THROUGH WONDERLAND. 
23 
of fall wheat, to the acre in this valley, and its barley is of such superior 
excellence as to be in great demand for malting purposes at Milwaukee and 
other Eastern cities. 
Twenty-nine miles west of Bozeman, are Gallatin City, and the bright little 
town of Three Forks, commanding the valleys of the Madison and Jefferson, 
the agricultural lands of which, now being brought under cultivation, are not 
inferior to those of the older settled valley of the Gallatin. 
Four miles more, and the tourist comes upon a point of considerable geo¬ 
graphical interest, the three mountain streams just mentioned pouring their 
waters into a common channel, to form the Missouri river. It is through a 
rocky canon, abounding in wild and magnificent scenery, that the greatest river 
on the continent enters upon its long course of 4,450 miles. For nearly fifty 
miles, the line follows its various windings, until finally the river runs away 
northward through that profound chasm known as the Grand Canon of the 
Missouri, or the Gates of the Rocky Mountains. Visitors to Helena will find 
an excursion to the Grand Canon, occupying not necessarily more than two 
days’ time, one of the most delightful experiences of their transcontinental 
journey. 
The most important town between Bozeman and Helena, is Townsend, the 
shipping and distributing point for no inconsiderable portion of one of the best 
counties in Montana. It has daily communication by coach with White Sul¬ 
phur Springs, a health resort of great local repute. This coming rival of older 
and hitherto more famous spas, lies in a beautiful valley, 5,070 feet above sea- 
level, and surrounded by the grandest of Rocky Mountain scenery. Its accom¬ 
modations for visitors of all classes are most excellent, including, as they do, 
one of the best hotels in the Territory. Six miles distant are Castle Mountain 
and Crystal Cave, the latter a cavern of great extent, having twenty-three separ 
rate chambers, full of curious and beautiful stalactitic and stalagmitic forma¬ 
tions. The town, mountain and cavern were all fully described and admirably 
illustrated in the West Shore Magazine for July, 1885. 
Not so much by way of tribute, either to its own beauty or that of its sit¬ 
uation, as in recognition of its wealth, its commercial importance and the com¬ 
manding position it has so long occupied in the mining world, Helena, the 
capital of the Territory, is called the Queen of the Mountains. Situated on the 
eastern slope of the continental divide, 1,155 miles from St. Paul, it became a 
great distributing point and financial centre, even when hundreds of miles of 
mountain and prairie separated it from the nearest railroad. Dependent upon 
the Missouri river for its commercial intercourse with the world, it was in a 
state of well-nigh complete isolation during the greater part of every year. 
Under other conditions, this comparative isolation would have stunted its 
growth and cramped the energies of its people. But with the assured product 
of their labor such a commodity as gold, with its universality of demand and 
stability of value, the sturdy settlers in Fast Chance Gulch had always the most 
powerful of incentives to restless energy. With the steadily increasing pro- 
