The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1849-05-19
THE PIONEER.
ST. paul, nIiunssota,
Saturday Morning, May 10, 1919.
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

tue WOTiu ne rivers ana tue takeS are the
veins and arteries through which it throbs,
carrying vitality, enterprise and civilization
into the remotest interior. See that superb
vessel with her tall black fues; but yesterday
as it were, she leapt from her moorings at
New Orleans, from the levee crowded with
bales, boxes, barrels, shining negroes, and
hurrying drays, dashed along between.the
luxuriant plantations Of the South, thread
ing her rapid bu. devious way between the
bluffs into colder regions, where nature does
less and man does more, and now she has
reached her journey of thousands Of miles,
and lies painting and listening tn the roar of
the Falls of St. Anthony, where all is bleak
and leafess, ready TO return again to the
blooming South; for as yet the hig hest bred
steamboats-,he very Fashions and Peyton-
as Of our river craft-have not the bottom
and stride to over leap the Falls. Here she
lies. resting as it were; for steamboat al
ways seems to he in a state of natural re-.
pose, sweetly slunibering, when her paddle
wheels are unlOrked, and the well-oi,ed en-
CINE throbs like the heart of g. slumhe,;ng
giant. Up! Arouse this manufactured le-
viatl,an. Cast.off her lines. And now like
, pair Of disfocated shoulders slipped into
joint, her wheels are locked, she swings into
the strean,-her bot breath is poured upon
the air, and with power which makes her
very frame tre.nhle, she srnites the waters
with her paddles, and now bluffs and trees
TIE very shores seem to be flying by.
Or the Mississippi, the liquid highway of
our continent, how many old acquaintances
mert-how many new acquaintance are
formed! Let those who cannot find good
company at home, travel OH this RIVER, and
they will always find intelligent men and re-
. fined women. The steamboat is our float
ing saloon--our place for re- unions and con-
versations There is more discomfort and
.annOyance in one mile of staging than in
one hundred miles of steamboating. On a
good boat, with good company, we take no
note Of time. For instance, on Thursday
night we take berth OH the steamboat Sen
ator, at St. Paul-pass Friday in pleasant,
awake in Galena. Here we are again, in
the emporium of lcad--a town of more bu-
siness Than any other Of its size--rieh, but
shabby>-a better condition, to be sure, than
splendid poyerty-with large wholesale
istores which have taken the place of d more
. busting retail trade--with an immense cap
ital of solid wealth, and with the enterprise
land determination to lay 4 broad foundation
for that commerce with the Atlantic, and
with the Upper and Lower Mississippi,
which the completion of her railroadio lake
Michigan will place within her reach
Here, as miner would say, the East and
West trade cuts out the North and South.
Southern towns are well aware that this
must be an inevitable result of the laws of
trade. Hence the anxiety of,St. Louis to
secure a railroad direct from thence to the
Atlantic. No other measure can long Sc
cnre 10 her the trade of the Mississippi, even
If the railroad were this day completed to
Galena, an impulse would instantly be Civ
en- to the growth Of that city, such as MI
,raukee, Chicago, and 81. Louis nerer er-
perienced, Galena, bad as it looks, is the
hinge on which the business of half a con-
nnent is yet destined to turn; for al no 9th
er point can the Mississippi river be so
!cheaply and expedit.ously placed in commu-
nication with the Atlantic cities. .Galena
,contains great share of moral and mental
,power-but it is not very efficiently organ
lied in politics, or il would not so long have
remained wrong. end up-its head in the
mud aud lis feet in the air. The interests
of Galena require an entire reorganization
of parties, with new principles and new
purposes. There are hundreds of the best
men Id that city, of both. parties, who only
need a proper understanding. of each other
to sta,.d together, and to unite ia measures,
which, if carried out. would not only save
the city from iuisrute,. but would place its
prosperity upon basis far stronger than
contingency.
II is always interesting TO notice the lead
ing topics Of conversation 10 every place
We visit. What do you suppose the text is
in Galeaa? Choiera? Not at all. Cali
fornia! No.. That name has los, ats ,inse
fnd glitter; and has become associated with
death and disaster. You. hear nothing but
,Mimnesota, the St. Croix, ST. Anthony ana
ST., Paul. One would suppose that all tbs
Il l. 4 =