2 MONTANA. 



settlers, for both the rigours of a Canadian winter 

 and the heat of a tropical summer are experienced 

 within its limits ; while the fluctuations from the 

 one extreme of temperature to the other are so 

 sudden, that only persons possessed of the hardiest 

 constitutions are able to bear them with impunity. 



At the same time, it must not be imagined that 

 this territory is all a barren waste ; for such is not the 

 case. Valleys, sometimes of great extent, intersect 

 its limits ; but these are so small in proportion to 

 the rugged mountain-tracts and precipitous sierras, 

 that they are the exceptions, not the rule. 



Since the discovery of gold in California the 

 Pacific slopes of the North American continent have 

 undergone changes, by the building of cities, the 

 constant influx of emigrants from East and West, 

 and the formation of routes for traftic, that cannot 

 probably be paralleled in the history of the earth ; 

 but, as might naturally be supposed, these trans- 

 formations have been confined to those localities 

 most favoured by nature ; and great as they have 

 been, there still remains farther to the south so 

 much wild and untenanted land, suitable for tillage, 

 that a quarter of a century at the very least will 

 be required before the greater portion of it has been 

 surveyed, formed into counties, and allotted to resi- 

 dent white men. And until this is so effectually 

 done that no space is left on which the hardy 

 squatter can at will take up his residence, build his 

 home, and exercise the authority of lord and master 



