The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1852-09-18
NUMBER /.

great distance, thickly covered with
growth Of timber such as we had not be-
fore seen in Minnesota. The beach, all
the way round, is from ten to twent,
feet wide, mostly Of firm, clean sand and
gravel, intermixed with beautiful corne-
lians; but at intervals dikes of small
boulders reach to the waters edge. The
same description will answer for all por-
tions oi these shores, after leaving the
extreme eastern arm. Near by US, I'D
the lake, is a beautiful little wooded ISL
and of four or five acres. This is called
Elicit island. Beyond, midway in this
division, is much larger island; but we
are about enbarking again, and will soon
be alongside it. Some Of the company
insisted upon naming it
Owens island.
Now. we care nothing about such
empty compliments. If it .yas named
something else previously, (and we don't
know whether it was or not) let it go by
its original title, whatever it may be. II
we had the claim to it, the name might
go to the dogs. 1t is fine body Of land,
embracing some thousand acres, heavily
timbered, and high above the water. 1t
is favorite place, we are told, for Indian
sugar making. The growth is mostly
sugar maple-trees very large. We had
strong head wind and rough sea to
plough through, and some of the party
were unable to swim, which made things
a little ticklish. But with Porter, an ex-
pert boatmen, at the helm, we pushed
through safely, and landed for dinner
about five miles above Point Wakon, at a
place known as
Point Morrison.
This was named some time since for
MIR. Morrison, one of our party, who has
made several voyages up the lake. We
went back into the woods some distance;
and must be permitted to say, in all can
dor, that never even in Ohio have we
seen better timbered land or better soil.
The similarity between this and the sugar.
maple groves Of Ohio, including the un-
dergrowth of pea-vine, nettle, ginseng,
&c., is very great. We measured one
sugar-tree which was three feet in diam
eter. There is also, interspersed, white
oak, white-hickory, white-ash, Eastwood,
&c.* We saw no prairie anywhere near
the lake, but occasionally, few yards
from the shore, were basins of from one
TO five acres, devoid of timber, and thick
ly grown with the grass known in the
Western States as "red-top'' or "herd-
grass" which here grows wild to the
height of four or five feet. 1t is said
that this belt of timber is at least, upon
an average, two miles wide all around
the lake, getting better as you 60 back
from the shore, having on the outer mar
gin heavy growths Of very large white-oak'
and the sugar maple becoming seconda-
ry growth. Then the country breaks
into the most beautiful and fertile prairie,
extending to the Minnesota in southern
direction from the lake, and to the timber
bordering Crow river on the north. We
have here, taking the entire circuit of the
lake, body of as fine timbered land as
the great West affords, one hundred miles
in extent, and two miles in width, with
navigable lake in its centre and the best
Of prairie forming its outer boundary
What an enviable home for the thrifty
and affluent agriculturist If our life be
spared ten or twenty years, we feel well
assured, that here, where now roams in
his native pride the red Dakota-where
the camp of the explorer is disturbed at
night by the howl of the hungry wolf
and where the only sound of life upon
the expansive and solitary waters is the
scream of the affrighted pelican-will
spread to our eye well improved and
highly cultivated farms; herds of fat
oxen, sheep and horses; mansions Of
wealth, ease and luxury, with well reserve
ed and tastefully arranged groves and
lawns surrounding these homes of COM
fort; beautiful and thriving villages at
intervals along the shores and out upon
the waters the shrill steam whistle will
call to the pier the business man and
idler, as the boat rounds from among these
jutting headlands and prepares to land
All this we shall see, if the common sge
of man be allotted us. The shores Of
Seneca and Cayuga, in New York, are
ontv nn,r u,hot thoe &c M;orotopka aciU