The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1851-10-23
Hf tf-s 30 - p ~ - -
Editorial Correspondence.
s. B. DR.. FRANKLIx, No. 9. !
Sunday Morning Oct. 10, 1851.

fast bell rings, and as we look through our
state room window, the lobe-shaped bluffs,
along the shore Of Lake Pepin, seem flying
up stream, with their foliage Of green, Grim
son and yellow; and a cold autumnal breeze
sweeping up the Lake, greets us OF the fore
deck. You look about for your boots, which
are mortgaged for dimes worth Of black
ing, and find them with row Of other
boots, Of the same size and appearance.
How every thing in our time is reduced to
n Procrustean sameness Here are fifty
shining boots in a row, all Of the same
shape and ell Of the size and number seven;
yet every man who will, can identify his
own hat aua boots; for if he wear them but
a single day, they become part Of himself;
and it is easier for him TO get in the wrong
state room in the dark than into the wrong
boots in the day time. The clock, which
like our neighbor Of the Democrat at st.
Paul, is wrong end up, points its hands to
the zenith, to Indicate O'Clock in the morn
ing perpetual antipode of truth-itS
face, like our neighbours head, being all the
time, mot right" May both lie converted
| And now breakfast is over. The lake, like
dazzling mirror, reflects the rays of sun
shine upon US, from the golden cast--and
our staunch boat moves swiftly along,
scarcely jarring the glass pendents of the
chandeliers. The passengers are few, and
the sober spirit of Sunday seems TO shed its
influence upon aIl-and especially upon
those of us from ST. Paul, who so lately as
sisted IN the melancholy funeral rites of
young Randall, whose manly form lies hu-
rlej in the graveyard that overlooks our
town, in the pleasures and Joyous festivities
Of which, he participated with such evident
delight, from the time when ST. Paul was
not, until it expanded into the magnificent
outlines OF city, as it now appears, seen
from the spot where his grave is.
Here are passengers, Oh their way home
from visit to Minnesota some from ILL.,
nois, some from Penusy lvania, and others
from Ohio. Here is farmer from Quincy,
Illinois, who has been two months explor-
ing the Sioux purchase. He says he found
better and richer lands, up the Minnesota
river, than he has ever seen elsew here in
the world. He Will come up TO settle, next
sl'rlng, with many Of his neighbors How
safe and easy is the navigation of this river
from the Upper Rapids to ST. Paul! Not
u snag-not rock-all smooth and COM
fortaLle-no boats lost--no goods damaged
Can railroad ever compete with such
igation' 1t saems Incredible. Certainly
such u river canno, be made for nothing.
The coal-heds of jlinios, and the coal be ds
now discovered up the Minnesota river,
viii always make steam cheap. Railroads
costs inoney-,he river costs nothing. Is
not the world getting railroad mad? Are
not railroads, all pointing EASTWARD and in
tersectins New York rosis, draining away
the business of the Mississippi Valley, de-
stroying the trade of Western towns aud
centralzing all commerce in New York
Guy: The jobbing business, where is it
going' To New York. What viii the
gansiion Of railroads, that pass through
Chirago, do for that city? Chicago will be
like the middle of an hour glass, through
which Commerce will pass, in swift, mar
row stream, between the East and the West
10 the extent that railroads supersede lake
navigation, Chicago will lose the aliment of
commerce, that has given it growth so ex-
traordnary. She will sit upon her sandy
beach, with dropping plumage, as poor as
the bird without gizzard aud with but one
short, straight, intestine through Der e,na
cated body. She will DO a lumber business,
Il is true, and Il fair retail business: bat she
will be mortified to hear hourly the whi.tI.
OF the locomotive hurrying up to thrust its
fiery nostri. into the waters of Lake Mi
chisan, and away again in twinkling,
drawing away to New York, the Western
merchant with his produce.
But if such will be the result to Chicago.
OF the competition Of railroads with lake
$50 o'''S"1 "Hdt via DS tue result 10 SYt
Paul, OF Il railroad 10 competition with the
river! Very different; railroad will no,
pay; tor the distance along the river, could
not he materially shortened by railroad.
as 1t is along the Iakes-then there is far
less peril ~ river than in lake navigation:
and again, The course Of the Upper Missis
sippi, from st. Paul TO GaIena, from N. w
TO 5. f., is in the natural and direct cour.e
of our trade that seeks the Atlantic around
the foot of Lake Michigan, aud Of our
trade down the river, with St. Louis and
New Orleans. Except New York and New
Orleans, towns are few, very lew, that are
not IN danger, under the railroad system. of
becoming mere thoroughiares for railroads.
and mere tributaries TO one or the other of
these cities. t.l
IL Lake Michigan exten,ied eastward in