The Minnesotian. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1851-1852, 1851-10-08
NE in 4. csOta River Valley.


About six o'clock, on most lovely
evening late in August, we crossed the
Mississippi at Fort Smelling, on the
road to st. Paul. The access to the
ferry is not very easy, on either side,
and the charge for crossing excessive /;
not less amount than half dollar
for horse and buggy. We were af-
forwards told that the sum demanded
and paid was double that allowed by
law, and we knew it was double that
paid for crossing at st. Anthony's
Fall. Having crossed the river we
stopped to look up the Minnesota river
valley, from the high bluff. What
a magnificent breadth Of landscape
stretched upward and onward in the
blue distance. Timber and prairie,
bottom and highlands, lay under the
eye alternately for miles away, through
which the placid river came down to
meet the Mississippi. Except the fort
on the opposite side, on its command
ing bluff, and a few Indian wigwams
beneath it, half hidden among the trees
on the bottom, no evidence of the pres
ence Of man was apparent in the bound
less Arcadia before us, and the valley
looked as if it was the very abode Of
" ancient peace 1t seems to be pc
culiar feature Of the richest portions
Of the Northwest, that they present an
appearance, wild from the hand of ma
ture, as if the whole surface Of the
country had once been carefully cult
waited and thronged by a large popula-
ton, but by some awful fiat, or punish
ment for some wickedness. their whole
works, except so far as they had beau
titled the earth, had been struck from
existence with blow. Here an oak
opening has the very looks Of an orch
ard-there park like breadth of trees
and waving grass, bids you seek for a
white Mansion House, with the cluster
ed out houses beyond. Here waves a
green meadow Of a thousand acres,
In which you expect to see a platoon
OF mowers cutting through the tall
grass-but you see nothing but per-
haps dirty, solitary Indian, who ac-
knowledges your presence and good
day, by childish semi-laugh cough.
Not surface stone, not a blasted tree,
no sign Of decay-the whole of inani-
mate nature seems fresh from the hands
Of the Creator.
Time seems to have changed his ma
ture, and his office, instead of defacing
marring, and despoiling, he has clothed
the earth in garment perennial, i'm
mortal and unchanged.
This valley will, unquestionablv, in
few years, be one of the most pom
ulous and wealthy in the West; and
here, thought We, looking down upon
the village of Mendoza, partially Wis
IDLE situated on the west side Of the
Mississippi, will grow up a large and
fiourlshing town or city. The Mime
sofa is navigable now for two hundred
miles beyond this point, and the whole
country is one of the finest in the world
Astounding in timber, prairie, and we'll
watered, having a fertile soil and a
healthy climate.
Two features Of the climate of the
country deserve notice-its autumn and
its winter. On the atlantic coast, and
for several hundred miles into the in
terror of the Middle States, for three
or four months, winter rules with diyi-
ded empire. There seems to be a per-
petual civil war Of the elements-sum-
mer and winter are striving for maste-
ry during the whole season, with une-
quail success, and the whole winter is q
succession OF heats and colds--of storms
from the north and showers from the
south. In and about the Minnesota
valley winter reigns with undivided en-
plre. The river closes up about the
month of December, and snow falls
soon after, and from that time till the
hrst OF April, the thermometer seldom
rises above the freezing point. For
the three winter months there is moth
ing like thaw. The snow rarely falls
more than two feet deep-seldom drifts
and for weeks there is clear uncloud-
ed weather, with the thermometer at
zero. The autumn, too, stretches ont
its mild and hazy length out to the verv
verge Of winter. The Indian SIMMER
of a few days in the East, here takes
the character Of season; and the au-
tumnal labor Of the farmer is carried
on under weather, the beauty and char
acter OF which, must be seen and ex-
perienced, to be appreciated. -IGale-
ma Advertiser.