51 
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 
width of 4 miles, whereas the width of the Missouri Valley rarely 
exceeds 3 miles. On this flood plain, known as the “second bottom,” 
is Fort Lincoln, to the left (south). This is the only military post now 
maintained near the Canadian border between Fort Snelling, at St. 
Paul, and Fort Assinniboine, at Havre, Mont. Opposite the peni- 
tentiary the Northern Pacific crosses a branch of the Soo Line which 
extends up the river as far as Washburn. 
Bismarck, the capital of the State, was named in honor of the great 
erman chancellor. This town was the western 
Bismarck. terminus of the Northern Pacific Railway from 
Elevation 1,692 feet. 1873, when all construction work was stopped by 
Population 5,443. 
the financial panic, to 1878, and was originally 
called Edwinton, for Edwin F, Johnson, the first 
chief engineer of the road. 
Those who are in the habit of reading the daily weather reports 
may have noted that Bismarck has about as great a range of tempera- 
ture throughout the year as any other place where observations are 
recorded. In summer the thermometer occasionally registers 100° 
or more, and in winter it is frequently as low as 40° below zero. 
The precipitation is only 18 or 19 inches a year, compared with 28 
inches at Minneapolis. This difference in the amount of moisture 
received is largely the cause of the difference in the appearance of 
the two regions. 
West of the station at Bismarck the railway skirts the eastern bluffs 
of the river for a distance of 2 miles upstream and then crosses on a 
steel bridge to the west side. 
St. Paul 446 miles. 
’ At present Missouri River has little 
effect on the commercial and industrial 
life of the northwestern part of the United 
States, but before the construction of the 
transcontinental railways it was a most 
important factor, first in the exploration 
_ of that part of the country and second in 
its commercial development. 
The country about Bismarck and Man- 
up the river, but almost every day groups 
of these Indians can be seen about the 
station at Mandan or on the local trains of 
the river branch. 
The earliest recorded visit of a white 
man to these Indians was that of Veran- 
drye in 1738-1742, when he attempted to 
cross the continent to the Pacific coast. 
David Thompson, of the Northwest Fur 
Co., was here in 1797, and Lewis and 
Clark wintered about 50 miles north of 
i k in 1804-5. After that date 
many explorers and traders came this 
way, gradually extending their opera- 
tions westward until they finally overran 
the whole region, even including the 
rougher parts of the Rocky Mountains, 
Supplies were sent to the fur-trading sta- 
tions by boat up the Missouri from St. 
Louis, and the furs obtained from the 
Indians found their way to the outside 
world by the same route. The river at 
was experienced in getting supplies to its 
upper waters. Theriver traffic wasgreatly 
were employed in the trade. 
of the Northern Pacific Railway, when 
