seem wanting in any loyal duty, we have deemed it proper to lay this action, with the reason therefor, before your honorable bodies. Your memorialists therefore pray that if it shall seem a matter of doubt to your honorable bodies, whether this action of ours conform to the act of congress or no, that our legislation be confirmed, and that in the proper appropriation act your honorable bodies will provide suitable appropriation to pay the expenses of a legislative assembly in January, 1877, and biennially thereafter. And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

S. W. LANGHORNE, Speaker of the House of Representatives. ASA BROWN,

President of Council.

Joint Memorial in relation to the improvement of the navigable waters of the territory of Montana.

To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress Assembled:

Your memorialists, the Council and House of Representa tives, composing the legislative assembly of the territory of Montana, most respectfully represent: That the improvement of the channels of the navigable rivers of Montana has not heretofore received that attention from congress that the importance of the subject and the necessities of the people of the territory demanded.

We beg leave to bring to the notice of your honorable bodies the fact that during the past year it has been practically demonstrated by Lieutenant-General Sheridan that the Yellowstone river is navigable, for Missouri river steamers, from its confluence with the Missouri river to a point above the month of the Big Horn river, a distance of four hundred and eighty miles. That it is the opinion of your memorialiata, based upon an actual and thorough examination of the upper part of said Yellowstone river, that the distance of navigation

thereon can, with a small appropriation, be extended to within less than one hundred miles of the city of Bozeman, in the county of Gallatin, thus opening a line of transportation by water from the states to the middle and southern parts of the territory, thereby materially lessening the time of freights in transit, and very materially reducing the cost of carriage; all of which is a matter of vital importance to the people of Montana.

Your memorialists would further represent that the interests of the middle and northern portion of Montana require the improvement of the channel of the Missouri river between Fort Peck and Fort Benton, of said river, to a point as near the junction of the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers as navigation may be found practicable. That on that part of the river between Fort Peck and Fort Benton, except during a short period of high water during each season, navigation is very seriously obstructed at several points, with rocks, boulders, shoals and rapids. That a small appropriation made for the purpose would effectually clear out the channel and render the river between said points navigable during the whole of the boating season.

That in relation to said river above Fort Benton, your memorialists do most respectfully represent and believe prac ticable, the improvement of the channel from Fort Benton to the falls of the said river, and from the falls to the presumed head of navigation, thus rendering the Missouri river navigable for freight and passenger steamers through the heart of Montana to a point at or near the confluence of the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers, making an increased distance of two hundred and five miles of steamboat navigation on said river.

That the distance from Fort Benton to the falls is twentyeight miles; the distance of portage or land carriage around the falls is fourteen miles; the distance by river from the falls to the junction of the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers is one hundred and sixty-three miles; that the river from Fort Benton to the last point mentioned, passes through the best and most fertile portion of the territory; also through the richest mineral region on the eastern slope of the Rocky mountains

and within fifteen miles of the city of Helena; that the portage around said falls of all goods and merchandise and reshipping same, can be accomplished for a sum not exceeding two dollars and fifty cents per ton; that the channel of the river above the falls, the greater portion of the distance to the mouth of the Jefferson river, is deep and the water sluggish, and navigable for upper river steamers in its usual condition and stage of water.

Your memorialists further represent that much work has been done in the locality of said river, upon mining claims; that a large number of mineral lodes have been prospected, which are known to be valuable for the gold, silver, lead and copper they contain, but that they remain at present unworked and undeveloped, because the present facilities of the country for exporting the ores that might be produced, to a suitable market for reduction, are entirely too expensive and inadequate; that ores, minerals and other productions which constitute the main and principal resources of the territory—the transportation of which upon wagons for several hundred miles to make connection with either water or railroad routes to the southern, eastern or western markets, consumes such a length of time and the tariff rates of such freighting being so expensive, the most of such products will not now bear shipping, but would under more favorable circumstances, and would contribute largely to the actual resources of the terri

tory.

That your honorable body may have a reasonable conception of the amount of freight shipped up and down the Missouri river during the boating season, we beg to submit the following table of statistics for the year 1875:

Amount of freight shipped to Fort Benton, present head of navigation on the Missouri river, three thousand and twentysix tons; amount of freight shipped from Fort Benton, nine hundred tons; amount of freight shipped to Carroll, a point about four hundred miles below Benton, on the Missouri river, twelve hundred tons; amount of freight shipped from Carroll, five hundred tone,

Your memorialists wo A further represent, that in view of

the contemplated erection of two forts-one on the Big Horn, and one on Powder river-and the fact that the Crow agency is upon the Yellowstone, the saving derived from the transportation of Indian and military supplies will, in one season, repay the government for any appropriations necessary to open up that river to successful navigation. That mines of gold, silver and coal abound in that vast fertile country, and that emigration is seeking it in large numbers; the world-wide wonders of the national park are situated upon the head waters of the Yellowstone, and removing the obstructions of the river will open up a cheap and direct route for tourists and nauralists. Reminding your honorable bodies of the isolated position of this territory and the many disadvantages its people labor under, of the privations they endure, and their unfavorable situation relative to markets for the sale of their products and the procuring of supplies, we earnestly petition your favorable consideration of our necessities, and urge upon you the propriety of making an appropriation to clear out the channels of the parts of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers your memorialists have herein referred to.

Your memorialists further beg leave to represent, that an expenditure, by the government, of a small amount of means in improving the navigation of said waters, will not only be of great benefit to the people of Montana, placing them in part on an equal footing with other territories of the west, but will also be of great utility to the government. The main rivers of the United States being national thoroughfares, we deem it but just and reasonable to ask your honorable bodies to appropriate a sufficient amount of money to remove the obsructions and make navigable said rivers. Therefore, your memorialists, do humbly ask for the appropriation of dollars, to be used for such purpose, in such manner, as your honorable bodies may deem advisable. And your memorialists will ever

pray.

S. W. LANGHORNE,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

ASA BROWN,

President of the Council.

To His Excellency-the President of the United States.

Your memorialists, the legislative council and house of representatives, composing the legislative assembly of the territory of Montana, would respectfully represent that the interests of the territory would be greatly promoted, and its early settlement hastened by the recission of the order of your Excellency setting aside that portion of the country on the north bank of the Yellowstone and attaching it to the Crow reservation, for the reasons herein set forth.

That the Yellowstone valley, now closed up by this order, is the most direct, natural eastern route to and from Montana. That ever since the closing of the Bozeman and Bridger roads, and the abandonment of Forts Reno and C. F. Smith, our routes to the states east of us have been, for the most part, by way of the circuitous route through the territory of Utah. That during the ensuing summer numerous, and doubtless successful attempts will be made to navigate the Yellowstone river and establish thereby the feasibility of transportation by steamboats on that stream. That the country thus set aside embraces a portion of the route selected by the Northern Pacific railroad. That that great national enterprise must of necessity push its way westward with all possible rapidity, both by reason of the terms of its charter and the wants of the nation. That the country embraced in the reservation on the north bank of the Yellowstone is peculiarly adapted to agricultural pursuits and stock raising. That numerous settlements already exist there, and many more are desirous of settling there by reason of its peculiar advantages. That the order made at the instance of Indian traders does not reach or have any national influence upon the object intended. That the maintenance of the order will work incalculable injury to the people of this territory, and is utterly valueless to the Indians for the purposes intended.