Misc. Records
Where to Emigrate and Why - Frederick B. Goddard, Peoples Publ. Co., 1869
MINNESOTA.
MINNESOTA derives its name from two Indian words signifying "sky-tinted water," referring to the numerous crystal streams and lakes which mirror the soft blue of its skies. These lakes are a peculiar feature, and form one of the characteristic charms of the State. They vary from one to thirty miles in diameter, the smaller class being most numerous. They are generally distinguished, also, for their clear, white, sandy shores, set in gentle grassy slopes, or rimmed with walls of rock, their pebbly beaches sparkling with carnelians and agates, while the oak grove, or the denser wood which skirts the margin, completes the graceful and picturesque outline.
GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.—Minnesota is one of the Northwestern States, lying between British America on the north and Iowa on the south, Lake Superior and Wisconsin on the east, and on the west the Territory of Dakota. Its estimated area is about 84,000 square miles, or nearly 54,000,000 acres, giving it a front rank among the States in point of size.
The State lies nearly in the center of the continent, and occupies the summit of a vast convex plateau, if we may use the expression, elevated a thousand feet or more above the level of the sea. Here rise three of the largest river systems of North America—the Mississippi; the Red River, flowing into Lake Winnipeg; and the St. Lawrence, which forms an outlet to the sea for the surplus waters of the great lakes, the largest and most westerly of which, Lake Superior, washes a portion of the eastern boundary of Minnesota.
HISTORICAL OUTLINE.—There is little of special interest in the early history of Minnesota. The larger portion of its present area was ceded to the United States by France in the year 1803, and soon after explored by General Pike; subsequently by Fremont, Long, and other military officers. Fort Snelling, five miles above St. Paul, was built in 1820. Comparatively little was known, however, in these early days, of the vast regions of the Northwest. Other than military men, the few whites who had penetrated them were trappers and traders, who, for the sake of gain or adventure, were willing to undergo privations, and brave the perils of torture and death at the hands of the red barbarians of the forest.
On the 3d a March, 1849, the Territory of Minnesota was organized, including within its limits the present Territory of Dakota. The total population at this time was but 4,680. St. Paul, then containing but 840 inhabitants, was designated as the capital. It had received its evangelical name from a little log chapel built by a worthy Catholic missionary, and dedicated to St. Paul. Prior to this time it had flourished under the name of "Pig's Eye !"
Before the new organization was fairly proclaimed, a newspaper was issued at St. Paul, and steamboat lines were soon in operation. With a devotion to the interests of education which has ever since characterized the people of Minnesota, the "solid men" of the embryo State took in hand the subject of Common Schools. From this time to 1857, Minnesota advanced rapidly in population and development immigration poured in, villages and towns sprang up, and land speculation was rampant. In the full tide of this apparent prosperity came the financial revulsion of 1857. The immediate result was a general depreciation of values, with consequent business stagnation and distress. Immigration ceased, and the rapid growth of the Territory was arrested. The later consequences of the crisis have, however, shown that it was a "blessing in disguise." Inflated ideas of sudden wealth without labor, were dispelled. The speculator's occupation was gone, and the energies of the people were directed to those pursuits which are the sources of real. prosperity to every commonwealth—agriculture and manufactures. Previous to this era, Minnesota had imported breadstuffs, but she now laid the foundations of her later development as one of the great grain-producing States of the Union.
In May, 1858, Minnesota was admitted as a State. From this time her growth was vigorous and reasonably rapid until the breaking out of the Rebellion. With a population of only 175,000 at this period, her record shows that she sent forth from her grain-fields, workshops, and pineries, 24,000 brave men to battle for the preservation of the Union.
In the summer of 1862, one of the most terrible Indian massacres upon record occurred on the western frontiers of the State. More than a thousand men, women, and children, were barbarously butchered and mutilated by these inhuman savages. The whole land was thrilled with horror, and a large military force was at once sent out, the Indians were routed, their country laid waste, and thirty-eight of their leaders were hung. The remainder of the tribe were removed to a reservation beyond the Missouri River. No further apprehension need be felt in Minnesota from Indians. As perfect security now reigns throughout the State as in New England.
The present population of Minnesota is estimated at between 400,000 and 500,000. Her increase during 1867, was 90,000, and one of her prominent statesmen predicts that in 1870 she will have attained a population of 700,000. Minnesota is now in the full tide of prosperity. Her progress is substantial as well as rapid. Her towns and cities are full of life and enterprise—her farmers are contented and prosperous. Manufactories are multiplying, and railroads are being rapidly built to every portion of the State. With a climate unsurpassed for healthfulness; a soil unparalleled in this country in its yield of the staple cereals; vast forests of timber, and immense water-power—it will be strange indeed if Minnesota does not soon fulfill her prophecy to become, in population, wealth, and influence, among the very foremost States of the American Union.
We are indebted to Gov. WM. R. MARSHALL, of Minnesota, for an admirably prepared pamphlet recently published by the State, entitled, "Minnesota; Its advantages to Settlers." It is from the pen of Col. GIRART HEWITT, of St. Paul. The following are extracts :—
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STATE.
Although Minnesota is not a mountainous country by any means, its general elevation gives it all the advantages of one, without its objectionable features. Being equidistant from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, situated on an elevated plateau, and with a system of lakes and rivers ample for an empire, it has a peculiar climate of its own, possessed by no other State.
The general surface of the greater part of the State is even and undulating, and pleasantly diversified with rolling prairies, vast belts of timber, oak openings, numerous lakes and streams, with their accompanying meadows, waterfalls, wooded ravines, and lofty bluffs, which impart variety, grandeur and picturesque beauty to its scenery.
The State may be divided into three principal districts. In the northern and western part of the State an exception to its general evenness of surface occurs in an elevated district, which may be termed the highlands of Minnesota. This district, resting on primary rocks, is of comparatively small extent―16,000 square miles—and covered with a dense growth of pine, fir, spruce, &c.; it has an elevation of about 450 feet above the general level of the country, and is covered with hills of diluvial sand and drift, from 85 to 100 feet in height, among which the three great rivers of the American Continent—the Mississippi, St. Lawrence, and Red River—take their rise. The temperature of this district is from five to eight degrees lower than that of the rest of the State. Although possessing some good land, its principal value consists in its immense forests, and its rich mineral deposits of copper, iron, and precious metals.
The valley of the Red River forms another district, larger than the highlands, containing 18,000 square miles, with a deep, black soil composed of alluvial mold, and rich in organic deposits. This district produces the heaviest crops of grain, especially wheat, of any section in the United States. It has a subsoil of clay, is but sparsely timbered, with but few rivers or lakes, and is not therefore so well drained as other parts of the State.
The Mississippi valley comprises the third district; it contains about 50,000 square miles, or about three-fifths of the whole State. It is the "garden spot" of the Northwest, and comprises one of the finest agricultural districts in the world. Its general characteristics are those of a rolling prairie region, resting on secondary rocks; it is unusually well drained, both by the nature of the soil, which is a warm, dark, calcareous and sandy loam, and the innumerable lakes and streams which cover its surface with a perfect network. It is dotted by numerous and extensive groves and belts of timber. These main districts are also subdivided into smaller ones by the valleys of the numerous streams which intersect them; but space does not admit of a detailed description.
RIVERS AND STREAMS.―The Mississippi River, 2,400 miles long, which drains a larger region of country than any stream on the globe, with the exception of the Amazon, rises in Lake Itasca, in the northern part of Minnesota, and flows southeasterly through the State 797 miles, 134 of which forms its eastern boundary. It is navigable for large boats to St. Paul, and above the Falls of St. Anthony for smaller boats for about 150 miles farther. The season of navigation has opened as early as the 25th of March, but usually opens from the first to the middle of April, and closes between the middle of November and the first of December. In 1865 and 1866, steamboat excursions took place on the first of December, from St. Paul, and the river remained open several days longer; in 1867 until December 1st.
The principal towns and cities on the Mississippi in Minnesota are, Winona, Wabashaw, Lake City, Red Wing, Hastings, St. Paul, Minneapolis, St. Anthony, Anoka, Dayton, Monticello, St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Little Falls, Watab.
The Minnesota River, the source of which is among the Coteau des Prairies, in Dakota Territory, flows from Big Stone Lake, on the western boundary of the State, a distance of nearly 500 miles, through the heart of the southwestern part of the State, and empties into the Mississippi at Fort Snelling, 5 miles above St. Paul. It is navigable as high up as the Yellow Medicine, 238 miles above its mouth, during good stages of water. Its principal places are Shakopee, Chaska, Carver, Belle Plaine, Henderson, Le Sueur, Traverse des Sioux, St. Peter, Mankato, and New Ulm.
The St. Croix River, rising in Wisconsin, near Lake Superior, forms about 130 miles of the eastern boundary of the State. It empties into the Mississippi nearly opposite Hastings, and is navigable to Taylor's Fall, about 50 miles. It penetrates the pineries and furnishes immense water-power along its course. The principal places on it are Stillwater and Taylor's Falls.
The Red River, rises in Lake Traverse, and flows northward, forming the western boundary of the State from Big Stone Lake to the British possessions, a distance of 380 miles. It is navigable from Breckenridge, at the mouth of the Bois de Sioux River to Hudson's Bay; the Saskatchewan, a tributary of the Red River, is also said to be a navigable stream, thus promising an active commercial trade from this vast region when it shall have become settled up, via the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, which connects the navigable waters of the Red River with those of the Mississippi.
Among the more important of the numerous small streams are Rum River, valuable for lumbering; Vermilion River, furnishing extensive water-power and possessing some of the finest cascades in the United States; the Crow, Blue Earth Root, Sauk, Le Sueur, Zumbro, Cottonwood, Long Prairie, Red Wood, Waraju, Pejuta Ziza, Mauja, Wakan, Buffalo, Wild Rice, Plum, Sand Hill, Clear Water, Red Lake, Thief, Black, Red Cedar, and Des Moines rivers; the St. Louis River, a large stream flowing into Lake Superior, navigable for twenty-one miles from its lake outlet, and furnishing a water-power at its falls said to be equal to that of the Falls of the Mississippi at St. Anthony, and many others, besides all the innumerable hosts of first and secondary tributaries to all the larger streams.
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LAKES.—Lake Superior, the largest body of fresh water on the globe, forms a portion of the eastern boundary of Minnesota, giving it 167 miles of lake coast, with one of the best natural harbors and breakwaters, at Du Luth, Minnesota, to be found on any coast. When the Superior and Mississippi Railroad is completed, connecting the commercial center of the State with Lake Superior, a large lake commerce will spring into existence.
Besides, the whole surface of the State is literally begemmed with innumerable lakes, estimated by Schoolcraft at 10,000. They are of all sizes, from 500 yards in diameter to 10 miles. Their picturesque beauty and loveliness, with their pebbly bottoms, transparent waters, wooded shores and sylvan associations, must be seen to be fully appreciated. They all abound in fish, black and rock bass, pickerel, pike, perch, cat, sunfish, &c., of superior quality and flavor; and in the spring and fall they are the haunts of innumerable duck, geese, and other wild fowl. In some places they are solitary, at others found in groups or chains. Many are without outlets, others give rise to meandering and meadow-bordered brooks. These lakes act as reservoirs for water, penetrating the soil, and by their exhalations giving rise to summer showers during dry weather. Prof. Maury says of Minnesota, that although far from the sea, it may be considered the best watered State in the Union, and it doubtless owes its abundance of summer rains measurably to this lake system.
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FORESTS.—In the northern part of the State is an immense forest region estimated to cover upward of 21,000 square miles, constituting one of the great sources of health and industry of the State. The prevailing wood of this region is pine, with a considerable portion of ash, birch, maple, elm, poplar, &c. West of the
Mississippi, lying between it and the Minnesota, and extending south of that stream, is the Big Woods, about 100 miles in length and 40 miles wide. This district is full of lakes, and broken by small openings. The prevailing woods are oak, maple, elm, ash, basswood, butternut, black walnut, and hickory. Besides these two large forests, nearly all the streams are fringed with woodland, and dense forests of considerable extent cover the valleys. The extensive bottoms of the Mississippi, Minnesota, and Blue Earth, are covered with a heavy growth of white and black walnut, maple, boxwood, hickory, linden, and cottonwood. The valleys of the Zumbro and Root rivers support large tracts of forest growth. They are found more or less in Wabashaw, Dodge, Steel, Fillmore, Mower, Freeborn, Olmsted, and contiguous counties.
But the oak openings, distributed in groves and large parks through the uplands along the margins of the numerous streams, form a large resource of the prairie population for domestic and mechanical purposes. Toward the western boundary of the State the timber becomes more scanty, and it assumes more the character of a vast prairie region, dotted here and there with groves and belts of timber, fringing the Red River and the minor streams. The choice timbered lands and oak openings will be first selected by the settler, and the treeless prairies of the western frontier will be covered with timber in a few years, as soon as the annual scourge of the prairie fire is checked. Wherever these fires are arrested the land is soon covered by a dense growth of timber.
SOILS.—The prevailing soil of Minnesota is a dark, calcareous, sandy loam, containing a various intermixture of clay, abounding in mineral salts and in organic ingredients, derived from the accumulation of decomposed vegetable matter for long ages of growth and decay. The sand, of which silica is the base, forms a large proportion of this, as of all good soils. It plays an important part in the economy of growth, and is an essential constituent in the organism of all cereals. About sixty-seven per cent, of the ash of the stems of wheat, corn, rye, barley, oats and sugar-cane, is pure silica, or flint. It is this which gives the glazed coating to the plants, and gives strength to the stalk.
PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL..—The following table shows the staple agricultural products of Minnesota, and about the average yield per acre:―
Crops. Av. No. bushels per acre. Crops. Av. No. bushels per acre.
Wheat 22.05 Sweet potatoes 150.00
Rye 21.56 Beans 15,00
Barley 33.23 Hemp lint, (pounds) 1,140.00
Oats. 42.39 Flax lint 750.00
Buckwheat 20.00 Sorghum, (gallons sirup) 100.00
Corn 35.67 Hay, (tons) 2.12
Potatoes. 208.00
The above table is compiled from the census of 1860, and various other sources, and gives only the average yield of the crops mentioned, and may be taken as a fair sample of the average for the State at large, one year with another. It must be understood, however, that on the prevailing soil of Minnesota, with manuring and careful cultivation, the actual yield is often nearly double the above figures. Potatoes, for instance, set down at 208, on good soil, and ordinary cultivation, will easily yield 300 bushels per acre; wheat 35, corn 40, and other crops in proportion. In 1865, from 400,000 acres of wheat in Minnesota there was harvested the enormous crop of 10,000,000 bushels, being an average yield of 25 bushels to the acre. Nor was that year's crop considered any thing extraordinary for our soil.
WHEAT is one of the chief staples of agriculture in Minnesota, and is comparatively exempt from the dangers to which it is exposed in other States—drought, rust, smut, insects, &c.
HAY.—* * * The luxuriant growth of the native grasses, which cover the "immense surface of natural meadow-land formed by the alluvial bottoms of the intricate network of streams which everywhere intersect the country," and which "are as rich and nutritious in this latitude as the best exotic varieties," render cultivation unnecessary. The average yield of these grasses is 2.12 tons per acre, 60 per cent. greater than that of the great hay State of Ohio, which, according to the Commissioner of Statistics of that State, is 11 tons per acre.
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Perhaps in no State in the Union does the soil so surely and amply reward labor, or yield larger products for the amount of labor bestowed on it. It is easily cleared of weeds, and, once clean, its warm, forcing nature enables the crop to speedily outstrip all noxious growths. Two good thorough workings usually insures a good growth of almost any cultivated crop.
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FRUITS.—Our climate is evidently not so well adapted to fruit-raising as that of some other States south of us. Still, sufficient of most kinds may be raised to supply the home demand.
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THE GROWING SEASON IN MINNESOTA.—In Minnesota, during the growing season, we find all those conditions most favorable to agriculture present in a marked degree. Its mean spring temperature is 45.6 degrees, which is the same as that of central Wisconsin, northern Illinois, northern Ohio, central and southern Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, 2½ degrees south of it. Its summer temperature is 70.6 degrees, corresponding with that of middle Illinois and Ohio, southern Pennsylvania, Long Island, and New Jersey, 5 degrees south of it.
The season of vegetation in Minnesota, in common with that of the upper belt of the temperate zone, is embraced between the first of April and the first of October.
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FROST.—The period of total exemption from frost in Minnesota, varies from four to five and a half months, which allows ample time for the perfection of all the annual crops. The frost is generally entirely out of the ground, which is then ready for planting, the last of April and first of May. The first fall of frost takes place with great regularity about the middle of September, though sometimes delayed till the middle of October. Minnesota is not exposed to late and early frosts more than the Middle and Western States. The peculiar dryness of the air also enables vegetation to resist light frosts, which in other localities would prove disastrous. This fact is exemplified by the frost of June 4, 1859, which was general nearly all over the United States. In Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, it was universally destructive; ice formed one-third inch thick in Ohio; but in Minnesota no damage whatever was done to field crops. On account of this dryness, the temperature may fall considerably below the freezing point at times, without producing frost. The dryness of the atmosphere, notwithstanding the abundance of the summer rains, is also very important on account of the protection it gives wheat and oats from rust, smut, and insects, which often seriously injure the wheat fields of moister climates.
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LAND.-- In Minnesota, real estate is low, land is extremely cheap (owing to the large surplus yet unoccupied), while its products command the first prices. Wheat, oats, corn, potatoes, and in fact all that the farmer raises, find a ready market for cash at home.
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A man with a small, but high-priced farm in the old States can dispose of it for sufficient to set himself up well in Minnesota, and procure a farm for each of his children besides; and these farms, in a few years, will be as valuable as the one in the old State is now. The fortunes made by farmers here within a few years, would scarcely be credited in the older States.
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STOCK-RAISING.—For raising cattle and horses, Minnesota is fully equal to Illinois; and for sheep-growing it is far superior. According to established laws of nature, cold climates require a larger quantity and finer quality of wool or fur than warm ones, hence the fur and wool-bearing animals are found in perfection only in northern regions. The thick coat of the sheep especially identifies it with a cold country; the excessive heat to which their wool subjects them in a warm climate generates disease. The fleece of Minnesota sheep is remarkably fine and heavy, and they are not subject to the rot and other diseases so disastrous to sheep in warm and moist localities. It is asserted by stock-growers, that sheep brought here while suffering with the rot speedily become healthy and the same has been said of horses with heaves and shortness of breath. The sleek and velvety appearance of horses here in summertime, gives them the appearance of highly kept stallions. The cattle raised here are also remarkably healthy, the unanimous testimony of butchers being that they seldom meet with a diseased liver.
Hogs also do extremely well here, and the abundance and certainty of the grain crop enables farmers to raise them as cheaply as elsewhere.
All stock requires shelter during the winter in this climate, but the necessity is no greater than in Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois. The washing, chilling, and debilitating winter rains of those States are far more injurious to out stock than our severest cold. All the shelter which stock requires here is that readily furnished by the immense straw piles which accumulate from the thrashing of the annual grain crop. A framework of rails or poles is made, and the straw thrown over it, leaving the south side open. Under this cattle stand, feed on the straw in perfect security from the inclemencies of the severest winter.
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MINNESOTA SCENERY, &c.—The scenery of Minnesota has attracted the attention of many writers, painters, and poets, and elicited eulogies in prose and verse, ever since the first white man stood on the brink of St. Anthony's Falls, or listened to the gleeful splashing of Minnehaha. The brilliant purity, dryness, and elasticity of the air, bringing every object out with bold, distinct outlines, lends a peculiar charm to the lovely scenery which everywhere abounds. The nights, particularly, are serene and beautiful beyond description.
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Prof. Maury says:—" There is in this territory a greater number of these lovely sheets of laughing water than in all the country besides. They give variety and beauty to the landscape; they soften the air, and lend all their thousand charms and attractions to make this goodly land a lovely place of residence."
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These lakes all abound in fish, superior in flavor and quality to those of the sluggish streams of the Western States. Many leaping brooks, fed by springs, are pure and cold as mountain streams, and abound in speckled trout. To the disciples of Izak Walton, Minnesota is a perfect paradise. To one fond of the sport, nothing could be more delightful than to drive out to one of these lovely sheets of water, spending the heat of the day on their shady shores, and the morning and evening in a small boat, with rod and tackle. In the spring and fall, these lakes are all covered with ducks and other water-fowl, affording rare amusement for the sportsman.
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From the first of May until the first of August, fishing is the principal sport. Sometimes wild pigeons, which often breed in our woods, may be shot in great numbers in June. After the first of August, till frost, fowling commences, and the gun and dog take the place of hook and tackle. The first of August in Minnesota is what the first of September is in England, when the game law permits the shooting of prairie chickens, pheasants, grouse, &c., which abound everywhere. The larger game, such as deer, elk, and occasionally a bear or buffalo, come in with cold weather, and continue till spring. In the fall and spring, ducks and geese are found plentifully in every little lake.
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When clothed in the sylvan garments
of summer, decked with the floral gems of a thousand fragrant prairies, and
lighted by the gorgeous tints of its sunshine, or mellowed and softened by the
dreamy haze of the "Indian summer" of the autumn months, nothing could surpass
the scenery of Minnesota, diversified as it is with rock-ribbed hills and
slumbering valleys, woodland and prairie, lofty and rugged bluffs, ravines,
gorges, cataracts, cascades, eternal springs of limpid purity, and leaping
streams which never dry.
CLIMATE AND SALUBRITY.—Minnesota, owing to the large lakes east and north of it, and the vast arid plains, extending from latitude 35° to latitude 47° west of it, enjoys a mean spring temperature of 45°, warmer than Chicago 2½° south of it, and equal to southern Michigan, central New York, and Massachusetts • a summer mean of 70°, equal to central New York, central Wisconsin, northern Pennsylvania, and northern Ohio, four degrees south of us, an autumnal mean of 45°, equal to New Hampshire, central Wisconsin, and central Michigan, 2½° south of us; a winter mean of 16°, similar to northern Wisconsin, northern Michigan, central Vermont, and New Hampshire, on the same line of latitude, but nearer the ocean; while its climate, for the entire year, being a mean of 45°, is similar to that of central Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and central New York, two degrees south of it. We thus have an annual range of temperature from the summer of southern Ohio to the winter of Montreal.
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The assertion that the climate of Minnesota is one of the healthiest in the world, may be broadly and confidently made. It is sustained by the almost unanimous testimony of the thousands of invalids who have sought its pure and bracing air, and recovered from consumption and other diseases after they had been given up as hopeless by their home physicians; it is sustained by the experience of its inhabitants for twenty years; and it is sustained by the published statistics of mortality in the different States.
Minnesota is entirely exempt from malaria, and consequently the numerous diseases known to arise from it, such as chills and fever, autumnal fevers, ague cake or enlarged spleen, enlargement of the liver, &c., dropsy, diseases of the kidneys, affections of the eye, and various bilious diseases, and derangements of the stomach and bowels, although sometimes arising from other causes, are often due wholly to malarious agency, and are only temporarily relieved by medicine, because the patient is constantly exposed to the malarious influence which generates them. Enlargement of the liver and spleen is very common in Southern and Southwestern States. We are not only free from those ailments, but by coming to Minnesota, often without any medical treatment at all, patients speedily recover from this class of diseases; the miasmatic poison being soon eliminated from the system, and not being exposed to its further inception, the functions of health are gradually resumed.
Diarrhea and dysentery are not so prevalent as in warmer latitudes, and are of a milder type. Pneumonia and typhoid fever are very seldom met with, and then merely as sporadic cases.
Diseases of an epidemic character never have been known to prevail here. "Even that dreadful scourge, diphtheria, which, like a destroying angel, swept through portions of the country, leaving desolation in its train, passed us by with scarce a grave to mark its course. The diseases common to infancy and childhood partake of the same mild character, and seldom prove fatal." This is the language of Mrs. Colburn, an authoress, and the experience of physicians corroborates this opinion.
That dreadful scourge of the human family, the cholera, is alike unknown here. During the summer of 1866, while hundreds were daily cut down by this visitation in New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and other places, and it prevailed to an alarming extent in Chicago, not a single case made its appearance in Minnesota.
Another, and a very large class of invalids, which derive great benefit from the climate of Minnesota, are those whose systems have become relaxed, debilitated, and broken down by overtaxation of the mental and physical energies, dyspepsia, &c.
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Dr. Chas. A. Leas, United States Consul at Madeira, who has resided in Russia, Sweden, Central America, and Madeira, in the service of the Government, under date of September 10, 1866, writes: " I have made the subject of climate, as a curative agent in consumption, a special study, and in connection with my annual report to the State Department at Washington just now sent on—I have entered somewhat into detail upon that subject, and have endeavored to show, from observation, that consumption, in its earlier stages, is best relieved by a visit to, and residence of greater or less extent in, high northern latitudes, instead of warm climates, as is the usual custom. I have further suggested Minnesota as one of the finest climates for that purpose."
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Without asserting that all persons afflicted with pulmonary disease will invariably recover in Minnesota, it may be safely claimed that no climate under heaven offers equal advantages to this class of invalids. While it is undoubtedly true that a larger percentage of those in the early stages of the disease will recover, there can be no doubt but that those in the second and third stages often get well here. No physician can foretell the result of a trial. The only method of deciding the question is by actual residence. There are those here, whom no one would take to be consumptives, who have had but one lung for over ten years. Many come too late, or coming in time, continue here the overtaxation of mind or body, or other unhealthy habits, which first broke them down. Their friends blame the climate, if they fail to recover; but the fact is well established that any case within the reach of climatic influence will get well here, if anywhere. Another fact, equally well established, is, that a permanent residence here is better, in order to render the cure permanent. Many instances might be cited where invalids, after spending a year or so here, and apparently got well, have gone East and died of the disease; of others, experiencing a return of the old symptoms, and making a second recovery after returning to Minnesota. Many cases, however, are cured, or greatly benefited by a sojourn of a few months.
WATER-POWER.―Mr. J. A. WHEELOCK, State Commissioner of Statistics, says:―
Minnesota possesses a more ample and effective water-power than New England. The falls and rapids of St. Anthony alone, with a total descent of sixty-four feet, affords an available hydraulic capacity, according to an experienced and competent engineer, of 120,000 horse power. This is considerably greater than the whole motive-power—steam and water—employed in textile manufactures in England in 1850, and nearly seven times as great as the water-power so employed.
The St. Croix Falls, which are only second to St. Anthony Falls in hydraulic power, are similarly, though somewhat less advantageously situated at the head of navigation upon a tributary of the Mississippi. Except the Minnesota, nearly every tributary of the Mississippi, in its rapid and broken descent to the main stream, affords valuable mill sites. The Mississippi itself, in its descent from its Itasca summit to Fort Snelling, in which it falls eight hundred and thirty-six feet, or over sixteen inches per mile, is characterized by long steps of slack water, broken at long intervals by abrupt transitions in the character of the rocks which forms its bed, and forming a fine series of fall and rapids available for hydraulic work. Pokegoma Falls, Little Falls, Sauk Rapids, and St. Anthony Falls, are the chief of these. But the Elk, Rum, St. Croix, and numberless smaller streams one the east slope of the Mississippi, the Sauk, Crow, Vermilion, Bannon, Zumbro, Minneiska, Root, and their branches, nearly all the tributaries of the Minnesota, and a multitude of streams besides, in their abrupt descent over broken beds of limestone or sandstone, through long and winding valleys or ravines, with a fall of from three to eight feet per mile, afford an unlimited abundance of available water-power to nearly every county in the State. This diffusion of hydraulic power throughout the whole State is a feature whose value as an element of development can scarcely be overestimated, as it gives to every neighborhood the means of manufacturing its own flour and lumber, and affords the basis of all those numerous local manufactures which enter into the industrial economy of every northern community.
MINERAL RESOURCES.—Gold quartz has lately been found in Carlton County, and gold and silver at Lake Vermilion, about eighty miles northwest of the head of Lake Superior. In reference to the latter, we quote from the official Report of the U. S. Commissioner, TAYLOR, Washington, May 2, 1868:—
"These quartz veins were ascertained in 1865-6 to be auriferous; a specimen weighing three pounds, containing copper pyrites, was forwarded by the Governor of Minnesota to the Mint in Philadelphia, and, upon assay, was found to contain $2.63 of gold, and $4.42 of silver, per ton of 2,000 lbs. The State Geologist, Mr. H. H. EAMES, reported an abundant supply of quartz and equal in richness. Other assays in New York, in one instance by officers of the United. States Assay office, exhibited results from $10 to $35 per ton. Professor BLANEY, of Chicago, described a vein 10 feet in width, at the foot of a shaft of 50 feet, which was indubitably gold-bearing, and added, that specimens taken from its central portion, as proven by assay, would be sufficient in California, Colorado, and other successful mining regions, to warrant further exploration. Washings of the drift, near the veins opened, have produced gold, but in limited quantities."
A ton of quartz from the Vermilion mines, recently reduced at St. Paul, is said to have yielded eight pounds of bullion, valued at between $400 and $500. The question of the general productiveness remains to be determined.
Copper and iron ores are found in the northern part of the State. Coal, copper, and iron in Nicollet County. Iron of good quality, also large beds of excellent potter's clay, are found.
We extract the following from the last Report of Surveyor-General NUTTING, of Minnesota:—
FACILITIES FOR EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL COMMUNICATION.
The steamboat business of Minnesota is, as yet, confined to the Mississippi, the Minnesota, and St. Croix rivers. The Northwestern Union Packet Company own eleven first-class packets, twenty stern-wheel steamers, and from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty barges, and employ over two thousand men. Their boats ply between Dubuque and St. Paul, and between La Crosse and St. Paul This company has also regular lines on the St. Croix and Minnesota rivers for passengers and freight. The Northern Line, plying between St. Louis and St. Paul, consists of nine or ten first-class side-wheel packets, eight stern-wheel steamers, and sixty or more barges. A boat leaves St. Louis and St. Paul daily.
RAILROAD SYSTEM.—In 1857, Congress made a land grant of four and a half million acres to Minnesota for railroad purposes. In 1864, an additional grant was made. These acts grant ten sections (6,400 acres) of land for each mile of road to be built in compliance therewith. These lines are as follows:―
FIRST DIVISION OF ST. PAUL AND PACIFIC RAILROAD—from Stillwater, via St. Paul and St. Anthony, to the western boundary of the State, near Big Stone Lake, 220 miles. This road is completed and in operation from St. Paul to Lake Minnetonka (fifteen miles west of Minneapolis), twenty-five miles. A branch line of this road is completed, and cars running thereon to St. Cloud, seventy miles from St. Anthony, and eighty miles from St. Paul.
MINNESOTA VALLEY RAILROAD—from St. Paul up the valley of the Minnesota River to Mankato; thence in a southwesterly direction to the Iowa line, in range 42 west; distance to State line, 170 miles. Completed and in operation from St. Paul, 60 miles, and is being rapidly pushed forward.
THE MINNESOTA CENTRAL RAILROAD—a line from St. Paul and Minneapolis (junction at Mendota) running nearly due south, via Faribault and Owatonna, to the Iowa line; completed and in operation to Austin, 105 miles, where a junction is formed with the McGregor Western Railway, giving all rail connection with the east and south, via Prairie du Chien.
THE WINONA. AND ST. PETER RAILROAD—a line from Winona, via St. Peter, to the western boundary of the State; completed, and cars running from Winona, west, 100 miles or more. The line when completed, will be 250 miles long. It intersects the Minnesota Central at Owatonna.
THE SOUTHERN MINNESOTA RAILROAD—a. line from La Crescent, through the southern tier of counties of the State, to the western boundary, completed and operated to Rushford, 30 miles; whole length of line, 250 miles.
LAKE SUPERIOR AND MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD—a line from St. Paul to the head of Lake Superior, in Minnesota. The distance is about 150 miles. Thirty miles have been graded, starting at St. Paul, and work is now being vigorously prosecuted on the line.
NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD—a line crossing the State from Lake Superior to the Red River. Engineers are now making a survey of the two trial lines for this road.
HASTINGS AND RED RIVER RAILROAD—a line from Hastings through the counties of Dakota, Scott, Carver, McLeod, &c., to the western boundary of the State. Twenty miles are graded.
WINONA BRANCH OF ST. PAUL AND PACIFIC RAILROAD—from St. Paul to Winona, along the valley of the Mississippi River. This line has been surveyed, ten miles of the grading completed, and the company propose to build and equip the road at an early day.
From the Report of the Department of Agriculture, April, 1868:―
PRICES OF UNIMPROVED LAND.—Returns from about 25 counties of the more thickly settled portions of this highly prosperous and rapidly advancing State, indicate an average increase of at least 100 per cent in the value of farm lands in the surveyed districts, as compared with the census of 1860. The lands embracing nearly the whole upper half and a portion of the southwestern counties of the State have not yet been surveyed and put in market by the Government; are uninhabited or settled only by Indians and traders, and are not, of course, considered in making up the average increase. No county reports an active decrease in value of farm lands, though Morrison, sparsely settled, and Cass, just coming into market, report no change in price since 1860; and Ramsey, in which the capital is located, and where lands were held very high at that date, reports little if any advance. Brown, Nicollet, and Watonwan claim an increase of 300 per cent, the first-named somewhat higher; Wabashaw, 250 per cent; Carlton and Carver, 125 to 150 per cent; Mower, Freeborn, and Faribault, 100 per cent; Dodge, 70 per cent; Rice and Washington 50 per cent; Houston, Winona, Le Sueur, and Scott, 25 to 33 per cent, and several others ranging from 5 to 25 per cent.
Vast quantities of Government lands are yet unsold, and may be purchased at the minimum price of $1.25 per acre, or entered as homesteads under acts of Congress making provision therefor. In the counties which have been taken up, however, the wild or unimproved lands are held at higher figures, running from $2 per acre upward. In Carlton such lands command $3 per acre, loamy, but in small tracts light and sandy; in general fertile, and well adapted to winter wheat, roots, all kinds of grain (except Indian corn), also timothy and clover. In Crow Wing, $2.50 per acre; Morrison, containing public lands, $1.25 per acre; a portion first-class, others light; generally well timbered; presents rare advantages for settlement under the homestead laws. Monongalia and Wright, $5 per acre; prairie and timber, clay subsoil, soil dark, deep, and rich, capable of producing excellent wheat and small grain. Washington, $8 per acre; the southern half of the county mostly prairie of the best quality; with good cultivation it will produce 40 bushels of wheat to the acre; in the northern part the land is more broken and covered with bur oak; the soil is stiff; produces good crops of wheat and oats, grass, &c. Carver, $8 per acre; timber and meadow; soil good, capable of producing all crops suited to the latitude; several beautiful lakes in the county, affording an abundance of good fish and pure water. Scott; nearly all the unimproved land in this county is either marsh or woodland; the former at this time has but little market value, but its prospective value is great for forage purposes, it being susceptible of easy and cheap drainage, and thus improved and sown to timothy and red-top grasses would become enduring and first-rate meadows, an important item when stock is kept up half the year; woodlands now command $15, and in the course of a decade of years will average not less than $50 per acre. Rice, $7 per acre, with land similar to that just described, timber and low land. Le Sueur, $6 to $10 per acre; land rolling, deep, sandy soil, capable of producing large crops of wheat, oats, corn, potatoes, &c., for a long series of years without manure. Nicollet, $2.50 to $10 per acre; rolling prairie, friable, black loam, with clay subsoil, will produce wheat and other cereals, &c. In Brown County a portion of the "Sioux reserve" is in the market at $1.25 per acre; rolling prairie, soil a rich, black humus, about two feet thick. Watonwan, $7.50 per acre; black, sandy loam, on clay subsoil. Faribault, $3 to $6; rolling prairie; good soil. Mower, $6; level prairie; good rich soil. Freeborn, $3.50 per acre; suitable for farming or grazing. Dodge, $12 per acre; mostly good, dry, tillable prairie; balance (except a small percentage of wet peat land) timber, worth $20 per acre. Wabashaw, $12.50 per acre; rich prairie. Winona, $5 per acre; good for wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, &c. Houston, $7 per acre; soil fertile and productive, especially for wheat. There is a vast area or territory yet unsurveyed within the limits of this State, perhaps one-half of the whole State, embracing a variety of soil, resources, &c., which will be open to settlers as speedily as the demand shall require the Government survey.
COST OF OPENING A FARM.―" To break prairie land costs from $2.50 to $4 per acre; timber land, of course, much higher. Lumber costs from $14 to $17 per thousand feet for fencing, according to the distance from the mills. Posts are made of cedar, tamarack, oak, pine, and locust. Machinery does a large part of the farm work. We have gang-plows, seed-sowers, cultivators, reapers and harvesters, mowers, thrashers by horse power and steam. Men engage exclusively in these branches—have their own machinery, and, going from farm to farm, gathering a man's crop and putting it in market in a few days. Hired men are procured with but little trouble for farm work, and at prices ranging from $16 to $30 per month; hired girls at from $7 to $10. The expense of building houses must be gathered by the reader from the price of lumber and mechanics' wages. Lumber for dwellings costs from $15 to $22 per thousand, and carpenters get from $2 to $3.50 per day; brick and stone masons, from $2 to $4 per day. Large barns are not required—or, at least, are seldom found. When the thrashing is done in the fall, the straw is thrown upon the timbers constructed with 'crotch and rider,' which affords a warm and secure shelter for stock in all weather. Farm horses here are worth from $80 to to $180; cows from $30 to $45. Abundance of good hay grows wild on our marshes and meadows, is considered equal to the Kentucky bluegrass, and by many superior to clover and timothy. The expense of living here can be estimated by the prices charged for board at hotels and private boarding-houses. The prices range from $1 to $3. per day at hotels, and from $1 to $2 at private boarding-houses. These are the prices in the larger cities of the State, but good accommodations are procured in thrifty towns and on the shores of attractive lakes, at more moderate prices."
MISCELLANEOUS.—Among the many curious laws of migration is one which seems to have prevailed in the settlement of Minnesota—it is, that people usually migrate nearly due west. The inhabitants are mainly from the Northern and Eastern States. New England, especially, is well represented. There are, of course, people of all nationalities—many Norwegians, Germans, and Irish. Most of the settlers are plain, honest, industrious farmers, attracted to our State by the salubrity of its climate, and the productiveness and cheapness of its lands. A large proportion of the population is made up of the best classes from the older States, who have come to reap the advantages of our fine climate, or to invest their means in property in our fine agricultural districts and in our rapidly growing towns, where immense fortunes have been realized by their rapid and solid growth.
"We rarely see here any of that ruffianism and lawlessness which in most new States render them unpleasant as a permanent residence. It would be as difficult to find a township without its meeting-house and school-house as in Ohio or Pennsylvania. The various religious denominations are proportioned among the population in about the same ratio as in the older States."
In respect to her provision for education, Minnesota is the peer of any State in the Union. Two sections of land in every township, or about three million acres in all, are devoted to the aid of her common schools also a tax of one-fourth of one per cent on all taxable property.
Governor MARSHALL, in his message to the Legislature, January 10, 1868, says upon this subject:—
"The additions to the permanent school fund last year were $253,871.44. The fund now amounts to $1,587,210.78; 246,126 acres of land had been sold up to the close of the last fiscal year. The school lands of the State, when all the public lands are surveyed, will amount to about 3,000,000 acres. The fund ultimately to be derived from these lands will, with a continuance of the present prudent and successful management, amount to fifteen million dollars—exceeding the united school funds of Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio. There is nothing in the past history or future prospects of the State for which we have so much reason to rejoice and be thankful, as for this unequaled endowment of common schools—this munificent provision to endure through all coming time for the free education of every child of the State."
INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE.
We give below extracts from a few of the many letters received:―
ST. CLOUD, July 23, 1868.
DEAR SIR:―* * * Farming lands here are good; soil, a rich black loam; greatest portion prairie land, yet an abundance of timber. No mineral or coal, and crops yield largely. Prices: Wheat, $1.50 ; corn, 60c; potatoes, $1. per bushel. Farm labor scarce. Trades and professions are well filled. * * * Religious advantages are good, all sects being represented. Schools tolerably fair, and improving.
The inhabitants are Americans, Germans, Norwegians, Swedes, and French, the majority being Germans and Norwegians.
Domestic fruit can not be successfully cultivated. Wild small fruits in great abundance. Respectfully yours,
C. W . RICHARDSON.
To F. B. GODDARD, Esq., New York.
KASSON Co., MINN., July 18, 1868.
Character of lands in this county—prairie, timber, and oak openings, with rivers and creeks. Wages, $1 to $3 per day—all kinds needed. Clear, pure air, and no sickness. Good timber, good limestone. Principal crop, wheat; price, to-day, $1.75. Good schools, good churches. Population, Americans, Germans, and Scandinavians. * * * * We have one of the best farming countries in the world, are directly on the railroad, and there are great inducements for capital and labor. Are rapidly going ahead. Price of land, from $4 to $50 per acre. Lands sold cheap near this point four or five years ago; now command $30 to $50. * * * Land can be bought two to fifteen miles from town, wild, from $3 to $15 per acre. Wheat will yield the farmer from 25 to 40 bushels per acre.
Yours truly, S. G. NELSON.
MAPLETON, BLUE EARTH CO., MINN., July 25, 1868.
Mr. F. B. GODDARD :‑
SIR:—In reply to your circular, I would say that we live in the garden of Minnesota. We have fine, rich land, well watered; plenty of grass land; all the timber we want, along the streams, for fencing. * * * Wild land, $5 to $7 per acre; improved land, $8 to $10 per acre, according to nearness to timber. Hands to work on farms get $18 to $20 per month; harvest hands, $3 per day. I have been 15 years in Minnesota, and believe it is the healthiest country I ever lived in or read about. I moved here from Brooklyn, N. Y.
Wheat, oats, corn, barley, and grass are abundant. Crop—wheat, 40 cents below Chicago markets. Five to six schools in every township, and meeting every Sabbath. Population, Americans, and some Scotch and English. People mostly from New England, &c. Yours, &c.,
ROBERT TAYLOR
JACKSON COUNTY, August 8, 1868.
* * * This is one of the southern counties, and contains twenty townships, each six miles square. It is comparatively new, the Indian massacres of 1856 arid 1862 having almost entirely depopulated the county; hence the population it now contains has been gained since 1862. It is one of the very best producing
counties in the State. * * * * The Des Moines River runs through the county, and a large extent of country will always be tributary to it. There is no risk in building mills along the river. * * * * It is in flouring mills that the greatest pecuniary profit has been realized in Minnesota for the past ten years. * * * Men with a thousand or two dollars soon become wealthy.
The class of citizens most needed now are those to open up our rich prairie land into farms, though many other branches of business can be carried on to advantage. * * * Our county is rapidly filling up with immigrants, who see that, for location &c., &c., this surpasses almost any other section in the West.
Our school and religious advantages are unsurpassed. * * * The nationality of the people of Jackson County is almost entirely American, save one town, settled exclusively by Norwegians. No better immigrants come to our shores than these same Norwegians. They open their farms quicker and raise better stock than almost any other class, and quickly become wealthy.
Respectfully, &c.,
G. C. CHAMBERLIN.
F. B. GODDARD, Esq., New York.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.