THE MAIN RANGE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
It is by way of the Mullan Pass—so named from the fact of Lieut. John Mullan, U. S. A., having built a wagon road through it in 1867, to connect Fort Benton, Mont., with Fort Walla Walla, W. T.,—that the railroad is carried over the continental divide. The highest elevation of the pass itself is 5,855 feet; but, by the construction of a tunnel 3,850 feet in length, the line was made to reach the western slope without attaining a higher elevation than 5,547 feet.
It is not until Butler is reached, thirteen miles from Helena, that either the scenery or the construction of the road calls for special notice. But at that point the scenery becomes exceedingly picturesque, the rocks towering above the pines and spruce like the ruins of some ancient stronghold. From now on, too, the tourist will find constant employment in observing how the gigantic barriers, which seem to forbid all further progress, are, one after another, overcome.
Amid scenery increasing in wildness and grandeur, the train pursues its tortuous course; through Iron Ridge Tunnel, near which the track forms an almost perfect letter S; across innumerable ravines; along rocky shelves and through deep cuttings, until at last it enters the eastern portal of the Mullan Tunnel. A few minutes later the traveler is looking out upon the grassy hills and pleasant valleys of the Pacific slope, the approach to the tunnel from the west presenting a singular contrast to the savage grandeur that distinguishes the approach from the east.
Following the valley of the Little Blackfoot, the train presently arrives at Garrison, where passengers desirous of visiting the most flourishing mining city on the American continent, if not in the world, must change cars.
“The most flourishing mining city on the American continent, if not in the world!” exclaims the reader. Even so; and yet we are not in Nevada, nor yet in Colorado; and, besides, the former is about played out; and, as for Leadville, every one remembers the disasters that overtook her, culminating, as they did, in the failure of all her four banks. The city is Butte, that, at the last United States census, had a population of only 3,363, but now claims six times that number, and has a monthly mining pay-roll of $620,000.
The line from Garrison runs through the beautiful Deer Lodge valley, in which are many fine farms. Deer Lodge City, the judicial seat of the county, is pleasantly situated 4,546 feet above sea-level. Being well laid out, it presents, with its wide streets and handsome public buildings, an exceedingly attractive appearance.
It is at the head of this valley, on the western slope of the main range of the Rocky Mountains, and fifteen miles from the Pipestone Pass, that there has been witnessed, during the last three or four years, that rapid growth of population and wealth that is without parallel, even in the marvelous annals of mining. Here, encompassed on three sides by lofty ranges of mountains, Butte pours forth the smoke of its innumerable furnaces; for not only is its production of silver so great that it has come to be designated the “Silver City,” but its copper mines are such as to give employment to the most extensive smelting works in the United States. Its total production during 1885, valued at $15,000,000, viz., $5,000,000 worth of bullion and $10,000,000 worth of copper matte, was twice that of Utah, and three times that of Nevada. It also exceeded that of the whole of California, or the combined production of Idaho, New Mexico and Arizona.
The leading silver mines of the district are the Alice, Moulton, Lexington and Silver Bow, which alone employ 210 stamps and produce 230 tons of ore daily. The magnificent appliances of the Alice mine, including the great Cornish pump that cost $40,000, are the wonder of every visitor. The process of reduction, here as elsewhere, is somewhat complex, especially in the case of the baser ores, being in part chemical and in part mechanical. It involves the crushing of the ore to powder, under the pressure of enormous bars of iron, weighing 900 pounds each, and known as “stamps,” and its subsequent roasting in large, hollow cylinders, salt being largely employed in the former, and quicksilver in the latter, stage of the operation. The roasting mills of the Alice mines treat 100 tons of ore per day, and their bullion product approaches $100,000 per month.
The great Lexington property, which has produced $1,000,000 per annum for four years, is owned by a French company. It claims to be the most complete mine in the entire West, and it is certainly one of the richest and most extensive.
The Moulton and Silver Bow have a daily capacity of forty and thirty tons of ore respectively. They are magnificent properties, well developed and exceedingly productive. The former makes the proud boast of working its ore to a higher percentage of its value than any other mill in the district.
But it is the copper mines and smelters that represent the largest capital; give employment to the greatest number of men; have the largest production, both in tonnage and aggregate value; and, it may be added, make the most smoke.
At the head of the rich and powerful companies engaged in this industry, stands the Anaconda,—its mine at Butte, the greatest copper property in America; its smelting works, at the neighboring town of Anaconda, the largest of their kind in the world. Sold, five years ago, for an amount that would not now be more than sufficient to pay its employés a week's wages, its property is roughly estimated to be worth $15,000,000. With certain contemplated additions to its smelting capacity, it will handle daily 1,200 tons of ore, yielding 180 tons of matte, or 108 tons of pure copper. Its entire machinery run by water-power, it yet requires for its furnaces no less than 180 cords of wood per day; in view of which enormous consumption it is stated to have recently let a contract for 300,000 cords, representing upward of $1,000,000. Second only to this gigantic concern, is the Parrott Company, whose total matte output for 1884 was 14,856,323 pounds, containing 9,324,805 pounds of pure copper, valued, including its silver contents, at about $1,250,000. With largely increased capacity, its production of pure copper will probably have reached 15,000,000 pounds in the year just drawing to a close. Among other leading companies, may be mentioned the Montana, owning some of the richest and most steadily productive mining property in process of development; Clark's Colusa, said to have in sight, above the 300-foot level, at least 150,000 tons of valuable ore; and the Bell and Colorado, two of the richest copper-silver mines in the district.
So much for the mines and smelting works of Butte. What of the city itself? Briefly, it may be said to be a typical Western town, as seen in flush times; nothing too big for it, nothing too good; its quivering energy finding expression, now in the erection of a $150,000 court house, and now in that of the finest opera house on the Pacific slope, outside of San Francisco; its business enterprise filling magnificent stores with costly goods, suited to the tastes, pocket-books and spending proclivities of a community that on last Christmas eve spent $6,000 in presents in a single one of its stores.
FALLS OF THE GIBBON RIVER, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.
There are several good trout streams in the vicinity of Butte, and it is pleasant to know that, in a city whose amusements are mainly of a very different character, there are those who know how to handle the rod.
Proceeding westward from Garrison, the traveler will have some fine views of mountain scenery, including the snow-clad peaks of Mount Powell. Drummond, twenty-one miles west, is the station for the rich mining districts of New Chicago and Phillipsburg. Granite Mountain mine, near the latter place, is exceedingly rich. A vein of ore, six feet wide, and assaying from 125 to 2,000 ounces of silver to the ton, is now being worked, the output reaching $120,000 per month.
Soon the train enters Hell Gate Cañon, at first a beautiful valley, from two to three miles in width, but narrowing as we go westward, until from between its stupendous walls we suddenly emerge upon a broad plateau, where stands the city of Missoula. Formerly a remote and isolated frontier post, Missoula is now a place of considerable importance. Extending southward for ninety miles is the valley of the Bitter Root river, well watered, exceedingly fertile and thickly settled. Here are raised fine crops of wheat and oats, as well as vegetables, apples and strawberries.
The tourist has now entered the finest game country in the Northwest. At any point along the line, for a distance of nearly three hundred miles, he will find deer, elk and bear in great abundance. Let him but place himself on their trail, and he will certainly soon have them within gunshot. Even in the vicinity of Missoula there is excellent sport, one local trapper obtaining $160 bounty for bear last season. Ducks and prairie chickens are also plentiful, and various species of trout abound in the mountain streams.
The most interesting, as it is the most accessible, of the Indian reservations contiguous to the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, is that of the Flathead tribe, through which the line runs for many miles in the course of its north-westward sweep from Missoula. At Arlee station, the visitor is within five miles of the agency, and at Ravalli a like distance from St. Ignatius mission. For a full account of the excellent work carried on among the Indians by the Jesuit Fathers, together with an exceedingly interesting description of the Flathead country generally, the reader is referred to an article in the Century Magazine for October, 1882, from the accomplished pen of Mr. E. V. Smalley, as well as to sundry articles in that gentleman's own magazine, The Northwest. From a point about 500 feet from the summit of Macdonald's Peak, a few miles north of Ravalli, there is a remarkable view of a deep mountain gorge known as Pumpelly Cañon, which has many of the striking features of the Yosemite valley, in California. Two waterfalls, having an apparent height of about 800 feet, leap into this profound rocky cañon, and form a small circular lake of a dark blue color. This lake falls, by another cataract, into a second lake of exactly the same size and shape as the first, while still another cataract leaps from the lower lake into a deep ravine filled with magnificent forest trees. An excursion to Macdonald's Peak may be made from the mission in a single day. Tourists are, however, recommended to take blankets and provisions, and encamp upon the crest of the mountain to witness the sunrise. Saddle horses are obtainable at the mission, and there is a good trail all the way.
Thompson Falls, 101 miles west of Missoula, is the starting point for the Cœur d'Alène mines. The distress that followed the arrival in this district, in 1883, of several thousand half-starving adventurers, who, expecting to pick up in a few hours' time nuggets enough to make them rich for life, brought neither blankets to protect them from the cold of winter, nor the means of returning to their far-distant homes, or even of reaching less remote centres where work could be obtained, gave the Cœur d'Alène mines a blow from which they were slow to recover. The development that has since taken place, especially since the introduction of hydraulics, has, however, abundantly demonstrated that former claims as to the richness and permanence of the mines were well founded, and we shall probably soon see here the richest placer mining camp in the world.
The matchless river scenery that has done so much toward placing the Northern Pacific Railroad system in the proud position it occupies to-day at the head of the scenic railways of America, is not alone that of the peerless Columbia. For 140 miles of its course, in Western Montana and the Panhandle of Idaho, it follows the windings of a stream that for grand and imposing scenery is second only to that renowned river itself. Should the traveler wake up in the morning, anywhere between the point at which the waters of the Missoula empty themselves into the bright green flood of the Pend d'Oreille river and the head of Pend d'Oreille Lake, he will almost certainly suppose that it is in the current of the far-famed Columbia that he sees reflected, perhaps hundreds of feet beneath him, the varying forms of those stately mountains that soar thousands of feet above. But he is as yet almost a day's journey from the classic regions of the Columbia, albeit the lordly stream, whose scenery will be, hour after hour, a succession of surprises and delights to him, is one of the principal forks of that mighty river, whose still grander scenery it may be said to foreshadow in miniature.
Between the Yellowstone National Park, on the one hand, and the Columbia river, on the other, Clark's Fork and the beautiful lake into which it widens out before turning northward to the British possessions, have been almost completely overshadowed. But their ten thousand beauties will assert themselves. They have not to be sought for in out-of-the-way places, nor are they so localized that a mere passing glimpse is the only reward of strained attention as the train flies onward. On the contrary, from an early hour in the morning until long past noon, there is a continuous unfolding of scenes in which are combined, with Nature's inimitable skill and infinite variety, all that is grandest in mountain, all that is most graceful in woodland and stream. So evenly distributed are the beauties of this long stretch of river scenery, that it is not easy to single out particular points as calling for special notice. There are, however, two that must arrest the attention and command the admiration of every traveler. The first, one mile east of Cabinet, where the river, which has been flowing for some distance considerably below the level of the railroad, enters a magnificent rocky gorge; and the other, about the same distance east of Clark's Fork, where it flows, without a ripple, through a forest of stately pines, whose forms are, with singular fidelity, reflected in its clear and tranquil waters. Soon it is lost to view, but only to reappear, after a short interval, in the form of the lovely