Montana is easily reached during the season of navigation by steamboats
on the Missouri river from St. Louis, from which point, without
obstruction or transshipment, the river is navigable to Fort Benton,
situated almost in the center of the territory, a distance of more than
twenty-five hundred miles. Here, too, there is a large and constant
supply of water, a matter of great difficulty and scarcity in other
mining districts. As the range of the Rocky Mountains in this vicinity
does not present that broken and rugged character which marks the other
ranges, the land is especially adapted for agricultural purposes, and
timber of all kinds abounds in sufficient quantities for all the
purposes of home consumption. Possessing these manifold and important
advantages, it is not strange that the country is not materially
dependent upon the railroads for its growth and present development.
These facts Manning gleaned in a conversation with the proprietor of the
hotel, while he was making his preparations to commence his search for
the man whose crime had led him such a long chase, and whose detection
now seemed hopefully imminent.
CHAPTER XXII.
In Helena--A Fruitless Quest--Jerry Taylor's Bagnio--Reliable
Tidings--A Midnight Ride--Arrival at Butte City.
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