| Show THE WORK IN MONTANA lina LIMA beaverhead Beaver bead co MOD montana tanal june 80 1898 1896 after our excellent conference in bingham stake and parting with elders F D richards richard and S B young aunt zina D young sister F D richards and sister moncia elder M F cowley and I 1 took the train for lima montana while our near friends took the train for salt sail lake this parting will not soon be forgotten by us our field lies 1109 open before up new scenes and unknown friends are in the distance far away sat ant WO we have many MADY times before put our ur trust in god and faced a frowning frow world proclaiming a go gospel now new yet yes old and our success in the aaa gave us renewed courage at idaho falls the snake river is ie nigh and widespread and swiftly jo foaming aming pressing its ito way over the jails rapidly rushing through the two bridges which rest on high natural abutments abut menta as if provided by design lot for bobb the railroad and wagon road fridge capable of withstanding the mighty torrent seemingly for ages the stream la in raging at this season of the yeara when the melting snows of abe Us mountains often overflow A its books banks both above and below those narrow falls what makes those falls all the more wonderful to la the great depth of the water no one has ever been able to certain ascertain its depth before pawing passing over on the train we went over the bridge to witness the roaring furious body of water in its madness leaping through those two deep below the trembling yet substantial iron bridges many came to view the wild furious anti and almost awful boone we glided swift ly over and away leaving tile roar of the falls which cullu be heard board miles away and soon passed market lake which spreads out ml miles lea in width and up to the he railroad tra track ok this is in the same came snake liver which contracts itself into and over the roar ing idaho falls falle boon we sped oo on past market lake I 1 snake river and over an open country to beaver canyon miles out from salt lakeland lake and at an eleva alon of feet from beaver canyon we enter a narrow gorge with some bows small timber up thirteen miles to moulds where we find bure ourselves at an altitude of feet br feet higher than we were abir teen tean milts mile back sou and the highest point between salt lake and helena or great fulls falls our oas train from monida descended sixteen miles over the idaho line into lilaa montana and we found that we 8 had bad dropped down feet irom from the divide and that we were feet higher than bait fealt lake city utah the chain of mountains capped with snow which divide idaho imsho and montana although so high look much lower than they really are by reason of our attitudes altitude which to is faiet the scenery here in lima is lovely and what makes it to me all this more attractive is that here are the headwaters of the great missouri river these small streams aois from these moui mou talus run Into Wisdom river which empties into the jefferson JeP ereon thence into the madison river which forms forma a june lion with the mighty missouri river while gazing upon these mountains and streams stream the valley sod and small email railroad town I 1 fancy myself in my teens teene at the junction of the two great rivers mississippi and ouri and in 1887 helping to build up fort leavenworth on the banks of the great mi bourl river I 1 am almost lost in thought while reviewing my checkered mormon life of 63 years indeed it is a marvelous marve loua work and a wonder isaiaa chapter mormon missionaries sion aries erles on the headwaters of this wonderful and here saith the spirit Is ie a work for you elders M P F cowley and E stevenson to do thou then as a we take a plo pio lure of this romantic place the round house and variegated aLre akis of brown earth bargh and snow look jook lovely we now have our satchels in our handa bands and atre are at as the station perfect strangers st rangen the train steams ailsy away and we are left alone however we soon found a brother william P F hopkins and wife who received us with opeo open hearts and a room rom prepared tor for our comfort and rest real in the evening we held bold our first meeting with about fifteen souls pros pres exit ent and on the following abe loth of june we held bold our second meeting in a two story brick district school house boue the tolling bell brought about fifty out to hear what the strangers had to say aay we continued our meetings mee tioga every evening and visiting day by day president T E rieke of bannock stake idaho last fall had bad organized a branch of the church here bore but the transient elder who wee presiding elder of the lima branch had moved away in our meet meetings lugs we offered the renewal of the covenants by baptism and also to baptize others bad to bless bleas chi children luren and more complete organization of the bran branch cli on Satu saturday iday the in those headwaters of the missouri river we baptized sed three new members sod and administered live five on sunday the we confirmed the eight members and blessed five children dren and set not apart elder william T hopkins to preside over the lima branch we also met apart john M burt and austin W child both seventies to 0 o act with eldr aidt r hopkins Hop klos to teach and strengthen the branch on the sabbath we held bold P and have continued our mooting in the schoolhouse and have an increase of strangers et rangers to meet with us sod aud on friday the we had bad meeting in the thu baat place ot oi booting in the town there are about too ton baptisms ems applied for we feel encouraged cou raged with our labors in mo montana n tans and hove booe to continue on through montana ta washington oregon aud anti northern idaho with love and prosperity for all israel and the love and salvation of souls we are your brethren biet bren and follow fellow laborers boren Ja EDWARD STEVENSON M W F COWLEY |
