The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1851-01-09

tween the Federal Government and the
several military posts and Indian agen-
cies and sub-agencies in the Territory,
and the utter incompetency OF the mail
service to furnish adequate facilities for
its prompt convoy ance, our attention is
naturally directed to the employment of
an agent which the advancing civilIza-
ton of the age has made common car
rier all over the civilized world. In
Great Britain it is represented, that ow-
ing to the compactness ofpopulation, and
the admirable arrangement OF the mai
service, the magnetic telegraph has
proved a comparative failure; but the
very reasons, which in that populous
| kingdom would render the service Of
this agency not absolutely necessary,
present grave and insurmountable argu-
ments in favor of its pre-eminent utility
and indispensable necessity in remote
and thnly settled countries. Occasions
may arise, as in case of Indian rup-.
lures on the frontiers, when the inter
position of Government to be effectual,
must be instantaneous; and | know
of no object, worthy ofnationaI achieve
ment, more interesting to the people OF
Minnesota, than the construction OF a
Telegraph from the capital, or some 9th
err point in the Territory, to connect with
tclegraphic lines south and east. AS the.
wires would pass over an unoccupIed
country of nearly two hundred miles
too great in extent to admit of their
erection by the private means Of our
people respectfully urge the propri-
ETY. Of memorializing Congress for a
grant of township Of land, to be appli
ed to this purpose, and to be disposed Of
under the direction and superintendent
of the Legislature. In view of the in
creased value which such work would
add to the public domain, the grant, sim
ply as matter Of gain and profit, would
be an act of provident liberality, and
thrifty bounty on the part of the federal
government And as ii would present
means for preserving the peace of the
frontier, as government is the party most
directly and largely interested in the
construction of the work, as public dis
patches would pass over the wires free
Of charge, and as it is the policy of the
United States to make the public lands
contribute to the common welfare,
have no hesitancy in expressing my de-
cided conviction, that Congress would
lend favorable ear, to proper memo
rial on the subject, from the Legislative
Assembly of Minnesota.
At the last session of the Legislature
n ,ol.
preparation to construct military road
from Fort Smelling to the mouth of the
Sioux river on the Missouri; for appro-
priations to construct roads from Point
Douglass to the St. Louis river. from
st. Paul to Fort Gaines, from the Iowa
line to Mendoza, and from some point on
the the Mississippi river to the Winneba-
90 agency at Long Prairie; for mail
routes from St. Paul to Point Douglass,
and from the Falls of St. CrOix to Fond
du Lac; for a territorial prison; for the
, purchase ofthe Sioux Indian lands, west
of the Mississippi river; and for the ex-
tinction of the Indian title, to tract OF
country at Pembina. To all these re-
quests, am happy to state, Congress
, has responded in the affirmative, and
made the appropriations necessary to
carry into effect the several objects con-
templated.
The Secretary of War, promptly sec
onding the action of Congress, has de-
puted an engineer to make surveys Of
, the roads specified, and this preliminary
work is now in course of vigorous pros
ecution. | farther learn that at the open
ing of the present session of Congress,
the Engineer Bureau Of the War De
partment, estimated and recommended
an appropriation of seventy-five thou
| sand dollars additional to the forty thou
; sand dollars appropriated by the act Of
, the last session, approved July IS, 1850
''for the construction of certain roads
in the Territory Of Minnesota.
Owing doubtless to the pressure o
: other and important bosiness, the memo
: rial Of the Legislative Assembly, asking
the extension of the presumption privilege
to actual settlers on unsurveyed lands
) received no action on the part of Con
gres. This is greatly to be regretted
, for the long delay which has occurred
in surveying and offering for sale the
public lands of the Territory operates a:
l virtual denial to our people Of the be.
5 nefcent legislation of Congress; and the
liberal policy of the Government, which
= encourages settlement and cultivation
) as rapidly as the increasing population
] of the country is competent to extend
fails of its accomplishment.
5 The first and only public sale Of lands
< which are comprised within the present
: limits of Minnesota, was made at tht
= land Office in st. Croix village, Wiscon
: son, on the 18th day of August, IS4S
: At that time twenty-seven township:
r and fractional townships of land were
= exposed to sale, containing an aggrc
gate of 436, 1877 acres. The sales a
the time amounted to 3 1926 acres, at til,
, minimum price of 81 25 per acre.
Sixteen other townships and fractional
townships have also been surveyed, ant
+, the plats placed on file in the land of
: fee at Saltwater; but these lands no