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Illustrations:
Head-Quarters and Offices, Northern Pacific Railroad Company, St. Paul, Minn. 0
St. Paul, Minn. 17
Minneapolis, Minn. 26
Duluth, Minn. 53
Bonanza Wheat Farming - Plowing 84
Bonanza Wheat Farming - Seeding 87
Bonanza Wheat Farming - Harrowing 91
Bonanza Wheat Farming - Harvesting 96
The Northern Pacific Railroad Bridge over the Missouri River 112
Buttes in Pyramid Park 130
Pyramid Park Scenery 132
Eagle Cliff, near Glendive, Mont. 145
Buffalo Hunting in Eastern Montana 154
Current Ferry over the Yellowstone River 162
Big Horn River, Bridge and Tunnel 164
Indian Camp on the Line of the N.P.R.R. 167
Driving Cattle from the Range to the Railroad 173
Gates of the Mountains, near Livingston, Mont. 179
Three Forks of the Missouri River 180
Gates of the Rocky Mountains, near Helena, Mont. 186
Beaver Hill, Hell Gate Canon, near Missoula, Mont. 195
Marent Gulch Bridge, Coriacan Defile 197
Alice Falls, Mont 199 Cabinet Gorge, on the Clark’s Fork River 205
Lake Pend D’Oreille, Idaho Territory 208
Lake Coeur D’Alene, Idaho Territory 210
Spokane Falls, Washington Territory 215
Along the Cliffs of the Columbia 236
Cascades on the Columbia River 239
Multnomah Falls on the Columbia 240
Castle Rock on the Columbia 242
Cape Horn on the Columbia 244
Pillars of Hercules and Rooster Rock 246
Portland, Oregon 248
Iron Mountain, Cow Creek Canyon, Southern Oregon 250
Tacoma, Washington Territory 262
Seattle, Puget Sound, Washington Territory 264
Distant View of Mount Tacoma 266
Glaciers of Mount Tacoma 268
Glaciers of Mount Tacoma 270
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Excerpts:
A typical station description:
Villard (53 miles from Little Falls, and 116 miles from Minneapolis; population, 450.) This village, named after the President of the Northern Pacific Railroad, is situated in Pope County. A year ago, the present site of the town was a wheat field, and afforded a camping place for a party of sixty gentlemen from England, who came annually to enjoy themselves in bagging game and catching fish at a chain of pretty lakes beginning one-third of a mile from the village. The first train reached Villard about September 1st, 1882. On the 13th of the same month several car loads of lumber arrived, and an enterprising man began the erection of a store. This was the signal for a rapid immigration, lots speedily advancing from $50 to $200. The growth has been steady ever since, there being already established Baptist, Methodist and United Brethren church societies, with schools, the usual stores, and all other appurtenances of a thriving village.
Commentary on the evolution of the western
frontier:
How solemn and beautiful the thought, that the earliest pioneer of civilization, the van-leader of civilization, is never the steamboat, never the railroad, never the Sabbath school, never the missionary but always whisky! Such is the case. Look history over; you will see. The missionary comes after the whisky (I mean he arrives after the whisky has arrived); next comes the poor immigrant, with axe and hoe and rifle; next, the trader; next, the miscellaneous rush; next, the gambler, the desperado, the highwayman, and all their kindred in sin of both sexes; and next, the smart chap who has bought up an old grant that covers all the land; this brings the lawyer tribe; the vigilance committee brings the undertaker. All these interests bring the newspaper; the newspaper starts up politics and a railroad; all hands turn to and build a church and a jail and behold, civilization is established forever in the land. But whisky, you see, was the van-leader in this beneficent work. It always is. It was like a foreigner and excusable in a foreigner to be ignorant of this great truth, and wander off into astronomy to borrow a symbol. But if he had been conversant with the facts, he would have said: "Westward the Jug of Empire takes its way." This great van-leader arrived upon the ground which St. Paul now occupies in June, 1837. Yes, at that date Pierre Parrant, a Canadian, built the first cabin, uncorked his jug, and began to sell whisky to the Indians. The result is before us.
Sample of local history (a flour mill explosion):
Through the conveyer 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 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 be 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.
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