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Show YlJTTl.lS WKSTKRX HISTORY MoiUniiil ws "Tlu American Wou-n-land" of the railroad folders back '" .71) but the lund.kers and for-ine for-ine hunters lured by the glowing miphlets were routed through Utah. One uu-t keL'y liivu lacts 1,1 """d i properly visualize, in this day of ,-ed highway, motor cars and traii-"j'ntinenial traii-"j'ntinenial limiteds, the rigors ol vel less than one-half cenirry back " rue founders of the Union Paclv, j ttieir immediate successors seen. 0 have been possessed of an abiding o! timisni as to the future of the west liud, beyondi question, this was a vital vi-tal factor in the fulfillment. By ex-u ex-u ing confldeuce they inculcated u - lers with the belief essential to ac-uun ac-uun induced them to come wes. r i built up the continent, asking 011ly that they travel U. P. Eveu to that day Salt Lake City w..s recognized as the hub of the in-lei-mountain west, and the folders devoted de-voted to ekploitations of the won. dti-s of Montana had many good things to say about Utah. The Unlou Pacific was ten years old. In .that de cade which followed the hammering of the golden spike, the Utah Centra, extending along the Utah Southern, with its terminus at York, and the Utah & Northern, with rail endi at E.gle Rock, Idaho, had become important im-portant feeders of the arterial line at Ogden. From York south along what 1j new the Zion park highway, to St. George, and north from Eagle Rock to Helena, daily stage and telergaaph lines were operated in conjunction with the local railroads. Transportation Transporta-tion was by horse or mule drawh vehicle, stage coach or freight wagon ovr these last legs of the journeys to either the Montana wonderland, where wages andl produce were high, or to the "cotton lands of sernitropi-cal sernitropi-cal Utah." where the potential wealth of natural resources was the prime attraction. at-traction. "To Montana and the American wonderland, where there are royal opportunities for the capitalist and prospector alike," and the importance of scenic offerings as an inducement to travel, was not overlooked. "Some of the grandest scenic attractions at-tractions In the known world!" "The lovely, fruitful vales along il-.j rugged Wasatch range, in northern north-ern Utah; the wonderful lava fissures in eastern Idaho, sometimes of unfathomable un-fathomable depth, and through which th-) great Snake river pours its waters to the western sea; the hundred snowy sno-wy peaks of the beautiful Salmon tauge, me glaciers 01 me inree Tctons the most qnique and preci pitous landmark in the Rocky mountains moun-tains andl the glorious, pine-clati swells fo the main range at the south-en south-en Montana boundary are amony tntures of this new 'out west' pano-n' pano-n' na afforded from palace and parlor par-lor car windows on the Utah and rthern railway." Such mastery of sustained effort must be the despair of modern press intents. Already the superlative had lrm used to emphasize "unique," ai'l the word artist employed by the railroad had made the most of what v-s given him. And the Yellowstone was given an entire page to itself. This particular "one ol Old Jim Bridger's lies" had already become Yellowstone Nations' Nation-s' park, and the railroad's publicity ii'.-'n were forced to acJmlt at tse start an inability to properly describe this "moontaln-locked gem of all the world, our 'nation's pleasure ground,' v.'hlch was about to receive the tri-'uttaa tri-'uttaa of admiring thousands through "'a gin dofflces of the Utah & Northern. North-ern. You could save money, time anci 1000 miles of diBtanoe to all points in Montana and) Yellowstone park and avoid the perils and delays 01 river navagatlon by going via the only on-ly direct and desirable route the l''iIon Pacific and the Utah & Northern North-ern railroads and their rlosely ron- cting and well equipped stage lines." So the folder said;' and the traveler travel-er was' admonished to "practice eco-1,1 eco-1,1 my" by rail travel so as to avoid delays at "river towns, where hotel ''ills soon cost emigrants more than thoir passage." If the inducement of speed, econ "'y and scenic attraction failedi. the Propagandist still had access to a fi-n"r fi-n"r argument, an ace-in-the-hole af f;,T, intended to clinch "the business. "Beware" the folder warned "ai Missouri river navigation and tne ' "nton stage road!" and under such Peasant headings as "Road Flooded ai'd Impassable!" "Stages Taken Off" "One Bottomless Mudhole!" anu ''' a Most Deplorable Condition!" tendered quotations from such re-,r"le re-,r"le sources as the Helena Independ June 1878 ; Helena Herald, July 1"78; and address before the Helena lord of trade. September 6, 1S7S. I and the Fort Benton Record, Septem- iH'r 1S78. I Evidence that they had boards of trade in the new territory, whos.-menibers whos.-menibers assembled at intervals to hear reports an dpass resolutions on mutters of public moment, also, that the- newspapers of that day recognized transportation as the function vital to community welfare. And effective April 1. 1ST!), tne fares from Omaha to Lovells. Virgin ia City. Butte, Deer Lodge. Helen-and Helen-and other central points were established estab-lished at $100, $75 and $45 for first, second and third class passage, respectively. res-pectively. The first class passenger, at rail end, proceeded by fast stage; sec ond class passengers went by covered mail wagon, while the third-class had access to a seat on a freight wagon and the privilege of buying meals at 5 0c a day. So they came to Montana where cooks could demand $110 per month and board as against $60 being paid in the east, and where chambermaids were paid as high as their school-teaching school-teaching sisters back home. To Montana Mon-tana where farming, stock-raising and dairying were carried on under bright skies, and where, on a farm that cost practically nothing (so the folder says) the following showing could be made in comparison with the eastern land costing from $40 to $75 per acre. The folder lists the various kinds of produce and, in adjoining columns the eastern prices followed by Montana Mon-tana prices for each commodity. Bacon, per pound, 5 cents and 15 cents; cheese, 8 cents and 50 cents; onions 1 cent and 6 cents and wheat; 1 1-2 cents and 2 cents, to cite but a; few of the long listings. One entire side of the twenty-eight page folder was devoted to a map designed much after the fashion of u'' modern railroad folder, ejeept, per -j haps simewhat more in detail as u-the- wealth of the various territories served by the Union Pacific. Colorado, Wyoming, r'daho and Utah were laic: out and marked to indicate just what was the chief inducement of any section. sec-tion. Thus, if the prospect was not induced in-duced to visit the west, something on the map might start him west for some intermediate point. And so they brought them west on the "Iron Horse" in the late '70's into in-to an "almost undeveloped region' to grow, develop, prosper and become be-come great commonwealths shaking off territorial insignificance marching march-ing forward to fulfill every promise of the folder. , . , . |