122 
GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
On leaving Helena the traveler has a good view of the setting of 
the city at the mouth of Last Chance Gulch, with the prominent 
lated the ae for the precious metals all 
over the Terri 
ive baning laid ores in the vicinity 
of Wickes, Jefferson, and Clancy, 20 
without reat and cheap transporta- 
i t need of the Territory at 
this time was an adequate system of rail- 
way transportation, connecting with the 
centers of civilization. Freight rates 
during the first decade were an enormous 
drain on the resources of the Territory, 
costing between $1,500,000 and $2,000,000 
every year, even after the population 
had shrunk to 18,000. The chief over- 
land transportation r route was Missouri 
But this period of high water lasted from 
four to six weeks only, and steamers were 
se of the Union Pacific Railroad 
This, however, involved a haul 
by teams of 450 miles, and the tolls were 
oppressive, costing $37.50 for each wagon 
from Salt Lake to Helena. 
In 1883 the Northern Pacific Railway 
was pecantcerd . Helena, and the first 
train crossed 1 Divide west 
of Helena on pa 7 of that year. The 
arrival of the first regular train at Helena 
on July 4, 1883, was the occasion of a great 
celebration; but the special feature of the 
day was the departure of the first ‘‘bul- 
lion train,” carrying — oe of 
silver bullion from Montana 
This line, which is now a part of the 
Havre-Butte branch of the Great North- 
way, connected Helena and 
Wickes, 20 miles apart. The lead smelter 
at Wickes was rebuilt and enlarged, so 
that it was for some years the most ex- 
tensive reduction plant in Montana and 
drew ores from a large area, including the 
Coeur d’Alene district of Idaho. In 1889 
it was shut down and dismantled. The 
te has overtaken the many small 
smelters built in the region tributary to 
Helena, and at present the only smelter 
The period from 1883 to 1893 comprises 
the years during which a large output of 
silver and lead was maintained. The 
gold obtained from veins during this 
period came largely from the district at 
the heads of Oro Fino and Grizzly gulches 
and from the Marysville district, 17 miles 
northwest of Helena, which began to 
come into — in 1880. At pres- 
ent mining activity is, on the whole, at 
a rather low ebb throughout the region 
tributary to Helena, the annual produc- 
tion fluctuating around $1,000,000. The 
total yield in gold, silver, lead, and 
copper aggregates between $150,000,000 
and eae ,000,000. 
a lies on the south side of a great 
Suessatanped uplift, whose center is some- 
where north of the Scratch Gravel Hills, 
the center of this uplift, but there are 
many minor folds or wrinkles on the 
flanks of the dome that in places even 
produce dips in the opposite direction. 
About Helena the general dip is toward 
the south, whereas at Mullan Pass it is 
toward the southwest. The rocks about 
Helena are broken by a number of faults, 
which in general ray out like the spokes 
of a wheel from the center of the uplift. 
The rocks here are much like those ex- 
t and pressure thus developed. 
