164 THE BEEF BONANZA. 



fine and sleek. There is plenty of timber on the 

 mountain-sides and in the canons, and a thick under- 

 growth of bushes in which there is an abundance of 

 berries. In such a country game must abound, and 

 here are found the moose, elk, buffalo, deer, antelope, 

 cinnamon and black bears, badgers, beavers, martins, 

 mink, and a variety of other wild animals. 



The Crow Indians, one of the largest tribes of Indians 

 left in the United States, live on the Yellowstone Eiver 

 in Montana. They still number over three thousand 

 souls, and can muster and put in the saddle six hun- 

 dred warriors. They are very friendly with the whites, 

 and make it their boast that they never yet killed a 

 white man except in self-defence. From their reser- 

 vation they annually make their way to the buffalo 

 hunting-grounds on the Muscleshell River, and return 

 laden with dried meat and robes. 



Montana has as yet no railroad, but many fine wagon- 

 roads. The one leading from Corrinne, on the Central 

 Pacific Railroad, to Helena is a fine thoroughfare, and 

 over four hundred miles long. The road from Virginia 

 City to Helena is also an excellent one. A road was 

 made in the summer of 1869 from Bozeman across the 

 country to the mouth of Muscleshell and thence back 

 to Helena. It was thought that freight would be 

 brought up to the mouth of the river by boats on the 

 Missouri River and freighted across the country to such 

 points as it might be destined for, but this has been 

 superseded by the railroad, and now, unless the cost 

 of carriage is too dear, the freighting will be nearly all 

 done by the Union Pacific to Ogden, and thence by the 



