TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 7 



telling us that she had "a bad claim," which is, it -. 

 seems, Christian Science talk for a scalded foot. 



We reached Great Falls at breakfast-time, and the 

 cold was so intense the windows of the heated car 

 became steamed beyond a possibility of outlook, and 

 when one wished to view the snow-covered land- 

 scape there was nothing for it but to brave the terrors 

 of the chilly platform of a rear car. Everything in 

 Great Falls was on runners, made into sleighs, and 

 the last we saw of Miss Potts was her departure in a 

 hired hack, its body set right on the snow, and all 

 the portmanteaux and kit bumping along behind, 

 tied on to an improvised platform. 



It was a world of dazzling whiteness, the whole of 

 the vast Missouri River, with a water-power second 

 only to Niagara, frozen over. 



So at last we came to Butte City, surely the ugliest 

 town in all America. Like some Gargantuan bar- 

 nacle it clings to the hillside, and over it, grey and 

 sombre, looms a pall of smoke, tinged green with - 

 the fumes from the famous smelters. No flowers or 

 grass grow in Butte. They cannot. And if some 

 stray enterprising young shoot does peep out it soon 

 alacks the day and withers away in horror at the vista 

 it has been born to. Never was there such a rushing 

 place as Butte. It just seems to take away one's 

 breath. The drum of the energetic Salvationist 

 fights for the mastery over the strident music of the 

 myriad saloons, which, with doors ever a-swing, 

 radiate warmth and Nirvana. All the hurrying men 

 and no one ever walks slowly look tense and 



