The west shore., January 01, 1889, Page 44, Image 45

THE WEST SHOEE.
41
are a part of the I'nion Pacific tyttem. Only by connection
with the Central Pacific, at Otfden for Sun Francisco, and at
Huntington with the Oregon Railway it Navigation Company
for Portland dues the Union Pacific now reach a western sea
port. Hut now a dimwit ion is manifested to give this impor
tant railway fystem a letter hold on the husiness of the Pa
cific nlojic. Instead of U'ing at Ihe mercy of its connecting
lines for Pacific coaM traffic the I'nion Pacific is now moving
to extend it h own lines to tide water and imjtortant trade cen
ters on the Pacific coast. Surveying parties have for some
lime lwn in the field locating a line to run from Ogden through
Northeastern Nevada and Southwestern Idaho, through Oregon
to Portland, and Northern California to San Francisco. Just
where this line will divide to go to San Francisco and Portland
ban not yet Wn determined. It will pass through a vast tract
of country as yet uninvaded hy railroads, and ojien up the rich
ness of a region hy many euposed to he all desert and lava
led. The chief industry of that section now is stock raising,
and the herds roam over a vast stretch of country that would
1k made choice agricultural land hy irrigation. This is especi
ally true of Idaho and Nevada. Put a railroad through that
country would give a great incentive to irrigation and kindred
enterprises for rendering the soil fertile and would promote the
development of the full resources of the region. The proposed
lines of this road are through a section that is now as remote,
prohahly, as any jiortion of the United States from railroads.
There is also some talk in railroad circles ahout the Chicago &
Northwestern huiMing a line from its present western exten
sion to the Pacific through nearly the same section the Union
Prcific's engineers have Wen oerating in. It is probable that
not many months will pans Wfore there wi'l develop projects
for adding two more transcontinental lines to comjete for the
carrying business of this coast. The joint lease of the 0. R. &
N. by the Oregon Short Line and the Northern Pacific and the
union of the Central and Southern Pacific system makes the sit
uation of roads docndent iion those for coast business un
satisfactory and they will endeavor to Ik independent of the
regulations of com'ting translation lines by building their
own roads. The Manitoba is another railway that is surely
aiming for the Pacific.
Cahti-k Mot'NTAts MiXEs.-Among the new mining district
coming into prominence, that of Castle Mountain, Montana is
taking a leading jwition. Its prominence is caused by the fact
that there is found the only carbonate ore yet discovered in
Montana, and localise a numUr of leads that have Wen own
ed have paid for their working from the very In-ginning The
leading mines now Wing developed, and on the remarkable
Rowing of which the prophesies of greatness for the camp are
Urge y predicated, are the Judge, I,ga Tender, Alice, Black
Hawk, H.dden Treasure, Sir KoWrt Pil, (iladstone, Tiernev
Yellowstone, CumWrUnd, (irand Central and Jumbo V
smelter was put in last nn.ner, and it. work has demon
Mrated the remarkable richness of the ore found in a
the mmes enumerated. An old Wadville miner recently ex
posed an opinion aWut Castle that is baed on hisexwl
enee, and the opinion of a practical miner is often worth LL
than that of the highest,,ic,d exrt. He sail
fee a big mining excitement in lss-. In lS-h it r
fcklnl9 it was Pike's ,kf in
18 t was I.adville, and in 1SS, all old mine. J
stamHe to t to Montana. Montana has never 1,1 Z .
He, and yet , led the country with WtoWtoT
prxxlucts. Kvery old miner in the United ttates !
which the stampede will run. I came to the Castle camnl.
cause I heard of it everywhere. I didn't happen to drift
but came because in my judgment it is the coming camp. cw'
bonates have never been found anywhere else in Montana and
while they may be discovered in other localities, for the sur
face of this territory has only been scratched over, I never saw
in any camp a mine which paid for working from the start and
where they took out such silver and lead ore from the gra
roots as they have in the Judge mine and others in the Castle
group. If the present results continue, it is my opinion that
she will be greater than Leadville, and in this opinion I am
joined by hundreds of other experienced miners, of whom I
may mention Mr. Billy Wilson, of the famous Lake Valley
mines of New Mexico. There isn't an ounce of refractory ore
in the camp. Why, you can put the ore in a pan and melt it
down on a blacksmith's forge. That little smelter at Castle it
the only one I ever heard of which started right out from the
beginning and ran continuously without chilling or freezing,
and I don't believe this ore will be discovered again anywhere
in this country."
The Tuget Sound Country. The American Agricultural
has the following description of Puget sound and the florae!
Washington : The most important towns in Western Washing
ton are situated on Puget sound, one of the most beautiful in
land seas in the world, and the only one which commands such
magnificent views of water, forest and snow-capped mountain!
in immediate proximity. It has been called the Mediterranean
of America ; but the metaphor is misleading, for while the Eu
ropean fea reveals only scenes identified with civilization, here
all is primeval evpansiveness and rugged grandeur. Hemmed
in by dark green forests that extend in an unbroken mass from
the Pacific ocean on the west to the snow-capped Cascades in
the east, and locked in the embrace of two mountain chains
ranging from five thousand to fourteen thousand feet in alti
tude, it presents a panorama of wild and luxuriant beauty.
This tianquil sea, which is almost as placid as a park lake in
summer, has a length of one hundred and twenty miles, a coast
line of sixteen hundred miles, and has an area of two thousand
square miles. It has as many windings through the forest as
Cretan Labyrinth had, but the main channel is direct enough,
its deflection from a straight course being very slight. It con
tains several basin-like harbors, on whose shores the principal
towns and lumber mills are situated. These have a sufficient
depth of water to enable the largest sea-going vessels to tie np
to the wharves without any apprehensions about low tide.
Puget Found U probably the only sea which is blamed for hav
ing too great a depth of water. The shores are so bold that
ships can haul alongside them and make fast to a tree and be
as safe as if they were in dry docks, as stoims can not read
them owing to the protecting forests. The lover of botany d
find the vales and prairies of this region exceedingly attractive,
for out of the four hundred Ppecies of flowers gathered in the
territory, one hundred and fifty are indigenous to the prain
The flora are distinguished by their "loudness " of color, con
pared with their eastern or European kindred, the most promi
nent hues being pink, crimson, white, yellow, red,
purple. This brilliancy is probable due to an abundance i
heat, moisture and light, and in some instances to a fertile
Modest blue is rarely seen; 'so it is evident that warm
abundant rains have a marked influence on color.
Indians of Montana. The annual reports of the seven
-'rnment Indian interesting1'
o" v uuuKuia ouun nvu. - .
regarding the condition and progress they are making-