192 THE BEEF BONANZA. 



ticular account, but to speak of all in detail would 

 swell the size of this chapter beyond its proper propor- 

 tions, and the above will serve as samples of the rest. 



In regarding Montana the reader must remember 

 that this Territory is now almost isolated from the 

 great and stirring events which are going on in the 

 new path of commerce which stretches across the con- 

 tinent. It seems to be, and really is, one of the most 

 remote portions of our country, blocked in by the far 

 Western States and those of the Pacific, and having for 

 its boundary on the north the bleak and almost limit- 

 less British possessions. 



It is a majestic, wild, and solitary land, embracing 

 that region lying between the 45th and 49th parallels 

 of north latitude and the 27th and 39th meridians west 

 from Washington. It contains an area of 143,766 square 

 miles, — equal to 92,016,640 acres, — extending from 

 east to west about 750 miles, and from north to south 

 about 275 miles. This area is nearly equal to that of 

 California, and three times that of New York. 



Of this region the surveyor-general, in his report for 

 1869, estimates that fully 30,672,216 acres are suscep- 

 tible of cultivation. 



This is about one-third of the Territory. The other 

 two-thirds comprise the main range of the Rocky 

 Mountains, running north and south across the Terri- 

 tory, and numerous subordinate spurs, whose peaks 

 often surpass in altitude those of the main range. 



Among the spurs may be mentioned the -Coeur 

 d'Alene and Bitter Root Mountains, making the 

 dividing-line between Montana and Idaho on the west, 



