is for the most part prairie land, rising rapidly in the direction of
the west, and forming the approach to the mighty Rockies. The western
portion, bordering upon Idaho, is much more mountainous in character.
Some 50,000 square miles of hilly country are to be seen here, many of
the peaks rising to heights exceeding 10,000 feet. The State alone is
larger in area than the entire British Islands, and it is infinitely
larger than the whole of New England. That it is a country of
magnificent distances, is shown from the fact that the northern frontier
equals in length the distance between the great seat of learning and
culture in Massachusetts and the capital city of the short-lived
Confederacy.

Although most of Montana is rich in either agriculture or mineral, a
considerable area is occupied by the notorious Bad Lands. General Sully
described these lands very accurately, or at least aptly, when he said
that they reminded him of "the other place with the fires out." So many
descriptions of the Bad Lands have been given, that we need scarcely
refer to them at great length. The clay, rock and peculiar dust which
lies all around this territory becomes, on the slightest provocation,
the nastiest kind of quicksand. Nothing can thrive or prosper in the Bad
Lands which, however, are full of evidences of prehistoric life and
which, perhaps, at one time were the scenes of activity and even
prosperity.

In exact contrast to the Bad Lands is the Gallatin Valley, about four
hundred square miles in extent. It is stated to be one of the most
fertile spots in the world, and by common consent it has been called the
Egypt of Montana. A portion of it has been cultivated, and its yield per
acre has been found to be prodigious. At no great distance from this
fertile spot, two of America's most remarkable rivers have their rise.