GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 87 



receiving its iintiition from the detritus washed down from the mountains 

 and from the deposits of frequent overflows, is rich, deep, and strong, 

 yielding readily to culture. Ample facilities for irrigation are aiibrded 

 by the river and small streams that feed it. There is not a liner stock 

 raising region on the continent. Favored in its location with a dry, 

 pure atmosphere, rain occurring only for a few days in the spring, snow 

 seldom falling in the valley of sufricient depth to bury the herbage, and 

 the weather, with the exception of an occasional day in winter, never 

 so cold as to render a shelter necessary for cattle, it seemed to us to 

 unite more of the needful elements for successful stock-raising than 

 any other, equal portion of the mountain-region. My opinion in this 

 respect haei been fully realized by the experience of cattle and sheep 

 raisers in like regions of Montana, who upon these extensive valley 

 ranges, which alfbid constant and abundant food both winter and sum- 

 mer, producing beef and mutton equal in fatness and superior in tlavor 

 to the best stall-fed meats of Illinois, have found the country ])eculiarly 

 favorable to the increase of their Hocks and herds. Heifers give birth 

 to young oftener at the age of fifteen to eighteen months than at any 

 later period. Frequently those of more mature age produce twins, and 

 wirh many flocks of e\»"es a single lamb at a birth is an exce})rion to 

 the common experience. Disease of any kind is unknown among cattle 

 and sheep, and it is only when the snows are very deep and the weather 

 very cold that they suffer from exposure. With ordinary care and pro- 

 vision this exigency could be easily anticipated. In addition to the 

 Teton Basin, there is enough of the Territory which w-e passed through 

 that is thus favored to feed millionsof cattleand sheep for all tisne to come. 

 ISTature has furnished this far-away region with a valley and river sys- 

 tem peculiarly adapted to its isolated geographical position, and with- 

 out which, even in its present form, it would be comparately valueless. 

 Cast your eye upon the map at the junction of the three strea-ms which 

 form the Missouri, the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin. Each of these 

 rivers, divided from the others by loity mountain-ranges, 13ows thj-ough 

 a broad and fertile valley of great extent a!id beauty. These valleys are 

 from sixty to eighty miles in length, with an average width of ten miles. 

 The Gallatin is the largest and most jncturesque, and, perhaps, the best 

 adapted of the three to all the purposes of culture. The river, which 

 from its soujx-e to its mouth is a continuous torrent, divides the valley 

 centrally, and furnishes, by its deposits, a black soil of a mile in width 

 on either side, which is covered for the most part with a dense, heavy 

 growth of Cottonwood, sufficient for all the purposes of fencing and fuel 

 for many years to come. Outside of this continuous grove of cotton- 

 wood, the valley spreads away on either side of the river a distance of 

 six or eight miles, to the low grass-covered foot-hills, which in their turn 

 extend to the base of parallel ranges of lofty mountains. Every foot 

 of the land thus inclosed, embracing a territory nearly as large as Ver- 

 mont, affords in its natural condition the richest pasturage in the world. 

 By the simple cultivation of the plow and harrow, it can, in a single sea- 

 son, be converted into a wheat-field which will yield an average crop of 

 forty bushels to the acre. Crops of vegetables raised in this soil will 

 average, in size, one-third more and some — cabbages, turnips, and 

 especially beets — one-half more than the best root-crops of the ^^'estern 

 States. I have never seen such abundant and perfect crops of wheat, 

 oats, barley, potatoes, and all vegetables, as are commonly raised in 

 these valleys. Indian corn, unless of tbe small flint variety, is an un- 

 certain crop, on account ot the early frosts, and but very little has yet 

 been raised for harvesting. 



