Produced by Jens Nordmann, Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Transcriber's Notes: The original spelling and minor inconsistencies in the spelling and formatting have been maintained. The ligature oe has been marked as [oe]. A list with all corrections applied to the text has been added at the end of the text. Formatting: Text in italics has been marked with underscores (_text_) and bold text using the equals sign (=text=). [Illustration: COLUMBIA RIVER, LOOKING EASTWARD FROM ROCK BLUFF.] Wonderland; OR ALASKA AND THE INLAND PASSAGE BY LIEUT. FREDERICK SCHWATKA. WITH A Description of the Country Traversed by the Northern Pacific Railroad. BY JOHN HYDE, Author of "The Wonderland Route to the Pacific Coast," "Alice's Adventures in the New Wonderland," etc., etc. Copyrighted, 1886, by CHAS. S. FEE, General Passenger Agent Northern Pacific Railroad, St. Paul. [Illustration: Rand McNally & Co.] PRINTERS AND ENGRAVERS, CHICAGO INTRODUCTORY. "Multi discurrent, et augebitur _stultitia_." Thus did one of the profoundest of modern thinkers parody the prediction of the Hebrew prophet who foretold the time when, with increased facilities for travel and intercommunication, there should come a great enlargement of the bounds of knowledge, and a corresponding amelioration of the condition of humanity. It would, however, be strange indeed, if the complex process of social evolution, even in its present stage, were not marked by some of the indications of a retrograde movement. The age in which we live has undoubtedly its peculiar follies and foibles, which are but thrown into relief by the qualities that more generally distinguish it. But many are running to and fro, and knowledge is being increased. Nature is revealing herself to the traveler in new forms and aspects, and disclosing to his wondering gaze mysterious pages of her great book hitherto hidden from him. And while extensive tracts of country, presenting physical features to which the entire known world furnishes no parallel, have been brought by railroad enterprise within reach alike of the curious sight-seer and the inquiring student, a vast region, of almost unexampled wealth-producing capabilities, has, by the same agency, been thrown open to that advancing tide of civilization which is rapidly overspreading the world. Hence the traveler journeying to Wonderland--to that enchanted realm where the most extravagant creations of the fancy appear trivial and commonplace beside the more extraordinary works of Nature--sees also, in process of solution, some of the hitherto most perplexing problems of economics; observes, as he can not do with like facility anywhere else in the world, the well-ordered plan upon which the bounty of Nature is distributed; and witnesses the unlocking of vast storehouses of good, to supply the increasing needs of the human race. It may be doubted whether the world affords another tour at once so delightful and so instructive as that which, beginning at the head of the Mississippi valley, and crossing the great wheat fields of Dakota and Eastern Washington, the stock ranges of Montana, and the gold and silver ribbed mountains of Montana and Idaho, embraces also the wonders of the Yellowstone National Park, and the incomparable scenery of the Columbia river, to crown all with the stupendous sights of that Great Land whose unique natural features have earned for it the well-deserved title of "Wonderland." No longer one of peril and hardship, but, on the contrary, one of absolute luxury, this tour has, within the last two years, attracted thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the civilized world. To them, as well as to all other lovers of the sublime and beautiful, and to the students of the mysteries of Nature in all lands, who may have the good fortune to visit the far Northwest in 1886, the following pages are respectfully inscribed. CONTENTS. PAGE The Advantages of Travel--Introductory 3 The Development of the Northwest--St. Paul and Minneapolis 7, 8 Minnesota Lakes and their Attractions for the Angler 8-10 Brainerd, Duluth, Superior and Ashland 10 Red River Valley 12 The Changes of a Half Century 13 Great Wheat Farms of Dakota, and the Capital of the Territory 14 "Bad Lands" of the Little Missouri 15, 16 Yellowstone River 16-19 Yellowstone National Park 20-22 Helena and the Romance of Mining 23-26 Main Range of the Rocky Mountains 26, 27 Butte City, the greatest Mining Camp in the World 27-30 The Flathead Country 30, 31 Clark's Fork and Lake Pend d'Oreille 31-34 Spokane Falls 35 Palouse and Walla Walla Wheat Countries 36, 37 The Columbia River 37-40 Portland 40, 41 The Willamette Valley and Southern Oregon 42, 43 The Lower Columbia and City of Astoria, with Fisheries 43-46 Western Washington: its Scenery and Resources 46 The Sovereign Mountain: Tacoma 47 Puget Sound 48-54 Victoria, British Columbia 55, 56 Discovery Passage 58 Queen Charlotte Sound 60 Varieties of Fish found in Inland Passage 62 Wrangell, Alaska 63, 64 Indian Life, Facilities for Studying 67-71 Sitka, Alaska 73-77 Hot Springs Bay, Alaska 77 Climate of Sitka 79 Land of the Chilkats 81-84 Juneau, Alaska, and the Mines of Douglas Island 84-86 Glacier Bay 86-92 Glaciers of Alaska 93-95 Mount St. Elias 95, 96 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Alaska's Thousand Islands, as seen from Sitka 78 An Alaska Indian House, with Totem Poles 66 Chancel of the Greek Church, Sitka 75 Chilkat Blanket 81 Columbia River, looking Eastward from Rock Bluff Frontispiece Detroit Lake and Hotel Minnesota, Detroit, Minn. 11 Falls of the Gibbon River, National Park 29 Floating Fish Wheel, Columbia River 42 Hotel Tacoma, Tacoma, W. T. 47 Lake Pend d'Oreille, Idaho 33 Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, National Park 21 Mount Hood, from the Head of the Dalles, Columbia River 38 Mount Tacoma, W. T. 44 Old Faithful Geyser, National Park 18 Scenes among the Alaskan Glaciers 89 Scenes in the Inland Passage 59 Sitka, Alaska 72 T'linket Basket Work 68 T'linket Carved Spoons 85 T'linket War Canoe 83 Yellowstone River, National Park 25 FROM THE GREAT LAKES TO PUGET SOUND. "=To the doorways of the West-Wind, To the portals of the Sunset.=" While, in the old world, armies have been contending for the possession of narrow strips of territory, in kingdoms themselves smaller than many single American States, and venerable _savants_ have been predicting the near approach of the time when the population of the world shall have outstripped the means of subsistence, there has arisen, between the headwaters of the Mississippi and the mouth of the stately Columbia, an imperial domain, more than three times the size of the German empire, and capable of sustaining upon its own soil one hundred millions of people. What little has been done--for it is but little, comparatively--toward the development of its amazing resources, has called into existence, on its eastern border, two great and beautiful cities, which have sprung up side by side on the banks of the great Father of Waters. It is there, at St. Paul and Minneapolis, that the traveler's journey to Wonderland may be said to begin. And what could be more fitting? for are they not wonders in themselves, presenting, as they do, the most astonishing picture of rapid expansion the world has ever seen? But it is not their magnitude that excites the greatest surprise. If there is a single newspaper reader in ignorance of the fact that the State census of 1885 found them with a population of 240,597? or that the 23,994 buildings erected within their limits since the beginning of 1882, represent a frontage of over 100 miles and an expenditure of $69,895,390, or that their banking capital considerably exceeds that of either San Francisco, New Orleans, Cincinnati or St. Louis, it is through no fault of the cities themselves. But the visitor may bring with him a just appreciation of their size and commercial importance, and yet have had no conception of their beauty, nor of the abounding evidences of public spirit and private enterprise that will confront him at every turn. The position of St. Paul, at the head of navigation, and as the focus of the railway activity of the Northwest, commands for it an extensive wholesale trade, its sales aggregating, in 1885, the large sum of $81,420,000. The surprise with which the visitor views the stately piles that are the outward and visible signs of the vast commercial and financial interests of the city, the creation of a few brief seasons, is no greater than the astonishment with which he realizes the absence of all appearance of immaturity. In no city in the Union are the business quarters more solid and substantial; in none is the domestic architecture more attractive. Nothing is crude, nothing tentative, nothing transitional. Clustered around the great Falls of St. Anthony, stand those colossal flouring mills that have been more than ever the pride and glory of Minneapolis, since they enabled her to pluck from Chicago's crown one of the brightest of its jewels. It is a startling commentary upon the much vaunted supremacy of the great metropolis of the West, that, while the wheat attracted to its market fell gradually from 34,106,109 bushels in 1879, to 13,265,223 bushels in 1885, the amount handled by the millers of Minneapolis increased, within the same period, from 7,514,364 bushels to 32,112,840 bushels. The mills have a total flour-manufacturing capacity of 33,973 barrels per day, an amount equal to the necessities of the three most populous States of the Union, or of one-half the population of Great Britain. But to turn from the romance of figures to that of song and story. Should the traveler have any desire to visit the far-famed falls of Minnehaha, it is now he should gratify it. Situated almost midway between the two cities, they can be easily reached, either by train, carriage or river steamboat. The poetic interest with which they have been invested by their association with the legend of Hiawatha constitutes but the least of their claims upon the traveler's notice; and, should he turn aside to visit them, not even the sublime scenery of Wonderland will entirely efface the memory of their laughing waters. The residents of St. Paul and Minneapolis are fortunate in having, within easy access, two of the most beautiful of Minnesota's ten thousand lakes, White Bear and Minnetonka. Justly celebrated for the beauty of their scenery and the excellence of their hotel and other accommodations, they are resorted to annually by thousands of visitors from far and near. Minnetonka is not inappropriately called the Saratoga of the Northwest; but no designation, however high-sounding or significant, can do justice to the exquisite beauty of its scenery or the sumptuousness of its hotels. It is time, however, that we were directing our steps toward that scarcely less luxurious hotel which is waiting to convey us to the fir-clad slopes of Puget Sound! While holding in honorable remembrance the names of Watt and Stephenson, surely posterity ought not altogether to forget those of the inventors of the sleeping car and dining car; for the railway train of early days was hardly a greater advance upon the old stage-coach than is the completely equipped train of to-day over its predecessor of even twenty-five years ago. The journey from St. Paul to Puget Sound may be said to fall into eight geographical divisions, with well-marked natural boundaries, and corresponding in the main to the divisions into which the line has been formed for operating purposes. The first extends to the Red River of the North, a distance of 275 miles, lying wholly in the State of Minnesota. The great attractions of this State are its pine forests, covering nearly one-half of its entire area, and its numerous beautiful lakes. Of the latter, there are no fewer than 215 within twenty-five miles of St. Paul, and they extend right through the central part of the State, on both sides of the railroad, to the prairie region bordering upon the Red River. Many of them are of exceeding beauty, especially in the district known as the LAKE PARK REGION, a richly diversified section of country, presenting the most charming scenery. Among the most famous, are Lake Minnewaska, on the Little Falls and Dakota division of the road, fifty-nine miles from its junction with the main line; Clitherall and Battle Lakes, on the Fergus Falls and Black Hills branch; and Detroit Lake, on the direct line to the West, 230 miles from St. Paul. All these have fine pebbly beaches, lined with beautiful borders of timber, and their accommodations for all classes of visitors--anglers, sportsmen and families--are exceptionally good. Like all the waters of Minnesota, they teem with fine, gamey fish of many varieties. The accomplished editor of the _American Angler_, writing in his well-known journal, after a visit to the Northwest in the summer of 1885, stated, that, during a life of nearly a quarter of a century as an angler, no experience with a rod had equaled in variety and weight the two days' fishing he had had on Detroit Lake. Nor was Mr. Harris' success exceptional. A score of one hundred pounds per day on two rods, is, as he goes on to state, considered quite a modest record. For what is locally regarded as a good catch, we must turn to that of the three gentlemen who, on the afternoon of June 1st, 1885, brought in, as the result of less than three days' work, 603 pike, 138 black bass, 178 rock bass, 28 cat-fish and 25 pickerel; the entire catch weighing 2,321 pounds. This "fish story" is well authenticated. Eastern anglers can have no conception how full of fine fish, of many varieties, these Minnesota lakes are. For black and rock bass, maskalonge, pickerel, wall-eyed pike, and an infinite variety of smaller fish, a recent writer in the _American Angler_ pronounces Detroit Lake the finest fishing ground on the continent. Nor need any angler or sportsman--for prairie chickens, ducks and deer are abundant--expect to have to look to sport to make up for the deficiencies of accommodation; for the Hotel Minnesota is said, on the highest authority, to be a gem of a hostelry for anglers, every facility and convenience they could wish for being obtainable at moderate charges. The scenic attractions, also, are of a high order, the natural features of the surrounding country being of the most diversified character. The air is pure and invigorating, and hay fever and malarial diseases are absolutely unknown. Lake Park is another delightful resort in this region, having good fishing and boating within easy distance, and a first-class hotel adjoining the depot. Before arriving at Detroit, the traveler from St. Paul passes through Brainerd, the "City of the Pines." The selection of this city for the location of the machine shops of the railroad has given a great impetus to its growth; nevertheless, for deer and bear hunting, it is still one of the best localities in the State. There is fine fishing, too, in its immediate vicinity, and its hotel accommodations also are very good. Here it is, also, that travelers from the East, coming by way of the Great Lakes, join the west-bound train. The distance to Brainerd from Duluth, the point of debarkation, at the west end of Lake Superior, is 114 miles. The traveler, who, in 1886, visits Mr. Proctor Knott's "Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas," will find the straggling village of five years ago a busy city of 20,000 inhabitants, with abounding evidences of the commercial importance it has attained. By reason of the advantages afforded by the great waterway of the continent, for the direct shipment of wheat to the Eastern States or to Europe, Duluth has become almost as formidable a rival of Minneapolis as that city is of Chicago. It handled last year no fewer than 15,819,462 bushels of wheat, while its saw mills cut up 125,000,000 feet of lumber, and an extensive trade was also carried on in coal, salt and lime. A few miles distant, and connected with it by a railway whose construction involved the building of an exceedingly fine iron bridge, is the city of Superior, also with excellent terminal facilities. The eastern terminus of this, the Wisconsin division of the railroad, is Ashland, an important town and favorite summer resort on Lake Superior. Midway between this town and Duluth the line crosses the Brule river, whose excellent fishing grounds its recent opening has, for the first time, rendered accessible. The Brule river proper is a large stream, averaging 100 feet in width, of clear, cold water, flowing, its entire length, through one of the great forests of Wisconsin. With high banks, and free from low or marshy ground, it is an ideal trout stream. The best fishing on the river is to be had in a stretch of fourteen miles, extending six miles above, and eight miles below, the crossing of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The trout attain a large size, catches of three and four pound fish being an everyday occurrence. In the surrounding forest, game, including moose, deer, beaver and pheasant, is found in great abundance. Large quantities of venison were shipped hence by rail during the winter of 1885-86, the shipments from November 1st to December 15th alone exceeding 13,000 pounds. [Illustration: DETROIT LAKE AND HOTEL MINNESOTA, DETROIT, MINN.] Almost equal to the exciting pleasures of the chase is that of shooting the Brule river rapids in a canoe. Accompanied by an experienced guide, the visitor performs this feat without danger; let him attempt it alone, and he is sure of a ducking. For the angler and sportsman, the Brule possesses an additional attraction in the fact, that, while most excellent accommodations are to be had at the railroad crossing, including boats, fishing tackle and guides, there is no settlement of any kind within a considerable distance. The line from Duluth to Brainerd follows, for many miles, the winding valley of the St. Louis river, through scenery for the most part stern and wild, yet not without an occasional suggestion of the gentler beauty of the far-off Youghiogheny. Between Fond du Lac and Thompson the river has a descent of 500 feet in a distance of twelve miles, tearing its way with terrific force through a tortuous, rock-bound channel. The best point for observing the fine effect of these impetuous rapids and cascades, known locally as the Dalles of the St. Louis, is near the twentieth mile post westward from Duluth. Pursuing its way in the direction of Brainerd, the train traverses a country comparatively little known. Its scanty population is engaged almost entirely in logging, lumber manufacturing, and hunting, the immense forest covering the face of the country abounding with deer, bear, wolves, foxes and other game. Emerging from the deep recesses of the forest, and passing swiftly through the lake region already referred to, we find ourselves in a level prairie country, and can dimly descry, in the far distance, the thin, dark line which another hour's ride will show to be the narrow fringe of timber that marks the course of the famous Red River of the North, that true Arimaspes, with whose golden sands thousands and tens of thousands have been made rich. This, then, is the renowned Red River valley, the story of whose amazing fertility has attracted, from older States and still older countries, one hundred and fifty thousand people. The greatest influx has taken place since 1880, the increase in population between the census of that year and that in the spring of 1885 being 38,719 on the Minnesota side of the river, and 54,918 on the Dakota side. Although there are vast tracts of land still uncultivated, the general appearance of the valley is that of a well-settled agricultural country. But this will occasion no surprise to those who remember that its annual wheat crop has now reached 25,000,000 bushels, and its crop of other cereals 15,000,000 bushels. Not a little surprise, however, is occasioned by the discovery that the "valley" of which the traveler has heard so much is not a valley at all, but a great plain, whose slope toward the river is so slight as to be wholly imperceptible. Where the railroad crosses the river, have sprung up the cities of Moorhead and Fargo, the former in Minnesota, the latter in Dakota. With such advantages of situation as they possess, and with the days of booms, with all their unhealthy excitement and fictitious values, gone, never, it is to be hoped, to return, these cities must continue to increase in commercial importance, with the development of the rich country surrounding them. Fargo is, indeed, the largest city in the entire Territory of Dakota, and will probably retain its position as such for many years to come. It is needless to repeat here the oft-told story of Dakota's marvelous growth. Time was when it was capable of being wrought up into a mosaic of wondrous interest and beauty; but, with the multiplication of agencies for giving it publicity, its charm, for the present generation at least, has passed away. It will, nevertheless, afford the historian of the nineteenth century material for one of the most interesting and instructive chapters of his work. Writing, in 1828, his "Principles of Population," the great historian of Europe said: "The gradual and continuous progress of the European race toward the Rocky Mountains has the solemnity of a providential event: it is like a deluge of men rising unabatedly, and daily driven onward by the hand of God." But at that time the State of Illinois, but half way toward the Rocky Mountains and one-third of the way to the Pacific Ocean, was almost the limit of its mighty flow. Wisconsin, with no noteworthy settlements of its own, formed part of the Territory of Michigan; Iowa was an altogether vacant region, without any form of organized government; while other great States of to-day were still either mere parts of the Louisiana purchase, with as yet no separate identity, or were comprised within the then far-extending territory of the republic of Mexico. The traveler to the Northwest, by the Northern Pacific Railroad, traverses that section of the far-extending dominion of the American people that was the last to be overspread by that great tide of civilization. He sees its evidences in the happy and prosperous homesteads that dot the fertile plains of Dakota, and nestle under the sheltering bluffs of the winding valleys of Montana; he is able to bear witness, also, to its having penetrated the fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains, and converted the hillsides of Eastern Washington and the fair lands of Oregon into smiling wheat fields and fruitful orchards. But, notwithstanding the hundreds of flourishing settlements scattered along the great highway of travel, with here and there a goodly town or city, he can not but wonder at the apparent sparseness of population when he remembers that one and a half millions of people have their homes between the Great Lakes and Puget Sound. But let him consider the vast extent of the country; let him call to mind that Dakota, with her 415,664 inhabitants, has yet 230 acres of land to every man, woman and child within her borders, her population averaging less than three to the square mile; that the density of population in Oregon and Washington is but two and one-half and two to the square mile, respectively; while both Montana and Idaho have considerably more square miles than they have inhabitants. The county of Cass, which stretches westward from Fargo, is one of the best settled sections of the Northwest, there being no land whatever subject to entry. It contains some of the largest wheat farms in the world, and it has produced more than one wheat crop of 5,000,000 bushels. This county has an actual wealth of over $20,000,000, and, with its 120 school houses and numberless churches, it may be taken as admirably illustrating both the capabilities of the country and the character of the people who are building it up. At Dalrymple, eighteen miles from Fargo, and at Casselton, two miles farther west, are the GREAT WHEAT FARMS of Mr. Oliver Dalrymple, comprising some 50,000 acres. Continuing westward, we pass, in rapid succession, various flourishing settlements, among them being Valley City, on the Sheyenne river, the judicial seat of Barnes county. Presently the train descends into the valley of the James, or Dakota, river, and the prosperous city of Jamestown is reached. From this point a branch line extends northward, ninety miles, to Minnewaukan, at the west end of Devil's Lake. This remarkable body of salt water, with its deeply indented and richly wooded shores, where the briny odor of the ocean mingles with the fragrance of the prairie flower, is surrounded by some of the best farming lands in Dakota. Its attractions for the tourist, angler and sportsman have obtained wide recognition, fish and game being very plentiful, the climate highly salubrious, the scenery picturesque, and the hotel accommodations good. The James river is said to be the longest unnavigable river on the continent, if not in the world, its flow, for hundreds of miles, being distinguished by scarcely any perceptible increase of volume. Crossing a high table land, 1,850 feet above sea-level, and 950 feet higher than the Red river at Fargo, and known geographically as the Coteaux de Missouri, the train rapidly pursues its way past various large and well-managed farms to Bismarck, the capital of the Territory. This city has long commanded an important trade with various settlements on the Upper Missouri, the steamboats employed having transported as much as 45,000,000 pounds of freight within a single brief period of navigation. It is the shipping and distributing point of a vast area whose only railroad facilities are those afforded by the great transcontinental line that here crosses the Missouri river. With the various important settlements that have been established in that great tract of country, Bismarck has either stage or steamboat communication. While, however, river navigation is limited to a comparatively short season, the stages run regularly all the year round, having even been known not to miss a single trip, or to be more than a few hours late, during an entire winter. But it is not the Fargos, the Jamestowns or the Bismarcks with which the tourist chiefly concerns himself. They attract his attention only because of the evidence they afford of the development and stability of the country, and the enterprise of the people, and he is far more interested in the crossing of the Missouri river, than in either of the two cities that frown at each other across its turbid waters. The bridge, by which the railroad is carried across the great river, here 2,800 feet in breadth, although 3,500 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, is a structure of immense strength, and not more substantial than it is graceful. It consists of three spans, each of 400 feet, and two approach spans, each of 113 feet, with a long stretch of strongly built trestle work over the gently sloping west bank of the river. Here the train runs into Mandan, a pleasant little city, nestling under low ranges of hills which encompass it on three sides. This is the terminus of the Missouri and Dakota divisions of the road. The change from Central to Mountain time is made at this point, and the west-bound traveler sets his watch back one hour. The country west of the Missouri river presents an entirely different appearance from that through which the tourist has been traveling since he entered the Territory at Fargo. It is more diversified; its numerous streams, with handsome groves of cottonwood upon their banks, meandering through pleasant valleys, clothed, where still uncultivated, with that nutritious bunch grass, which, but a few short years ago, made them the favorite feeding grounds of the buffalo. The vast beds of lignite coal that underlie this portion of the Territory crop out at various points, twelve car loads being mined daily at Sims, 35 miles west of Mandan, for shipment by rail. The most important settlements on this division of the road are Gladstone and Dickinson. Twenty miles west of the latter town, the line enters the singular and picturesque region known as the Bad Lands of the Little Missouri. For a full hour the train pursues its way through scenery of which the whole world is not known to afford any counterpart. The product of natural forces, still working to the same end, the picture that meets the astonished gaze of the traveler, suggests, where it does not utterly bewilder, either supernatural agency or the operation of laws whose reign has ceased. Reasonable hypotheses all failing, one's imagination connects the weird and mysterious scene with some early geologic epoch when, perchance under the brooding darkness of night, the yet plastic earth was tortured by some wild spirit of Caprice into the fantastic forms in which we see it to-day. But evidences of intelligent design are not altogether wanting, and we turn from mounds of wonderful regularity and symmetry of form, standing like Egyptian pyramids, to reproductions of the frowning battlements of Gibraltar or Ehrenbreitstein, or the dome and towers of some great cathedral. Marvelous as they are, however, these forms and outlines excite even less astonishment than the wealth of coloring in which they are arrayed. Composed largely of clay, solidified by pressure, and converted into terra-cotta by the slow combustion of underlying masses of lignite, each dome and pyramid and mimic castle is encircled with chromatic bands presenting vivid and startling contrasts. Huge petrifactions and vast masses of scoria contribute to the weirdness of the scene, and, as if to complete its plutonic appearance, smoke goes up unceasingly from unquenchable subterranean fires. It is a mistake to suppose that these lands are worthless for agricultural or stock-raising purposes. The valleys and ravines are covered with nutritious grasses, and thousands of cattle may be seen grazing where the buffalo and other herbivorous wild animals were wont to roam in days gone by. The term "Bad Lands" is a careless and incomplete translation of the designation bestowed upon the country by the early French _voyageurs_, who described it as "_mauvaises terres pour traverser_." At the crossing of the Little Missouri, the Marquis de Mores, a wealthy young French nobleman, has established the headquarters of an extensive stock raising and dressed meat shipping business. From this point, Medora, excursions may be made to Cedar Cañon, one of the most interesting localities in the Bad Lands; or to the burning mine, where may be seen, raging, perhaps the most extensive of the subterranean fires of the entire region. It is also a good point from which to start out on hunting expeditions, large game being by no means exterminated. Sixteen miles beyond the Little Missouri, the train passes Sentinel Butte, a lofty peak rising precipitously from the plain on the south side of the railroad. One mile more and the Montana boundary is crossed, at an elevation of 2,840 feet above sea-level. In crossing the great Territory of Dakota, the tourist has traveled 367 miles; in traversing that of Montana, he performs a journey of no less than 800 miles, almost equivalent to the distance from New York to Indianapolis. Fortunately, the luxurious appointments of the train render weariness well nigh impossible, and the trip hourly becomes more interesting and enjoyable. At Glendive, 692 miles from St. Paul, the road enters the valley of the Yellowstone, the windings of which famous river it follows, more or less closely, for 340 miles. The valley, from five to ten miles in width, is inclosed by high bluffs of clay and sandstone, their curious formations occasionally reminding the traveler of the Bad Lands, though they have but little variety of color. If the Red River of the North may justly be regarded as the true Arimaspes, the Yellowstone may, with equal propriety, be designated the modern Amphrysus. It is upon its banks and those of its tributaries that there has been developed, since the opening of the Northern Pacific Railroad, that vast grazing interest which has given Montana as great a reputation for its stock as Dakota has for its wheat. For many years,--up to and including the winter of 1881-82,--this was the finest buffalo hunting country on the continent. But the slaughter that season was enormous, 250,000 hides being shipped East, principally from Miles City. Few have been seen since that time. There are hunters who believe that small herds might still be found north of the international boundary; but, so far as the United States is concerned, the buffalo is practically extinct. There is, however, a small herd in the National Park. Safe from the hunter's deadly repeater, they will probably multiply rapidly, as it may be supposed that they will soon know instinctively the limits within which they are unmolested. Miles City, a few years ago the principal rendezvous of the hunter, is now the great resort of the grazier and cowboy, it being the metropolis of the stock interest of the Territory. The development of this interest within recent years has been as rapid as that of wheat raising in Dakota, and the economist who should turn to the United States census reports for 1880 for the present condition of any considerable section of the Northwest would be led seriously astray. In 1880, Montana contained 490,000 cattle and 520,000 sheep. According to a recent report of the Governor of the Territory, it contains, at the present time, 900,000 cattle, 1,200,000 sheep, and 120,000 horses. The grazing interests of the West are moving steadily toward Eastern Montana; for, so rapidly do cattle thrive on the nutritious grasses of these northern valleys, that a yearling steer is worth $10 more in Montana than in Texas. Glendive, already mentioned as the point at which the railroad enters the Yellowstone valley, is second only to Miles City in importance as a shipping and distributing point. It is also a divisional terminus of the railroad. Two miles west of Miles City is Fort Keogh, one of the largest and most beautiful military posts in the United States. It was established in 1877 by Gen. Nelson A. Miles, as a means of holding in check the warlike Sioux. There are but few Indians to be seen now along the line of the railroad, and those are engaged in agricultural and industrial pursuits. The extinction of the buffalo has rendered the Indian much more amenable to the civilizing influences brought to bear upon him than he formerly was, and very fair crops of grain are now being raised at the various agencies. At the Devil's Lake Agency, 60,000 bushels of wheat were raised in 1885, and purchased by the United States Government at $1 per hundred pounds. The Crows, along the northern border of whose reservation--nearly as large as the State of Massachusetts--the road runs for two hundred miles, are said to be the richest nation in the world, in proportion to their numbers, their wealth aggregating $3,500 per head. This, however, is due to the natural increase of their live stock, chiefly ponies, rather than to their own industry and thrift. Out amid the solitudes of the far Northwest--for it must not be supposed that the entire country is a succession of settlements--it is wonderful with what interest the traveler regards that trivial event of daily occurrence, the meeting of the east-bound train. But, as he peers through the car window, or stands out on the platform, in critical survey of its passengers, it probably does not occur to him that he is as much an object of curiosity to them as they are, each of them, to him. He represents the far East of this great continent, they the far West. He, perchance, is making his first trip to the Pacific slope, they theirs to the Great Lakes or the Atlantic coast. Among them, however, may be distinguished merry groups of returning tourists, while, reclining in a luxurious Pullman car, or tempting dyspepsia with the rich and varied dainties of the dining car, may be seen one of the early settlers of California, a weather-beaten pioneer, who reached the Pacific slope by way of the Horn, twenty years ahead of the first transcontinental railway, and now goes east, by the Wonderland route, to revisit the scenes of his childhood. [Illustration: VIEWS OF "OLD FAITHFUL" GEYSER, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.] Twenty-nine miles east of Billings, the next divisional terminus and important trading point on the line of the road, the traveler will observe, rising from the right bank of the river, a huge mass of sandstone, interesting as bearing upon its face the name of William Clarke, cut in the rock by the veteran explorer himself, when he visited the locality in 1806. He will, about the same time, be able dimly to descry the peaks of the Big Snow Mountains, which, at first scarcely distinguishable from the fleecy clouds that hang around them, subsequently loom up grandly, constituting one of the most beautiful pieces of scenery in the Northwest. The disciple of Izaak Walton will not have traveled 225 miles along the banks of the Yellowstone without having seen many an inviting spot for indulgence in what his great master called the most calm, quiet and innocent of all recreations. His arrival, therefore, at Billings, the largest town on the upper river, and the metropolis--notwithstanding that it has a population of only 2,000--of a region larger than Maine, South Carolina, West Virginia or Indiana, affords a not unfitting opportunity for a brief reference to the incomparable trout fishing afforded by the numerous streams accessible from points on the Montana and Yellowstone divisions of the road. The Yellowstone river itself, west of Billings, has no superior as a trout stream. It contains trout of four distinct varieties, and fishing is so easy as at times to be in danger of losing its charm. The individual scores of various tourists, reported in the _American Angler_ during the summer and fall of 1885, and not containing any that were phenomenally large, averaged twenty-five trout per hour for each rod, a record with which the most ardent angler ought surely to be satisfied. A majority of these scores were made in the vicinity of Livingston, near which town another visitor is reported to have caught twenty-one fine, large trout "after supper," while two others are stated to have brought in 160 as the result of "a day's sport." The Yellowstone also contains a gamey fish known to local anglers as grayling, but pronounced by Mr. W. C. Harris to be the whitefish (_Corregonus tullibee_). That gentleman refers, in a recent article, to the abundance, in these waters, of the celebrated "cut-throat" trout, whose size and abundance, in conjunction with the picturesqueness of its habitat, will, he adds, when generally known, "make a visit to the Yellowstone imperative to the angler who aspires to a well-rounded life as a rodster." Among other waters, mention may be made of Rosebud Lake, a beautiful spot reached by wagon from Billings, where the trout fishing is declared to be splendid; Little Rosebud Creek, near Stillwater, where eighty-seven trout are reported to have been caught in four hours with a single rod; Prior Creek, near Huntley; Mission Creek, twelve miles east of Livingston; and Sixteen-Mile Creek, sixteen miles from Townsend, all of which are said by visitors to afford excellent sport. It must not, however, be supposed that the angler enjoys a monopoly of sport in this country of varied attractions; for grouse and ducks are plentiful, as are also, on the mountain ranges, deer, elk and antelope. Passing Springdale, where the traveler will observe hacks in readiness to convey visitors to Hunter's Hot Springs, two and one-half miles distant, the train approaches, amid scenery increasing in grandeur, the little city of Livingston. Whatever interest may, in the near future, attach to this place as a resort of the gentle brotherhood from all parts of the continent, it will certainly fall short of that which will belong to it as the gateway of that world-renowned region, the YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. "Situated," to quote the distinguished geologist, Professor John Muir, of California, who recently visited it, "in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, on the broad, rugged summit of the continent, amid snow and ice, and dark, shaggy forests, where the great rivers take their rise, it surpasses in wakeful, exciting interest any other region yet discovered on the face of the globe." While it contains the most beautiful and sublime of mountain, lake and forest scenery, its fame rests, not upon that, but upon the extraordinary assemblage of the curious products of Nature's caprice, and the infinitely wonderful manifestations of almost extinct forms of her energy that are found within its borders. Approached by a branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad, extending southward from Livingston to its northern boundary, and the only railroad within one hundred miles, this remarkable region has, by a judicious expenditure of public money and by admirable individual and corporate enterprise, been rendered so easy of exploration that the tourist may within the brief period of five days visit all its most interesting points. So majestically do the snow-capped mountains tower above the lesser hills that inclose the charming valley whose various windings the railroad follows, from Livingston to Cinnabar, that the traveler can scarcely believe that still more magnificent scenery lies beyond. And truly the cloud-piercing Emigrant's Peak, with its famous mining gulch; the yet loftier Electric Peak; the colossal Sphinx; and that most singular formation, the Devil's Slide, form the most fitting introduction that the human mind can conceive to the wonders of the National Park. Conveyed by an excellently equipped Concord coach from the terminus of the railroad to the hotel at Mammoth Hot Springs, six miles distant, the tourist finds himself surrounded by all the conveniences of modern hotel life. And within full view of the hotel, from which they are distant but a few hundred yards, are the exquisitely filigreed and richly colored terraces formed by the Mammoth Hot Springs, not the least of the wonders of this famous region. Here one hardly knows whether to admire more the delicacy of the formation or that of the coloring, the former not being excelled by that of the finest lace, while the latter surpasses, both in brilliancy, harmony, and subtle gradations, any chromatic effects known to exist beyond the limits of this enchanted ground. The keenest interest of the newly arrived tourist, however, usually centres in those constantly recurring evidences of tremendous force, the geysers. With few and unimportant exceptions, these are found within the limits of certain distinctly marked areas, known as the upper, middle, lower and Norris basins, to which one or two days' time is devoted, according to circumstances. The most celebrated of the geysers--those with whose names the world has been made familiar by the pen, brush or camera of author or artist--are in the upper basin. Here are found the Giant and Giantess, the Castle and Grotto, the Bee Hive, the Splendid and the Grand. Here, too, is Old Faithful, the constancy of whose hourly eruption makes it impossible for even the most hurried visitor to the upper basin to leave without witnessing at least one display of its tremendous energy. [Illustration: MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS HOTEL--YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.] The reader, who, not having visited the National Park, has yet gazed into some of the profound gorges to be found in the great mountain ranges of the far West, will read with astonishment, if not with incredulity, that there is but one cañon in the world,--the Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone. Perhaps slightly exceeded in depth, as it certainly is in gloom, it is yet made to stand pre-eminent among the natural wonders of the world by the majesty of its cataract and the gorgeous blazonry of its walls. To say that the former--no mere silver ribbon of spray, but a fall of great volume--is a little more than twice the height of Niagara, would, by means of a familiar comparison, enable almost any one to form a not altogether inadequate conception of its grandeur. But for the matchless adornment of its walls, we have no available comparison; naught but itself can be its parallel. One great writer describes it as being hung with rainbows, like glorious banners. Another, borrowing from Mr. Ruskin, likens it to a great cathedral, with painted windows, and full of treasures of illuminated manuscript. But, as we take our stand on the brink of the Falls, with twelve miles of sculptured rock spread out before us, rising from 1,500 to 2,000 feet in height, and all aflame with glowing color, we have to acknowledge, with a distinguished writer and a no less celebrated artist, that, neither by the most cunningly wrought fabric of language, nor the most skillful manipulation of color, is it possible to create in the mind a conception answering to this sublime reality. For countless ages, frost and snow, heat and vapor, lightning and rain, torrent and glacier, have wrought upon that mysterious rock, evolving from its iron, its sulphur, its arsenic, its lime and its lava, the glorious apparel in which it stands arrayed. And the wondrous fabrication is still going on. The bewildered traveler would scarcely be surprised to see the gorgeous spectacle fade from his vision like a dream: but its texture is continually being renewed; the giant forces are ever at work; still do they-- "=Sit at the busy loom of time and ply, Weaving for God the garment thou seest Him by.=" For the minor wonders of this world of marvels, the formations of geyserite and the petrified forests, Tower and Gibbon Falls and the cliffs of volcanic glass, the caldrons of boiling mud and transparent pools of sapphire blue, the reader is referred to special guides to the Park. It only remains to be stated that there is regularly established transportation daily between all the principal points, that the distances are not fatiguing, that the charges are reasonable, and the equipment everything that could be desired. The angler need scarcely be reminded that this is the far-famed region where the juxtaposition of streams of hot and cold water enables him to cook his fish as fast as he can catch them, without moving from his seat or taking them off the hook! WESTWARD STILL. Resuming his westward journey at Livingston, the traveler finds himself ascending the first of the two great mountain barriers that had to be surmounted by the engineers of the Northern Pacific Railroad. By a grade of 116 feet to the mile, the line reaches, twelve miles from Livingston, an elevation of 5,565 feet above sea-level. Here it is carried under the crest of the range by a tunnel 3,610 feet in length, from which it emerges into a fine, rocky cañon, at the western portal of which is the military post of Fort Ellis. A few minutes more, and the train runs into Bozeman, a beautifully situated and flourishing little city of twenty years' growth. Few cities can boast of more magnificent scenery, majestic snow-capped ranges standing out against the sky on every side. Westward for thirty miles extends the rich and fertile Gallatin valley. It is no uncommon thing to get forty bushels of hard spring wheat, or sixty bushels of fall wheat, to the acre in this valley, and its barley is of such superior excellence as to be in great demand for malting purposes at Milwaukee and other Eastern cities. Twenty-nine miles west of Bozeman, are Gallatin City, and the bright little town of Three Forks, commanding the valleys of the Madison and Jefferson, the agricultural lands of which, now being brought under cultivation, are not inferior to those of the older settled valley of the Gallatin. Four miles more, and the tourist comes upon a point of considerable geographical interest, the three mountain streams just mentioned pouring their waters into a common channel, to form the Missouri river. It is through a rocky cañon, abounding in wild and magnificent scenery, that the greatest river on the continent enters upon its long course of 4,450 miles. For nearly fifty miles, the line follows its various windings, until finally the river runs away northward through that profound chasm known as the Grand Cañon of the Missouri, or the Gates of the Rocky Mountains. Visitors to Helena will find an excursion to the Grand Cañon, occupying not necessarily more than two days' time, one of the most delightful experiences of their transcontinental journey. The most important town between Bozeman and Helena, is Townsend, the shipping and distributing point for no inconsiderable portion of one of the best counties in Montana. It has daily communication by coach with White Sulphur Springs, a health resort of great local repute. This coming rival of older and hitherto more famous spas, lies in a beautiful valley, 5,070 feet above sea-level, and surrounded by
{'title': 'Wonderland; or, Alaska and the Inside Passage by John Hyde and Frederick Schwatka', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}