The Montana Post

Montana Territory.

[For the Montana Post.] The region comprised within the present boundaries of this Territory was but a few years since designated on the maps of the country as an unknown waste. It was till then overspread by a veil of impenetrable gloom. The Territory would still be the haunts of the wild beast and the savage, had not the restless, tireless energy of American enterprise and adventure unlocked her stores of auriferous wealth, revealed her verdant hills and smiling valleys, and opened the way for that sweeping tide of immigration which with resistless force has since rolled across her trackless wilds. Now how changed the scene! Towns and villages are springing up on every hand—as if by magic, and many of her inviting hills and valleys resound with all the busy scenes of industry and civilization. It is evident, too, that her progress, marvellous as it has been, is by no means ephemeral. Her growth has not like Jonah's gourd, matured in a night, to wither in a day. But from all indications, her hold upon advancing civilization is as stable as the granite foundations on which the country is reared.

Her exhaustless stores of mineral wealth, together with her other ample capabilities for the maintenance of a people, are destined still to carry her on with rapid strides in the scale of importance, and soon to make her add another blazing star in the constellation of States.

What we now most require is to have the true character of our infant Territory known abroad, and even at home. Her soil, her formation, her natural features, her capabilities—all her general characteristics should be fully set forth to the country. This would give a surprising impetus to improvement—would rapidly develop our material resources—would smite the rock from which our fountains of wealth would gush forth, and pour their abundant streams into the lap of the nation. I am surprised that the citizens of Montana attach so little importance to this vital matter. During the past season men have traversed almost every inch of the Territory; yet the result of their investigations and discoveries for the most lie hidden in their own breasts, and are of no more benefit to mankind than were the explorations of the Northmen in the dark ages. Why not tell us what you have seen, gentlemen? Give us the whole picture. Let it be painted with beams of light on the parchment of heaven, so that all may see. If there are dark spots, we can then avoid them; if there are bright sides, they will cheer and bless mankind. What we want is plain unvarnished facts; no stilted, unmeaning rhetoric.

"Mightiest of Mighty is the press,"

The press is everywhere the great motive power that keeps the world in motion. No other agency exerts an influence half so potent in building up the interests and shaping the destiny of a nation.

The Post as yet is the only paper published in Montana Territory, and therefore the only public organ that speaks for our people—the only one that labors for their interests, at home and abroad. It ought therefore to be made a complete map—a faithful portraiture of the Territory, reflecting all its important features, interests and advantages. Let it have a hundred tongues, to speak from all parts of the Territory, so that Montana may have the prominence among her sister territories that her character demands.

D. R. L.