba Railroad. 103 Bay Company, on the walls of which are many mural tablets in memory of the deceased officers of the company and the members of their families; the Parliament House, which is the Capitol of the Province; the residence of the Lieutenant-Gov¬ ernor; the Royal Infantry School and barracks; the cathedral and schools of St. Boniface; the Carleton and Manitoba Col¬ leges; and the stores of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The main street of the city is of unusual width, and is substantially built up for a greater part of its length of two miles with hand¬ some buildings of yellow and red brick. One of the finest edifices in the city is the Dominion post-office building. Win¬ nipeg is on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and three branches of that road centre in the place. It manufact¬ ures flour, lumber, beer, furniture, machinery, and many other articles, and has an extensive jobbing trade. It is a genuine social, commercial, and political capital, and is evidently des¬ tined to keep pace in its growth with the development of the Canadian Northwest. 104 The Northern Pacific Railroad. MINNESOTA DIVISION. [i Continued from Page 97.] Muskoda (256 miles west of St. Paul; population, 125).— Muskoda is an Indian word, said to signify “thebuffalo river.” The Buffalo river runs adjacent to the town, and is a beautiful, swiftly flowing stream, fifty feet wide, with high timbered bluffs on either side. It is well adapted to milling purposes, and abounds in black bass, pike and pickerel. Lake Maria, two and a half miles southeast of Muskoda, and a half-mile south of the Northern Pacific track, is a curiosity in itself, inasmuch as it is not known to contain a living thing, although every other lake in the region is full of fish. This lake covers 300 acres, and is twelve to fifteen feet deep. A beautiful forest surrounds it, and its shores are a gravelly beach. Horseshoe Lake, two and a half miles north of the North¬ ern Pacific Railroad, covers 200 acres, and is well stocked with fish. The soil of the surrounding country is rich, and well adapted to the production of cereals and grasses, the region being noted for wheat and stock raising. There are a number of springs here, from which pure water flows the year round. This neighborhood has an abundance of small game; geese, ducks, prairie chickens, snipe and rabbits being among the varieties. In former years the country was a favorite hunting ground of the Indians, and the region is strewn still with buffalo skulls and elk horns. Minnesota Division. 105 Glyndon (264 miles west of St. Paul; population, 450).— Glyndon lies in Clay county, four miles west of the Northern Pacific crossing of the North Buffalo river, and nine miles east of the Red River of the North. The town was founded in 1872, by the location here of the crossings of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway. Here were the field headquarters of the Red river colony of the date named. Though set on a level prairie, Glyndon possesses some picturesqueness from its situation between the two branches of the Buffalo river, which flow to the west and north, and it shows the activities peculiar to the crossing town of two great railways. The present vast busi¬ ness of grain buying and warehousing in the Red river valley, was begun at Glyndon, and here was built the first grain ele¬ vator in the valley. The Barnes and Tenney farm, 4,000 acres in extent, is still one of the features of the locality, affording a specimen of the rich and productive agricultural lands which surround the town. In the village are six stores, lumber yard, three machinery depots, three hotels, two black¬ smith shops, two churches, two graded schools, a large public hall, a weekly newspaper, and a grain elevator. Wheat-raising is the leading farm industry; but the stock and dairy interest is growing rapidly. Tenny and Dilworth are side tracks, with elevators for the storage and shipment of wheat. The Red River of the North. —This stream is named to distinguish it from the Red river of Louisiana. It has two branches which meet at Wahpeton, the Bois de Sioux rising in Lake Traverse, and the Otter Tail rising in numerous lakes in northern Minnesota (lat. 46°); flows due north a distance of more than 200 miles, entering Lake Winnipeg in the northern part of the Province of Manitoba. The Red river marks the boundary between Minnesota and Dakota. Its elevation above the sea- level at Moorhead and Fargo is 807 feet. From these points 106 The Northern Pacific Railroad. northward to Winnipeg the stream is navigable, even at a low stage of water, the shallow portions being dredged as occasion requires. Large quantities of wheat and merchandise were formerly transported by steamers to Moorhead, Fargo and Grand Forks. In 1882 the fleet numbered sixteen steamers, of a capacity of from xoo to 250 tons each, and twenty-one barges of thirty tons each; but the building of railways has destroyed this traffic. This river is always subject to overflow in the spring. Its course being almost due north, the winter ice breaks up first along its southern length, and the frozen stream can not carry off the freed waters, which back up upon the ice, and deluge the fields to a greater or less extent. There can be no question but that the soil is benefited by the alluvial deposits which are thus spread over it; but it is often very inconvenient and discouraging to the settlers in Manitoba to be cut off from rail communication with the outer world by the overflow. The valley of the Red River of the North is from sixty to eighty miles wide, embracing an area of 67,000 square miles, at least eighty per cent, of which is composed of the very best farming land. The valley proper is a beautiful prairie, apparently as level as a garden bed, though in reality sloping gently and imperceptibly from both sides to the river, and slightly inclining to the north. The soil consists of a rich black loam, from three to seven feet in depth, which yields from twenty to twenty-five bushels of wheat per acre. The whole valley is well watered by nature, there being a large number of small rivers tributary to the Red, on either side, which perform the double office of supply¬ ing water and draining the land. The most important of these streams on the Minnesota side are, the Buffalo, Wild Rice, Marsh, Sand Hill, Red Lake, Middle, Tamarac, Two Rivers and Red Grass. From the west there are several rivers of considerable size, the principal being the Sheyenne, Minnesota Division 10 ? Goose, Turtle, Forest, Park, Tongue and Pembina. All of these have branches, which penetrate the level prairie in every direction, affording an abundance of excellent pure water. The rivers are, for the most part, skirted with a good growth of oak, elm, soft maple, basswood, ash and box elder, which is ample for fuel purposes. Extensive pine lands are about the headwaters of most of the rivers on the Minnesota side. On examining a map of the Red river basin, the fact is apparent that most of the tributary streams have their sources in a higher latitude than their mouths. This peculiarity ex¬ tends as far north as the Saskatchewan, in Manitoba, and suggests that, originally, the slope of the country was to the south, and that the waters of this immense area were drained by a large stream which occupied the now comparatively dry valley of the Minnesota. The theory has been advanced by scientific men, that there has been a subsidence along the valley of the Red river, having its maximum below Lake Winnipeg, together with a possible upheaval at the headwaters of the Minnesota river. Moorhead (276 miles northwest of St. Paul; population, 4,000).—This well-built city, in lat. 46° 51' N., long. 96° 50' W., and 840 feet above the level of the sea, is the last place on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the State of Minnesota, distant 251 miles from Duluth, on Lake Superior, and was named in honor of W. G. Moorhead, of Pennsylvania, formerly a Director of the Northern Pacific road. It is the county seat of Glay county, advantageously situated on the east side of the Red River of the North, immediately opposite the bustling city of Fargo, Dak., with which it is in communi¬ cation by means of bridges which span the stream. Moorhead has fine business blocks, flouring mills, grain elevators, a brewery, a driving park, fair grounds, a daily and two weekly newspapers. Its chief hotel—the Grand Pacific—was built at 108 The Northern Pacific Raiboad. a cost of $160,000. Its architecture is in pure Queen Anne style, the interior fittings and decorations being in keeping. In addition to this, there is another first-class brick hotel, three stories in height. Moorhead schools afford superior ad¬ vantages. Besides the public schools, there is an academy, under the control of the Episcopal church, which is known as the “ Bishop Whipple School,” in honor of the Bishop of the diocese of Minnesota, and this establishment offers a classical as well as business education. The churches, represented by ail the leading denominations, have commodious edifices. A number of miscellaneous manufacturing enterprises already exist, among which may be named an iron foundry and a planing mill. Moorhead is the crossing point of two trunk railroads, the Northern Pacific and the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba. Besides these two great railways, there are also the Moorhead & Northern, from Moorhead to Fisher’s Land¬ ing, Minn. The principal product of the country is wheat. North Dakota. 109 NORTH DAKOTA. The great territory of Dakota comprised 153,000 square miles, and was exceeded in size among the political divisions of the United States only by Texas and California. In 1889 Congress divided the Territory into North Dakota and South Dakota, and provided for the admission of both divisions, as States of the Union, in October of that year. North Dakota comprises about one-half of the original area of the Territory, and is separated from its neighbor by the Seventh Standard Parallel, which runs a little south of the forty-sixth parallel of latitude. It had in 1889 about 250,000 people. In 1870 the total population of the Territory was 14,000, and was nearly all in the extreme southern part. The settlement of North Dakota did not begin until the Northern Pacific Railroad crossed the Red River of the North in 1871. The success of wheat farming on the level prairies of the Red river valley and the rolling prairies further west, attracted a large emigra¬ tion in the succeeding decade. The country is now fairly well settled as far west as the James river valley and Devil’s Lake, and sparsely settled to and beyond the Missouri river. It still offers for settlement large areas of vacant land, with a highly productive soil. The glory of this great belt of'country is its fertile soil, and a climate perfectly adapted to the production of cereals. This region already plays an important part in the wheat-growing area of the United States, a yield of twenty bushels per acre being usual, and twenty-five bushels not an extraordinary crop. 110 The Northern Pacific Railroad. The general character of the land is that of a rolling prairie, interspersed with broken butte formations west of the Mis¬ souri river. The entire country is fairly watered by the Red River of the North, the Sheyenne, the Dakota or James, the Missouri and other streams, with their many tribu¬ taries, as well as by numerous lakes in the northern and eastern portions, some of which are of great size and beauty. Good well water is everywhere found by digging to a rea¬ sonable depth. In 1880, just six years after the capacity of the soil was first tested in the valley of the Red river, the yield of wheat along the line of the railroad was about 3,000,000. In 1881, so great was the increased acreage, there was a product of 9,000,000, and in 1882 the crop was 12,000,000. Since then it has con¬ tinued to increase yearly. The wheat of North Dakota has no equal for milling purposes. It is preferred by the great millers at Minneapolis and elsewhere throughout the United States to any other variety, being best adapted to the modern methods of making flour. It is raised from seed known as Scotch Fife, and, when clean and of full weight, is graded in markets as “No. 1 hard,” bringing an excess of ten or fifteen cents per bushel over the soft varieties.- Under the new process of manufacture it has been demonstrated that flour produced from hard spring wheat is a far more profitable commodity than that made from winter wheat. For example, bakers are able to get 250 pounds of bread from a barrel of flour made from the hard spring wheat, and only 225 pounds from the same quantity of flour which is ground out of winter wheat. Prairie Farming. —The cultivation of the soil in a prairie country is, in some of its processes, very different from the methods pursued elsewhere, and has given rise to at least two new technical terms, which are known as “ breaking ” and “backsetting.” Premising that the prairie soil is free from Ill Plowing on a Bonanza F<.im. [By permission of Harper & Brothers, New York.] 112 The Northern Pacific Railroad. roots, vines or other obstructions, and that the virgin sod is turned from the mould-board like a roll of ribbon from one end of a field to the other, a fact is presented which farmers who are accustomed to plow among stones, stumps and roots, can scarcely grasp. But the sod thus turned is so knit together by the sturdy rootlets of the rank prairie grass that a clod of large size will not fall apart even though it be sus¬ pended in mid-air. To “break” or plow this mat, therefore, it is necessary to cut it, not only at the width of the furrow it is desired to turn, but underneath the sod at any thickness or depth as well. An ordinary plow could not endure the strain of breaking prairie soil, so plows called breakers have been constructed to do this special work. Usually, three horses abreast are employed, with a thin steel, circular coulter, commonly called a “ rolling coulter,” to distinguish it from the old-fashioned stationary coulter, beveled and sharpened for a few inches above the point of the plow to which it is attached. A furrow is broken sixteen inches wide and three inches thick, and the sod, as a rule, is completely reversed or turned over. Each team is expected to break sixteen miles of sod, sixteen inches wide and three inches thick, for a day’s task. By cutting the sod only three inches thick, the roots of the grasses, under the action of heat and moisture, rapidly decay. The breaking season begins about the ist of May, and ends about the ist of July. The wages of men employed at this kind of work are $20 per month and board. The estimated cost of breaking is $2.75 per acre, which includes a proportionate outlay for implements, labor and supplies. But the ground once broken is ready for con¬ tinued cultivation, and is regarded as having added the cost of the work to its permanent value. The “ broken ” land is now with propriety termed a farm. “Backsetting” begins about the ist of July, just after breaking is finished, or immediately after the grass becomes North Dakota. 113 too high, or the sod too dry, to continue breaking with profit. This process consists in following the furrows of the breaking, and turning the sod back, with about three inches of the soil, in doing this work, it is usual to begin where the breaking was begun, and when the sod has become disintegrated, and the vegetation practically decomposed. Each plow, worked by two horses or mules, will “backset” about two and a half acres per day, turning furrows the width of the sod. The plows have a rolling coulter, in order that the furrows may be uniform and clean, whether the sods have grown together at their edges or not. The “backsetting” having been done, there only remains one other operation to fit the new ground for the next season’s crop. This is cross-plowing (plowing crosswise, or across the breaking or backsetting), or so-called fall plowing, which is entered upon as soon as the threshing is over, or on damp days during the threshing season. A team of two mules will accomplish as much cross-plowing in a day as was done in backsetting,—two and a half acres. The wages for backset¬ ting and fall plowing are also $20 per month and board, or $1.50 per acre to hire the work done. The virgin soil, having been broken, backset and cross- plowed, is now ready for seeding. This, ordinarily, begins from about the middle of March to the 1st of April, and is often not finished until the 1st of May. Instead of the old style of hand sowing, a broadcast seeder is used, one of which machines will sow twelve acres a day. Fifty-two quarts of clean Scotch Fife seed wheat are used to the acre. The cost of sowing the ground is seventy-five cents per acre, and the average cost of the seed wheat, upon the larger farms, has been $1.50 per acre. Seeding having been carefully attended to, the harrowing, or covering process, demands close atten¬ tion. The grain must be evenly covered, at a uniform depth, to ensure a good stand, healthy growth and even maturity. On the so-called bonanza and systematically conducted farms. 114 Seeding on a Bonanza Farm. [By permission of Harper & Brothers, New York.l North Dakota. 115 one pair of harrows follows each seeder, going over the ground from one to five times, according to the condition of the soil, until it is well pulverized, the seed evenly covered, and the sur¬ face reasonably smooth. Harvesting on the large farms begins about the ist of August. Self-binding harvesters, one to every 160 acres, are employed, and one driver and two shockers are required to each machine. The wages during the harvest season are $1.50 to $2 per day and board. The work on a wheat farm only occupies a few weeks in the year, and the business is attractive on that account, apart from the profits. After the plowing and seeding are finished, the farmer can look on, and see Nature grow and ripen his crop, until the harvest time comes. By the end of August the year’s work is practically done. Expensive farm buildings are not required; for the grain may be threshed in the fields, and hauled immediately to the nearest railroad station. Very little fencing is needed on a wheat farm. Frequently the cul¬ tivated portion is left unenclosed, and a barbed wire fence is put around the pasture lot to secure the cattle. The outlay for improvements is comparatively light; and, as the country is open and ready for the plow, the settler makes a crop the first year, and is tolerably independent from the start. A village, with school-house, postoffice, stores and churches, springs up, as if by magic, in the neighborhood of his home, and he suffers few of the privations which used to attend frontier life. The extent of the Northwestern wheat region can not now be estimated, nor its future productiveness foreseen. It includes nearly the whole of North and South Dakota east of the Mis¬ souri river, and a considerable portion of the western half of the Territory. The wheat-growing industry has been steadily moving west for more than half a century, and the rich lands of the Red River Valley of the North, and the vast rolling 116 The Northern Pacific Railroad. plains of Dakota and the Pacific Northwest, must ultimately be the permanent wheat field of the continent. Cost of Farming New Land —The expense of prepar¬ ing prairie soil is about as follows: PER ACRE. Breaking.$2 50 Backsetting_;. 1 50 Seed (taking one year with another).._ 1 50 Putting in crop_ 1 00 Cutting, binding and shocking... 2 00 Threshing and marketing.. 2 50 $11 00 The cost of a crop from stubble ground, after the farm is opened, in the second and succeeding years, would be as follows : PER ACRE. Fall plowing...$r 75 Seed wheat....1 50 Putting in crop... 50 Cutting, binding and shocking........2 00 Threshing and marketing. .... 2 50 $8 25 These estimates are on the basis of hiring the labor and machinery. If a farmer owns his own team and implements, he can reduce the cost about $2 per acre. The expense of the buildings, teams, machinery and household effects neces¬ sary to open wheat lands and keep them under cultivation is $10 per acre, and this is called the permanent working capital. From this it is evident that the outlay for raising the first crop on a prairie farm is $20 per acre. The ordinary farmer of 160 acres generally puts about $3 per acre into a house, $2 per acre into a stable, and provides himself with two spans of mules or horses, one gang plow, one seeder, two pairs of harrows, one mowing machine, one self- binder and one wagon, hiring an itinerant thresher at a fixed price per bushel. The new-comer usually does not care to 117 Harrowing on a Bonanza Farm. [By permission of Harper & Brothers, New York.] 118 The Northern Pacific Railroad. break up his entire 160 acres the first year, but gets his farm in condition gradually, working part of the time for his older neighbors. In this way he earns a living for himself and family until his own crop is harvested. The agricultural products include the whole range of those common to the Northern States. Oats and barley yield largely; all root crops flourish. Dairying is not carried on to a great extent. The country, however, is well adapted to dairy farms, as the native grasses of North Dakota, particularly the blue-joint and high prairie grass, are as nutritious as the cultivated grasses of the Middle and Eastern States. Stock- raising is profitable. The tendency is more and more towards mixed farming, raising cattle and sheep, as well as wheat and other small grains. One of the principal factors in profitable wheat culture is easy and cheap transportation. The farmer of northern Dakota is amply provided for in this respect. He has the choice of two outlets for his grain and other products. It is only 250 miles from the Red river to Lake Superior, whence wheat is shipped via Duluth and Superior City to the markets of Buffalo and New York, while the immense mills at the Falls of St. Anthony, in Minneapolis, create a demand which has never yet been fully satisfied. The uniform rate of freight for carrying wheat adopted by the railroad gives every shipping point on the line equal advantages in the cost of getting grain to market. Philological and Historical. —Dakota is named after the great Indian nation who once claimed a large portion of the Northwest for their own. The Northern Indians are divided into two great families : the Algonquins, which include the Chippeways, or Ojibways, the Ottawas, the Crees and a host of others, and the Dakotas, or Sioux, who are divided into many smaller bodies, all speaking the Dakota language. The only difference is, that the Dakotas east of the Missouri use a ivorth Dakota. 119 D, where those west use an L. For example, those east say “ codah ” (friend); those west, “ colah ” (friend). Those east call themselves Dakotas ; those west, Lakotas. The Lisse- tons, Wahpetons and Mandawatons, who lived in Minnesota, were called Santees. The Yanktons, Yanctonais, Brule, Cut- head, Ogallas, Two Kettles, and a score of other bands are Sioux. Nicolet, Catlin and others say that they are one of the finest specimens of v/ild men on the earth. For a generation they were our devoted friends. Our first fight with the Sioux was near Fort Laramie. Some Mormons who were crossing the plains to Utah had a lame ox, which they turned loose to die, and a camp of Indians found and killed it, and made a feast. The Mormons saw this in the distance, and, thinking they could secure payment, stopped at Fort Laramie, and told the officer in command that the Indians had stolen their ox. The officer, who was half drunk, took some soldiers, went to the Indian village, and demanded the ox. The Indians said: “We thought the white men had turned them loose to die. We have eaten the ox; if the white men want pay for him, you shall have it out of our next annuity.” “No,” said the drunken officer; “I want the ox, and, if you do not return him, I will fire upon you.” He did fire on them, and killed a chief. The Indians rallied, and exterminated the command. That war cost one million of dollars. 120 The Northern Pacific Railroad. FARGO & SOUTHWESTERN BRANCH RAILROAD. From Fargo to Edgeley.—Distance 109 Miles. This important branch of the Northern Pacific country has recently opened to settlement one of the finest agricultural regions in Dakota. The road now extends to Edgeley, 21 miles west of the James river, and 109 miles from Fargo, its general course being southwest, as indicated by its name. The country traversed is for the first forty miles level prairie, then becomes slightly rolling, and the uneven character of the ground increases after the Sheyenne river is crossed at Lisbon. Between Lisbon and La Moure the drainage for the most part is into numerous small lakes and ponds. The whole country is of almost uniform fertility. Horace (n miles from Fargo) is a small station at the first crossing of the Sheyenne river. The course of this stream across the prairie is marked by a belt of timber. Davenport (19 miles from Fargo; population, 100), a branch of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway, running from Wah- peton to Mayville, crosses the Southwestern Road at this place. Leonard is an unimportant station. Sheldon (41 miles from Fargo; population, 500).—This town is the trading centre for a considerable extent of country, which is fast filling up with a thrifty farming population. It has numerous stores and shops, two churches and a school-house. Buttsville is a small village. Farzo 6° Southwestern Branch Railroad. 121 Lisbon (56 miles from Fargo; population, 2,000).—The city is very pleasantly situated on the Sheyenne river, being sheltered by forests and towering bluffs. Lisbon was first started in 1881, when few people had settled in Ransom county, and, although for some time it had no railroad facili¬ ties nearer than thirty-five miles, its growth has been remark¬ able. From a mere speck in the valley, it has risen to a thriving city of 2,000 inhabitants, with a full city government. Educational interests have been well looked after. There are five church organizations, and three weekly newspapers. There are grain warehouses, an elevator, two banks, two brick yards, a machine shop and foundry, four hotels, and all the stores and shops which are needed to carry on the large trade of the rich agricultural region of which Lisbon is the centre. The soil, for at least fifty miles in every direction from Lisbon, is a black, sandy loam, with a clay subsoil, and for the produc¬ tion of wheat, oats, corn, barley, flax, peas, root crops and vegetables generally, is not excelled. The average product per acre of wheat is twenty-two bushels; of oats, fifty bushels. A flouring mill, driven by water-power, is in operation, and several other water-powers near the city invite the establish¬ ment of manufacturing enterprises. Ransom county, of which Lisbon is the county seat, is one of the finest agricultural counties in North Dakota. A larger proportion of the wheat raised in this county in 1884 graded No. 1 than of any other county in the Territory. Indian corn is successfully cultivated, and frequently yields 150 bushels of ears to the acre. Marshall and Verona are unimportant sta¬ tions between Lisbon and La Moure. Considerable quantities of wheat are shipped from these stations. La Moure (8S miles from Fargo, and 365 miles from St. Paul; population, 1,000), county seat of La Moure county, is located at the crossing of the Fargo & Southwestern Branch 122 The Northern Pacific Railroad. and the James River Valley Railroad; is situated on the Janies river, from 1,400 to 1,500 feet above the sea-level, with a gradual slope to the river, affording fine drainage, the sur¬ rounding country being chiefly a beautiful, slightly undulating prairie, which has beneath several feet of black loam, a subsoil of silicious marl, with a heavy clay beneath for a considerable depth. Such a soil is admirably adapted to the production of wheat. La Moure has three hotels, one of them a handsome brick structure costing $25,000, two banks, a newspaper, flour mill, grain elevator, twenty stores, three churches, and a large public school building. The James river is navigable to this point, and steamers occasionally come up from Columbia. The town was first established in 1883, and has had a rapid, substantial growth. The railroad will finally be extended to some point on the Missouri. The James River Valley Rail¬ road, following the course of the James river, was opened from Jamestown, forty-nine miles north of La Moure, to La Moure in 3885. It is being extended southward to connect with the railway system of southern Dakota. Farming in the Vicinity of La Moure. —The soil of she middle James river valley, of which La Moure is the com¬ mercial centre, is peculiarly suitable for the growth of all cereal and root crops. The No. 1 hard wheat grown here has made itself famous in the markets of the world, and has been shown, by the official analysis of the Agricultural Department in Washington, to surpass all the wheats grown in any other part of the United States in weight, nutritive qualities, etc. It is grown entirely from Saskatchewan Fife, Scotch Fife, and other hard varieties of seed; oats grow most abundantly, and the varieties most generally used are the White Russian, White Belgian, Prize Cluster, and Welcome. One yield, well authen¬ ticated, ran in 1884 up to 119 bushels to the acre. Magnifi- Fargo 6° Southwestern Branch Railroad. 123 cent crops of barley are raised, of the Chevalier, Six-Rowed and other fine varieties. Chevalier barley, grown ten miles from the town of La Moure, has averaged sixty bushels to the acre. Farmers have also lately turned their attention to raising corn, and good crops were harvested in excellent condition in 1884. Flax, millet, etc., are also being grown here with great success. As to roots, all kinds grow here in profusion; turnips, mangel-wurzel, beets, potatoes, and all kinds of garden vegetables. For size, weight, cleanness, uni¬ formity, entire freedom from worms, etc., the potatoes of this country can hardly be equaled, certainly not surpassed, throughout the United States. Cattle thrive and fatten them¬ selves for market on their prairie pasturage. The local meat markets are supplied by the neighboring farmers with excel¬ lent beef, and none of it is specially fattened for the purpose, or fed upon grain. Berlin and Medbury are small grain-ship¬ ping stations in the midst of a fine fertile country. Edgeley (109 miles from Fargo) is the present terminus of the Fargo & Southwestern Railroad, and is the northern terminus of one of the Dakota divisions of the Chicago, Mil¬ waukee & St. Paul road. It is a new town, established in 1887, and has a population of about 500. The surrounding country is well settled with a thrifty population of farmers engaged in the raising of grain and stock. Stages run from Edgeley to Napoleon, the county seat of Logan county, about 40 miles west. 124 The Northern Pacific Railroad. DAKOTA DIVISION. Fargo to Mandan.—Distance, 199 miles. Fargo (277 miles west of St. Paul; population, 10,000).— This city, the county seat of Cass county, Dakota, 242 miles west of Lake Superior, is situated on the western bank of the Red river, which, though a very tortuous stream, is the con¬ stituted boundary line between the State of Minnesota and Dakota Territory. This is the largest city in North Dakota, and is often called the metropolis of the Red river valley. The importance of Fargo is largely due to the railroad system of which it is a central point. The arrivals and departures of passenger trains number twenty-six daily. There is a rail connection east, west and southwest by the Northern Pacific line, another northwest and southeast by the lines of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba, and south by the Fargo Southern, operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Company, while the Moorhead Northern affords a northerly route on the eastern bank of the Red river. The steam navi¬ gation of the river is not as important a feature in the traffic movement of the town as it was a few years ago, but is still of considerable value, furnishing cheap transportation to the farmers in the immediate vicinity of the river banks. The growth of Fargo began when the Northern Pacific reached the Red river, late in 1871; but it was very slow until the large wheat firms in the vicinity, opened as a rather hazardous ex- Dakota Division. 125 periment by Oliver Dalrymple, had demonstrated the remark¬ able fertility and great agricultural value of the Red river valley. Fargo is a lively type of a new Western town, with all the modern improvements. Manufactories have been es¬ tablished. There are many hotels, twelve churches, three daily newspapers, three public halls, an opera house, two other theatres, a court house, a high school, a driving park, fair grounds, etc., and also many wholesale houses, comprising dry goods, drugs, provisions, clothing, hardware, lumber and agricultural implements. The banks of Fargo at present number four, two of which are organized under the National Banking Act, and two as private banks. The Northern Pacific Railroad has here a round-house, repair shops and rail mills. Three planing mills, two breweries, costing respectively $100,000, and a flouring mill, with a capacity of over 400 barrels of flour daily, give evidence of the progress which the city has made. The North-, ern Pacific Elevator Company has its headquarters in Fargo, owning over fifty elevators and as many more warehouses scattered over Dakota and Northern Minnesota on the lines of the Northern Pacific and Manitoba Railroads. Three large elevators, with a capacity of over half a million bushels, are in operation. The principal streets and the larger business houses are lighted by electricity, and a tower, 200 feet in height, carries at its apex 20,000 candle-power lights. Fargo has a well-organized and fully equipped fire department, with five companies. The educational facilities of the place are ex¬ ceptionally good. The High School, situated on Adams Avenue, cost $40,000. Several ward schools also have been established. The water supply is drawn from works con¬ structed on the Holly system. The capacity of the works is 3,000,000 gallons per diem. The city supplies farmers within a radius of at least fifty miles. Canfield , eight miles west of Fargo, and Haggart , six miles, are side-track stations. 126 The Northern Pacific Railroad. Mapleton (289 miles west of St. Paul; population, 500).— This town possesses a steam elevator and warehouses, three hotels, one hall, a church, general stores, and one of the finest and best appearing school-houses in North Dakota. It is in the midst of a fertile region. Greene (292 miles west of St. Paul).—This station is in the midst of the great Bonanza farm, formerly known as the Will¬ iams farm, which is noted as having given its proprietors a profit of nearly $60,000 in two wheat crops. Mr. Greene has the hand¬ somest grove of young trees along the line of the Northern Pa¬ cific Railroad. Three miles west of Greene is Dalrymple Station , the shipping point of a farm 20,000 acres in extent, which is owned by Mr. Oliver Dalrymple, the famous wheat grower, after whom the place is named. Bonanza Farming - .— A peculiarity of wheat-growing in Dakota is the grand scale upon which it is frequently con¬ ducted. Prior to 1875 it was declared, upon high army authority, that beyond the Red river the country was not susceptible of cultivation; in going west from that stream to the James, there was some fair land, but much that was use¬ less; and thence to the Missouri there was little or no available area, except the narrow valleys of the small streams; in fine, with the exceptions named, that the country was practically worthless. This sweeping statement gained wide publicity, and caused much hesitation with respect to undertaking the cultiva¬ tion of the Dakota prairies. But Messrs. George W. Cass and Benjamin P. Cheney, both heavy capitalists, and Directors in the railroad company, having faith in the fertility of the land, determined to test its capacity for wheat production. They first bought, near the site of the present town of Casselton, 7,680 acres of land from the railroad company, and then se¬ cured the intervening government sections with Indian scrip, thus obtaining compact farming grounds of enormous area. Mr. Oliver Dalrymple, an experienced wheat farmer, was en- 121 128 The Northern Pacific Railroad. gaged to manage the property; and in June, 1875, he turned his first furrow, plowing 1,280 acres, and harvested his first crop in 1876. The acreage was. increased in each succeeding year, until in 1882 there were not less than 27,000 acres under cultivation. This immense farm does not lie in one body. One part of it, known as the Grandin farm, is situated in Traill county, thirty miles north of Casselton. The entire area em¬ braced by the three tracts is 75,000 acres. Farming opera¬ tions conducted on so gigantic a scale, seem almost incredible to persons who are only familiar with the methods of the older and more settled States. In managing the affairs of a ‘‘bonanza farm” the most rigorous system is employed, and the cost of cultivation averages about $1 per acre less than on smaller estates. The plan adopted by Mr. Dalrymple and all the other “bonanza” men is to divide the land into tracts of 6,000 acres each, and these are subdivided into farms of 2,000 acres each. Over each 6,000 acres a superintendent is placed, with a bookkeeper, headquarters building, and a storehouse for sup¬ plies. Each subdivision of 2,000 acres is under the charge of a foreman, and is provided with its own set of buildings, comprising boarding houses for the hands, stables, a granary, a machiilery hall and a blacksmith’s shop, all connected with the superintendent’s office by telephone. Supplies of every descrip¬ tion are issued only upon requisition to the several divisions. Tools and machinery are bought by the car load from manu¬ facturers; farm animals are procured at St. Louis and other principal markets; stores of every description for feeding the army of laborers, are purchased at wholesale; and the result of the thorough system and intelligent economy in every depart¬ ment is found in the fact that wheat is raised and delivered at the railroad at a cost varying little from thirty-five cents per bushel. The net profit on a bushel of wheat is seldom less than ten cents, and the average yield per acre may safely be put at fifteen bushels, although it often exceeds that quantity. Dakota Division. 129 On this great farm, or, rather, combination of farms,—the 20,000 acre tract at Casselton,—400 men are employed in har¬ vesting, and 500 to 600 in threshing. Two hundred and fifty pairs of horses or mules are used, 200 gang plows, 115 self¬ binding reapers, and twenty steam threshers. About the 1st of August the harvester is heard throughout the length and breadth of the land, and those who have witnessed the opera¬ tion of securing the golden grain will never forget the scene. The sight of the immense wheat fields, stretching away farther than the eye can reach, in one unbroken sea with golden waves, is in itself a grand one. One writer describes the long pro¬ cession of reaping machines as moving like batteries of artil¬ lery, formed en echelon against the thick-set ranks of grain. Each machine is drawn by three mules or horses, and with each gang there is a superintendent, who rides along on horse¬ back, and directs the operations of the drivers. There are also mounted repairers, who carry with them the tools for re¬ pairing any break or disarrangement of the machinery. When a machine fails to work, one of the repairers is instantly beside it, and, dismounting, remedies the defect in a trice, unless it prove to be serious. Thus the reapinggoes on with the utmost order and the best effect. Traveling in line together, these 115 reaping machines would cut a swath one-fifth of a mile in width, and lay low twenty miles of grain in* a swath of that great size in the course of a single day. “ Carleton,” a correspondent of the Chicago Tribune , described the reaping scene thus : “Just think of a sea of wheat containing twenty square miles,—13,000 acres,—rich, ripe, golden,—the winds rippling over it. As far as the eye can see there is the same golden russet hue. Far away on the horizon you behold an army sweeping along in grand procession. Riding on to meet it, you see a major-general on horseback,—the superintendent; two brigadiers on horseback,—repairers. No swords flash in the sunlight; but their weapons are monkey-wrenches and o 130 The Northern Pacific Railroad. hammers. No brass band, no drum-beat or shrill note of the fife; but the army moves on—a solid phalanx of twenty-four self-binding reapers—to the music of its own machinery. At one sweep, in a twinkling, a swath of 192 feet has been cut and bound—the reapers tossing the bundles almost disdain¬ fully into the air—each binder doing the work of six men.” Casselton (297 miles west of St. Paul; population, 1,500) is a thriving, hustling town, the situation of which is very advantageous, being in the midst of one of the finest wheat¬ raising districts in Dakota. The first house at Casselton was built by the railroad company in 1877, and during that winter there were only four inhabitants in the place. In the spring of 1878 the first business house was put up. Improvements have been going on ever since, and the growth of the town has been steady. It has an organized fire department. The business of Casselton is represented by nine mer¬ cantile concerns, six hotels—one with accommodations for 200 guests—two banks, lumber yard and two wheelwright shops. There are two elevators, with a capacity of 200,000 bushels, and a large and well-equipped flouring mill, two public halls, two newspapers and four churches. The public schools are efficiently organized under the graded system, and are in successful operation. The farmers of Casselton, in speaking of the excellence of their opportunities, say that they do not suffer materially, either in wet or dry seasons. The farms lie just high enough to be secure from the overflow of the Red river. Good well water can be obtained at a depth of twenty-two to twenty-five feet. There are three artesian wells in the vicinity, one being six and a half miles south of this point, another nine miles north, and the third at the Casselton mill. Wheatland (303 miles west of St. Paul; population, 500).— This town is established upon the dividing ridge that separates the magnificent black soil of the Red river valley from the undulating prairie beyond toward the Sheyenne, and is sup- Dakota Division. 131 plied with general stores, three hotels, a school-house, which is also used for church purposes, a ne.vspaper, and an elevator of 60,000 bushels capacity. It is the trading point for numerous small farmers, and also the headquarters for several large bonanza farm interests in the vicinity. Buffalo (313 miles west of St. Paul; population, 500).—Buf¬ falo is an incorporated village, and the trading point for farmers in its vicinity, the exports being principally wheat, oats and potatoes. It has an altitude of 575 feet above the level of Fargo. The surrounding country is an even, unbroken prairie, as far as the eye can reach. The first settler came to Buffalo in 1878, and took a claim about one-half mile north of f he present village. The town was laid out in May, 1878, and the first house was occupied as a store, postoffice and dwelling. The same year the railroad depot and a blacksmith shop were erected. There are an elevator, with a capacity of 75,000 bushels ; general stores, three hotels and a number of various mechanics’ shops. North of Buffalo, and adjacent thereto, will be found the bonanza farms of Ex-General Manager Sargent of the North¬ ern Pacific; Colonel Rich, of Michigan; T. D. Platt, and others. Tower City (319 miles west of St. Paul; population, 800).— This town, named in honor of Charlemagne Tower, of Phila¬ delphia, Pa., a former Director of the Northern Pacific Rail¬ road, is on the western edge of Cass county. It was laid out in April, 1879, by George H. Ellsbury, when there was no set¬ tlement nearer than Valley City, sixteen miles westward. The growth of the town has not been rapid; but it has been, never¬ theless, steady and healthy. The population is chiefly made up of Americans, Canadians, Germans and a few Scandina¬ vians. The soil of the surrounding country is the rich, dark vegetable loam which characterizes Cass county. Tower City has church organizations, three of which, the Baptist, Presby¬ terian and Methodist, have substantial buildings ; a school- 132 The Northern Pacific Railroad. house costing $6,000, besides three hotels, bank buildings, substantial business blocks, handsome residences, a public hall, a newspaper, a steam elevator and a flouring mill. The Tower University is a creditable young institution managed by the Baptist denomination. An Artesian Well. —The Northern Pacific Railroad, in boring a well at Tower City, struck a vein of water at a depth of 670 feet. The water is soft, not very cold, sweet and pleas¬ ant to the taste, and its medicinal properties are said to be similar to those of the springs at Saratoga. Many persons who use the water say that it works on the kidneys in a bene¬ ficial manner, and tones up the entire system. The town has two small parks,—the Ellsbury, which is situated on the .north side of the railroad, bordering on Michigan Avenue; and the Villard, just south of the railroad depot. In the centre of the latter park is a fountain, supplied with water from the artesian well. On the arrival of a train, the travelers usually make a rush for the fountain, for the purpose of testing the medicinal water. Oriska (324 miles west of St. Paul; population, 200).—This place, situated midway between Fargo and Jamestown, is sur¬ rounded by thousands of acres of fertile prairie, dotted with many lakes of pure water, and a more desirable farming and stock country could scarcely be found. The soil is of first grade and of great depth, with a clay subsoil. Valley City (335 miles west of St. Paul; population, 2,000) is the county seat of Barnes county. It lies in a deep valley surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills, which rise to a height of 125 feet or more on every side of it. Circling round the valley is the beautiful Sheyenne river, a stream at this point fully seventy-five feet in width, running over gravelly beds, and fringed with sturdy oaks, elms and other woods. The Northern Pacific Railroad enters the town on its eastern side by a winding passage through the bluffs for a distance of Dakota Division. 133 several miles, and emerges on the steepest part of the line between Fargo and the Missouri river. The town is furnished with a fine water-power by a fall of ten feet in the river within the limits of the city proper. The Sheyenne river, to which the town owes much of its prosperity, is one of the few im¬ portant rivers in Dakota. It rises in the northern part of the Territory, in the vicinity of Devil’s Lake, and describes a tor¬ tuous course of nearly ioo miles before it reaches Valley City. Its waters are generally clear, and abound with fish, and its banks are skirted with timber. Along its shores in former years roamed the savage Sioux, and many a bloody conflict has taken place between warrior tribes within sight of its wooded slopes. More than twenty years have passed away since the Indians were driven across the Missouri, and the only mementoes of the red men to be found to-day are the bones of the buffalo, which lie bleaching everywhere over these Dakota prairies. The town is finely provided with wide streets and avenues, and the business and residence structures are of at¬ tractive appearance. A large proportion of the population are Americans; but there are also many prosperous, enterprising Scandinavians and Germans. Among the public buildings are an imposing court house which cost $35,000, having ample accommodations, not only for the county officers, but for the United States Court; a brick jail built at an expense of $10,- 000; «one large brick hotel costing over $30,000, besides two smaller frame ones; an opera house, four churches, a handsome public school house of brick; three national banks built of brick, —the edifice occupied by the First National having been erected at a cost of $15,000. There are four newspapers, three weekly and one daily. The city has two brick yards, also several lumber and coal yards, and a large flour mill operated by power from the Sheyenne river. Hobart , seven miles westward, is a small station, with an elevator for handling wheat. 134 The Northern Pacific Railroad. Sanborn (346 miles west of St. Paul; population, 600).—In 1S80 there was scarcely any population in the neighborhood of Sanborn; but now there is a good town here, with a great deal of land occupied and cultivated. About 300,000 bushels of wheat are shipped annually. Sanborn has two newspapers, two public halls, two hotels, four churches, three elevators, a school, one bank, several large business establishments, in¬ cluding hardware and agricultural implement stores, harness shops, etc.- The products are wheat, oats and barley. The Sanborn, Cooperstown & Turtle Mountain Railroad leaves the main line at this place. 1 Sanborn, Cooper stow n & Turtle Mountain Branch. 135 SANBORN, COOPERSTOWN & TURTLE MOUNTAIN BRANCH. From Sanborn to Cooperstown.—Distance, 36 miles. This branch is completed to Cooperstown, 36 miles north of Sanborn. It traverses a remarkably rich prairie country for its entire length. The surface of the country grows more and more rolling as the train advances northward, until in the vicinity of Cooperstown it is diversified with numerous ridges of hills. The soil on these hills, except on their crests, where it is somewhat stony, is as valuable for farming as the level stretches between them. The way stations on the road are Odell , which has a grain elevator ; Dazey, a growing village with three stores, two hotels and three elevators; and Hanna- ford , an unimportant station. Cooperstown (382 miles from St. Paul; population, 600) is the county seat of Griggs county. The town was established in the spring of 1883, and in the fall of the same year the railroad from Sanborn was completed, making it a terminal point a d an important centre of trade. Cooperstown has a court house built of red brick at a cost of $30,000, which is one of the most substantial and imposing public edifices in Dakota. Trade is represented by three general merchandise stores, two hardware, two groceries, a drug store, two agricult¬ ural implement establishments and a number of mechanic shops. 136 The Northern Pacific Railroad. There are also three hotels, three banks, a large public school house and a weekly newspaper. Griggs county is one of the best parts of Dakota for mixed farming. A large part of its surface is admirably adapted for wheat culture, and there are numerous lakes and ponds, bordered by meadow lands and excellent pasturage tracts, which give good facilities for stock- raising. The Sheyenne river runs through the eastern part of the county, affording several good mill powers, and having on its banks numerous groves of timber, which are of great value in giving the farmers cheap fuel. The lands of the Cooper Brothers, who are among the largest land-owners in Dakota, are mostly all in Griggs county, of which 6,000 acres are under cultivation, the cultivated tracts lying in the vicinity of Coop- erstown. Dakota Division, 137 DAKOTA DIVISION.—MAIN LINE. [Continued from page 134. J Eckelson (350 miles west of St. Paul) is a new town, situ¬ ated on Lake Eckelson, a lovely sheet of water. The land is high and rolling, the soil as rich as any in the region, and by virtue of the lake, which is thirty feet below the level of the town, a natural and perfect system of drainage is provided. Lake Eckelson—seven miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide—affords excellent opportunities for bathing, fishing and boating. There are two general stores, an elevator, depot, hotel, and other business establishments. Spiritwood (359 miles west of St. Paul; population, 100).— Spiritwood is in the midst of a fine grain-growing country, and has several large farms around it, making the town an impor¬ tant shipping point. The village contains one store, one school, and an elevator with 50,000 bushels capacity. Spirit¬ wood Lake, ten miles distant, is a very beautiful spot, and its waters teem with pickerel, bass, perch, and some smaller kinds of fish. Ducks, geese and prairie chickens also abound in this vicinity. The waters of this lake are fresh, while those of two neighboring lakes are strongly impregnated with alkaline salts. Jamestown (370 miles west of St. Paul; population, 4,000). —This is a large, active and growing town, and is the com¬ mercial centre of an extensive region of country. It is the county seat of Stutsman county, and is situated in the midst of 138 The Northern Pacific Railroad. a rich agricultural region which is equally well adapted to wheat-raising and stock-growing. The town stands on a dry plateau on the east bank of the James, and is surrounded by ranges of sloping hills. The drainage is excellent, and the health conditions are remarkably good. The substantial char¬ acter of the business buildings, the hotels, the court house and school-houses, and the number of handsome residences attract the attention of travelers. Jamestown has seven hotels, two of them being large three-story brick structures, furnished and managed in first-class style. There are two banks, five churches—Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, Baptist and Catholic—one daily and three weekly newspapers, one of the latter being in the German language, two breweries, a beer bottling establishment, two grain elevators, a flour mill run by water-power furnished by the river, brick and lime kilns, and about fifty mercantile houses representing all branches of trade. The North Dakota Insane Hospital, a public institu¬ tion costing over $100,000, stands on the hill about a mile south of the town. The two principal public school-houses cost respectively $14,000 and $15,000. The Jamestown Col¬ lege, established by the Presbyterians, is a handsome brick edifice standing on the bluffs overlooking the town. There is a reading-room and a circulating library. Jamestown is the headquarters of the Dakota Division of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The railway buildings here, including the round¬ house and machine shops, cost about $100,000. Jamestown is the junction of the Jamestown & Northern Railway, extending 90 miles north to Minnewaukan, at the west end of Devil’s Lake. The James River Valley Railroad runs to Oakes, 69 miles south of Jamestown. Stutsman county is 36 by 40 miles in extent, and covers an area of 1,105,920 acres, nineteen-twentieths of which are avail¬ able for cultivation and pasturage. There are four streams in Dakota Division. 139 the county, three of which are timbered along their banks with hard wood. The banks of the streams are well defined, and contain deposits of granite and limestone, which are excellent for building purposes. There are also several fine lakes in the county fringed with trees, and the lakes and streams abound with fish. Stock-raising has been thoroughly tested as a branch of industry, and is a recognized success. Cattle, horses, sheep and hogs alike thrive. North of Jamestown can be found the “ Hawk’s Nest,” where Gen. Sibley had the Sioux corraled at one time. There are several battle fields in the vicinity where fierce conflicts took place between the troops and the Sioux. ) 140 7'he Northern Pacific Railroad. JAMESTOWN & NORTHERN RAILROAD. Jamestown to Minnewaukan.—Distance, go Miles. This important branch of the Northern Pacific system, leav¬ ing the main line at Jamestown, follows the valley of the Pipestone river for a distance of about thirty miles, the general direction being northwest; then, turning north, crosses the James and Sheyenne rivers, and terminates at Minnewau¬ kan, at the west end of Devil’s Lake. With the exception of a range of gravelly hills between the James and the Sheyenne, the whole region traversed by the road is a rich prairie, more or less rolling, and taking a leading rank among the best agri¬ cultural sections of North Dakota. Parkhurst, Buchanan , Pingree, Edmunds and Melville are the first stations on the road in the order named, north of Jamestown. Carrington (43 miles from Jamestown; population, 500) was established in 1883, by the Carrington & Casey Land Company, a corporation owning large tracts of land in the vicinity of the place. It has two hotels, two newspapers, two elevators and numerous stores and shops, and is an im¬ portant grain-shipping point. It is the county seat of P’oster county. New Rockford (59 miles from Jamestown; population, 700) is the county seat of Eddy county, and is situated on a Jamestown 6 ° Northern Railroad. 141 prairie sloping to the west of the James river. it has two elevators, two newspapers, and numerous mercantile estab¬ lishments, and is surrounded on all sides by stretches of fertile prairie extending as far as the eye can reach. The railroad here crosses the James river, a small stream at this point. The source of the James is about thirty miles west of New Rock¬ ford. At Sheyenne (70 miles from Jamestown) the Sheyenne river is crossed. It has a volume of water at this point not greater than that of the James, but becomes on its lower course an important river. Parker (79 miles from Jamestown) is an unimportant station. Fort Totten (83 miles from James¬ town) is the station for the fort of the same name, situated about ten miles distant on Devil’s Lake. Near this station a fine view is had of the Antelope valley stretching out to the westward, and containing a large area of peculiarly fertile farming land. Minnewaukan (90 miles from Jamestown) was established in 1884. It is the county seat of Benson county, and has a population of about 500. It is a favorite summer resort for tourists who wish to enjoy the scenery of Devil’s Lake and its facilities for fishing and shooting. Minnewaukan is the trade centre for a large extent of country. It has a newspaper, a bank, and grain elevator, a flour mill, and numerous mercantile estab¬ lishments. A steamboat runs during the season of navigation between Minnewaukan and Fort Totten and Devil’s Lake City. Devil’s Lake. —This remarkable body of water is about fifty miles in length, and has a width varying from one to five miles. It has no outlet, and its waters are strongly saline. It receives no important streams, and in consequence appears to be slowly diminishing in volume by evaporation. Well-marked former beaches show that the level of its waters was at one time about twenty feet higher than at present. A considera¬ ble portion of the shore line of the lake is heavily timbered with large oak trees. These forests add greatly to the at- 142 The Northern Pacific Railroad. tractiveness of the lake in an open prairie country like Dakota. The waters of the lake are of a beautiful sea- green color, and are said to have possessed valuable curative properties. The lake abounds in pickerel, and is the resort of myriads of wild fowl; geese, brant and different species of wild ducks frequent its waters, and make it a favorite resort of sportsmen. The Indian name is Minnewaukan, which means “ spirit waters.” The lake was believed by the Indians to be haunted; and there is a legend which relates, that a party of Sioux Indians once attempted to cross it in boats, in spite of the warnings of the medicine men, and that their canoes were seized in the middle of the lake by some mysterious power, and dragged to the bottom, so that neither boats nor voyagers were ever seen again. Since that time the Indians never ven¬ ture upon the lake in any sort of craft. A large portion of the southern side of the lake is occupied by the reservation of the Cut-head Sioux Indians, who num¬ ber about 2,000 souls, and are peaceable and tolerably industrious, cultivating small spots of grain and potatoes, and keeping cattle and horses. They are mainly Catholics in relig¬ ion, and there is a mission for the reservation, under the management of the “Gray Nuns,” where the Indian children are educated. Fort Totten. —This military post is situated on the south¬ ern shore of the lake, about midway between its eastern and western extremities. The buildings are substantial brick structures, and the fort has a more permanent appearance than is usual with frontier military stations. There are two small hotels at the fort which accommodate tourists and sportsmen. A steamboat runs to Minnewaukan, and also to Devil’s Lake City, a town of about 2,000 inhabitants, at the head of a deep bay on the northern shore of the lake. Mouse River Branch. 143 MOUSE RIVER BRANCH. From Carrington to Sykeston.—Distance, 13 Miles. This branch leaves the Jamestown and Northern R. R. at Car¬ rington, and runs due west to Sykeston, a distance of 13 miles. From Sykeston it will be continued in a northwestern direction to some point in the valley of the Mouse river, a further distance of about 75 miles, traversing for its entire length a rolling prairie country having the general character¬ istics as to fertility, of the country between Jamestown and Carrington. Sykeston (13 miles from Carrington, and 56 miles from Jamestown ; population, 300) is the county seat of Wells county, and is situated near the source of the Pipestone river, and a short distance from the bold elevation known as the “Hawk’s Nest,” which is a sort of abutment of the ccteaux, and is a conspicuous object in the landscape for many miles around. Sykeston is a town created by the real estate and farming operations of the English company of Sykes & Hughes. This company owns and farms large tracts of land in the vicinity, and makes active efforts to attract American emigrants to this portion of the Northern Pacific. The town has a newspaper, two elevators, a school, and a number of stores and shops. 144 The Northern Pacific Railroad. JAMES RIVER VALLEY RAILROAD, From Jamestown to Oakes.—Distance, 69 Miles. This line begins at Jamestown and, following the course of the James river, runs southward to Oakes, where it connects with one of the lines of the Chicago & North-Western system, and also with the main line of the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad. It furnishes the connecting link between the railroad systems of North and South Dakota. The road traverses a rich agricultural country. The valley proper of the James river is a narrow one, the bottom lands having a width of from one to three miles between the rolling uplands on either side. Occasional groves of cottonwood are found near the stream. The valley has a light black-loam soil, and for general fertility and adaptability to both small and large farming is unsurpassed in Dakota. The first stations on the road are Ypsilanti , Montpelier , Adrian , and Dickey. Grand Rapids (41 miles from Jamestown) has a popula¬ tion of about 500, and is situated in the midst of fine farming country. La Moure, county seat of La Moure county, and the junction of the Fargo & Southwestern Railroad, is described in the account of that road. A branch line runs from La Moure westward to Edgely, 20 miles. Valley Junction and Glover are small stations. Oakes, in Dickey county (69 miles from Jamestown), is a James River Valley Railroad. 145 new town of rapid growth, the first buildings in which were erected in 1886. It has a population of about 1,000, a weekly newspaper, a large hotel, flouring mill, and two grain elevators. The Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad fur¬ nishes a short line to Minneapolis and St. Paul, and also extends into the country west of the James river. The Chi¬ cago & North-Western Railroad furnishes communication with all the towns in the Southern part of Dakota. 10 146 The Northern Pacific Railroad. DAKOTA DIVISION.—MAIN LINE. ['Continued firom page 139.J The Coteaux. —The country between the valleys of the James and Missouri rivers, traversed by the Northern Pacific line, is a high, rolling plateau, the general elevation of which, above those two streams, is about 400 feet. This region is generally known as The Coteaux. Its correct geographical name, as given it by the early French settlers, was Plateau du Coteau du Missouri; but this has been shortened into Coteaux. The coteau country is open prairie, with an occasional small plat of timber on the shores of the lakes. It has no streams, the drainage all going into lakes and ponds. Most of the soil is deep and rich, and farming is successfully carried on. The region is also admirably adapted for stock-raising and wool¬ growing, pasturage being excellent, and the numerous natural meadows in the valleys and around the lakes and ponds fur¬ nishing an abundant supply of hay. From the western margin of the plateau, where it begins to dip toward the valley of the Missouri itself, the country is generally known as the Missouri Slope. Eldridge (377 miles west of St. Paul; population, 100).— This village contains a store, a church and school building combined, an hotel, and an elevator of 10,000 bushels capacity. The products are wheat, oats, barley and potatoes, Windsor and New Minneapolis are small towns. Dakota Division. 147 Cleveland (390 miles west of St. Paul; population, 100) is surrounded by good agricultural and grazing lands. Farming was begun in 1883 upon the heretofore uninhabited prairie. The soil is eighteen to twenty-four inches deep, with a clay subsoil of eighteen feet. The town contains a depot, side track, postoffice, two stores, lumber yard and telegraph office. Medina , nine miles further west, is at present an unimportant station^ much resorted to by sportsmen, who find good hunting and shooting in the vicinity. Crystal Springs (407 miles west of St. Paul; population, IOO ).—This is a small town, with excellent outlying agricul¬ tural lands; and good crops of wheat, corn, oats and potatoes are produced. The small lakes, not far distant, contain quan¬ tities of fish. % Tappen (415 miles west of St. Paul; population, 150).— This is a small station on the line of the railroad, situated on the Troy Farm, where about 2,500 acres are under cultivation. This farm was established in 1879, receiving its name in com¬ pliment to two of its owners, the station and postoffice being called Tappen in honor of a third proprietor. The farm con¬ sists of sixteen sections, or 10,240 acres, embracing most of the railroad land in two townships. Dawson (420 miles west of St. Paul; population, 400) is an enterprising town, having an excellent agricultural and stock- raising country tributary to it. It has three hotels, one of which cost $15,000, several general stores, lumber yards, livery stables and a newspaper. The products are wheat, oats, barley and potatoes. About two miles south of the depot lies a beautiful body of fresh water, called Lake Isabel. Steele (428 miles west of St. Paul; population, 500) is a thriving town near the center of Kidder county, of which it is the county seat. This town is the highest point on the line of the Northern Pacific between Duluth and Bismarck, and is 148 The Northern Pacific Railroad. growing rapidly in population. Situated in a rich agricult¬ ural district, Steele is already a favorable trading point, con¬ taining general stores, a court house, two hotels, a newspaper, an elevator and lumber yards, a school and a church. The town is supplied with water from tanks inclosed in two brick towers, each forty feet high, the water being pumped from wells beneath the tanks by windmills. South of the town is Lake Etta, a considerable body of water, with timber on its shores. Lakes Isabella and Chattie are in the same vicinity. Twelve miles north of Steele is Horse Head Lake. Geneva , Driscoll , Sterling , McKenzie , Menoken and Apple Creek , situated on the line of the railroad, distant from St. Paul, respectively, 435, 439, 447, 453, 458 and 467 miles, are at present shipping and supply stations in the midst of a fine agricultural and grazing region. At each of these points there are one or more general supply stores, and the population and business interests are constantly increasing. Sterling has about 100 inhabitants, and Menoken is the distributing and shipping point for the large farms which surround it. Apple creek is a beautiful stream, offering fine sites along its banks for farm houses. Tree Planting 1 . —It has been fully demonstrated for a long time past that many forest trees will grow and thrive under cultivation upon the naked prairies and plains of the Western States. The advantage of timber to the settler admits of no dispute. To encourage and stimulate the farmers of the Dakota plains to engage in tree planting, the railroad com¬ pany, some years ago, made liberal appropriations for setting out and protecting trees at various points on its line in North Dakota. Wherever these trees have been cared for they have made a fair growth. The plantation at Steele is the most flourishing and extensive on the line. It contains white wil- Dakota Division. 149 low, cottonwood, and box-elder, and has furnished saplings for shade trees for the farm-houses in the entire region for many miles around Steele. Bismarck (471 miles from St. Paul; population, 4,500).— This is the capital of Dakota, and the county seat of Burleigh county. The North Dakota Penitentiary is also located here. The geographical position of Bismarck is scarcely inferior to that of any city between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. It is situated on the east branch of the Missouri river, which, with its tributaries, gives 2,000 miles of navigable water above it to the northward and westward, and about the same extent to the southeastward to St. Louis. Its landing is one of the finest on the great river, and the place has become, and will always remain, the centre of steamboat navigation in the North¬ west. The government has recognized its importance by making Bismarck a port of entry, with a deputy collector of U. S. Customs, and by locating here the U. S. Court, the U. S. Land Office, and U. S. Quartermaster’s Depot, the Head quarters of the Northwest Division Military Telegraph Lines, and U. S. Signal Office, and the U. S. Marine Hospital. The Quartermaster’s Depot is at Camp Hancock, where substantial buildings have been erected, and from this point all govern¬ ment supplies for military posts and Indian agencies are for¬ warded. Important mail routes centre here. Bismarck has two daily and two weekly newspapers. The town is remarkable for its healthy situation, as it is for the productiveness of the land which environs it. Its elevation above the sea is 1,690 feet. It is above the line of possible submergence by the river, and is well adapted to easy and cheap drainage. In 1872 the engineers of the Northern Pacific decided on crossing the Missouri river at this point, and this decision resulted in the survey of Edwinton and the first settle¬ ment of the city, the name of which was afterward changed to 150 The Northern Pacific Railroad. Bismarck by resolution of the Board of Directors of the railroad company. Only one wing of the capitol building has been completed. It is a massive structure of red brick, standing on one of the hills which dominate the town, and was budt in great part by sub¬ scriptions from the business men of Bismarck. The Catholics have a large brick hospital named “The Lamborn,” in honor of Colonel C. B. Lamborn, Land Commissioner of the North¬ ern Pacific Railroad. The high school building cost $25,000, and there are two other school buildings,—one a brick, costing $5,000, and the other a substantial frame. The court house is of brick, costing $30,000. The city owns substantial build¬ ings. There are three handsome brick bank buildings costing from $30,000 to $65,000 each, and many costly business houses and handsome residences. The grain elevators, roller mill, and brewery, are among the conspicuous structures in the city. The steamboat landing is about two miles distant from the business centre of the place. Here are large warehouses from which steamboats depart for Fort Benton, the head of navigation on the Missouri, and also for points on the lower river. Surrounding Bismarck are wide expanses of arable soil, capable of producing everything necessary to the subsistence of a large population. The river is skirted with timber, the belts ranging from a few rods to two miles in width. The timber is oak, ash, cottonwood, elm and box elder. Coal is abundant, and is sold in the city at $3.50 per ton. The variety is lignite: one ton of it is regarded equal to about two cords of wood, which is sold at from $5 to $6 per cord; green cottonwood, at $2.50 to $3.50. The country is par¬ ticularly adapted to stock-growing, and large herds of cat¬ tle and sheep are being established. The staple products, Dakota Division. 151 however, are wheat, oats, barley and flax. The wheat is always No. i, unless the grade is lowered through fault in handling, and its weight is usually above the standard,— frequently 64 pounds to the bushel. Oats usually weigh 40 pounds to the bushel, 25 per cent, above the standard. The barley, flax and vegetables also show the superiority of soil and climate. The flint varieties of corn never fail to mature. The yellow dent is now being successfully raised. The grasses of the Missouri slope mature before frost, and, as there is no rain in winter, retain their nutriment, affording winter grazing. Provision for winter is not required, except¬ ing during a few weeks, at most, of the severest weather. Fort Abraham Lincoln. —An eminence of easy ascent, within the city limits of Bismarck, has received the name of Capitol Hill, and its summit is soon to be crowned with State buildings of imposing architecture. From this point a wide and beautiful view is obtained,—a prominent object in the scene being the white walls of Fort Abraham Lincoln. This military station lies five miles distant by the road, on the high bluffs on the west side of the Missouri, and not far from Man- dan. It was attacked on five different occasions, during the years 1872-73, by the Sioux, with an aggregate loss of eight killed and twelve wounded on the side of the troops ; but the repulsed Indians suffered more severely. The gallant and ill- fated Gen. Geo. A. Custer passed the last two years of his life at this post. One of the friends of the deceased General, in describing the incidents of Custer’s busy life, gives a glimpse of his room at the old fort in the following words: “ It was pervaded by an air of luxury and good taste, although the furniture was of the plainest, and much of it old and worn. But over every old chair or sofa, covering all deficiencies, were beautiful furs and skins that money could hardly pur¬ chase,— the spoils of Custer’s rifle; and all around the walls hung grand heads of buffalo, of ‘ bighorn,’ of graceful The Northern Pacific Railroad Bridge over the Missouri River. Dakota Division. 153 antelope,—heads prepared by Custer himself, the fierce faces of wolf, bear or panther giving a wild and peculiar grace to the lofty room lit up by the glow from yonder ample fire-place, with its blazing logs.” The Great Bridge Over the Missouri River. —This superb bridge was opened for traffic with appropriate cere¬ monies on the ist of October, 1882; Prior to that time the river was crossed by means of a large transfer steamer, specially constructed for the purpose of carrying trains of ears. Owing to the strong current and constantly shifting sand-bars in the channel, the ferriage by steamboat was always tedious, and the Northern Pacific Railroad Company never intended that so slow a transfer of its trains should be anything but a temporary arrangement. The bridge proper consists of three through spans, each measuring 400 feet between centres of end pins, and two approach spans, each 113 feet. It is a high bridge, the bottom chord of the three main spans being placed fifty feet above the level of the highest summer flood, thus giving room for steamboats to pass at all navigable stages of the river, the bridge allowing practically four feet more room than many of the bridges on the lower Missouri. The variable channel and the high bluff on the east side were sufficient reasons for adopting the high bridge plan in preference to the low bridge with a draw, and the violent action of the ice added to the force of these reasons. The east end of the east approach span is supported by a small abutment of granite masonry founded on the natural ground of the bluff. The west end of the west approach span is upheld by an iron bent, resting on two Cushing cylinders, which are supported by piles driven into the sand-bar. The three long spans are supported on four granite piers, which are of unusual size, with long, raking ice breakers, shod with steel. They are fashioned so as to cut readily the large sheets of ice upon the breaking up of the 154 The Northern Pacific Railroad. river in the spring, and to afford the least possible obstruction to the moving mass of broken ice which follows. Their stabil¬ ity far exceeds any force which the ice can exert. Each of the main channel spans measures 400 feet, divided into sixteen panels of twenty-five feet each. The trusses are fifty feet deep from centre to centre, and twenty-two feet apart. The pedestals, end posts, top chords, and ten centre panels of the bottom chord, and all the pins and expansion rollers, are of steel. All other parts in the main are of wrought iron, except the ornamental work, which is of cast iron. Each long span contains 600,950 pounds of wrought iron, 348,797 pounds of steel, and 25,777 pounds of cast iron, the total weight of each span being 975,524 pounds. The steel used was manufactured under the most rigid inspection, and sub¬ jected to extraordinary tests before it was placed in position. The extreme height from the bottom of the deepest founda¬ tion to the top chord of the bridge is 170 feet. The floor of the structure is formed of oak timbers, nine inches square and fifteen feet long, with spaces of six inches between. On this floor are laid the steel rails of the track. The east approach to the bridge leaves the old main line at Bismarck station, and is exactly two miles in length. The west approach is 6,000 feet long from the west end of the permanent bridge, with a descending grade westward of 52.8 feet per mile. One-fourth of this distance consists of a timber trestle, sixty feet at its maximum height, which is built across the space re¬ claimed from the river by the action of the dike. This trestle spans the place that was the main steamboat channel of 1880, which is already covered with a fair growth of willows. The bridge was subjected to a severe test on the day it was opened, each span bearing in succession the weight of eight heavy locomotives, or about 520 tons, and the maxi¬ mum deflection under this enormous burden was not more than three inches. Dakota Division. 155 The Valley of the Upper Missouri. —The fixing of the crossing point of the Northern Pacific Railroad over the Missouri at this place was no accident, but rather the natural result of adequate causes. Long before the remarkable ex¬ pedition of Lewis and Clark up the Missouri to its source, over the Rocky Mountains, and down the Clark’s Fork and Colum¬ bia rivers to the Pacific Ocean, nature had created and provided for the primitive people of this region a land admirably adapted to their condition and requirements. It was not “ a land flowing with milk and honey,” but a land abounding in beaver, buffalo and bear, where war and hunting were pre¬ ferred to money, and life was passed without the white man’s cares. The land that subsisted the countless herds of buffalo, elk, deer, antelope and mountain sheep; that furnished the primitive people of Dakota with the amusement of the chase and the means of supporting a vigorous life,—was no “ Great American Desert,” except in the brains of ignorance, but was really one of' the most productive areas of North America. Proof of this productiveness is found not only in the almost limitless prairie growth of SAveet and nutritious, herbs and grasses, but also in the forests of valuable timber that are found in every place where the streams or bluffs afford protection from the devastating annual prairie fires. The region for a hundred miles above and below Bismarck and Mandan is blessed with an abundance of this kind of pro¬ tection. The Big Heart and the Little Heart, on the west of the Missouri, empty their pure and constant waters into the great river very nearly opposite Bismarck,—the former just above Fort Abraham Lincoln, and the latter just below. On the east side of the Missouri, Apple and Burned creeks, streams of great length, purity and durability, flow into the great river just outside of the same town. In addition to these rivers, there are, to the west of the Missouri, the Cannon Ball, the Square 156 The Northern Pacific Railroad. Butte, the Knife and the Little Missouri, and to the east the Turtle, the Long Lake, the Horse Head, and the Big and Lit¬ tle Beavers, all affording not only the finest arable and grazing lands, but, from their diffusion of an abundance of pure, fresh water, a protection from prairie fires to an immense tract of heavily timbered country. This timber, from primitive times up to the advent of civilization, gave adequate shelter, during the cold and inclement seasons, to the game that was reared and subsisted on the surrounding prairies, attracting the prim¬ itive inhabitants of this region as to a great centre abounding with the means of subsistence. Another peculiarity aided in fixing this point as one of great local interest to the nomadic aborigines. It is the narrowest point on the Missouri river for thousands of miles, and so offered the most feasible and expeditious crossing place for both Indians and the wild herds upon which they lived. The copious spring and summer rains that contributed to the luxuriant growth of the prairie grasses for the subsistence of the buffalo, also made it possible to raise crops of maize, or Indian corn, which were cultivated extensively by the squaws on the rich, sandy alluvium of the Missouri bottoms. That the culture of this grain, had been carried on by the aborigines from a very remote period, is shown by the fact that numerous fossilized and many charred corn cobs, in a perfect state of pres¬ ervation, are still found in the excavated bluffs along the river, and very deep down in the oldest mounds. Another marked peculiarity of the Missouri valley in and above the region about Bismarck, is its equable and agreeable winters. These result from the warm air which is brought by the westerly winds that prevail in this latitude from off the heated water of the great Japan Current, in the Pacific Ocean. The current of air passing eastward over the Northern Pacific Ocean, in its course onward across this part of the continent, finds comparatively little obstruction in the intervening mount- Dakota Division. 157 ain ranges. These were so denuded during the glacial period of the vast quantity of material which was toppled over from their highest peaks, and deposited as rich surface soil upon this wheat-growing region, as to render them comparatively very low. The highest point of the Northern Pacific Railroad is less than 5,000 feet, and this is through and over an isolated range, while the Union Pacific Railroad is built for nearly 1,000 miles upon and over ranges of nearly 8,000 feet in height. This low elevation of the mountains on the line of the Northern Pacific allows the heated and saturated atmos¬ phere to pass over with trifling obstruction, thus sensibly ameliorating the climate of Montana and Dakota. These are a few of the reasons that formerly rendered the valley of the upper Missouri the “Paradise of Indians.” That it was from time immemorial enjoyed as such is easily adduced from what is now known of it. The first recorded observation of it was made by Messrs. Lewis and Clark, who spent the first winter of their celebrated expedition over the Rocky Mountains, in the early part of Jefferson’s admin¬ istration, at Fort Clark, situated only a few miles above Bismarck. They gave a description of the country and its inhabitants which amply justifies all that is here said of it. The next known of the country was the result of army explor¬ ations, and the stories told by the old hunters and trappers of the Hudson’s Bay and American Fur Companies. Then came the accounts of the few annual steamboat voyagers, to whom it was a region very partially explored, and who characterized it as a land of Indians, buffalo, elk, and all other kinds of game, with plenty of timber. In 1863, after the Sioux had perpetrated their unparalleled massacre in Minnesota, Gen. Sibley drove them from that State, and followed them to their paradise of subsistence and safety in the neighborhood of the place where Bismarck now stands. Here the red men crossed the Missouri, and the 158 The Northern Pacific Railroad. pursuit into the unknown land beyond was abandoned. This expedition, like almost every other against Indians, was a very hard one, and most of the volunteers from Minnesota remember the country only through their prejudices caused by the hardships of the campaign, which naturally resulted in giving it a bad name. This fact, however, did not deter the Northern Pacific Railroad Company from sending out ex¬ perienced engineers to find and locate the most feasible route for the railroad, and to select the most practicable place for the construction of a bridge across the broad and swift Missouri river. The first efforts of these engineers were in pursuance of a suggestion made by Gen. I. I. Stevens, upon which they directed their explorations along a line passing a long distance north of the present crossing. When, however, the road, through legislation, had attained the importance which in¬ duced its friends to work earnestly for its completion, the engineers, in looking for the most direct and feasible route, encountered the Indian travois and buffalo trails leading to this Indian paradise. Following the footsteps of these ex¬ perienced and successful guides, they followed as far as practicable these trails, and were thus directed to the best crossing place on the river. The establishment of the crossing here led to the building of Bismarck and the settlement of the surrounding region. This resulted in so thorough an exploration as to furnish all the data necessary to establish the true, natural and inherent value of the country. Everywhere were seen the carcasses of buffalo slain by the Indians, and the ground was found literally cut up by the trails of these animals and the red men who hunted them, leading from all points of the compass on the east side of the river to the present site of Bismarck as a great converging place. All along the river banks, above and below, ancient as well as modern mounds were found, con¬ taining Indian skeletons, implements of war and the chase. Dakota Division. 159 with specimens of pottery and other evidences of aboriginal ingenuity. No wonder, therefore, that this region should be the red man’s favorite resort, and that they lived here in large num¬ bers. But the capability of the region to subsist men and animals is not only deducible from the footprints of the former inhabitants, but also from the gradual experience of the last five years, during which period the adaptability of the country to support a numerous and prosperous population has been fully demonstrated. Buffalo Hunting in Early Days. Missouri Division. 161 MISSOURI DIVISION. Mandan to Glendive.—Distance, 216 Miles. Mandan (199 miles west of Fargo, and 476 miles distant from St. Paul; population, over 3,000) lies on the western bank of the Missouri, nestled in the lowlands between that great stream and the Heart river, just after the railroad bridge is passed. The city is the county seat of Morton county. On three sides it is inclosed by low ranges of hills, and the fertile Heart river valley here broadens into a wide, circular plain. Up to 1879, when the extension of the railroad west of the Missouri river was begun, the site of Mandan was occupied by Indians, while buffaloes ranged on the neighboring hills. Even as late as the period named, the warlike Sioux had here a series of skirmishes, which culminated in a pitched battle with the Arickarees, or Rees, as they are commonly termed, a branch of the Mandan tribe. Under shelter of the bluffs, Mandan was founded in 1880. The streets are laid out in squares, the principal thoroughfare being Main Street, which runs parallel with the railroad, but is divided from the track along its entire length by a wide open space that is set apart for a city park. This being the terminus of the Dakota Division and the beginning of the Missouri Divis¬ ion of the railroad, there are, at Mandan, extensive machine shops, round-house, freight buildings, and every other appli¬ ance for the transaction of railroad business, a large number n 162 The Northern Pacific Railroad. of workmen being employed. There are three banks, one national and two private, a large brick court-house, several churches, schools, wholesale and retail stores, a flouring mill, one daily and two weekly newspapers, and a 200-barrel flouring mill. In the vicinity of Mandan, an abundance of clay, suitable for manufacturing bricks of the very best quality, is obtained, and this industry is quite prosperous. Excellent stone, also found in the neighborhood, is largely used for the foundation of new buildings. Fuel is supplied in abundance—both wood and coal—by the timber which skirts the rivers, and by the mines, which are worked to great advantage, on the line of the railroad westward. The coal is delivered by the car load at the low rate of $3.25 per ton. The outlying lands are very fertile, and large crops of wheat, corn, potatoes and other veg¬ etables, are produced. Much attention is given in Morton county to stock and sheep raising, to which the country and climate are well adapted. Mandan’s merchants not only do a large business with the farmers who are fast settling in the fertile regions westward, but also send supplies by steamboat to the posts and settle¬ ments of the upper Missouri, the fine rock landing on the river at Mandan affording a peculiarly favorable point of shipment. Mandan, lying as it does on the west bank of the Missouri river, controls most of the commercial business on the North¬ ern Pacific between the Missouri and the Montana line. It is to the country lying west of it what Omaha is to the region lyin g west of the Missouri in Nebraska. Near Mandan are points of interest dating from prehistoric times. A short distance south of the city are mounds which have been formed by successive layers of camp refuse, heaped together, and burned by recurring prairie fires. In these strat¬ ifications are found stone weapons, arrow-heads, household im¬ plements, pottery, trinkets, and bones of men and animals, Missouri Division. 163 The Indians deny all knowledge of these mounds, the pres¬ ence of which offers a fine field for archaeological and ethnolog¬ ical research. The Mandan Pioneer , describing some of the discoveries, said: “Two miles from Mandan, on the bluffs near the junction of the Heart and Missouri rivers, is an old cemetery of fully ioo acres in extent, filled with bones of a giant race. This vast city of the dead lies just east of the Fort Lincoln road. We have just spent a half-day in exploring this charnel house of a dead nation. The ground has the appearance of having been filled with trenches piled full of dead bodies, both man and beast, and covered with several feet of earth. In many places mounds from eight to ten feet high, and some of them ioo feet or more in length, have been thrown up, and are filled with bones, broken pottery, and vases of various bright-colored flints and agates. The pottery is of a dark material, beautifully decorated, delicate in finish, and as light as wood, showing the work of a people skilled in the arts, and possessed of a high state of civilization. Here is a grand field for the student, who will be richly repaid for his labors by excavating and tun¬ neling in these catacombs of the dead. This has evidently been a grand battle field where thousands of men and horses have fallen. Nothing like a systematic or intelligent explora¬ tion has been made, as only little holes, two or three feet in depth, have been dug in some of the mounds ; but many parts of the anatomy of man and beast, and beautiful specimens of broken pottery and other curiosities, have been found in these feeble efforts at excavation. Who are they, and from whence did they come, dying, and leaving only these crumbling bones and broken fragments of their works of art to mark the resting place of a dead nation ? Five miles above Mandan, on the opposite side of the Missouri, is another vast cemetery, as yet unexplored. “ How long have these bones and remains laid in this ceme¬ tery ? is a question which readily suggests itself. The fact that there are no existing tribes on the plains having any knowl¬ edge of pottery would indicate that the mounds had existed for a very long time. And yet there are found near the sur¬ face, and again down to a depth of nine, ten or fifteen feet, 164 The Northern Pacific Railroad. well-preserved bones, which look as if they had not been buried more than five or ten years. Then, again, the fact must be borne in mind that there are no tribes existing that will own to any knowledge of these mounds. The Indians simply say they are spirit mounds, concerning which they know nothing. It seems strange that they should have been forgotten, even within a period of ioo or 200 years, since the Indians have very tenacious memories for traditional matters. The sexton of this cemetery appeared to have a very peculiar way of doing his work. It seems that human bodies were buried, then an ac¬ cumulation of grass and brush was thrown over them and set on fire. This is proved' by the fact that above the bodies will be found from two to three inches of ashes. Then it looks as if the living folks had remained in the vicinity long enough to cover the dead remains with broken pottery and bones of animals. The whole would then be covered with layers of rub¬ bish, such as would be cleared away from the tents of the people as a sanitary precaution. Broken pottery, and fragments of bones and ashes in layers, go to make the funereal mounds complete. “ In the ashes are found charred corn-cobs, burned bones and charred meat. All the large bones that are found are broken, with the exception of the human bones. Judging from appearances, this was not only a great cemetery, but a great banqueting place also.” Sunnyside is a stock-yard station, three miles from Mandan, where cattle are taken from the cars for feeding. Marmot. —After leaving Mandan, the railroad passes through the fertile valley of the Heart river, which tortuous stream it crosses at frequent intervals, before reaching Marmot, the next station, nine miles westward. Marmot is situated on a high plateau, near the confluence of the Heart and the Sweet- briar rivers. The station derives its name from the fact that a prairie dog village existed here before the railroad appeared. As the train advances westward, these curious little animals are more abundant, their antics affording a great deal of amuse¬ ment to passengers. Colonel Richard I. Dodge, in his book Missouri Divisio?i. 165 “The Plains of the Great West,” writes that “this well-known animal is badly named, having no more of the dog about him than an ordinary gray squirrel. He is a species of marmot, and burrows in the ground as do wolves, foxes, raccoons, skunks and all the smaller animals on the treeless plains. He lives on grass and roots, and is exceedingly prolific, each female bringing forth several sets of young each year. He is not excellent eating; but the young are as good as the common squirrel, and, when other flesh meat is not to be had, they make no unwelcome addition to the bill of fare. I regard the prairie dog as a machine designed by nature to convert grass into flesh, and thus furnish proper food to the carnivora of the plains, which would undoubtedly soon starve but for the pres¬ ence in such numbers of this little animal. He is found in almost every section of the open prairie, though he prefers dry and arid to moist and rich localities. He requires np moisture and no variety, of food. The scanty grass of the barest prairie appears to furnish all that is requisite for his comfortable ex¬ istence. Though not in a strict sense gregarious, prairie dogs yet are fond of each other’s company, and dig their holes in close vicinity. Such a collection is called a town, and they sometimes extend over immense areas. The numbers of in¬ habitants are incalculable. Cougars, panthers, wildcats, wolves, foxes, skunks and rattlesnakes all prey upon them without causing any perceptible diminution of their immense numbers.” Sweetbriar is an unimportant station. New Salem (504 miles west of St. Paul) is a prosperous agricultural community, largely composed of German Evan¬ gelical settlers. It has an hotel, church, school-house, four general stores, a lumber yard, livery stable, and a weekly newspaper. A peculiarly fine agricultural country extends northward to the Knife river valley, 40 miles distant. Topographical. —For 100 miles westward the physical appearance of the country is that of a roughly rolling prairie, 166 The Northern Pacific Railroad. the fine agricultural possibilities of which have already been successfully tested. The railroad crosses at frequent intervals many water-courses, the more important of which, after leav¬ ing the Heart, are the Curlew and Knife rivers and Beaver creek. These streams are no puny rivulets, but dignified rivers of considerable volume, which, wuth their tributaries, meander in devious ways throughout the length and breadth of the land grant of the railroad, forty miles on either side of the track. Along these water-courses there is usually a fair supply of soft-wood timber, and the land is everywhere covered with a rich growth of buffalo and other nutritious grasses. The horizon is bounded on all sides by the undulating outline of the surface, varied occasionally by some dominating eleva¬ tion which serves as a landmark. These sharp, conical eleva¬ tions, denominated buttes,* are very peculiar. They rise from the rolling plains, and, being usually without vegetation, show the sedimentary strata of the soil, which is often of many colors. All this region is at present thinly inhabited ; but, as it is endowed with good water, an abundance of lignite coal, a rich soil, and a climate even somewhat milder than the country eastward, its advantages for settlement have been already recognized. Sedalia (500 miles west of St. Paul).—This is a side track on the summit of the Sweetbriar. Blue Grass (508 miles from St. Paul) is a section house and side-track station. Sims (511 miles west of St. Paul; population, 250).—This place obtained its first start from the opening of a mine of lignite coal, worked to supply the railroad, and also for domes¬ tic fuel. The mine was first called Baby Mine , and latterly Bly's Mine; and, after the place had developed into a town of some importance, the name was changed to Sims, in honor of * In pronouncing this word, the u is sounded as in tube. Missouri Division. 167 Geo. V. Sims, then chief clerk in the Northern Pacific office in New York City. Sims is almost entirely built of an excellent quality of brick made in the place. The output of coal is over 250 tons per day. There are two veins four and one-half feet in thickness, and one of seven feet. The town has a large three-story brick hotel, and a number of stores. The sur¬ rounding country is well adapted to general farming. Almont , Curlew and Kurtz are small stations, distant, respectively, 517, 522 and 529 miles from St. Paul. Glenullen (534 miles west of St. Paul) is an agricultural settlement started in the spring of 1883, by a colony of farmers and mechanics from Ohio and Wisconsin. The present popu¬ lation of the village and tributary country is about 700. Eagle's Nest (539 miles west of St. Paul) is a water station. Hebron (546 miles west of St. Paul) is a new settlement, composed in great part of colonists of the German Evangel¬ ical faith, from Illinois and Wisconsin; and German-Russians, who migrated from the Province of Besserabia in Russia to avoid military conscription, and to find homes in a free country. These people are thrifty and industrious and make the best of the resources of the country. Many of them build substantial houses from the prairie turf with good roofs thatched with straw. They understand the care of cattle and the raising of grain, and although they arrived with very little money they are, as a rule, in comfortable circumstances. The road here crosses a branch of the Big Knife river, which makes a handsome and fertile valley. Antelope is nine miles beyond Hebron, in the midst of a good farming country. Richardton (561 miles west of St. Paul) was founded in the Autumn of 1882, and named in honor of Mr. C. B. Rich¬ ards, of the firm of C. B c Richards & Co., of New York, pas¬ senger agents of the Hamburg Steamship Line. The town is 168 The Northern Pacific Railroad. situated in Stark county, near Young Man’s Butte, a promi¬ nent elevation not far from the railroad, and the promoters of the place have already succeeded in giving it importance. There are a number of stores, an hotel, a lumber yard and a brick yard. The surrounding country rolls in regular undula¬ tions through miles and miles of fertile soil, offering superior advantages for farming. The soil is a dark, rich and some¬ what sandy loam of great depth, underlaid with a clay sub¬ soil, and is well adapted to the cultivation of wheat, rye, oats and barley. To the north of Richardton, the country is some¬ what broken, interspersed with well-watered valleys that afford abundance of wild hay. The small streams are generally fringed with a growth of cottonwood trees, thus making the region admirably suited to successful stock and sheep raising. Inexhaustible beds of coal, which may be inexpensively mined, underlie the whole region. Taylor (567 miles west of St. Paul; population, 200).— The adjacent country was settled in 1882, mainly by people from New York and New Jersey. It has an hotel and two stores, and is surrounded by a wide expanse of fertile country. There is a creamery and cheese factory four miles north of the town. The soil is of vegetable mould, eighteen inches to three feet deep, with a fine subsoil similar to that of the James river valley. Four miles south of Taylor, flows the Heart river, while to the north is the Big Knife. Both these streams have broad, grassy valleys skirted with groves of oak, cottonwood and ash. Here, too, are found excellent cattle and sheep ranch sites. Many springs of good water issue from the outcropping beds of coal in the bluffs bordering the valleys, and wells give a good supply at a depth of sixteen to thirty-five feet. Besides the fuel which is furnished by the oak and cottonwood trees, the whole country is underlaid with a bed of good coal five feet in thickness, which can be mined by digging from three to fifteen feet deep. From this bed the settlers obtain their Missouri Division. 160 own fue! at leisure times, highly appreciating so great an advantage. Gladstone (574 miles west of St. Paul; population, 500).— This town was laid out in the spring of 1882 by a colony from Ripon, Wisconsin, on the north bank of the Green river, and named in honor of the great English statesman. The situation of the town is pleasant, and the surrounding country for many miles is settled by the colonists. During the first year of the colony’s existence, about 150 families took up the lands in the neighborhood, and the crops raised upon the upturned sod were bountiful. Near Gladstone are great fields of coal of a good variety for heating and cooking purposes. This coal is apparently of a recent formation, and emits no smoke or disagreeable odor, but burns like wood and equally as fast. Gladstone has an hotel and a number of stores and shops. Dickinson (586 miles west of St. Paul; population, 1,500) is an active new town in the valley of the Heart river, at the ter¬ minus of the first freight division of the Missouri Division. It lies in the midst of an agricultural and grazing country, and is already an important shipping point for cattle and grain. The ground on the outskirts of the town gradually slopes to the south, giving a fine opportunity for drainage. There are two hotels, a handsome brick court-house, a flouring mill, commo¬ dious railroad shops, round-house, passenger depot and freight warehouse. Dickinson is the county seat of Stark county. The tributary country is well watered, and the rainfall in spring and summer is sufficient to insure good crops. Many thou¬ sands of acres are already under cultivation, and there are excellent stock ranges within thirty miles of the town. The coal beds in the immediate vicinity produce a good quality of lignite, and a fine grade of clay for brickmaking and sand¬ stone for building purposes is found in the neighboring bluffs. Eland and South Heart are unimportant stations. 170 The Northern Pacific Railroad. New England City is a new town on the Cannon Ball river, 25 miles south of Dickinson, in Hettinger county. The people of the town and surrounding country are principally from the New England States, and were the first settlers in the county. The country along the Cannon Ball is very similar in its appearance and characteristics to that along the Green and Heart rivers on the line of the railroad. It is well adapted to farming and stock-raising, and is a healthful and picturesque region. Numerous buttes diversify the landscape; the most conspicuous of these is Square Butte, an elevation rising about 300 feet above the general level of the prairies, and having a plateau on its summit of about 50 acres in extent. New Eng¬ land City has a church, a newspaper, a school, an hotel, and several stores and mechanics’ shops. Belfield (606 miles west of St. Paul) is situated in a region which is sometimes termed the “Summer Valley.” The Heart river, here a pretty stream, is bordered on each shore with handsome trees. Hundreds of miles north and south of the new town stretches a very fine agricultural country, and its proximity to the well-sheltered valleys of the Bad Lands will make it a headquarters for cattle-raisers. Bel¬ field contains a church, several general stores and lumber yards. Water is found in abundance by digging wells at no great depth. The next stations, Fryburg, Sully Springs and Scoria , are in the midst of scenes which are so unique as at once to fix attention. The Bad Lands. —At Fryburg the train suddenly leaves the beautiful rolling prairies, and enters a long cut on a down grade, presently emerging upon a region, the startling appear¬ ance of which will keep the vision alert until the Little Missouri river is reached, fourteen miles beyond. Here are the Bad Lands, sometimes called Pyramid Park, which show that the mighty forces of water and fire, fiercely battling, have J /issouri Division. 171 wrought a scene of strange confusion. Buttes, from 50 to 150 feet in height, with rounded summits and steep sides, varie¬ gated by broad horizontal bands of color, stand closely crowded together. The black and brown stripes are due to veins of impure lignites, from the burning of which are derived the shades of red, while the raw clay varies from a dazzling white to a dark gray. The mounds are in every con¬ ceivable form, and are composed of different varieties of argillaceous limestone, friable sandstone and lignite lying in successive strata. The coloring is very rich. Some of the buttes have bases of yellow, intermediate girdles of pure white, and tops of deepest red, while others are blue, brown and gray. There are also many of these elevations which, in the hazy distance, seem like ocean billows stiffened and at rest. Between these curiously shaped and vari-colored mounds there are sharp ravines and gulches, which are often the beds of shallow streams. Here and there are broader spaces, covered with rich grass, and flecked with a growth of ground juniper of delicious fragrance. No trees worthy of the name are seen; but a fringe of gnarled and misshapen pines occa¬ sionally presents itself along the water channels. In ages long ago, however, dense forests existed in these Bad Lands. There is evidence of this primeval growth in the abundant petrifactions of tree stumps, four to eight feet in diameter, which are in portions translucent as rock crystals, and sus¬ ceptible of as high a polish. Fine specimens of fossil leaves, of the Pliocene age, changed by the heat of the burning lignite into a brilliant scarlet, but retaining their reticulations perfect, are also found. The coal, still burning, gives a plutonic aspect to the whole region, one fiery mass not far from the railroad being easily mistaken at night for an active volcano, the cliffs having close resemblance to volcanic scoria. Among the many other fossil remains are oysters, clams and Buttes in Pyramid Park Missouri Division. 173 crustaceans. The seeker for geological curiosities has here a fine field in which to work. The term Bad Lands, as applied to this region, is a gross misnomer. It conveys the idea that the tract is worthless for agricultural and stock-raising purposes. Nothing could be wider of the truth. The fact is, the soil possesses fertilizing properties in excess, and the luxuriant grasses which here flourish, attract herbivorous game animals in large numbers. The designation “ Bad Lands ” is derived from the times of the old French voyageurs, who, in their trapping and hunting expeditions in the service of the great fur companies, described the region as “ mauvaises terres pour traverser meaning that it was a difficult region to travel through with ponies and pack animals. This French descriptive term was carelessly translated and shortened into “bad lands,” and thus has resulted a wholly false impression of the agricultural value of the country. This entire region, geologists tell us, was once the bed of a great lake, on the bottom of which were deposited, for ages, the rich clays and loams which the rains carried down into its waters. This deposit of soil was arrested from time to time sufficiently long to allow the growth of luxuriant vegetation, which subsequently decayed, and was consolidated by the pressure of succeeding deposits, transforming itself into those vast beds of lignite coal which abundantly meet the need of the country for fuel. The various strata thus deposited are all of recent origin, and, being without cementing ingredients, remain soft, and easily washed by the rains. When at last this vast lake found an outlet in the Missouri, the wear and wash of these strata, under the action of rain and frost, were very great. Hence the water-courses, especially the minor ones, where the wash has not had time enough to make broad valleys, have precipitous banks, and high inclosing bluffs, with curiously furrowed and corrugated sides, usually bare of veg- 174 The Northern Pacific Railroad. etation, and showing only the naked edges of the rich soils of which they are composed. The tops of these bluffs and buttes are on the general level of the whole country, and are equally as fertile. This is shown by the hotel garden at the Little Missouri, where, in the very heart of the “ Bad Lands,” and on the summit of the highest bluff, a level spot was chosen and planted, which annually yields heavy crops of vegetables, the potatoes alone producing as many as 300 bushels to the acre. But these Bad Lands, misnamed as they are, form a very small part of the country,—they are conspicuous from the fact that the chaos of buttes is so curious and fantastic in form and beautiful in varied color. From the railroad, which nat¬ urally follows the valleys between these strangely formed, isolated mounds and hills, the view of the broad, open country which lies on a level with their tops, is shut off. Henry J. Winser, writing from the Bad Lands in 1882, noted his observations in an Eastern journal as follows: “ My visit to the Bad Lands,—which, by the by, are begin¬ ning now to be known as Pyramid Park,—proved to me how erroneous had been my own impressions with respect to them. I found excellent grazing in all the tortuous valleys and frequent glens; while the tops of the giant buttes— level as a floor in many cases, ana containing hundreds of acres in a single plot—offer as fine agricultural lands as can be found. “ A party of six arrived late at night at the hostelry at Little Missouri Station, a rough but not uncomfortable refuge for tired and hungry wayfarers. After a good night’s rest, we started next morning on a tour of exploration, guided by Moore, the inn-keeper, a jolly, fat and rosy-cheeked young man, brimming over with animal spirits. Two of the party preferred riding on a buckboard wagon; the others mounted hardy ‘ cayuse ’ ponies; and among the latter was a subject who weighed 250 pounds, his avoirdupois fully testing the wiry endurance of his steed, which showed no sign of flagging vigor after a long day’s journey. Twice we forded the shal¬ low stream, yellow as the Tiber. Rough riding here. If I Missouri Division. 175 were to tell of the slopes down which we slid, and up which we struggled, buckboard and all, I am sure I would jeopard my reputation for truth. The ride was quite exhilarating and altogether novel, nevertheless. A particular zest and flavor was given to the scenery by the remarkable grouping of fan¬ tastically shaped buttes, each girdled with a broad band of crimson,—a stratum of pure pottery, burned in Nature’s oven by the combustion of the coal veins underlying the clay. These potsherds, jagged and shapeless, are used by the railroad instead of gravel for its roadbed, and answer the purpose admirably. The road here, therefore, may well be likened to a scarlet runner. After some hours of rough riding, we brought up at a sheep ranch, belonging to the Eaton brothers, where we were surprised by the many appliances for comfort en gar$on. A tame antelope fawn, playful as a kitten, and a medley of buffalo heads, and . elk and mountain sheep horns, as well as other trophies of the chase, diverted us; and stories were told of the large and small game which the neighborhood supplies to those who know how to shoot it, which would make even the least enthusiastic sportsman long to try his luck. A lavish game dinner, including tender buffalo steak, washed down with rich milk and good water, and a dessert of canned fruits, was just the thing to satisfy appetites made unusually keen by the brisk ride in the dry, pure air. These Eaton boys, whose hospitality we had so agreeably tested, are from the East, and they have money enough invested in sheep and cattle to carry on a very respectable wholesale business in any large city of the Union. Having enjoyed their hospitality as long as our time would admit, we left their ‘ shack,’ which is the common name for a substantial log house, re-enforced by one of these happy ranchmen,—a young chap who sat his horse as though he were a centaur, and looked a picturesque and noble figure, with his clean shaven cheeks, heavy droop¬ ing mustache, sombrero, blue shirt and neckerchief with flam¬ ing ends; in fine, a perfect specimen of the noble manhood finish which this breezy, bounding Western life often gives in a few years to the Eastern born and bred young man. After visiting a coal vein which has been smoldering constantly ever since the country was known to the whites, and from time immemorial, according to Indian tradition, the fire of ire Pyramid Park Scenery Missouri Division. 177 which is visible at night from the train, we inspected the ‘Maiden of the Park,’ the ‘Watchdog,’ and others of the buttes which bear more or less resemblance to the things after which their sponsors named them. We also chipped off specimens of petrified wood, full of sparkling, silicious crystals, from the mammoth tree trunks turned to stone, which crop out from the sides of the conglomerate mounds, showing that, in ages long remote, a stately forest grew on these grassy plains.” Prof. N. H. Winched, of Minnesota, who accompanied Gen. Custer as geologist on his Black Hills expedition in the sum¬ mer of 1874, thus describes the general formation of this region : “ Although I call these bad lands (for so they are generally known among the men who have before crossed here), they are not so bad as I had been led to expect from descriptions that I have read. There is no great difficulty in passing through them with a train. There are a great many bare ck and sand buttes, and deep, perpendicular canons, cut streams in rainy seasons ; but there are also a great r level and grassy, sometimes beautiful, valleys, with occas ; a few trees and shrubs. There is but little water in b most that we have found being due to recent rains, of a great many of the buttes are red, and often the' strewn with what appears like volcanic scoria, satisfied, arises from the burning of the lignite, in nearly all these lands, there being one large sometimes two distinct beds, in the same slor is ignited by fires that sometimes prevail set by Indians, and, when fanned by the sweep across them, produces a very i the over and under lying beds, and v in a confused slag, which, although color, is sometimes of various cc a very hard, vitreous or pottery times green or brown. Iron st?' shade of red.” Medora (625 miles west o* This town is situated on the 12 173 The Northern Pacific Railroad. river, and is surrounded by high bluffs seamed by lignite and scoria, which is characteristic of Bad Lands scenery. It is the creation of the Marquis de Mores, a French gentleman, formerly an officer in the French army, who has built up at this point an extensive business in slaughtering cattle and sheep, and shipping dressed beef and mutton to Eastern market. The abattoir he erected is now in other hands. The works at Medora cost about $l 00,000. Medora has three hotels, a general store, church and school. The so-called burning mine, where the lignite seams are on fire beneath the surface of the ground, is seven miles distant over a good road. Cattle-raising in the Bad Lands. —Flon. Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, who owns a cattle ranch near Medora, in a recent article in the Bismarck Tribune wrote as follows on the subject of qattle-raising in the Bad Lands : “ Roughly speaking, the stretch of country known among attle men as the ‘ Dakota Bad Lands,’ occupies the western rtion of the Territory, from the Black Hills region on the h to the Missouri on the north ; that is, it comprises the ry drained by the Little Missouri river, and the waters g into it. This river runs in long loops, which inclose ottoms, through a rather narrow valley, bounded on by a line of jagged buttes, back of which stretches a T rough and broken hill country, rent and cleft in s by deep, winding ravines, and narrow, canon- Creeks open into the river every few miles. At their beds hold foaming torrents, while during /ear they are either perfectly dry or consist of small, shallow pools, with here and there Some of the alluvial river bottoms are cottonwood, and in a few of the ravines ; ne and cedar. The Bad Lands proper ' r e to twenty miles, when we come out gives the cattle fine feed in summer, whatever from the bitter winds of Missouri Division. 179 “ The herds of the stockmen now graze fifty miles north, and many times that distance south, of the railroad. The cattlemen through the Bad Lands have formed themselves into a stock association, and most of them, in addition, have joined the great Montana stock association. Their round-up takes in all the country along the Little Missouri, from Box Alder creek on the south to below the Big Beaver creek on the north, including the ranges of some fifteen or twenty stock outfits along a river front of nearly two hundred miles. Each such outfit may have from 500 to 10,000 head of stock, and from 10 to 100 head of ponies with which to herd them. There is plenty of timber for building purposes; the home ranch of each outfit consists of a log house, or shack, containing one or many rooms, ac¬ cording to the way the inmates appreciate comfort and the decencies of life ; near by is a log stable and outbuildings, a strong, high, circular horse corral, with a snubbing post in the centre, and further off the larger cow corral, in which the calves are branded, etc. “ The country is covered with a growth of short bunch grass, which cures on the stalk into excellent hay for winter feed; it is very nutritious, and upon it range cattle become as fat as stall-fed oxen. Over most of the land there is nothing but this grass, and the bitter, grayish green sage brush; except for a few weeks in spring, when the first growth forms a mantle of green, the whole land is colored a monotonous dull brown, which, joined to the extraordinary shape and bizarre coloring of the water-worn buttes, gives the landscape a look of grim and forbidding desolation, although this very look of loneliness, sameness and vastness, also gives it an intense attracdon for some men, including myself. This for¬ bidding aspect of the land, however, completely belies its real character; the dull, barren-looking country, clad with withered brown grass, in reality offers as fine grazing as can be found anywhere in the West, while the cliffs and broken valleys offer almost perfect shelter to the animals in the winter. The loss among cattle during the winter, no matter how severe the weather, is surprisingly small, always excepting, of course, half-starved “ pilgrims,” or cattle put on the range late in the fall, and in poor condition. The rainfall is slight, and the 180 The Northern Pacific Railroad. snow rarely covers the ground to any depth. The water sup¬ ply back of the river is scanty, and the country is wholly unfit for agricultural purposes; recognizing which fact, the last Territorial legislature very wisely repealed the herd law, in so far as it affected the western tier of counties, and the cattle men are now free from the fear of being sued by every un¬ scrupulous adventurer who palms himself off as a granger, and declines to fence in his few acres of grain or vegetables. The scantiness of the water supply is no harm to the cattle men, as in summer the beasts keep within a few miles of the river, principal creeks or large water-holes, and thus leave a great stretch of back country over which the)'' have not grazed, and which affords them excellent winter feed when ice has closed up all the ponds and streams, and they are obliged to slake their thirst by eating snow. “ Each ranchman puts up a certain amount of hay for winter use for such horses as he constantly rides, to help out any sick animals which he finds, etc. So far, all this hay has been wild, and has been cut on the tops of the great plateaus; but the time is rapidly approaching when the ranchmen will be obliged to fence in large patches of ground and raise a hay crop, by preference alfalfa, if on further trial it proves that it will grow. “ The excellence of the Bad Lands as a country for fatten¬ ing steers has been proved beyond all doubt; as yet it is too early to say definitely how it will turn out as a region for raising stock. Last year the calf crop was very light; but it is believed that this was mainly due to the very insufficient number of bulls on the range, as a number of the outfits have yet to learn that it is criminal folly to expect to get along with the same proportionate quantity of bulls loose on the range as would do on an Eastern farm. There will always be a lack of calves until the supply of bulls is much more ample than at the present time. Still, appearances indicate a much larger calf crop this year than was the case last. Along the river, as a whole, the steers greatly outnumber the female stock. Horned cattle, and also horses, do excellently; but all efforts at sheep-raising have so far been flat failures,—for which the cattle men are sincerely grateful. The sheep have in each case died by the score and the hundred, but a small percentage Missouri Division 181 surviving the first winter. Many of the ranchmen and small stock owners have now brought out their wives, and the country, which four years ago was an empty wilderness, or with strag¬ gling bands of Indians and parties of hunters, is now settled by a thriving and prosperous class of men, and in many spots a most pleasant home life is growing up. The ranchmen are hearty, open handed and hospitable. The cow boys are a fearless, generous, good-natured set of men, much misrepresented in some Eastern papers. Of course, there are fools in all classes, and the fool variety of cow boy likes to come into town and get drunk, and go about yelling and shooting in the air, firing at the car wheels of a passenger train, or perhaps shooting off the hat of some well-dressed stranger who looks small and timid. But, if a man keeps away from drinking saloons, does not put on airs, and, at the same time, shows that he does not intend to stand any nonsense, he can safely reckon upon first-class treatment in cow boy land.” Little Missouri (626 miles west of St. Paul) is a small village just across the river from Medora. There is a coal mine on the bluffs close at hand. There is an abandoned military post a quarter of a mile from the place. Soon after leaving the Little Missouri river the country west¬ ward becomes less rough, although the railroad passes through many cuts and ravines. Gradually, however, the feature of the landscape is that of broad rolling prairie, marked here and there by isolated buttes. The last two stations on the railroad in Dakota are Andrews and Sentinel Butte , distant respectively 634 and 642 miles from St. Paul. These places are both un¬ important. Sentinel Butte is a prominent object on the left hand, not far from the track. The top of this eminence is visible on clear days at a distance of thirty miles, but looks only to be about three miles off, so deceptive is the luminous atmosphere. This region abounds in moss agates, specimens of which are found, near the foot of the buttes, of great size and beauty. A well-known army officer, who was at one time stationed 182 The Northern Pacific Railroad. here, secured a sufficient number of these agates so large that they were converted into dessert knife handles, and served as a unique and handsome present to a lady on her wedding day. Sentinel Butte, in spite of its precipitous faces, as seen from the railroad, is easy of access on the side remotest from the track. On its summit there is half an acre of level ground. Buffalo were very partial to this elevation, and sometimes resorted to it in so large numbers that many were crowded over the brink. The bones of these animals lie in heaps at the foot of the precipice, whitened by the weather. A Primitive Boundary Mark. —One mile west of Sen¬ tinel Butte the boundary between Dakota and Montana is crossed. The line is marked by a tall pole, upon which is nailed a fine pair of antlers. The railroad for the next thirty miles passes over a fine prairie plateau, which is watered by many small running streams. It then traverses six miles of broken country, which forms the divide between the Little Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, after which it descends into the valley of Glendive creek, and reaches the Yellowstone river at the town of Glendive, twelve miles beyond. Montana. 183 MONTANA. Montana embraces nearly as large an area as Dakota. It averages 275 miles from north to south, and 550 miles from east to west, stretching through 12 0 of longitude, from 104° to n6° west of Greenwich, and lies for the most part between the forty-fifth and forty-ninth parallels of north latitude. Its southern boundary is in about the latitude of St. Paul, Minn., and its northern line joins the British Possessions. The mean height of Montana above the ocean level is estimated at 3,900 feet, the greatest elevation among the mountain peaks being 11,000 feet, and the lowest, on the Missouri river, being about 2,000 feet. Of the 93,000,000 acres contained within the limits of the State, two-fifths are mountainous, and three-fifths valleys or rolling plains. The water-shed between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, the main chain of the Rocky Mount¬ ains, traverses the western portion of Montana in a course a little west of north, leaving about one-fourth of the entire State on the western slope and three-fourths on the eastern. In the central part of the State are the Bull, Belt, the Little Rocky and other smaller mountain ranges, which, with many lateral spurs and detached groups, give that great diversity of rocky ridges, broad plateaus and pleasant valleys, which render the country extremely picturesque. The Bitter Root range, which forms the western boundary of Montana for a distance of over 200 miles, is loftier than the main range of the Rockies. Montana is well supplied with rivers. Her great water- 184 The Northern Pacific Railroad. courses are Clark’s Fork of the Columbia and the Missouri river, the latter with many important tributaries. The Clark’s Fork drains 40,000 miles of the State, and flows into the Columbia river; while the Missouri and its tributaries, the Milk, the Yellowstone, the Teton, the Marias, the Judith, the Mussel¬ shell, the Jefferson, the Madison and the Gallatin carry off the waters of double that area. These rivers are navigated by steamboats a distance of 1,500 miles within the limits of the State. Montana has a number of beautiful lakes, the largest of which is Flathead, in Missoula county, ten by thirty miles in size. The cataracts of the Missouri river between the town of Great Falls and the town of Fort Benton, are the most strik¬ ing scenic features in northern Montana. There are three principal falls, the Black Eagle, the Rainbow, and the Great Fall; and three minor falls are within a distance of 20 miles. The height of the Great Fall is 80 feet, that of the Rainbow 50 feet, and that of the Black Eagle 50 feet. The agricultural lands of Montana lie mainly in the valleys of the large rivers and their affluents. These valleys, usually old lake basins, which have received the wash from the sur¬ rounding mountains, have an alluvial soil which has proved to be very fertile. The land has generally a gentle and regular slope from the higher ground which separates the valleys from the foot-hills, and this is a fact of great importance in its bear¬ ing upon irrigation. So uniform is the slope that, in almost every instance, when water is conducted by means of a ditch from any stream, it may be made to flow over every foot of land in the valley below. The uplands (or bench lands, as they are commonly termed) are simply continuations of the valleys at a higher elevation. They frequently look like artificial terraces of enormous size, rising one above the other; and, where the quantity of water in the stream above admits the irrigation of the bench lands, they are also found to be very productive. Beyond these terraces are the foot-hills, with rounded tops and Montana. 185 V grassy slopes, and behind these loom up the mountains, crowned with a scanty growth of pine and fir, although the slopes and valleys are always destitute of these varieties of timber. There are no deciduous trees either, excepting groves of cottonwood and willows along the water-courses, and occa¬ sional copses of quaking asp in wet places on the sides of the mountains. Only in the extreme northwestern part of the State is a very large body of magnificent timber, covering mountains and plains alike. Eastern Montana, stretching from the base of the Rocky Mountains to the boundary of Dakota, and embracing an area of 90,000 square miles, is divided into three belts of nearly equal size by the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. On the west and south are mountains, timbered with pine and fir, and from them issue many streams, which abundantly water the country. The ground is covered with a rich growth of bunch grass, which makes the region an excellent stock range. But the large area of grassy, rolling table lands in the northeastern part of the State is pre-eminently the place for cattle-raising and sheep husbandry; Meagher county especially, in which lie the Musselshell, the Judith and the Smith rivers, being famed as the great grazing county of Montana. The resources of the entire State are varied and very valua¬ ble. Millions of acres of good agricultural land are awaiting development; but, owing to the light rainfall, irrigation is generally necessary. Mining has always been, and probably will continue to be, the leading industry. The Drum Lummon mine, at Marys¬ ville, near Helena, is the most productive gold mine in the world. The Granite Mountain mine, at Phillipsburg, in West¬ ern Montana, is the most valuable silver mine in the world. The mines at Butte, which furnish the ore for the great smelters and reduction works at Anaconda, are the most pro¬ ductive copper mines in the world. Besides these famous 186 The Northern Pacific Railroad. mines, there are other rich deposits of ore which yield large annual returns to the companies working them. Montana’s total annual yield of precious metals is over $30,000,000. The stock-raising interest of Montana ranks next in the value of its annual product to the mining interest. Cattle, sheep, and horses, are raised in great numbers on the plains and on the well-grassed foot-hills of the mountain ranges. The cattle and sheep are marketed chiefly in St. Paul and Chicago. The wool goes mostly to Boston. Montana horses have won a high reputation for speed and endurance, and are shipped as far east as New York City. Historical. —The history of Montana has not been des¬ titute of stirring incident. Before 1861 there were no settle¬ ments, and the only whites who had visited the region were trappers, missionaries and the members of various military exploring parties. Public attention was first directed to the Territory at about the period named by the discovery of gold in paying quantities in Deer Lodge county. The report brought an irruption of miners from all the Western States, among whom were some of the wildest and most reckless characters, whose names and misdeeds figure in the early annals of the Territory. In 1862 the rich placers at Bannack were discovered. In the following year a party, returning from an unsuccessful attempt to reach the Big Horn Mountains by way of the Gallatin river, whence they were driven back by the Crow Indians, camped for dinner on Alder creek, near the site of Virginia City. Here one of the number, William Fairweather by name, washed a few pans of gravel, and was surprised to obtain about $2 worth of gold to the pan. The news soon spread, and numbers flocked to the place, which has since yielded $60,000,000 of gold, half of which was taken out during the first three years after the discovery. The next important placer diggings were found in 1864, at Last Chance gulch, where Helena now stands, and at Silver Montana. 187 Bow and German gulches, at the head of the Deer Lodge valley. Subsequently mines of great richness were found at various other points, and the excitement upon the subject ran high. The fame of the diggings caused a large immigration, and, with the honest and deserving gold hunters, there was also a rush of the vilest desperadoes from the mining camps of the Western States and Territories. This ruffianly element served as a nucleus around which the evil-disposed gathered, and soon was organized a band of outlaws which became the terror of the country. These banditti included hotel-keepers, express agents, and other seemingly respectable people,—Henry Plummer, the Sheriff of the principal county, being their leader. The roads of the Territory were infested by the ruffians, and it was not only unsafe, but almost certain death, to travel with money in one’s possession. One writer affirms that “ the community was in a state of blockade. No one supposed to have money could get out of the Territory alive. It was dangerous to cope with the gang ; for it was very large and well organized, and so ramified throughout society that no one knew whether his neighbor was or was not a member.” The usual arms of a “ road agent,” writes Prof. Dimsdale, in his history of “The Vigilantes of Montana,” “were a pair of revolvers, a double-barreled shot-gun of large bore, with the barrels cut down short, and to this was invariably added a knife or dagger. Thus armed, mounted on fleet, well-trained horses, and disguised with blankets and masks, the robbers awaited their prey in ambush. When near enough, they sprang out on a keen run, with leveled shot-guns, and usually gave the word ‘ Halt! throw up your hands, you-—-! ’ If this latter command were not instantly obeyed, that was the last of the offender; but in case he complied, as was usual, one or two of the ruffians sat on their horses, covering the party with their guns, which were loaded with buckshot, and 188 The Northern Pacific Railroad. one dismounting, disarmed the victims, and made them throw their purses on the grass. This being done, a search for con¬ cealed property followed, after which the robbers rode away, reported the capture, and divided the spoils.” At last the decent citizens organized a Vigilance Com¬ mittee in self-defense. The confession of two of the gang put the lovers of law and order in possession of the names of the prominent ruffians, who were promptly arrested. Twenty- two of the miscreants were hanged at various places, after the form of a trial, between December 21st, 1863, and January 25th, 1864, five having been executed together in Virginia City. This summary justice so stunned the remainder of the band that they decamped. From the discovery of the bodies of the victims, the confessions of the murderers before exe¬ cution, and from information sent to the Vigilance Committee, it was found that certainly 102 people had been killed by the bandits in various places, and it was believed that scores of unfortunates had been murdered and buried, whose re¬ mains were never discovered. It was known that the missing persons had set out for various places with greater or less sums of money, and were never heard of again. After this whole¬ some justice had been meted to the murderers, law and order prevailed, the lawless element leaving the Territory, and the honest and enterprising remained to develope the mining and other natural resources. Congress provided for the admission of Montana as a State in the act passed at the session in 1889, which also provided for the admission of North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington. Beach (650 miles west of St. Paul.)—This is the first station on the railroad in Montana. Beyond this fact the place is at present of no importance. McClellan (659 miles west of St. Paul) is situated on Beaver creek, a clear stream running over a gravelly bottom, and promises to develop into a pleasant little town. The soil Mout ana. 189 is rich, the water pure, and the point is a good one for cattle ranches. Mingusville (661 miles from St. Paul) is an important cattle-shipping station, and has a hotel and a number of stores. It is in the valley of Beaver creek, convenient to many of the best cattle ranges of eastern Montana and western Dakota. Hodges and Allard are unimportant stations established on Glendive creek. The valley of Glendive creek is noted for its attractive scenery. The Yellowstone Valley. —The railroad follows up the Yellowstone valley from Glendive to Livingston, a distance of 340 miles. In its characteristics the Yellowstone river more closely resembles the Ohio than any other American stream. Its waters, unlike those of the Missouri, are bright and clear, except when discolored by the freshets of its lower tributaries. The stream runs over a bed of gravel through permanent channels, and among thousands of beautiful islands, covered with heavy timber. It is navigable during a good stage of water for more than 250 miles, from its confluence with the Missouri at Fort Buford to a point above the mouth of the Big Horn river, by steamboats of two or three hundred tons. The Yellowstone has many tributaries along that part of its course which is traversed by the railroad, especially on its south bank. After leaving Glendive, the first important stream coming in from the south is the Powder river, so called by the Indians from its inky-black water, stained by the long course it runs through the alluvial soil flanking the Black Hills and Big Horn Mountains. Here the valley of the Yel¬ lowstone broadens, and the country behind the bluffs is better and richer than before. On the north side of the Yellowstone, between Powder and Tongue rivers, several small streams come in which drain the divide between the Yellowstone and the Missouri. The next river of consequence on the south side is the Tongue, with a good but. narrow valley, already 190 The Northern Pacific Railroad. well settled by farmers and herders. About thirty miles west¬ ward of the Tongue another affluent of considerable volume is the Rosebud, flowing from the south. Fifty-six miles beyond is the Big Horn river, the largest tributary of the Yellowstone, draining the whole eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains from the Yellowstone southward to the Platte. The next important stream is the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone, which must not be confused with the other and more important Clark’s Fork of the Columbia. The Yellowstone winds from side to side of the valley, and along most of its course westward presents a very picturesque appearance. Bluffs of what are called “Bad Lands” inclose it, showing their precipitous faces against the stream, first on one side and then on the other, as the river winds from bluff to bluff, leaving always opposite the bluffs a considerable valley on either side of the stream. The width of the Yellow¬ stone valley throughout its entire length scarcely exceeds three miles ; sometimes it narrows to not more than two miles, and again it widens to seven. At the heads of the lateral valleys are fine sites for stock ranches or grazing farms, the same luxuriant grasses covering the whole country. Clear, pure water is to be found every few miles in running streams and springs, along which are fringes of oak, ash, elm, box elder and cottonwood, with occasional pines and cedars in the ravines. Before reaching the Big Horn the valley becomes somewhat broader, and for many miles on the north side of the river, beginning at a point opposite Fort Keogh, are ranges of bluffs which finally recede in height and gradually disappear. Along this part of the river the rough, broken water-shed of the Musselshell, the Missouri and the Yellow¬ stone, called the Bull Mountains, is drained by three small streams, which have considerable valleys of fertile soih The streams are Frozen creek and the Big and Little Porcupine. The Yellowstone above the Big Horn runs through a com- Montana. 191 paratively narrow valley, which broadens only at a single point. The Clark’s Fork Bottom lies in this part of the valley, on the north side of the Yellowstone, extending from the rocky bluffs east of the old settlement at Coulson, near the site of Billings, to the hills which put into the river from outlying spurs of the Rocky Mountains, some thirty-five miles westward. The traveler, passing through the Yellowstone valley, ex¬ cept during the months of May and June, when vegetation is vividly green, is apt to rebel against the withered look of the grass. Lowland and highland alike are clothed with a russet garment, which the heat of summer has spread over them. The mountains appear like colossal hay-mows with the lush growth of bunch grass surging up their slopes, cured as it stands by the sun into the best of hay, upon which herds fatten all the year round. The valley has the same sere tone, and the fringe of dark pines on the brow of the hills does not relieve, but only serves to emphasize, the prevailing tone of the landscape. Eagle Butte near Glend ve, Montana. Yellowstone Division. 193 YELLOWSTONE DIVISION. Glendive to Billings.—Distance, 225 Miles. Glendive (692 miles from St. Paul; population, 1,500).— Glendive is the first place of any prominence in Montana that is reached by the railroad. It is the county seat of Dawson county, the largest county in Montana, and is the terminus of the Missouri Division and the beginning of the Yellowstone. The town is in latitude 47 0 3' N., and longitude 104° 45' W., and lies 2,070 feet above the ocean level. Situated on the south bank of the Yellowstone, ninety miles from the junction of that stream with the Missouri, at Fort Buford, Dak., Glen¬ dive occupies a broad plain which slopes gently toward the river, and is sheltered by a range of curiously shaped clay buttes, distant about half a mile from the stream, and rising abruptly to a height of nearly 300 feet above its level. These buttes are not unlike those seen at the Bad Lands of the Little Missouri, only here the subterranean fires have not burned so fiercely as further east, and the river seems to have stopped the combustion, for across the water there is a large expanse of excellent soil. The site of the town was selected and laid out under the supervision of Gen. Lewis Merrill, U. S. A., who adopted the name of Glendive for his projected city, in remembrance of Sir George Gore, an eccentric Irish nobleman, who spent the winter of 1856 in hunting buffalo 13 194 The Northern Pacific Railroad. in this vicinity, and who originally applied the designation to the creek. Glendive was founded in 1881. It has several business houses, the necessary stores and shops, public buildings, banks, church organizations, three hotels, two weekly newspapers, a brick court-house costing $25,000, and a brick school building costing $10,000. The soil in the neighborhood is a rich, sandy loam, and the gardens of the inhabitants yield fine vegetables. The valley produces wheat, barley, corn, rye, oats and other crops. Wherever the land has been broken, young trees have appeared spontaneously, and good water is obtained by dig¬ ging wells to a depth of from twenty to thirty feet. The place is an important point of shipment to eastern markets of cattle and sheep. The railroad company has built repair shops, round-houses, a station and freight buildings at Glendive, the brick used in the construction of which was manufactured in the town. The scenery just beyond Glendive is imposing. The rail¬ road skirts the river, and bluffs tower several hundred feet above the track. Eagle Clijfi is especially noticeable, for its height, and the heavy engineering work which was necessary in constructing the railroad at this point. Iron Bluff (702 miles from St. Paul).—This is the first station on the Yellowstone Division. Large quantities of shell boulders are found in the vicinity. These consist chiefly of shells, which are mixed with small quantities of silica and alumina. The analysis shows seventy per cent, carbonate of lime, thirteen per cent, carbonate of magnesia, the remaining portion being silica, alumina and phosphate of lime. This shell conglomerate has been thoroughly experimented upon by Captain Maguire, of the United States Engineering Corps, who finds that it produces an excellent water lime, about equal in 'strength and quality to Louisville cement. There is a Yellowstone Division. 195 plentiful supply of this material in sight; but the extent of the deposit is not known. Milton (706 miles from St. Paul) is a small station with a section house for the railroad men. Fallon (721 miles from St. Paul; population, 75) is at the mouth of O’Fallon creek. It is the depot for the beautiful and fertile valley running 100 miles south, which has attracted many ranchmen and stock-raisers. Terry (731 miles from St. Paul; population,250).—A small place, named in honor .of Brig.-Gen. Alfred H. Terry, United States army. Morgan , ten miles beyond, is an unimportant station. Ainslie (751 miles from St. Paul; population, 100) is the depot for the Powder river valley region. Ten miles east of Ainslie, at the Powder river crossing, was fought a battle between the Indians and United States troops; and for several miles along the banks of the Yellowstone, the graves of the soldiers who died of their wounds on their march up the river can be seen. Dixon, ten miles further westward, is a new station, surrounded by a good country. Miles City (770 miles from St. Paul) is the only town on the Northern Pacific line between Superior and the Rocky Mountains which did not owe its origin to the building of the road. It was a flourishing frontier trading post three years before the Northern Pacific reached the Yellowstone valley. Its business was originally, to a large extent, with buffalo hunters; but, after the extermination of the buffalo, the im¬ mense grazing country surrounding it was rapidly occupied by stockmen. There are over 700,000 cattle on the ranges tributary to the town. Miles City is the county seat of Cus¬ ter county; it has a handsome court house which cost $25,000, a large public school building costing $15,000, two banks, three hotels, a daily newspaper with a weekly edition, a stock- 196 The Northern Pacific Railroad. grower’s journal, five churches, two public halls, two saw mills, a brewery, and a large number of stores in all branches of trade. A weekly stage runs to Deadwood, Dakota. The Yellowstone is navigable to this point during what is called the “June rise;” but steamboating has been entirely sup¬ planted by the railroad. Miles City has suffered from numerous fires; but the frame buildings destroyed have been rebuilt with substantial brick structures, so that the business part of the town presents a very solid appearance. An irrigating ditch has been con¬ structed from a point twelve miles up the Tongue river, to supply water to a large area of fertile bottom lands. Some farming is carried on without irrigation on the bottoms close to the Yellowstone and Tongue rivers. Explorations of the Yellowstone. —The first recorded exploration of the Yellowstone valley was that made by Captain William Clark, U. S. A., who was associated with Captain Meriwether Lewis, U. S. A., in the command of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition, fitted out in 1804, under authority of President Jefferson, to explore the region west of the Mississippi river, and extending to the Pacific coast. This vast territory, known as “the Louisiana purchase,” and subse¬ quently as the Province of Louisiana, was ceded to the United States by Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1803, for the nominal sum of $15,000,000. The heroic band of explorers, numbering only thirty-two men, set out from St. Louis on the 14th of May, 1804, ascended the Missouri river a distance of 2,858 miles from its mouth, and, striking across the Rocky Mountains and other ranges westward, reached the mouth of the Columbia river on the 7th of November, 1805. On the 23d of March, in the following year, the dauntless explorers entered upon their return journey, recrossing the Rocky Mountains on the 3d of July. The expedition now resolved itself into three parties, one of which followed the eastern base of the mountains north- Yellowstone Division. 197 ward to the mouth of the Marias river, where it united with the second party, commanded by Captain Lewis, that had gone directly down the Missouri. The third detachment, under Captain Clark, pushed eastward until it struck the Yellowstone river, and then followed this stream 400 miles to its confluence with the Missouri, near which point the three parties again united. After an absence of nearly two years and a half, the expedition arrived at St. Louis on the 23d of September, 1806, having lost only a single man by death. This was one of the most brilliant and successful explorations ever made. By its means a mass of accurate information respecting the country was gathered, the practical value of which has continued to the present day. The result of the expedition was at once to open up the newly acquired territory to the enterprise of the great fur companies, who established trading posts with the Indians at many points. Aside from the trappers, however, no whites settled in Montana until the breaking out of the gold excitement in 1862. Then, and even for many years afterward, the settlements were confined to the extreme western portions of the Territory, which were the most accessible, the eastern half long remaining a wilderness, in absolute posses¬ sion of the Indians. Only since the year 1853, at which time the government sent out an expedition, under command of the late General I. I. Stevens, to explore the region lying between the forty- seventh and forty-ninth parallels, with a view of reporting upon the feasibility of the northern route for a railroad from Lake Superior to Puget Sound, has the Yellowstone valley been brought to public attention. Since the date named a number of expeditions, both government and private, have passed through the valley from time to time, and their records of expe¬ rience and adventure are of the highest interest. But it is not within the plan of this book even to outline the more important features of any of these exploring expeditions. The space at 198 The Northern Pacific Railroad. command will only admit of the narration of a few of the more important facts connected with the various conflicts between the Indians and the United States troops, of which this valley was the scene between the years 1873 and 1877. During the period in question the aborigines strove hard to keep possession of their favorite country. But civilization, repeating the history which has marked its progress in every land, was not to be kept back, and the fierce struggle for supremacy between the white race and the red man resulted in the final disappearance of the latter from the Yellowstone valley. The railroad was finished to the Missouri river toward the close of 1872; but the actual surveys and locations for the roadway had been made as far west as the Powder river, 250 miles beyond. An escort of troops always accompanied the surveying parties, and minor engagements between these small detachments and the Indians were of common occurrence. During 1873 these attacks became so bold and frequent that it was necessary to transfer an additional regiment of cavalry from the Military Department of the South for the purpose of holding the hostile red men in check, and a supply depot was established on Glendive creek, where that stream empties into the Yellowstone. A Fight with Indians at Tongue River. —In the summer of 1873 an army expedition, consisting of about 1,700 men, under the command of Major General D. S. Stanley, was sent out from Fort Rice, on the Missouri river, to explore the Yellowstone valley in the interest of. the railroad. In due time the expedition reached the Yellowstone river, and marched for several days up that stream. The country event¬ ually proved so rough and broken that in many places serious delays were encountered in finding a practicable route for the long and heavily laden wagon trains. These serious embar¬ rassments were only overcome by sending out each morning, Yellowstone Division. 199 some distance in advance of the main column, two companies of the Seventh Cavalry, under command of the late Gen. Custer, whose duty it was to seek' and prepare a practicable road. In carrying out the plan, which already had been for some days followed successfully, Gen. Custer left camp on the 4th of August, with a force of ninety-one men, guided by Bloody Knife, a young Arickaree warrior. At a point nearly opposite the mouth of the Tongue river, plainly in sight of the railroad, Gen. Custer encountered a force of Sioux out¬ numbering his own command over five to one. After a hard fight the Indians were driven off the field. For a week after¬ ward, as the exploring party pursued its march, it entered upon a series of sharp skirmishes with the large force of Indians, who, however, were invariably repulsed, although the troops did not escape many severe casualties. In 1874 and 1875 the Yellowstone valley enjoyed compara¬ tive quiet, although there were hostile bands of Sioux roam¬ ing over the valleys of the Big Horn and Powder rivers, and the entire western frontier was ravaged by them. In June, 1875, a steamboat expedition, consisting of seven officers and 100 men, commanded by Col. Forsyth, of Lieut.-Gen. Sheri¬ dan’s staff, ascended the Yellowstone a distance of 430 miles, selecting sites for military posts at the mouth of the Tongue and Big Horn rivers, in order to better deal with the Indians. This expedition returned without encountering any hostile red men. On February 21st, 1876, an expedition left Fort Ellis, near Bozeman, under command of Major Brisbin, numbering 221 officers and men, for the succor of a party of citizens, who were besieged by Indians at Fort Pease, near the con¬ fluence of the Big Horn with the Yellowstone. The original party consisted of forty-six men, who defended themselves desperately in a stockade until the relief column of troops arrived. Six persons were killed, eight wounded, and thirteen 200 The Northern Pacific Railroad. escaped during the night, leaving only nineteen in the stockade, who were rescued by the troops. Later, 1876, the government was compelled to send out a force against certain wild and hostile bands of Indians who were roaming about Dakota and Montana, not only attacking settlers and immigrants, but also making war upon the Man- dans and Arickarees, who were friendly to the whites. To this class belonged the notorious Sitting Bull, who was not a chief, but only a “head man,” and whose immediate followers did not exceed thirty or forty lodges. Another disaffected chief was Crazy Horse, an Ogallala Sioux, who properly be¬ longed to the Red Cloud Agency, and whose band comprised, perhaps, 120 lodges, numbering about 200 warriors. These bands had never accepted the agency system, and would not recognize the authority of the government. They had been notified, however, by the Department of the Interior, that they must, before the 31st of January, 1876, retire to the reserva¬ tions to which they were assigned, or take the alternative of being brought to subjection by the military power. Every effort, meanwhile, to pacify these bands, proved unsuccessful. They refused to come into the agencies, settle down and be peaceable. A strong force of troops was, therefore, set in motion to subdue them. On the 1st of March, Col. J. J. Reynolds, with a force of 883 men, moved out from Fort Fet- terman, on the North Platte river, in search of the hostiles, and, after marching through deep snow and suffering great hardship, reached the mouth of the Little Powder river on March 17th, at which point he attacked and defeated a large village of Sioux and Northern Cheyennes, under Crazy Horse, destroying 105 lodges and a great amount of ammunition and supplies, and capturing a large herd of animals. The troops, however, had suffered so much from the severity of the weather that they were compelled to return to Fort Fetterman to re¬ cuperate. Yellowstone Division. 201 Operations were resumed by this force toward the end of the following May. On the 29th of that month, a column of 1,000 men, under the command of Gen. Crook, again left Fort Fet- terman, and on the 13th and 17th of June the Indians were discovered in large numbers on the Rosebud. Here a des¬ perate fight took place, lasting several hours, resulting in the flight of the Indians after heavy losses. The casualties to the troops in this engagement were nine killed and twenty-one wounded. From the strength of the hostiles who attacked Gen. Crook’s column, it now became apparent, that not only Crazy Horse and his small band had to be fought, but also a large number of Indians who had re-enforced them from the agencies along the Missouri, and from the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies, near the boundary line between Da¬ kota and Nebraska. Under these circumstances, Cen. Crook deemed it best to await re-enforcements and supplies before proceeding further. The Massacre of Custer’s Command. —Simultaneously with Gen. Crook’s operations, Gen. Terry had concentrated 400 infantry and 600 of the Seventh Cavalry, the latter under Gen. George A. Custer, at Fort Lincoln. With this force he left the fort on the 17th of May, and reached the mouth of the Powder river on the 7th of June, where a supply camp was established. From this point, six troops of cavalry, under Major Reno, scouted up the Powder river to its forks, and across the country to the Rosebud, following down the last- named stream to its mouth, definitely locating the Indians in force in the vicinity of the Little Big Horn river. During Major Reno’s scout, the force under Gen. Terry moved up the south bank of the Yellowstone, and formed a junction with a column consisting of six companies of infantry and four troops of cavalry, under Col. Gibbon, which had marched from Fort Ellis eastward, along the north bank of the Yellowstone, to a point opposite the Rosebud. 202 The Northern Pacific Railroad. On June 21st, after a conference with Cols. Gibbon and Custer, Gen. Terry, who was in supreme command, communi¬ cated the following plan of operations: Gibbon’s column was to cross the Yellowstone near the mouth of the Big Horn, march up this stream to the junction with the Little Big Horn, and thence up the latter, with the understanding that it would arrive at the last-named point on June 26th. Custer, with the whole of the Seventh Cavalry, should proceed up the Rosebud until the direction of the Indian trail found by Reno should be ascertained. If this led to the Little Big Horn, it should not be followed; but Custer should keep still further south before turning toward that river, in order to intercept the Indians should they attempt to slip between him and the mountains, and also in order, by a longer march, to give time for Col. Gibbon’s column to come up. On the afternoon of June 22d, Custer’s column set out on its fatal march up the Rosebud, and on the morning of the 25th he and his immediate com¬ mand were overwhelmed and pitilessly slaughtered by the Indians, who were concentrated in the valley of the Little Big Horn, to the number of over 2,500 fighting men. The harrowing details of the massacre are mainly a matter of conjecture. No officer or soldier who rode with their gallant leader into the valley of the Little Big Horn was spared to tell the tale of the disaster. The testimony of the field where the mutilated remains were found showed that a stubborn resist¬ ance had been offered by the troops, and that they had been beset by overpowering numbers. The bodies of 204 of the slain were buried on the battle ground. The battle ground has been marked by a monument by the United States Govern¬ ment. It is about thirty miles south of the railway station of Custer, near the mouth of the Big Horn river. The important military post of Fort Custer was established near the battle-field not long after the massacre occurred. Yellowstone Division. 203 The Brilliant Work of Gen. Miles. —After this calamity had befallen the expedition, additional troops were sent to the scene of operations as rapidly as they could be gathered from distant posts, but too late to be of immediate use. The exult¬ ant Indians had already broken up their organization, and scat¬ tered far and wide as bands of marauders, placing themselves beyond the reach of punishment in a body. In the autumn most of the troops were withdrawn from Montana, leaving only a strong garrison, under the command of Gen. Nelson A. Miles, who was then Colonel of the Fifth Infantry, to occupy a cantonment at the mouth of the Tongue river (now Fort Keogh). Through the energy and bravery of this command, the Yellowstone valley was soon entirely rid of the Indians. On October ioth a train of ninety-four wagons, with supplies, left Glendive for the cantonment at the mouth of the Tongue river, and was beset the same night by Indians, seven or eight hundred strong, under Sitting Bull, who so crippled it that it was forced to turn back to Glendive for re-enforcements. These obtained, it resumed its journey, the escort numbering eleven officers and 185 men, in the hope of getting the much- needed supplies to the garrison. On the 15th the Indians at¬ tacked once more, but were driven back at the point of the bayonet, while the wagons slowly advanced. In this way the train proceeded until the point was reached from which the return had been previously made. Here the Indians became more determined, firing the prairie, and compelling the wagons to advance through the flames. On the 16th of October an Indian runner brought in the following communication from Sitting Bull to Col. Otis, commanding the escort: “ Yellowstone. “ I want to know what you are doing traveling on this road. You scare all the buffaloes away. I want to hunt in this place. I want you to turn back from here. If you don’t, I will fight you again. I want you to leave what you have got here, and turn back from here. I am your friend, “Sitting Bull. 204 The Northern Pacific Railroad. “ I mean all the rations you have got and some powder. Wish you would write as soon as you can.” Col. Otis replied to this cool request that he intended to take the train through, and would accommodate the Indians with a fight at any time. The train moved on, the Indians surround¬ ing it, and keeping up firing at long range. Presently a flag of truce was sent in by Sitting Bull, who said that his men were hungry, tired of war, anxious for peace, and wished Col. Otis to meet him in council outside the lines of the escort. This invitation was declined; but the Colonel said he would be glad to meet Sitting Bull inside the lines. The wary savage was afraid to do this, but sent three chiefs to represent him. Col. Otis told them he had no authority to treat with them, but that they could go to Tongue river and make their wishes known. After giving them a present of hard bread and bacon, they were dismissed, and soon the entire body disappeared, leaving the train to pass on unmolested. On the night of the 18th Col. Otis met Col. Miles, with his entire regiment, who had advanced to meet the train, being alarmed for its safety. Learning that Sitting Bull was in the vicinity, Col. Miles at once pursued him, and overtook him at Cedar creek. Here an unsatisfactory parley took place, Sit¬ ting Bull refusing peace except upon terms of his own making. The council broke up, the Indians taking position immediately for a fight. An engagement followed, the Indians being driven from the field, and pursued forty-two miles to the south side of the Yellowstone. In their retreat they abandoned tons of dried meat, quantities of lodge poles, camp equipage and broken-down cavalry horses. Five dead warriors were left on the field, besides those they were seen to carry away. The force of Col. Miles numbered 398 rifles, against opponents esti¬ mated at over 1,000. On October 27th over four hundred lodges, numbering about 2,000 men, women and children, sur¬ rendered to Col. Miles, and Sitting Bull, with his own small Yellowstone Division. 205 band, escaped northward. He was vigorously pursued; but the trail was obliterated by the snow, and the troops returned to the cantonment. Again, in December, a portion of the com¬ mand, under Lieut. Baldwin, left their quarters in search of Sitting Bull, who was found and driven south of the Missouri, retreating to the Bad Lands. Less than two weeks afterward the same command surprised Sitting Bull on the Redwater, capturing the camp and its contents, the Indians escaping with little besides what they had upon their persons, and scattering southward across the Yellowstone. Meanwhile, Col. Miles, with his main command, numbering 436 officers and men, had moved against the Sioux and Cheyennes under Crazy Horse, in the valley of the Tongue river; and, after repeated engage¬ ments, lasting from the 1st of January to the 8th of the same month, over fields covered with ice and snow to the depth of from one to three feet, completely vanquished the hostiles, and required them to surrender at the agencies. After the sur¬ render of Crazy Horse, the band of Sitting Bull, in order to escape further pursuit, retreated beyond the northern boundary, and took refuge upon British soil, where this troublesome In¬ dian remained until the spring of 1883, at which time he re¬ turned to the United States, and was assigned to the Standing Rock Indian Agency, in Dakota. In May, 1877, Col. Miles led an expedition against a band of renegade Indians, under Lame Deer, that had broken away from those who had sur¬ rendered at Tongue river. This band was surprised near the Rosebud; and, while negotiations for a surrender were in prog¬ ress, the Indians, either meditating or fearing treachery, began firing, and ended the parley. The fight was resumed, and the Indians were driven eight miles, fourteen having been killed, including the chiefs Lame Deer and Iron Star, and 450 horses and mules, and the entire camp equipage fell into the hands of the troops. This band w r as afterward pursued so hotly that it eventually surrendered at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies. 206 The Northern Pacific Railroad. On the 18th of September, 1877, Col. Miles, having learned that the hostile Nez Perces, from Idaho, under Chief Joseph, pursued by Gens. Howard and Sturgis, were likely to reach the frontier before they could be overtaken, started out from his cantonment to intercept them. By a series of rapid marches on the flank of the hostiles, after traversing a distance of 267 miles, Col. Miles came up with the Nez Perce camp on the morning of September 30th at the Bear Paw Mountains, and compelled its surrender after a desperate resistance, with severe losses on both sides. The troops under the command of Col. Miles, in their opera¬ tions during the years 1876 and 1877, marched no less than 4,000 miles, captured 1,600 horses, ponies and mules, destroyed a large amount of camp equipage belonging to the hostiles, caused the surrender of numerous bands, and cleared the country of upward of seven thousand Indians. By this series of brilliant successes not less than 400 miles of the Yellowstone valley were opened to settlement. Current Ferries. —On the Yellowstone river, as well as on many other Western streams, a method of ferrying is in vogue which presents some peculiarities to Eastern eyes. The swift current is used as a motor for swinging a flat-bottomed ferry¬ boat over the river. An elevated wire cable is stretched from shore to shore. Pulleys, attached by stout ropes to either end of the boat, are geared to the cable. The craft is shoved off from the brink at an angle oblique to the current, and starts languidly, the pulleys moving spasmodically at first. Presently the full force of the tide is felt, and the pulleys spin along the cable, carrying the boat across at fine speed. Then, reaching the slacker water near the opposite shore, the pulleys resume the jerky progress on their cable track, and the boat grates upon the beach or puts her broad nose gently upon the strand pre¬ cisely where it is wanted. The steering is done by means of a wheel, or, rather, windlass, used to taughten or slacken the Current Ferry over the Yellowstone. 208 The Northern Pacific Railroad. pulley ropes, and so get the proper angle of resistance to the current. These ferry-boats scorn any suggestion of an ordi¬ nary rudder in the water. They are guided by the guy-ropes only. The ferry-men usually charge a dollar toll upon each horse and each wagon, which seems good pay for little labor. They lament, however, that the good old times are gone when five dollars was the ordinary tax for this service. Fort Keogh (173 miles from St. Paul) is situated a mile and a half west of the Tongue river, and two miles from Miles City, in a beautiful and fertile portion of the Yellowstone valley. The fort was built in 1877 by Gen. N. A. Miles, and is the most important post in the Northwest, having a large garrison of infantry and cavalry, the numbers varying with the demands of other military stations on the frontier. Fort Keogh consists of a number of commodious barracks, hospital, school, chapels, and other buildings, besides sixteen attractive cottage residences for officers and their families. The fort draws its supply of water from the Yellowstone, and feeds a pretty foun¬ tain in the square, about which the residences are arranged. Horton and Hathaway (distant respectively from St. Paul 782 and 791 miles) are stations established for the convenience of ranchmen in the fine grazing country southward. Rosebud (802 miles from St. Paul; population, 150) is situ¬ ated at the mouth of the Rosebud river. The extensive valley of this stream is admirably adapted to cattle-raising, and its plains are dotted with settlements. Forsythe (815 miles from St. Paul; population, 500).—The place is named in honor of Gen. James W. Forsythe, who was the first officer to land by steamer at the present site of the town, and for a long time it was known as Forsythe’s Land¬ ing. It is situated in a delightful valley immediately on the banks of the Yellowstone river, and is surrounded by trees and immense bluffs rising abruptly on the south and west. Forsythe Big Horn River, Bridge and Tunnel. 210 The Northern Pacific Railroad. is the end of a freight train division, and the supply point for the settlers of the Rosebud bottom, on the south side, and the Big and Little Porcupine rivers, on the north side, of the Yel¬ lowstone. The town has five general merchandise stores. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company has a round-house and repair shops here. Stock yards have been laid out to meet the needs of large cattle shipments from this point. Some land near Forsythe is under cultivation, yielding fair crops of grain and vegetables. Howard, Sanders and Myers (distant respectively 826, 836 and 847 miles from St. Paul) are unimportant stations, serving to supply the needs of the settlers of the surrounding country. Big Horn (858 miles from St. Paul, at the mouth of the Big Horn river) is the diverging point for a country well adapted to stock-raising. The valley of the Big Horn is fertile, and its inclosing hills are covered with excellent grazing. The railroad crosses the turbulent waters of the Big Horn river, about two miles from the mouth of that stream, by a bridge 600 feet in length. Passing over the narrow inter¬ vening valley, it presently penetrates the bluffs which hem in the Yellowstone river, by means of a tunnel 1,100 feet long, and emerges into the comparatively small Yellowstone valley beyond. Custer (864 miles from St. Paul).—The station is on the Crow Indian Reservation; the town is on the opposite side of the Yellowstone, and is called Junction City. It has a popula¬ tion of about 200. Custer is the station for Fort Custer, thirty miles distant, one of the largest military posts in the West, and situated near the scene of the Custer massacre. The large buildings at the station were erected by the Quartermaster’s Department for storing army supplies. A daily stage runs from the station to the fort. Pompey's Pillar, Yellowstone Valley, Montana, 212 The Northern Pacific Railroad. Pompey’s Pillar (888 miles from St. Paul) is a mass ol yellow sandstone, rising abruptly to a height of 400 feet, its base covering nearly an acre of ground. About half way up, on the north side, is an inscription, of which the following is a miniature fac-simile , carved deeply in the rock by the explorer himself on his return journey across the continent. This inscription covers a space three feet long and eighteen inches high, and is sur¬ rounded by a border. It appears that Captain Clark and his party were coming down the Yellowstone river in a boat, when they were overtaken by a storm which suddenly burst upon them. After it had cleared, they landed to examine a very remarkable rock, situated in an extensive bottom on the right, a short distance from the shore “ This rock,” wrote the ex¬ plorer, “ is nearly 200 paces in circumference, and about 200 feet high, accessible from the southeast only, the other sides consisting of perpendicular cliffs of a light-colored, gritty stone. The soil on the summit is five or six feet deep, of a good quality, and covered with a short grass. The Indians have carved the figures of animals and other objects on the sides of the rock. From this height the eye ranges over a wide extent of variegated country. On the southwest are the Rocky Mountains, covered with snow. There is a low mountain Yellowstone Division. 213 about fifty miles distant, in a northwest direction, and at the distance of thirty-five miles the southern extremity of what are called the Little Wolf Mountains. The low grounds of the river extend nearly six miles to the southward, when they rise into plains reaching to the mountains, and are watered by a large creek, while at some distance below a range of highlands, covered with pine, stretches on both sides of the river in a direction north and south. The north side of the river for some distance is surrounded by jutty, romantic cliffs, suc¬ ceeded by rugged hills, beyond which the plains are again open and extensive, and the whole country is enlivened by herds of buffalo, elk and wolves.” After enjoying the prospect from this rock, to which Captain Clark gave the name of Pompey’s Pillar, and carving his name and the date of his visit upon the stone, the explorer continued on his route. For the better protection of Captain Clark’s name against vandals, who have already tried to cut their own insignificant designations within the border containing that of the heroic explorer, the railroad company has caused a screen to be placed over the relic for its protection. The Crow Indian Reservation. —The entire southern shore of the Yellowstone river, from a point not far from Forsythe westward to the Big Boulder creek, and extending south to Wyoming, was set apart by Congress, in 1868, as a reservation for the Crow Indians. This is one of the most fertile and best watered areas in Montana, including the valleys of all the large streams which flow into the Yellowstone above the Rosebud river. The reservation stretches along the Yel¬ lowstone for 250 miles, and has an average width of about 75 miles. Upon this territory, which is nearly as large as the State of Massachusetts, live not more than 3,000 Indians, who gather about the agency during winter, subsisting on government beef and flour, and spend the summer in roaming about the country. They own 40,000 ponies, and are a very rich tribe 214 The Northern Pacific Railroad. from every point of view. The Crows have long been friendly to the whites; but they are far inferior to their old enemies, the Sioux, in intelligence, handicraft and bravery. In 1882 they re-ceded to the government, for a handsome consideration in cash, a strip of the western end of their domain, about forty miles long by sixty wide, which embraces the Clark’s Fork gold and silver mines, and it is only a question of time when the demands of the country for the release of all this valuable tract from its present possessors will be heard. Most of east¬ ern Montana was originally claimed by the Crows, who at one time were a great and powerful nation. That the country was highly appreciated by these Indians is evidenced by the words of Arrapooish, a Crow chief, to the fur trader Robert Camp¬ bell, as told in “Captain Bonneville’s Adventures,” by Wash¬ ington Irving. “The Crow country is a good country. The Great Spirit has put it exactly in the right place. When you are in it, you fare well; whenever you go out of it, whichever way you travel, you fare worse. If you go to the south, you have to wander over great barren plains ; the water is warm and bad, and you meet the fever and ague. To the north it is cold; the winters are long and bitter, with no grass; you can nor keep horses there, but must travel with dogs. On the Columbia they are poor and dirty, paddle about in canoes, and eat fish. Their teeth are worn out; they are always taking fish-bones out of their mouths. To the east they live well; but they drink the muddy waters of the Missouri. A Crow’s dog would not drink such water. About the forks of the Missouri is a fine country,—good water, good grass and plenty of buffalo. In summer it is almost as good as the Crow country; but in win¬ ter it is cold, the grass is gone, and there is no salt weed for the horses. The Crow country is exactly in the right place. It has snowy mountains and sunny plains, all kinds of climate, and good things for every season. When the summer heats scorch the prairies, you can draw up under the mountains, where the air is sweet and cool, the grass fresh, and the bright streams come tumbling out of the snowbanks. There you can of the Northern Pacific Railroad. 216 The Northern Pacific Railroad. hunt the elk, the deer and the antelope when their skins are fit for dressing ; there you will find plenty of black "bear and mountain sheep. In the autumn, when your horses are fat and strong from the mountain pastures, you can go down into the plains and hunt buffalo or trap beaver on the streams. And when winter comes on, you can take shelter in the woody bottoms along the rivers; there you will find buffalo meat for yourself, and cottonwood bark for your horses. Or you may winter in the Wind river valley, where there is salt weed in abundance. The Crow country is exactly in the right place. Everything good is to be found there.” The Crows have always been friendly to the whites. In the early days of settlement of the Montana mining country they served as a barrier to protect the mining camps from the incursions of the hostile Sioux. Later, in the military campaigns for the conquest of the Sioux, they were of much value as scouts and allies to the troops. Huntley (904 miles from St. Paul), a small trading town in the midst of a good stock-raising country. A stockade was built here to protect a frontier store in the days of the Indian occupancy of the Yellowstone country. The Legend of Skull Butte . —The high and rugged elevation across the river to the left of the railroad, just before reaching Billings, is named Skull Butte. Tradition says that about seventy, years ago several hundred lodges of Indians, belonging to the powerful Crow nation, were encamped on the river bottom, when small-pox broke out, and the ravages of the disease were so fearful that in a short time the tribe was decimated. To appease the anger of the Great Spirit, it was determined by the chief medicine man that forty young warriors should offer themselves as a sacrifice. Volunteers for this pur¬ pose were called for, and soon the allotted number of braves, who had recently passed through the ordeal of the “ sun dance,” and assumed the status of warriors, presented themselves. Yellowstone Division. 217 With much ceremony the preparation for the sacrifice was con¬ ducted, and, after all the rites had been performed, the heroic band mounted their ponies, forded the river, ascended the steep heights opposite, and made themselves ready for their fate. It was determined that they and their horses should be blindfolded, and, rushing at full speed to the steep edge of the cliff, should plunge to the rocky strand hundreds of feet below. The word was given, and the forty braves, with tremendous shouts, urged their steeds to the brink of the cliff, and all went down to their destruction. For years afterward, bleaching skulls and bones of men and horses were found around the base of Skull Butte. The railroad crosses to the north side of the Yellowstone upon a substantial truss bridge, near the old settlement of Coulson, at the foot of Skull Butte. 218 The Northern Pacific Railroad. MONTANA DIVISION. Billings to Helena.—Distance, 239 Miles. Billings (917 miles from St. Paul; population, 2,50c) is named in honor of Hon. Frederick Billings, late President of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. It is situated at the foot of Clark’s Fork bottom, on a beautiful plain, sloping down to the Yellowstone river, in the heart of the fertile and pictur¬ esque valley, and is the county seat of the new county of Yellow- stone. The town was founded in the spring of 1882. Among the noticeable buildings are the handsome brick church edifice, the gift of Mrs. Billings; a large bank building, con¬ structed in part of stone quarried in the neighboring cliffs; and a number of substantial brick business blocks. There are six hotels, three churches, two banks, two public halls, two brick yards, a brick and stone court-house, two daily and weekly newspapers, a flouring mill, and numerous stores of all branches of trade. The public school-house is a large two-storv bfick edifice. This is the terminus of the Yellowstone Division, and the beginning of the Montana Division, of the railroad. The company has built a substantial round-house, shops, etc., for the purpose of a division terminus. The Clark’s Fork Bottom ditch, thirty-nine miles long, terminating at Billings, is designed to irrigate 100,000 acres of fertile soil. The valley in which lies Clark’s Fork Bottom, contains over 125,000 acres 220 The Northern Pacific Railroad. of excellent land, capable of producing all kinds of cereals and vegetables. Billings has tributary to it the Barker and Magin- nis gold mining region, situated about ioo miles to the north¬ ward (reached by stage), and the Rocky Fork coal mines to the southeast, which have recently been rendered accessible by a railroad built from Laurel, a station three miles west of Billings. On one side, to the westward, are the great Musselshell and Judith valleys; and on the other, to the eastward, are the Little and Big Horn valleys. Billings is a supply and trading post for a large extent of farming and grazing country within a radius of over ioo miles. It also receives the trade of the Stinking Water District, Wyoming Territory, a large and pros¬ perous tract of country. The town possesses extensive cattle yards, and is one of the principal cattle-shipping points in Montana, great numbers of cattle being driven here for ship¬ ment from the Musselshell and Judith ranges. The Yellow¬ stone river affords a fine water-power for manufactories, there being a fall of eleven feet in a mile. Large shipments of wool are made from here, and a good wool market is established. Montana Stock and Sheep Raising - . —Abundance of nutritious grasses, mildness of climate, and markets easy of ac¬ cess, are a combination of advantages which render Montana famous as a cattle-raising region. Montana steers command the highest prices in the Chicago cattle mart, and the Northern Pacific Railroad, with over 700 miles of track within the Ter¬ ritory, affords ready transportation from the grazing fields to the East. All the better varieties of grass do as well in Mon¬ tana as elsewhere; but the most valuable of the native grasses is the bunch grass. This grows most luxuriantly upon the high rolling plains, of which a large part of the surface of the Territory consists. It begins to renew itself in the early spring, before the ground is yet free from frost, rapidly attains its growth, is early cured, and stands as hay through the remainder Montana Division. 221 of the year until the succeeding spring. Throughout the winter months it perfectly retains its sweet and nutritious qualities. The manner of its growth is similar to that of the short, curly and quickly cured buffalo grass of the plains. It stands in detached clusters or bunches, between which are visible interstices of bare ground. Its clusters, however, are finer, denser, of much taller growth, and cover the ground more closely and compactly than the tufts of buffalo grass. A single acre of bunch grass is fully equal to three acres of average buffalo grass in the quantity it furnishes of actual sus¬ tenance for cattle. It is, moreover, a stronger nutriment than ordinary plains vegetation, being unexcelled by the best culti¬ vated grasses, timothy hay or clover. The railroad, except where the main line crosses the mount¬ ain ranges, follows a system of valleys, unsurpassed in their broad, beautiful and fertile surfaces, and extending across the Territory from east to west. These valleys are free to all for pasturage purposes. Over these great natural ranges the herds roam at will, being separated, or “ rounded up,” by their owners only twice a year,—in the spring to brand the calves, and in the fall to choose the fat steers for market. The principal cattle ranges of the Territory, aside from the great valley of the Yellowstone, are on the headwaters of the Little Missouri, in the southeast; the valleys of the Powder, the Tongue, the Rosebud, the Big Horn (still in possession of the Crow tribe of Indians), and the Clark’s Fork, which meet the Yellowstone region from the south; the great valley of the Sun river, the broad basin of the Judith, the magnificent valley of the Mus¬ selshell, all situated northward of the Yellowstone, and inter¬ mediate between the Bull, Belt, Big Snowy and Little Rocky ranges; the valleys of the East and West Gallatin, Madison and Jefferson rivers, adjacent to the eastern bases of the Rocky Mountains; and the intramontane country of the Clark’s Fork of the Columbia, westward. 222 The Northern Pacific Railroad. The customary way of managing a band of cattle in Mon¬ tana is simply to brand them and turn them out upon the prairie. Under this careless management some steers are lost, which stray away or are stolen. A more careful system is to employ herders, one man for every 1,500 or 2,000 head of cat¬ tle, whose duty it is to ride about the outskirts of the range, follow any trails leading away, and drive the cattle back, seek¬ ing through neighboring herds, if there are any, for cattle that may have mistaken their companionship. At the spring round¬ up a few extra men have to be employed for several weeks. No human being dare go among the cattle on foot. If he did he would be gored or trampled to death at once. The ani¬ mals are only accustomed to horsemen, of whom they are in wholesome terror; but the sight of a person on foot instantly causes a rush toward the strange appearance, and death is cer¬ tain to him who fails to find a place of refuge. In starting a new herd, cows, bulls and yearlings are bought; but calves un¬ der one year old running with the herd are not counted. The average cost of raising a steer, not counting interest or capital invested, is from sixty cents to one dollar a year, so that a four-year-old steer raised from a calf and ready for market costs about $4. A herd consisting of yearlings, cows and bulls, will have no steers ready for the market in less than two or three years. Taking into account the loss of interest on capital invested before returns are received, besides all ex¬ penses and ordinary losses, the average profit of stock-raising in Montana during the last few years, has been at least thirty per cent, per annum. Some well-informed cattle men estimate it at from thirty to forty per cent. A flock of sheep containing 1,000 head and upward, in good condition and free from disease, are procurable in Western Montana for from $2 to $3 per head. They must be herded summer and winter in separate flocks of not more than 2,000 or 3,000 each, must be corraled every night, and guarded Montana Division. 223 against the depredations of dogs and wild animals. Hay must be provided to feed them while the ground is covered with snow, and sheds must be erected to protect them from severe storms. They must, however, be raised by themselves. Cattle and sheep can not live together on the same range. The latter not only eat down the grass so closely that nothing is left for the cattle, but they also leave an odor which is very offensive to the others for at least two seasons afterward. But, notwith¬ standing that the cost of managing sheep is greater than that of handling cattle, the returns from sheep-raising are quicker and larger. While a herd of young cattle begin to yield an income only at the expiration of three years, sheep yield a crop of wool the first summer after they are driven upon a range, and the in¬ crease of the band is much greater than that of cattle, being from seventy-five per cent, to ioo per cent, each year. The wool is of good quality, free from burs, and brings a good price on the ranch, agents of Eastern houses being always on hand eager to buy it. The profits of sheep-raising are generally estimated at a higher figure than those of cattle-raising. The lowest cal¬ culation is based upon a net profit of from twenty-five to thirty-five per cent, on the whole investment, although occa¬ sionally larger returns reward the fortunate stockman. There are few large bands of horses in Montana; but breed¬ ing these animals is beginning to receive attention. Breeders estimate that fifty brood mares and a draught stallion, costing in all $2,500, placed upon a stock ranch where the proprietor does his own herding, will in the course of five years be worth $10,000. Horses are more hardy than sheep or cattle, being better able to endure cold weather, and to “ rustle,” or paw through the snow that covers their pasturage. But they are so much more valuable than other species of stock that most owners prefer to have their bands either fenced in or carefully herded. The best horse farms are those in small valleys, ten or twelve miles long, on whose sides the foot-hills extend up to high 224 2 'Jw Northern Pacific Railroad. mountains. By fencing across the ends of such a valley the horses are prevented from straying. The Cow Boys. —As the train passes through the Yellow¬ stone valley, it is no uncommon sight to see herds of sleek cattle contentedly grazing on the russet hills. Sometimes, also, droves of one or two thousand are noticed slowly advan¬ cing in a broad column from the direction of the distant mountains on their way to the railroad shipping stations. Such a drove is kept well in hand by a number of herders, pictur¬ esquely garbed in sombreros, gray shirts and leather breeches called “chapps,” each man being armed with revolver, bowie knife and a rawhide whip, and well mounted. If the drove of cattle has made a march of several hundred miles from the range, it will be pioneered by a large band of ponies, carrying camp equipage and supplies, and serving as remounts for the cow boys. These latter are usually brawny, clear-eyed fellows, civil enough to answer questions in spite of the fact that every fibre of both man and horse seems strained to its utmost tension in keeping the wilder and straying members of the drove within the bounds of the horned column. Grand Mountain Views. —In passing up the valley, westward of Billings, there is a prospect from the car windows which combines more striking features of beauty and grandeur than could hardly be found elsewhere nearer than Switzerland. Beyond the smiling valley and the winding, glistening river, to the westward and southward, rise white, gigantic masses of mountains. These snowy ranges are so lofty, and, in some conditions of the atmosphere, so ethereal, that the surprise of an Eastern tourist, who had never seen high mountains before, was quite natural. Standing on the platform of a Pullman car, his eye caught the white, gleaming bulwark on the western horizon. “Conductor, those clouds look very much like mountains,” he said. “Clouds; what clouds?” replied the conductor, looking around the clear blue sky. “ Out there; Driving Cattle from the Range 226 The Northern Pacific Railroad. just ahead of us.” “Those are not clouds; they are the mountains at the head of the valley.” “ Good gracious ! ” exclaimed the traveler, who had got his conception of mount¬ ains from the Alleghanies or the Adirondacks. “ Those white things way up in the sky mountains ! Well, well, this is worth coming all the way from New York to see.” Passing the un¬ important station of Carlton , 18 miles west of Billings, the next stopping place is at Laurel (930 miles from St. Paul, 13 miles west of Billings), which is the junction point of the Rocky Fork & Cooke City Railroad, is situated in the fertile irrigated valley of the Yellowstone. Rocky Fork 6 ° Cooke City Railroad. 227 ROCKY FORK & COOKE CITY RAILROAD [From Laurel to Red Lodge, Distance 50 Miles.] This road was built in 1888 and 1889 for the purpose of reaching the remarkable coal deposits on the Rocky Fork, south of the Yellowstone, and also, by an extension from that place, to afford railway transportation to the silver-mining camp of Cooke City, near the eastern borders of the National Park. The road was open for traffic in the spring of 1889 as far as the new town of Red Lodge, created by the coal mining opera¬ tions. The road crosses the Yellowstone on the combination trestle bridge, and runs through a picturesque grazing country, reaching its present terminus by gradients of from 26 to no feet per mile. The Rocky Fork Coal. —This coal is bituminous in its char¬ acter and is so rich in combustible matter that pieces of it can be lighted with a match. The veins are from six to thirty feet in thickness and the out-croppings are on the sides of the hills, situated so that they can be economically worked by means of levels. The coal is mined in large quantities for railway con¬ sumption and is shipped for domestic fuel to all the Montana towns. Red Lodge (50 miles from Laurel, population 500).— This active mining town was laid out in March, 1889, and developed with a rapidity rarely seen except in the mining camps where placer gold is found. The resources of the place in its inex¬ haustible coal mines, its abundant and easily utilized water¬ power, and in the grazing and farming regions surrounding it, indicate that it will soon become one of the most important towns in Montana. 228 •• • The Northern Pacific Railroad. MONTANA DIVISION. [Continued from Page 226.] Park City (940 miles west of St. Paul; population, 250), at the head of the Clark’s Fork bottom. Park City was settled in June, 1882. It is the centre of a large tract of agricultural land, the very last worthy of mention before the rough ap¬ proaches to the Rocky Mountains are entered. Citadel Butte, three miles northeast of the town, commands from its sum¬ mit, 400 feet above the plains, a fine view of the snowy peaks to the westward. Park City has an hotel, a school, and several stores. Stillwater (957 miles from St. Paul).—This is an old trading post for Indians and hunters. The old Crow Indian Agency buildings are situated about twelve miles south of Stillwater. The agency has recently been removed to the Little Big Horn river, near Fort Custer. At this point the railroad crosses to the south side of the Yellowstone river, the bridge being known as the second crossing. Merrill, 966 miles from St. Paul, is a cattle shipping station. Reed Point and Greycliff, respect¬ ively 968 and 984 miles from St. Paul, are unimportant side tracks. Dornix , now called Big Timber (998 miles from St. Paul).—This town is lo¬ cated near the mouth of Big Boulder creek, which flows into the Yellowstone from the south, and facing the mouth of Big Timber creek, which enters the river from the north. It has an hotel and a number of stores and shops, and a saw mill. An extensive grazing country in the valleys of the Big Boulder, the Yellowstone and the Big Timber, is tributary to this point. Montana Division. 229 Piscatorial. —The Yellowstone river, beyond its confluence with the Big Horn, flows with a strong current through a valley of varying breadth, and is fed by many beautiful mountain streams. Here trout are in abundance and give I rout Fishing on the Big Boulder. excellent sport. In passing over several hundred miles of the route in the autumn of 1882, before the railroad had got very far west of the Big Horn river, the writer had ample oppor¬ tunity to indulge in the gentle pastime. The fish were plenti- 230 The Northern Pacific Railroad. ful at every place of bivouac. On one occasion the Big Boulder river, a broad, clear, rushing stream, was reached half an hour in advance of the main party. Hastily putting a rod together, a cast of the fly was made, and the fish were found to be voracious. In forty minutes there were landed no less than seventeen beauties, several of which weighed two pounds each. This was done with due regard to sport. The tackle was deli¬ cate, and each fish had the chance to fight fairly for his liberty. Moreover, the fisherman was compelled to wade far out over the rough boulders in the river bed to reach his victims in their favorite haunt in a deep pool near the opposite shelving bank. This made it necessary to go back to the shore with each captive, after he was safe in the landing net, the passage being made over slippery rocks in a strong current, and con¬ suming much of the time. Compared with its size, what tre¬ mendous power a two-pound trout exhibits after it detects its mistake in snapping the deceptive fly ! There is nothing in the way of sport more exhilarating than to subdue this wild outburst of vigor. Springdale (1,012 miles from St. Paul) is the station for Hunter’s Hot Springs. Hunter’s Springs. —These celebrated hot springs are situated eighteen miles east of Livingston, at Springdale sta¬ tion, at the foot of the Crazy Mountains, on the north bank of the Yellowstone, one mile and three-quarters from the stream. They were noted for their wonderful healing virtues years be¬ fore they became accessible by railroad, and, in fact, if the tra¬ ditionary reports of the aborigines may be credited, have been famous among all the Northern tribes from time immemorial. All the Indians in friendly relations with the Crows—within whose country the springs were situated until their reserva¬ tion lines were fixed by the government—had for generations made pilgrimages to this natural sanitarium with their invalids, pitching their tepees around the fountains for the relief of their Montana Division. 231 sick, while their sore-backed ponies were healed by washing them in the healing waters below. Of course, the curative proper¬ ties of the springs were the last hope for those at a great distance, whose afflictions had baffled the skill of their ablest “medicine men.” No better proof than this of the healing properties of the water could be afforded, as the savage tribes acquire all their knowledge of the treatment of diseases from the experience of ages handed down from father to son. .But there is abundant testimony, also, on the part of numbers of white men who have been restored to health by drinking and bathing in the water of these springs, that there was no supersti¬ tion in the red man’s faith in their remarkable curative powers. They are named Hunter’s Springs in recognition of the fact that Dr. H. A. Hunter was the first white man to visit them and discover their medicinal qualities. The doctor, being in advance of the train with which he was traveling, and a mile north of its direct course,—his object in making the detour being to capture an antelope or deer for dinner,—was attracted to the springs by the cluster of Indian tepees which had been pitched around them. Eight or ten different tribes were rep¬ resented in the concourse. He boldly rode into the promiscu¬ ous camp, and his friendly salutations were responded to in a spirit of equal friendliness. Being a physician, he perceived, by the bright iron-stains upon the rocks, the strong sulphur fumes of the ascending vapors, and the white soda and magnesia coating of the vegetation growing out of the sedimentary de¬ posits, the medicinal value of the waters. He reached the spot in the early part of July, 1864, his train being one of the first that entered the then newly discovered gold mines of Montana by way of the Big Horn valley. Whoever may visit the now famous springs, and feast his eyes upon the beau¬ ties of the surrounding scenery, will not wonder that Dr. Hunter at once relinquished his bright hopes of winning fortune in the gold mines, and resolved, that, if any white man during 232 The Northern Pacific Railroad. his lifetime should become possessed of these healing fount¬ ains, he himself should be that man. Dr. Hunter now enjoys the fruition of the hopes that inspired him nineteen years ago. The clay all around the springs is a blue, adhesive, argillaceous formation, thickly studded with pyritic iron, some of the cubes shining with a gold-like lustre; and inclose proximity to the hot-water fountains there are copious springs, from which flow streams of pure water,—as cold in the hottest weather as ordi¬ nary ice water. But, valuable as his property is, Dr. Hunter has fully paid for it by the frequent risk of not only his own life, but of every member of his family. He moved his family to the springs in 1871, when marauding parties of Sioux Indians were constantly making raids throughout the country. For five long years, or until the year following the massacre of Custer and his command, the proprietor of the springs and his family were constantly “ in the midst of alarms.” Hunter’s Springs are from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the sea- level, and from fifty to 100 above the Yellowstone river. Their temperature ranges from 148° to 168 0 Fahrenheit, and they discharge at least 2,000 gallons a minute,—sufficient to accom¬ modate all visitors, without the necessity of pumping. The water, hot or cold, is palatable, many who had used it while under treatment being regularly supplied with it by express, ordering it by the cask. The surrounding geological forma¬ tions indicate that the springs have been flowing for many centuries. A chemical analysis shows sulphur to be the pre¬ dominating constituent; but the water also contains magnesia, arsenic, iodine and lime. The soil near Hunter’s Springs is highly productive, being enriched with gypsum and other strong mineral fer¬ tilizers. Everything is produced in the gardens of this section that is cultivated in the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. It is one of the best grazing localities in the Montana Division. 233 Yellowstone valley, the whole face of the country being heavily grassed. Back in the bluffs, within easy walking distance of Hunter’s Springs, there are still many antelope ; while hares, ducks, geese and other small game abound in the vicinity. Deer are occasionally “jumped up” in the groves in the Yellowstone, near the springs ; and it is seldom that the sportsman walks far along its banks without having the opportunity to wing a 234 The Northern Pacific Railroad. goose or duck. Elk are numerous in the mountains a few miles out. Few rivers are more thronged with trout than the Yellowstone. The angler must be unskillful indeed who fails to capture a handsome “string” in a couple of hours’ fishing. The largest trout will weigh fully three pounds. Good coal has been found within two miles of Hunter’s Springs ; but the adjacent country has been only superficially prospected for minerals. Springdale station is about three miles from this place, and there is telephonic communication between the two points. Mails arrive and depart daily. Hacks are at the station on the arrival of every train to take tourists and inva¬ lids to the springs. There are distinct bath houses for the well and the sick, for male and female, and some of the tubs or tanks are large and deep enough for plunging and swimming. Visitors who prefer vapor baths are also accommodated ; the medicated vapors, coming up freshly from the steam¬ ing waters, are regulated to any degree of temperature by cold-air jets. Seven miles westward from Springdale is Elton , and five miles further is Mission , a new station, at which passenger trains do not stop. Livingston (1,032 miles from St. Paul; population, 1,800). —This place is an important freight division and branch rail¬ road terminus. It was founded in 1882. Here the main line makes its third and last crossing of the Yellowstone river, leaving the valley, along which it has run a distance of 340 miles westward from Glendive, and passing through the Boze¬ man Tunnel, in the Belt range of mountains, to the Gallatin valley beyond. The river at this point makes an abrupt turn, flowing from its sources in the mountains far to the southward, through the world-renowned region of the Yellowstone Na¬ tional Park. Three miles from Livingston the high mountains of the Yellowstone or Snow range open their portals just wide enough to allow the river an outlet, and through the canon Gate of the Mountains, near Livingston. 236 The Northern Pacific Railroad. thus cut by the stream the branch railroad to the Yellow¬ stone National Park is laid. Livingston is situated on a broad, sloping plateau, on the left bank of the Yellow¬ stone river, directly at the foot of the Belt range. Large engine houses, machine and repairing shops, and other build¬ ings for the use of the railroad, are situated here, on a scale only second in magnitude to those at Brainerd. Veins of fine bituminous coal have been opened eight miles dis¬ tant, and ledges of good limestone are in the immediate neighborhood. The Clark’s Fork mines, rich in silver, lie directly south, and the surrounding hills are occupied by cattle ranches. There is also much valuable mining terri¬ tory on the Yellowstone river between Livingston and the northern boundary of the Northern Pacific. A number of mines are in successful operation. All these are items which combine to render Livingston an important point. Travel to the Yellowstone National Park must pass through Livingston, and a large business is done in furnishing supplies to tourists. Hotel accommodation has been already provided, and various extensive business enterprises have been established. Liv¬ ingston is one of the most convenient places from which to leave for the Crazy Mountains and the country adjoining them, which are the favorite breeding grounds of the elk. There is fine trout fishing in the vicinity of the town. A semi-weekly stage runs to White Sulphur Springs and to the Neihart mines. The Castle Mountain Mines. —Extensive mines of galena silver ore were discovered in 1886 at Castle Mountain, in Meagher county, about forty miles north of Livingston. The development of these mines has created an active town called Castle , which has a newspaper, two hotels, and a number of general merchandise stores. The ore is hauled in wagons down the valley of the Shields river for shipment at Livingston. The veins cover the slopes of a low mountain range for a dis- Montana Division. 237 tance of about ten miles. A railroad from Livingston to Castle to reach these mines has been projected and surveyed (1889). The route follows an easy grade up the Shields river valley through a fine grazing and farming country. 238 The Northern Pacific Railroad. ROCKY MOUNTAIN RAILROAD OF MONTANA.—YELLOWSTONE PARK LINE. From Livingston to Cinnabar.—Distance, 51 Miles. This branch of the Northern Pacific^system was built for the purpose of facilitating tourist travel to the National Park. After leaving Livingston it runs through the lower canon of the Yellowstone, and then through a narrow but fertile valley, and terminates at Cinnabar, just north of the northern boundary of the park. The scenery along the road is among the most picturesque and beautiful to be found in the entire Rocky Mountain region. The mountain peaks on the eastern side of the valley are singularly bold and impressive. Their summits are crowned with beetling crags of massive rock and are covered with snow for the greater part of the year. Horr, two miles from the terminus of this branch, is a lively coal-mining village, where thirty-six coke ovens are in operation, making coke equal in quality to the famous product of Connells- ville, Pennsylvania. The coal is mined in five entries on the side of a steep bluff. It resembles closely the bituminous coal of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. All the coke pro¬ duced commands immediate sale at the smelters in Butte and Anaconda. The village has a population of about 300. Cinnabar, the terminus of the Park Branch, derives its im¬ portance from its railway business, and from the teaming to Montana Division. 239 the Cooke City silver-mining district. Stages leave Cinnabar, connecting with each arriving train, for the Mammoth Hot Springs hotel, which is the rendezvous and distributing point for all the tourist travel in the National Park Yellowstone National Park. —It does not come within the plan of this volume to describe the remarkable features of the Yellowstone National Park. It is believed that the convenience of the tourist has been best regarded by setting forth in detail the chief attractions of the Park in a separate book.* Across the Belt Range. —After leaving Livingston the railroad runs for twelve miles from the valley of the Yellow¬ stone to the approach of the Bozeman Tunnel, on a grade of about 116 feet to the mile. The tunnel pierces the mountains a distance of 3,500 feet, at an elevation of 5,572 feet above the ocean. Some months before the completion of the work a short, steep-grade track was laid over the summit of the pass for temporary use. It is far more agreeable to ride over the mountain than through it, and there are glorious views in every direction. The train runs down the western slope in the wild defile of Rock Canon, passing out into the broad, fertile valley of the West Gallatin, at Elliston, near the military post of Fort Ellis, twenty-two miles from Livingston. The scenery in Rock Canon is remarkably grand and impressive. Enormous precipices of gray rock with castellated seams rise high above the dark forests which clothe the sides of the narrow ravine. The rocks have been worn by the action of the weather into many singular and fantastic shapes. At several places massive walls run up the mountain sides, so regular in their appearance that they seem to have been built by human hands. * Tourists are recommended to obtain a “ Manual,” for sale on the trains, descriptive oi the Yellowstone National Park, profusely illustrated. 240 The Northern Pacific Railroad. Hopper's Mine and West End are unimportant stations on the eastern slope of the range. Timber Line (1,047 miles from St. Paul) is a busy coal¬ mining town, with about 400 inhabitants. The mines furnish the railroad with coal, and also most of the Montana towns reached by rail. Bozeman (1,057 miles from St. Paul; population, 4,500), the county seat of Gallatin county, is situated near the end of the Gallatin valley, at its narrowest point. North of the city the mountains are about three miles distant; but the range suddenly diverges in the same direction, and afterward the valley becomes twenty miles in width. Bozeman is the oldest established town on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad in Montana, the town site having been laid out in July, 1864. In August of that year a well-known frontiersman, John Boze¬ man, reached the place in charge of a party of emigrants, who were so impressed with the beauty and fertile soil of the valley that they determined to go no further. The town was named in honor of this pioneer, who was murdered three years after¬ ward by Indians in the Yellowstone valley. In 1865 a mill was put in operation, and two years afterward Fort Ellis, situ¬ ated two and a half miles east of the town, was established, and garrisoned by three companies of the United States troops. The post was abandoned in 1887. The gradual in¬ crease of population in the Gallatin valley was soon evident, settlers coming in from the surrounding country, and making Bozeman their trading centre. The city presents a very attract¬ ive appearance with its many substantial brick structures, among which are business blocks, churches, two graded schools, and a fine court-house, while on every side appear handsome residences, and neat, cozy cottages. Large mercantile estab¬ lishments form a prominent feature. The city has also two flouring mills, two newspapers, two banking houses, seven hotels, two planing mills, and sash and door factories. Ex- Montana Division. 241 cellent brick is manufactured and used in the construction of the buildings. Lumber is abundant and cheap. Bozeman owes much of her solidity to her agricultural re¬ sources. The Gallatin valley is about thirty-one by twenty miles in extent, with a soil composed of a rich, dark vegetable mould. The scenery surrounding Bozeman is very picturesque. Thermal Springs, said to contain medicinal properties, are within an hour’s drive. Matthews’ Hot Springs, with an hotel and bath house, are seven miles distant. Mystic Lake, twelve miles from the town, covers about eighty acres, and is a beautiful sheet of water. On the mountains around Mystic Lake, and in the vicinity of Bozeman, are forests of stately pines. Among the rivers in Gallatin county are the West Gallatin, Middle Fork and East Gallatin, the Madison, Yellowstone. Shield’s river, Big and Little Timber, Sweet Grass, White Beaver, Kiser, Emigrant, Milk, Skull, Big and Little Boulder creeks, Stillwater, and many others of less importance. All these are stocked with trout and some other kinds of fish. Bozeman has remarkable advantages as a summer resort. The air is cool and invigorating. The mercury seldom goes up as high as 85°, and the nights are always cool. There are numerous pleasant drives in the vicinity, and interesting ex¬ cursions are made to the wild canons of the Bridger and Gal¬ latin Mountains. The Bozeman Coal Fields. —In the immediate vicinity of Bozeman, on the slopes of the Bridger and Belt Mountains, is an extensive field of bituminous coal, at which a number of mines have been opened. This field has been traced for a dis¬ tance of thirty miles. The outcroppings are in the Bridger and Rocky Canons, on the western slopes of the mountains; and also on Traill creek, on the eastern slope. The largest mining development is at Timber Line, on the railroad, imme¬ diately west of the tunnel. The Bozeman coal is a true bituminous coal, and not a lignite. 16 242 The Northern Pacific Railroad. The analysis shows about fifty-five per cent, of fixed carbon. There are three seams, the upper one being four and one-half feet thick, the middle one ten feet, and the lower seam sixteen feet. A good coke is made from this coal, and is used for the purpose of smelting ores. The coal is largely used for locomo¬ tive purposes, and also for domestic fuel in Bozeman, Helena, and other towns. After leaving Bozeman, the railroad traverses the broad, level valleys watered by the East and West Gallatin rivers. Farming is carried on by irrigation, the gentle slope of the valley being very favorable for the construction and manage¬ ment of ditches. The average yield of wheat and oats on irri¬ gated land is about double that raised on Eastern farms. Belgrade and Central Park (1,067 and 1,072 miles respect¬ ively from St. Paul) are unimportant side-track stations. More¬ land (1,076 miles from St. Paul) has an hotel and two stores, and is surrounded by a rich agricultural and stock-raising country. Gallatin (1,086 miles from St. Paul) has an hotel, and is the station for old Gallatin City, at the three forks of the Mis¬ souri, and for the new town of Three Forks, established by a number of enterprising English settlers in 1884. Gallatin City was formerly a commercial town of some importance, but is now merely a decayed hamlet of half a dozen buildings. Within a few hundred yards of this place there is a rocky elevation from which may be seen the meeting of the waters which form the Missouri river. The Madison and Jefferson unite about half a mile south of this promontory, and are joined by the Gallatin a short distance north of the rock. When Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri river on their exploring expedition, in 1806, they were unable to determine which of the three streams should be regarded as the Missouri, and therefore concluded to give a separate name to each. Later explorations showed that the Jefferson was in reality the Three Forks of the Missoun-Gallatin, Madlion and Jett. 244 The Northern Pacific Railroad. main river, being considerably longer than either of the other two streams, and carrying a larger volume of water. Lewis and Clarke, therefore, robbed the Missouri of over 300 miles of its length, by confining its name to its course below the junction of the Three Forks. A branch road is under construction (1889) from Gallatin to Butte to form a short line between the latter city and points east of Gallatin, and to open up a num¬ ber of rich mining districts. Shortly after leaving Gallatin, the railroad enters a savage gorge of weather-worn rocks, showing stains of iron and copper, and rising to the height of several hundred feet above the track. On one side of the road runs the swift, clear current of the Missouri, and on the other, tower enormous precipices. The scenery in this canon is among the finest on the whole line of the road. Magpie and Painted Rock (1,096 and 1,103 miles, respectively, from St. Paul) are side-track stations. Toston (1,113 miles from St. Paul, population 200) is a town at the head of what is known as the Missouri valley. This name is locally applied to a stretch of rich bottom lands, about thirty miles long, and from three to five in width. There is a smelter at Toston which uses the ores found a few miles distant on the opposite side of the Missouri river in combina¬ tion with ores brought from the Coeur d’Alene mining district in Northern Idaho. There is a ferry at Toston, which gives access to the valley of Crow creek, in which lies the old mining town of Radersburg, once a populous placer-mining camp, but now having scarcely a hundred inhabitants. Townsend (i,i 22 miles from St. Paul) has a good situa¬ tion near the centre of the Missouri Valley, and is a place of considerable trade. The upper and middle portions of the valley are irrigated from small streams runing out of the de¬ files in the Belt Mountains, and the lower portion gets water from a ditch taken out of the Missouri. Townsend has two hotels, three general merchandise stores, two livery stables, Montana Division. 245 agricultural implement establishments, a weekly newspaper, and drug and hardware stores. The town was established in 1883. There is a daily stage line to White Sulphur Springs, the county seat of Meagher county, forty miles distant, on the other side of the Belt Mountains. White Sulphur Springs has a population of about 500, and is an important trading point for a large district of grazing country. The springs are re¬ nowned in Montana for their curative properties, and are much visited by invalids. Good hotel accommodations can be had. The Neihart silver mines are also reached by stage from Townsend, a distance of sixty miles. These mines yield a high grade of silver ore. Across the Missouri valley from Townsend, in a northeast¬ erly direction, a series of deep gorges, or canons, has been cut by the waters in the faces of the precipitous mountains. Crowning the summits of the first range skirting the valley is a gigantic ledge of lime rock. This ledge has been thrown up in places to a great height with almost vertical sides, which are partly smooth, partly seamed and gashed by ages of storms, and sometimes cut through from top to bottom by the streams, forming narrow gorges of fantastic shapes. Avalanche Canon is of great note from its wild beauty and extensive and rich placer mines. This canon received its name from the fre¬ quency of avalanches, or snow slides, which rush down its al¬ most perpendicular sides in winter, sometimes completely filling the gorge. Hell Gate Canon, about two miles west¬ ward, while having a peculiarly suggestive name, amply merits the appellation. Perhaps in no other accessible spot in Montana is there as much rugged beauty in so small a place. The canon forms the tortuous passage of a silvery stream through a series of gates cut in very high walls. These gates are so narrow that a man can span their width with extended arms. The walls are only a few feet in thickness, but of a surprising height. On each side of the main gorge are smooth 246 The Northern Pacific Railroad. fissures, called Devil’s Slides, and every nook is filled with bright mosses and lichens. Bedford (1.125 miles from St. Paul) is an old mining town, with a small hotel and a few business houses. Some placer mining is carried on in the neighboring gulch. In the early days of mining in Montana, there were two placer camps near Bedford, with the singular names of “Hog’em” and “Cheat’em.” Placer is a small station, 1,137 miles from St. Paul. Clasoil (1,144 miles from St. Paul) is a small station on Bedford creek, a stream affording water for a narrow stretch of farming country. Prickly Pear Junction (1,150 miles from St. Paul) is the point of divergence of the Helena & Jefferson County Railroad, which runs to the important mining district of Wickes , on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, twenty miles distant, and also to Boulder, the county seat of Jefferson county, and the centre of a productive silver-mining district. A large smelting plant is located at Prickly Pear Junction and is owned by Helena capitalists. Ores are brought by rail to these works from nearly all the mining districts of central and western Montana. Rocky Mountain Division. 247 ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIVISION. Helena to Hope.—Distance, 298 Miles. Helena (1,155 miles from St. Paul; population, 18,000).— This is the terminus of the Montana Division, and the beginning of the Rocky Mountain Division, of the railroad. Helena, the capital of Montana, is pleasantly situated at the eastern foot of the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, in latitude 46° 30' N., and longitude 112 0 4' west of Greenwich, on both sides of the famous Last Chance Gulch, from which at least ten millions of dollars’ worth of nuggets and gold dust have been taken, and which still yields annually a considerable amount of the pre¬ cious metal. So large was the influx of miners at this point in 1864, that the United States Government felt compelled to es¬ tablish a postoffice for their accommodation. Until then the camp had been known as “ Crab Town; ” but a meeting was called—for the purpose of selecting a better name, and the majority of those assembled decided upon christening it after Helen of Troy. The city is the commercial and financial centre of the State, and the converging point of railroad, stage, express and telegraph lines. It contains a public and also a Territorial library, a classical school, a graded public school, with fine school-houses in different parts of the city; a theatre, with seating capacity for 1,200 people; a handsome court-house, built of Rocky Mountain granite and sandstone, and used for the capitol of the State as well as for the county Rocky Mountain Division. 249 offices and courts; six churches; and the United States Assay Office. There are four national banks, with over $3,000,000 on deposit, a Board of Trade, a well-organized fire depart¬ ment, equipped with three engines and electric fire alarms; a horse railroad and two steam motor railroads, German singing and turner societies, an art club, a social club, and a Masonic Temple, several good hotels, imposing business blocks, and many beautiful private residences. Pure, cold spring water is abundantly supplied from the surrounding mountains, and the streets are illuminated by electric lights. Foundries, saw, grist and planing mills, wagon factories, a smelter, and other indus¬ tries are situated near the city; and there is telephone commu¬ nication within the city, and also with Deer Lodge and Butte, and with the mining camps within a radius of fifty miles. Per¬ fect drainage is insured by the fact that Helena lies on a long slope, at the root of which spreads out the beautiful Prickly Pear valley, twenty-five miles long by twelve wide, oval in shape, and thickly studded with farms, the soil of which has produced 100 bushels of oats to the acre. Helena is surrounded by mountains, rising one above the other until the more distant are lost among the clouds, forming a view of striking beauty and grandeur, which is visible from every part of the city. To the south and west these mount¬ ains recede in long, picturesque, timbered ridges, to the main range of the continental divide. The Missouri river is only twelve miles distant, and eighteen miles north of the city be¬ gins the famous canon of the Missouri river, named by Lewis and Clark’s expedition in 1805, “The Gates of the Rocky Mountains.” Here the river has forced its way through a spur of the Belt Mountains, forming cliffs, frequently vertical, from 500 to 1,500 feet high, which rise from the water’s edge for a distance of twelve miles. Near the lower end of this wonderful canon, in plain view of Helena, thirty miles distant, 250 The Northern Pacific Railroad. is the jagged peak called by the Indians “The Bear’s Tooth,” rising abruptly from the river to a height of 2,500 feet, and almost hanging over the head of the voyager as he floats down the stream. To the left of this curious object a few miles, and breaking through the same range of stratified mountains, is the canon of Little Prickly Pear creek, a magnificent chasm some fifteen miles long, with an endless variety of views of lofty cliffs crowned with pines, and romantic dells and gorges, where the cottonwood and the alder hang over deep, shady pools, in which hundreds of trout await their destiny in the shape of the man with a bamboo rod and book of flies. This canon, with hotel accommodation at each end of it, is accessible by rail. “ The Gates of the Rocky Mountains ” are reached either by car¬ riages to the upper end of the canon, or by boat through the canon itself. Among the other attractions of Helena are the Hot Springs, situated in a romantic glen, four miles west of the city, which are much resorted to by persons afflicted with rheumatism. The temperature of the water as it bubbles up from the earth varies from no to 140 degrees-Fahrenheit. About four miles southwest, at the head of Grizzly Gulch, is a group of rich quartz mines, and also some placer diggings, both of which have been extensively worked. There are here many quartz mills, and the drive from the city is through pleasant mountain scenery. Twenty miles to the northwest, over a fine road, are several mining districts, in which are some of the rich¬ est gold and silver mines in the Territory. These are worked by a number of large quartz mills, around which have grown up picturesque mountain villages that will amply repay the trouble of a visit. Twenty-five miles by rail to the southwest are the mining towns of Jefferson City, Wickes and Clancy, in the vicinity of which are a great number of rich and extensive sil¬ ver mines. Fifteen miles west, at the head of Ten-Mile creek, Rocky Mountain Division. 251 is a rich belt of silver mines. Thus Helena is surrounded on all sides by rich mining districts, which are in a great measure tributary to her. Helena is the most important railway center in Montana. The main line of the Northern Pacific runs east to St. Paul, and west to the Pacific Coast. Branches of the Northern Pacific run to Wickes, Boulder, and Butte in a southwestern direction; to Rimini in a northern direction, and to Marysville in a northeastern direction. 252 The Northern Pacific Railroad. THE HELENA & JEFFERSON COUNTY BRANCH. Helena to Wickes.—Distance, 25 Miles. This branch leaves the main line at Prickly Pear Junction, five miles south of Helena, and extends twenty miles in a western direction, along the valley of the Prickly Pear creek, up into the heart of the Rocky Mountains. It was built for the purpose of taking supplies to the mines and reduction works at Wickes, and hauling out their products. The maxi¬ mum grade is 150 feet to the mile. The mountain scenery is really fine. Clancy (14^ miles from Helena) is a small village with two stores and a blacksmith shop. Alhambra Springs (17 miles from Helena) has an hotel, and hot mineral springs, with a plunge bath. Jefferson (20 miles from Helena; population, 200) is an old mining town, once the centre of considerable trade, and was a large placer mining district, but is now almost entirely worked out. The place contains two hotels and a number of stores. Corbin (22 miles from Helena) is the station for the con¬ centrating works and the Alta, Montana and Rumley mines, about a mile distant on the mountain-side. The concentrating works have a capacity of 150 tons per day. Wickes (25 miles from Helena; population, 1,200) is the terminus of the Branch Railroad. The reduction works of the Helena Mining and Reduction Company are located here. The The Helena 6° Jefferson County Branch. 253 works contain both smelting and amalgamating plants, and their output of precious metals is about $100,000 per month. They use the ores of the Comet, Northern Pacific, Alta-Mon- tana and Rurnley mines, belonging to the same company, and also the ores from more distant mines. The company employ in their mines and works about 500 men, and their monthly pay¬ rolls aggregate about $50,000. ■ 254 The Northern Pacific Railroad. HELENA, BOULDER VALLEY & BUTTE RAILROAD. This branch of the Northern Pacific system leaves the Hel¬ ena and Jefferson county branch at Jefferson, 20 miles from Helena, and running up a narrow valley for a few miles, crosses a spur of the Rocky Mountains by a high grade line, showing some very bold and successful engineering work. It then descends into the Boulder valley to the town of Boulder (37 miles front Helena)—the county seat of Jefferson county, which has a population of about 1,200. It is situated in a fine agricultural valley and is the central trading town for a number of productive silver mines. It has two hotels, a weekly newspaper, three churches, a court house and jail, and about a dozen general merchandise stores and shops. Four miles distant are the Boulder Hot Springs, where there is a good hotel and a bathing establishment, with a large plunge bath. Good accommodations for tourists and invalids. The waters are much used in cases of rheumatism. From Boulder the railroad is now (1889) being constructed over the main divide of the Rocky Mountains to Butte, and will form a line between Helena arid Butte about 25 miles shorter than the present route by way of Garrison. A rail¬ road is also being built as a branch of the Northern Pacific system down the Boulder valley from Boulder to a junction with the Northern Pacific main line near Three Forks, with a branch to the Pony and Red Bluff mining districts. Helena & Red Mountain and Helena & Northern Railroads, 25n HELENA & RED MOUNTAIN AND HELENA & NORTHERN RAILROADS. From Helena to Rimini.—Distance, 17 Miles. This branch of the Northern Pacific system is a mining road, which leaves the main line at Helena, and terminates at Rimini, on the eastern slope of the main divide of the Rocky Mountains. The stations are Kessler s, Thermal Springs, Gold Bar , and Rimini , the latter being a central transportation point for the ores of the important group of mines. From Helena to Marysville, 20.4 Miles. This line runs in a northerly direction from Helena at the base of the Rocky Mountains, and ascends to the mining village of Marys7nlle, population i,too. The stations are Clough Junction and Cruse. There are many important mines near Marysville, the most productive of which is the famous Drum Lummon, which in 1887 yielded over $2,000,000 of gold and silver. 256 The Northern Pacific Railroad. ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIVISION. MAIN LINE. [Continued from page 251.] Across the Main Divide. —About twenty-one miles from Helena the main range of the Rocky Mountains is crossed by the railroad at the Mullan Pass, so named after Lieut. John Mullan, U. S. A., who in 1867 built a wagon road from Fort Benton, Mont., to Fort Walla Walla, W. T., thus bringing these distant military posts into direct communication. Here there is a tunnel 3,850 feet in length, and 5,547 feet above the level of the ocean, lower by more than 2,500 feet than the highest elevation of the Union Pacific Railroad, and 1,200 feet below the highest elevation on the line of the Central Pacific. The route from Helena to the Mullan Pass is through the charming valley of the Prickly Pear, across Ten-Mile creek, and up, past heavy growths of pine and spruce and masses of broken boulders, the narrow basin of Seven-Mile creek to the eastern portal of the tunnel. The scene from above reveals one of the most picturesque regions in Montana, in which mountain and valley, forest and stream, are all conspicuous features. Describing this region, Mr. E. V. Smalley wrote: “Approached from the east, the Rocky Mountains seem well to deserve their name. Gigantic cliffs and buttresses of granite appear to bar the way and to forbid the traveler’s further progress. There are depressions in the range, however, where ravines run Rocky Mountain Division. 257 up the slopes, and torrents come leaping down, fed by melting snows. Over one of these depressions Lieut. John Mullan built a wagon road a score of years ago, to serve the needs of army transportation between the head of navigation at the Great Falls of the Missouri and the posts in Oregon. Mullan’s wis¬ dom in selecting the pass, which bears his name, was indorsed when the railroad engineers found it to be the most favorable on the Northern Pacific line. The road is carried up ravines and across the face of foot-hills to a steep wall, where it dives into the mountain-side, runs under the crest of the Divide through a tunnel three-quarters of a mile long, and comes out upon smiling green and flowery meadows to follow a clear trout stream down to a river whose waters seek the mighty Columbia. The contrast between the western and eastern sides of the Main Divide of the Rockies is remarkable. On the eastern slope the landscapes are magnificently savage and sombre; on the western slope they have a pleasant pastoral beauty, and one might think himself in the hill country of western Pennsylvania, instead of high up on the side of the great water-shed of the continent. The forest tracts look like groves planted by a land¬ scape gardener in some stately park, and the grassy slopes and valleys, covered with blue and yellow flowers, and traversed by swift, clear brooks, add to the pleasure-ground appearance of the country. What a glorious place this would be for summer camping, trout fishing, and shooting, is the thought of every traveler as he descends from the summit, with his hands full of flowers picked close to a snow-bank. Snow Shoe Mountain rises just in front, across a lovely, verdant valley. Powell’s Peak, a massive white pyramid, cuts the clear sky with its sharp outlines on the further horizon, and a cool breeze blows straight from the Pacific Ocean.” Passing down the western slope, the descent is made to the valley of the Little Blackfoot river. This valley is open and well grassed, with cottonwood on the stream, and pine on the slopes of the hills. The river received its name from the Blackfeet Indians, who often passed down the valley to make their raids upon the settlers in Deer Lodge and Missoula counties. There is good ruffed grouse shooting in the valley, and 17 258 The Northern Pacific Railroad. also a great many blue grouse in the neighboring canons. In October black-tailed deer are plentiful, and elk are also found in the mountains. Even a few bison manage to conceal them¬ selves in the mountain fastnesses. Bear—black, grizzly and cinnamon—can be found. The stations between Helena and the tunnel are Birdseye and Butler (1,163 an d 1,168 miles, respectively, from St. Paul). Frenchwoman’s. —The first station west of the tunnel is near Frenchwoman’s creek. The creek derives its name from the tragic fate which met a Frenchwoman who kept the stage station here many years ago. One morning she was found murdered, and some hundreds of dollars, which she had hoarded, were missing. Suspicion naturally fell on the woman’s husband, who disappeared at the time of the murder; but he was not captured and brought to justice. The grave of the victim, inclosed by a wooden paling, is seen on a grassy height, just above the house where the crime was committed, and serves as a pathetic reminder of the event. Leaving Frenchwoman’s, the route follows the winding valley of the Little Blackfoot by an easy down grade to the confluence of this stream with the Deer Lodge river. Elliston (1,184 miles from St. Paul; population, 300) is situated in the picturesque valley of the Little Blackfoot river. Some farming is done in this valley in connection with stock- raising in the neighboring ranches. Important discoveries of carbonate silver ores were made in the spring of 1889, on the slope of the mountains about three miles from Elliston. The ore resembles in quality and in character of formation the ores of the famous Leadville district in Colorado, and at the date of this work there promises to be a rapid and remarkable development of mining industry at this place. Avon, 1,193 miles from St. Paul, is an unimportant station. . Rocky Mountain Division. 259 Garrison (1,206 miles from St. Paul; population, 200), in the valley of the Deer Lodge river, is the junction of the Montana Union Railroad with the Northern Pacific. Garrison was named in honor of William Lloyd Garrison, the eminent leader of the anti-slavery movement in the days before the civil war. It has an hotel and a few stores, and derives its impor¬ tance chiefly from the transfer of freights and other railroad business. 260 The Northern Pacific Railroad. MONTANA UNION RAILROAD. From Garrison to Butte City—Distance, 51 Miles; and From Stuart to Anaconda—Distance, 8 Miles. The Montana Union is a short railroad owned jointly by the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific Companies. It runs from Garrison to Butte City, a distance of 51 miles, with a branch from Stuart (33 miles from Garrison) to Anaconda (8 miles from Stuart). Its principal business is the transportation of ore from the mines of Butte to the great smelters and reduc¬ tion works at Anaconda, and the hauling of timber for fuel to both of those towns. It has also considerable passenger busi¬ ness, and passes through the fertile agricultural valley of the Deer Lodge river for a considerable part of its length. At Silver Bow the road connects with the Utah Northern line of the Union Pacific Company, which runs to Pocatello on the Oregon Short Line, and to Ogden on the main line of the Union Pacific. Deer Lodge (1,218 miles from St. Paul; population, 1,500) derived its name from the abundance of deer that roamed over the broad open prairie, and from a mound which, on a winter’s morning, bore a resemblance to an Indian lodge when the steam issued from the hot spring on its summit. Deer Lodge is the seat of Deer Lodge county, and appears quite attractive, nestled midway in the valley, 4,546 feet above the sea. The town is well laid out, and, with its public square, large public Montana Union Railroad. 261 buildings, court house, jail, churches and educational establish¬ ments, makes a good impression. There are four hotels, sev¬ eral wholesale and retail business houses, shops and a weekly newspaper. There is a Presbyterian college of Montana for both sexes, located here. This is the only college institution in Montana, and is the most important for high education in the Territory. There is also a Catholic school for the educa¬ tion of girls, conducted by the Sisters of Charity; and a hospital, under the charge of the same sisterhood, which is an excellent benevolent institution. The Montana penitentiary, located at Deer Lodge, is constructed with two wings, containing eighty- four cells. Deer Lodge has four churches, Catholic, Episco¬ pal, Presbyterian and Christian. A handsome brick public school building has been erected at a cost of $50,000. With these facilities, Deer Lodge is very properly the educational centre of Montana. The town is a general supply and distributing point for several fertile valleys and the surrounding mining districts. Deer Lodge valley extends fifty miles southward, and is com¬ posed of farming and grazing lands. The latter rest on the foot-hills and mountains, while the former are lower down, adjacent to the mouths of the streams. There are remarkable boiling springs in the valley. Many bright mountain trout streams course through its broad expanse, some having their sources eastward in the Gold Creek Mountains, and others coming from the west through the low, rolling, open country between the Deer Lodge and Flint creek valleys. Deer Lodge county is noted for the number, extent and richness of its placer mines, and for years it has led the production in placer gold. Among the surrounding mountains, Powell’s Peak, twenty miles west of Deer Lodge City, and to, 000 feet in height, is prominent. There are many small lakes in the mountains, which are full of trout, and large game also abounds. Dempsey and Race Track are small stations. 262 The Northern Pacific Railroad. Warm Springs (26 miles from Garrison) is principally important as the site of the Montana Insane Asylum, which occupies a number of buildings surrounding the copious spring of warm sulphur water. The mineral water is used beneficially in the treatment of insane patients. The valley narrows in a short distance above Warm Springs. The debris of old placer mining can be seen at many places along the river. Stuart (33 miles from Garrison).—This is the junction of the branch to Anaconda, and is a small station surrounded by farms and stock ranches. Anaconda (population, 2,000; 41 miles from Garrison).— The town is picturesquely situated at the head of a small mount¬ ain valley in the midst of magnificent scenery. It is well built, having a number of brick blocks. It has a newspaper, opera house, three churches, and a large number of stores and shops. The great smelting and reduction works of the Anaconda company are the life of the place. These works were estab¬ lished at this point on account of convenience for procuring fuel, the slight expense for which ores could be run down grade from the mines in Butte, the abundance of pure water, and the excellent location for a town. The annual out-put of copper matte is greater than at any other point in the world. Two groups of enormous structures about two miles apart constitute the works that employ about 300 men. The fuel used is coke, coal and pine wood, the wood being brought from the mountain gulches down a long flume into which a stream has been diverted, the flowing water performing the work of transporting the sticks of wood. Silver Bow (44 miles from Garrison) is the junction point of the Montana Union with the Utah Northern, and has a population of about 100, chiefly engaged in railroad work. Butte City (51 miles from Garrison and 1,258 miles from St. Paul; population, 20,000) is situated near the head of Deer Montana Union Railroad. 263 Lodge valley, and about fifteen miles west of the Pipestone Pass of the main range of the Rocky Mountains, on ground sloping to the south. It is the county seat of Silver Bow county, and is famous for its quartz mines, which are so largely developed as to make Butte the most important mining centre in Montana. In 1875 the first mill was constructed for working the silver ores of the camp, and the population did not exceed 200. To-day Butte City counts its inhabitants by thousands. Up to within a short time little foreign capital was invested in the mills and smelters of the camp; but it is now beginning to come in. The rapid growth of population and wealth in Butte has few parallels in the mining annals of the country, and the prospect is that within a few years the town will be the most productive mining centre in the United States. A peculiarity of the Butte mines is that, almost without exception, wherever a shaft has been sunk, it has paid a handsome profit over and above the cost of working. To the north of the town the ground rises 500 feet higher to the Moulton, Alice and Lexington mines. Besides these mines, or lodes, there are many others, among which are the Shonbar, Bell, Parrott, Gagnon and Original. The veins are true fissures, yielding largely of copper and silver, and assaying well, It is estimated that there are over 300 miles of veins in the district, varying in width from thirty to fifty feet, and developed to a depth of 600 feet. The city is substan¬ tially built with large business blocks and fine residences, which, together with its churches, school buildings and hotels, present an attractive appearance. Butte has two daily newspapers, an opera house, a handsome court-house, built of brick and stone, a street railroad system, water-works, using the water pumped from one of the mines, gas and electric light, and is, in short, a brisk and busy city. The great silver mines and mills are on the immediate outskirts of the city, and each is the centre of a populous village of workmen and their families. Rocky Mountain Division. 265 ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIVISION. | Continued f rom page 25 9. J From Garrison Westward. —After leaving Garrison, there are fine views of mountain scenery, especially on the left hand, where the snow-mantled peaks of Mount Powell appear. The railroad passes along near the Deer Lodge river, which skirts the heights to the right. The entire region is noted for the richness and extent of its placer mines. Some distance southward are the Gold Hill Mountains, where the diggingsare still profitable; and the valleys of Rock, Willow and Squaw creeks, streams which flow into the Deer Lodge, have also produced large quantities of fine gold. Below the mouth of the Little Blackfoot, Deer Lodge river changes its name to Hell Gate river. The valley here rather abruptly narrows, its breadth for seven or eight miles scarcely exceeding a single mile, with mountains on the right hand and bold bluffs on the left ; but it again becomes broader where the waters of Flint creek flow from the south and swell the volume of the river. Lloyd (1,207 miles from St. Paul) is an unimportant station. Gold Creek (1,215 miles from St. Paul) is the station for the old mining town of Pioneer, about three miles distant. On Gold creek the first discovery of gold within the present limits of Montana was made in 1862. At the mouth of the stream there are enormous bars of gravel and boulders produced by 266 The Northern Pacific Railroad. the hydraulic and sluice washings in the region above. There is still some placer mining done on this creek. Near Gold Creek station the ends of the track of the Northern Pacific Railroad, advancing from the east and the west, were joined in September, \ 883. The event was made the occasion of a remarkable celebration, which was attended by many dis¬ tinguished guests of the railroad company from England, Germany, and from the principal cities of the East, and also from the Pacific Coast. The eastern guests arrived in four immense trains, and were joined by a fifth train loaded with guests from Portland and other towns on the Pacific Coast. This opening excursion of the Northern Pacific was the most extensive and liberal affair of the kind known in railway annals. The first iron spike driven in the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad was used as the last spike, and was driven by Henry Villard, at that time president of the railroad company. Drummond (1,227 miles from St. Paul; population 300) has two hotels, four stores, a school, and church, and is the junction of the Drummond & Philipsburg Railroad. Consider¬ able sluice and hydraulic mining is done in the neighborhood, and the valley of Flint Creek, which joins the river opposite the town, contains many well-cultivated farms. Drummond 6° Philipsburg Railroad. 26V DRUMMOND & PHILIPSBURG RAILROAD. From Drummond to Rumsey.—Distance, 31.4 Miles. This branch of the Northern Pacific system was constructed in 1887 to afford an outlet for the productive mining district of Philipsburg and Granite Mountain. It follows the valley of Flint Creek to Philipsburg, and then by higher grades reaches the terminal station of Rumsey, in the immediate vicinity of the Granite Mountain and other mines. New Chicago (three miles from Drummond) is a mer¬ cantile town, with an hotel and three stores. Stone and Flint are small stations in a farming and stock-raising section. Philipsburg (25 miles from Drummond; population, 1,000) is one of the oldest mining towns in Montana. The first silver mill in Montana was established at this place in 1866. The mill and mine are still owned by the original company, called “ The Hope Silver Mining Company,” and is still in successful operation. Philipsburg has a weekly newspaper, two hotels, a school, two churches, and about a dozen stores. Beside the trade of the surrounding mines there is considerable ranch country tributary to the town. Granite Mountain (population 500, near Rumsey station, 31 miles from Drummond).—This is a mining village created by the prosperous activity of the Great Granite Mountain 268 The Northern Pacific Railroad. mine, and of several other mines in the immediate vicinity. It is reached by a good but steep road from Philipsburg at the foot of the mountain, and is a unique little town, built among the huge granite boulders and rocks on the mountain side, partly hiding in the crevices, partly clinging to the precipitous wall where there is only room for one side of a street. Most of the inhabitants work under ground in the mines, or in the huge silver mill near by. The scenery is superb. The savage peaks of the main divide of the Rocky Mountains with their snowy summits look almost as grand as the famous Swiss Alps, and the bright green valleys below make a pleasing contrast with the rugged slopes ot the mountains. The Granite Mount¬ ain mine is the most valuable silver mine in the world. It was discovered in 1872, but was first profitably developed in 1883. It has since paid to its stockholders up to 1889 over $3,000,000 in dividends. The ore is base, containing silver, antimony, arsenic, zinc, and copper as sulphides, and native silver in considerable quantity. The average assay value of the ore is 145 ounces of silver to the ton. Rocky Mountain Division. 269 ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIVISION. [i Continued from page 266.J Bearmouth (1,239 miles from St. Paul) was formerly a station on the stage road between Deer Lodge and Missoula, and is now a shipping point for a small extent of farming and cattle country. A short distance below Bearmouth the Hell Gate Canon is entered. This is, however, no narrow mountain pass, as its name would indicate, but, rather, a valley from two to three miles in width, extending a distance of forty miles to the junc¬ tion of the Hell Gate river with the Big Blackfoot, after which it widens to unite with the valley of the Bitter Root, whereon Missoula stands. The scenery along the Hell Gate Canon is very fine, often grand. Rock-ribbed mountains rise on either hand, their slopes black with noble specimens of yellow pine, and flecked in autumn with the bright gold of giant tamaracks. The stream itself is deep and swift, quite clear also, except where it receives the murky waters of its many tributaries, which latter in summer are always coffee-colored from the la¬ bors of the gold-washers in the mountains. Many islands cov¬ ered with cottonwood and other deciduous growths, lie in the crooked channel, adding to the general picturesqueness. Two- thirds of the way down the canon, Stony creek, a fine, bold mountain stream, enters from the southwest, after flowing eighty miles through the range between the Deer Lodge and Bitter Root valleys. The water teems with trout. The Big Blackfoot, Hell Gate’s largest tributary, comes in from the Rocky Mountain Division. 271 east, with a valley eighty miles long and varying from half a mile to twelve miles in width, considered one of the finest grazing and agricultural sections in Montana. Many good quartz and galena leads have been discovered in the mountains, and the Wallace district, near Baker station, is especially promising. There are several large saw-mills in the Hell Gate Canon, which obtain their logs from the canon itself and from the neighboring mountains. The principal market for the lumber is in Butte, where it is in demand, not only for building pur¬ poses, but in large quantities for supports to roofs of the mines. Carian, Bonita, and Wallace (1,247, 1,255, ail( J 1,263 miles, respectively, from St. Paul) are unimportant stations. Bonner (1,273 miles from St. Paul; population, 150) is a saw-mill village near the crossing of the Big Blackfoot river. The mills at this place are the most important in western Mon¬ tana. Logs are floated down the Big Blackfoot river from the slopes of the main divide of the Rocky Mountains. Beaver Hill — A Legend. —In traveling between Deer Lodge and Missoula, twenty-eight miles from the latter place, at Kramer’s Ranch, a remarkable ridge or tongue of land is seen stretching across the valley of the Hell Gate river from the east side, almost in the form of a beaver couchant. It is known as Beaver Hill, and it projects so near to the mount¬ ains on the west side of the valley as to nearly dam up the river, which is here compressed into a narrow, rocky channel. There is a legend connected with this hill, which is about as follows : A great many years ago, before the country was inhabited by men, the valleys along the whole length of the river and its branches were occupied by vast numbers of beavers. There was a great king of all the beavers, named Skookum (which in Indian means “good ”), who lived in a splendid winter palace up at the Big Warm Spring Mound, whereon the Territorial 272 The Northern ■ Pacific Railroad. Insane Asylum is now situated. One day the king received word that his subjects down the river had refused to obey his authority, and were going to set up an independent govern¬ ment. In great haste he collected a large army of beavers, detachments joining him from every tributary on the way down. On arriving at the great plain now crossed by Beaver Hill, he halted his army, and demanded of the rebels that they pay their accustomed tribute and renew their allegiance. This they in¬ sultingly refused to do, saying they owned the river below to the sea, that it was larger and longer than that above; and, as they were more numerous, they would pay tribute to no one. The old king was able and wily, and immediately sent for every beaver under his jurisdiction. When all had arrived he held a council of war, and said, that, as he owned the sources of the great river, he would dam it at that point, and turn the channel across to the Missouri. This would bring the rebels to terms below, because they could not live without water. He so disposed his army that in one night they scooped out the great gulch that now comes in on the north side of Beaver Hill, and with the earth taken out the hill was formed in a night, and so completely dammed up the river that not a drop of water could get through. When the rebellious beavers be¬ low saw the water run by and the river bed dry up, they has¬ tened to make peace, paid their tribute (internal revenue tax, perhaps), and renewed their former allegiance. So King Skoo- kum had the west end of the dam removed, and ever since that time the river has run “unvexed to the sea.” To com¬ memorate the event, he had the earth piled up on top of the hill to resemble a beaver in form, and it can be seen either up or down the river a long way. The Indians who first settled up the valley got this legend from the beavers, their cousins, more than a thousand years ago; for in those ancient times they could converse together, and did hold communication until some young and treacherous Indians made war on the Rocky Mountain Division. 273 beavers for their furs, when the beavers solemnly resolved never to converse with them again, and have steadfastly kept their word. Missoula (1,280 miles from St. Paul; population, 3,000) is the county seat of Missoula county, and the junction of the Bitter Root Valley Railroad. It is beautifully situated at the western gateway'of the Rocky Mountains, on a broad plateau on the north side of the Missoula river, near its junction with the Bitter Root and the Hell Gate, and commands a lovely view of the valley and the surrounding mountain ranges, that stretch away as far as the eye can see. This town used to be as isolated and remote a frontier post as could be found in the Northwest; but the railroad has converted it into a stirring place. It contains an opera house, one of the largest and best appointed hotels in Montana, railroad repair shops, three churches, a national bank, two weekly newspapers, a large and handsome public school building; a female seminary, conducted by the Sisters of Charity, which occupies a new and spacious brick structure; a hospital, also under the charge of the same sisterhood, and also a sanitarium of the Western Division of the Northern Pacific Railroad, conducted on the same plan as the sanitarium at Brainerd, Minn., which takes charge of sick and injured employes on the Eastern Division of the road. It has many attractive and substantial business blocks and resi¬ dences. There are also a flouring mil! and saw mills. The fertile lands of the plain near by, and the large and rich valley of the Bitter Root, already well settled, over eighty miles long, with an average width of about seven miles, besides other agricultural districts to the northward, all make a lively trade. The altitude of this region is about 3,000 feet. The climate is not as cold as in a similar latitude east of the Rocky Mountains, and the soil produces readily a great variety of cereals, fruits and vegetables. Marent Gulch Bridge. Rocky Mountain Division. 275 The country surrounding Missoula has been the scene of many fierce conflicts between the Indians. Before the whites inhabited the Territory the Blackfeet Indians ambushed Chief Coriacan, of the Flatheads, in a defile fourteen miles north of the city, with a portion of his tribe, and massacred nearly every man. A few years later the Flatheads avenged their chief’s death by killing a like number of Blackfeet in the same defile, which now bears Coriacan’s name. Missoula county embraces the large and fertile valleys of the Bitter Root and Jocko. The county is heavily timbered, and is rich in mineral and grazing lands. It contains also many beautiful lakes, well stocked with fish, and frequented by water fowl. Good trout fishing, as well as various other kinds, is obtained in the Missoula, the Bitter Root, Jocko, Lo-Lo, Flat- head, Big Blackfoot and Pend d’Oreille rivers, and in Stony and Ashley creeks. The mountain goat is in abundance, and can be found in the vicinity. Fort Missoula, a garrison of the U. S. troops, is pleasantly situated about half an hour’s drive from the town in the Bitter Root valley. 276 The Northern Pacific Railroad. BITTER ROOT VALLEY RAILROAD. From Missoula to Grantsdale.—Distance, 50 Miles. This is a new branch, built in 1887, from Missoula, on the Northern Pacific main line, 1,280 miles from St. Paul, up the picturesque and fertile valley of the Bitter Root river, as far as the new town of Grantsdale, 36 miles, and to be extended about 26 miles further to the head of the valley. The Bitter Root is in some respects the best agricultural valley in Montana. It is lower by nearly 1,000 feet than the valleys near Helena, and has a much warmer climate. Apples and small fruits are successfully grown. There are some valuable mining prop¬ erties in the mountain range on the western side of the valley. The streams abound in trout, and the mountains in large game, such as Rocky Mountain goats, elk, and bear. Tyler (28 miles from Missoula) is the station for Stevens- ville on the opposite side of the river, a prosperous agricultural town, with a population of 300. Close to the town is the St. Mary’s Mission, the oldest of the Jesuit missions in Montana. It was established by Italian priests nearly twenty years before there were any white settlers in the region. The old church, mill, and mission house are still standing. Victor (.36 miles from Missoula), is a new town created by the railroad, and has a population of 500. Silver mines and a fine agricultural country promise to make of it an im¬ portant place. Bitter Root Valley Railroad. 211 Grantsdale (50 miles from Missoula) is the present ter¬ minus of the Bitter Root Valley Road, which will be continued to the Mineral Hill mining district near the head of the valley. Grantsdale is a new town, surrounded by a very attractive country of irrigated farms and stock ranges. Numerous mineral locations have been made on the slopes of the neigh¬ boring mountains, which promise an important mining devel¬ opment. 278 The Northern Pacific Railroad. ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIVISION. [