28 THE IDAHO AND MONTANA BOUNDARY LINE 



the Clark Fork of the Columbia at an altitude of about 2,220 feet, 

 then climbs to tlie summit of the Cabinet Mountains, reaching at this 

 point an elevation of G, 670 feet. Continuing from this locality, it in- 

 tersects many canyons tributary to the Kootenai River and crosses the 

 latter, touching the platform of the station-house at liConia, a station 

 on tlie Great Northern Railroad, at an elevation of 1,824 feet; thence 

 it ascends anotlier high ridge, the Yak Mountain, reaching an alti- 

 tude of 6,585 feet, whence there is a gradual descent, crossing, how- 

 ever, many lateral streams to the international boundary, at which 

 point the elevation is about 4,500 feet. The country traversed is ex- 

 tensively trenched with canyons of considerable depth, and the sides 

 of the mountains are in many places very ])reci|)itous. The })rofile 

 shows a total rise and fall of about 63,000 feet. The line is for the 

 most jiart through a heavily timbered country, and there are few roads 

 or trails, so that the question of transportation was a rather difficult 

 one. The length of the line surveyed i)asses through a latitudinal 

 interval of 1° 1' 24.65", or about 70* miles. 



Previous to the work herein referred to, no attemi)t had ever been 

 made to locate and mark the Idaho-Montana boundar}' line, but the 

 Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railways had estimated the 

 points at which it crossed their line and established marks according 

 to this estimation. The accepted crossing on the Northern Pacific 

 was found to be about one-quarter of a mile w'est of the true line, and 

 that of the Great Northern about one mile east of the true line, along 

 the railwav line, but only about one-half mile east thereof in direct 

 longitude. Kootenai County, Idaho, spent a considerable sum of 

 money in grading a road up the mountain from Leonia toward 

 Sylvanite, which, when the boundary line was located soon after, was 

 found to be in Flathead County, Montana. 



The monuments used along the meridional ))ortion of the line are 

 of two kinds, stone and iron. The stone monuments are of granite, 

 six feet in length and ten inches square, undressed, exce[)t for spaces 

 sufficient to ])ermit of the cutting of the words " Idaho " and " Mon- 

 tana " on opposite sides. These monuments are placed in the more 

 })rominent localities and are monolithic in all cases w'hen it was pos- 

 sible to transport them in one mass to the proper position ; otherwise 

 they were cut in ten sections, so that the}^ could be carried on jiack 

 mules, and were bolted and cemented together when established in 

 place. The monuments at the international boundary and at the 

 summit of the Bitter Root Mountains (these being the terminal points 



