Exceeding even California in the richness of its gold mines, Montana shows a wonderful yield of silver, which is obtained with an ease which makes mining a pleasurable and sure source of incalculable profit.

In addition to the precious metals, copper is also found in abundance, and forms an important feature of the mineral wealth of this territory.
Montana is easily reached during the season of navigation by steamboats on the Missouri river from St.Louis, from which point, without obstruction or transshipment, the river is navigable to Fort Benton, situated almost in the center of the territory, a distance of more than twenty-five hundred miles.

Here, too, there is a large and constant supply of water, a matter of great difficulty and scarcity in other mining districts.

As the range of the Rocky Mountains in this vicinity does not present that broken and rugged character which marks the other ranges, the land is especially adapted for agricultural purposes, and timber of all kinds abounds in sufficient quantities for all the purposes of home consumption.

Possessing these manifold and important advantages, it is not strange that the country is not materially dependent upon the railroads for its growth and present development.
These facts Manning gleaned in a conversation with the proprietor of the hotel, while he was making his preparations to commence his search for the man whose crime had led him such a long chase, and whose detection now seemed hopefully imminent..