raders and a number of missionaries,
who, in exercise of their duty, had no fear at all. The discovery of
gold which took place almost simultaneously with the firing of the first
shot in the conflict between the North and the South, brought thousands
of adventurers from all parts of the Union and introduced millions of
capital. Some of the mines turned out phenomenally successful, and
although there were the usual heart-burnings on account of failures, the
average of success was very great. The State's gold mines have yielded
fabulous sums, and more recently steps have been taken to extract from
the quartz and rock a full measure of wealth that is to be found there.

Montana is a Northwestern State in fact as well as name. It is situated
on the high plateau between the Continental Divide and the Bitter Root
Range. Fully one-fifth of its area lies beyond the Rocky Mountains, and
its northern boundary is the snow-covered region of Canada and British
Columbia. The eastern portion of the State, bordering upon the Dakotas,
is for the most part prairie land, rising rapidly in the direction of
the west, and forming the approach to the mighty Rockies. The western
portion, bordering upon Idaho, is much more mountainous in character.
Some 50,000 square miles of hilly country are to be seen here, many of
the peaks rising to heights exceeding 10,000 feet. The State alone is
larger in area than the entire British Islands, and it is infinitely
larger than the whole of New England. That it is a country of
magnificent distances, is shown from the fact that the northern frontier
equals in length the distance between the great seat of learning and
culture in Massachusetts and the capital city of the short-lived
Confederacy.

Although most of Montana is rich in either agriculture or mineral, a
considerable area is occupied by the notorious Bad Lands. General Sully
described these lands very accurately, or at least aptly, when he said
that they reminded him of "the other place with the fires out." So many
descriptions of the Bad Lands have been given, that we need scarcely
refer to them at great length. The clay, rock and peculiar dust which
lies all around this territory becomes, on the slightest provocation,
the nastiest kind of quicksand. Nothing can thrive or prosper in the Bad
Lands which, however, are full of evidences of prehistoric life and
which, perhaps, at one time were the scenes of activity and even
prosperity.

In exact co