Page 143 - Cornelius Hedges Story

For This And Succeeding Generations Gardiner 130

They take the moisture from the clouds, store it in snow banks
and glaciers, and give it clear and cool to refresh the plains in
springs and rivers. They aide the Circulation of the atmosphere
as well, and break the force of hurricanes and tornadoes. The
cyclones that level cities and strew with wrecks of life, limb and
property, and fill the hearts of men with terror are the growth of
superheated plains.
While we are not prepared to admit that any square foot of’
the earth’s surface was created in vain, we are quite sure that
without mountains the earth would be a very poor dwelling-
place. We are therefore quite content that Montana should be
known among the States as “the mountainous one.”416