Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1854-05-23
written for the Times.
81. PAUL IN '4s AMI, ,sl-sPITCH IN!

e - written Times.
81. PAUL IN rs AND .,sl-sPITCH IN:
{ -Four daily papers in st. Paul! Four daily lines
Of Thought tracks driven upon the intellectual
highway of our city Four diurnal luminaries to
enlighten, inform and amuse the public of flee,
Aearsoh t0tcssl
Wonderful! sayest thou? Ycs-wonderful.-
Not that establishment thereat, need open our eyes
very wide, either. IT'S not the only wonderful
thing which has happened in Minnesota; and
probably will not be the last. In fact, this age
may be pronounced generally, an age of wonders;
and our territory particularly, land Of wonders,
for manifestly /" inevitable destiny has bestowed
upon us more than our proportionate share Of
those "eye-openers )" fate which there being
no means of avoiding it if we would-it becomes
us to accept without grumbling; taking the good
which the gods send us and whatever of evil may
be intcrmixcd, with calm philosophy and stoical
resignation. Jeshuran of old, it is said, when he
"wax-ed fat, kick-ed;" an ungrateful impiety
that, no amount of fat will ever make us initiate.
We are pious peoplc-,oe are! ..,f .o-s,s-q
&c WONDERFUL we assentingly remarked above.
use being astonished at anything that occurs
in this portion Of Gods creation. To be sure,
looking over the period elapsed since st. Paul
was born of Pigs Eye-since Minnesota sprang
out of the wilderness full armed for the race of
empre-there would seem to be much that under
ordinary circumstances, would be likely to move
our nervous centres from their balance Of indif-
Dot o1ost tho nj t1,n c,,rnricnO
the extraordinary, the unprecedented, the unpar-
alleled, have had such prolific existence within
our territory, since that primitive period, that we
| are in danger of the mil admira1I, rather than
likely to die in ccstasies any occurrence short
of an earthquake, or the Mississippi on fire, Or ST.
Paul standing still! rr 81 5l T.
Therefore we think that even four daily presses
every "a hours revolving in st. Paul, is not at all
likely to brighten the town from its propriety
though strangers may be permitted to express as
| tOnishment at event so much ahead of their
own experience. For these latter, if they con-
tinue to see us annually for the next score Of
years, We guaranty, at each visit, to wiring from
them the observation, that here 'swOnders will
qaerer cease"
This may seem boastful; but we merely judge
Of what will be, from what has been. We con.
trast the past with the present, and argue a cor.
responding future. r.. els q- -7- rs 80. IS
Look at the record Territory and city ore
scant five years old but counting by events, fv'
centuries have rolled over us. St. Augustine il
Florida was founded in 10; Prairie du CHER
in IL; yet both are pismies to giant St. Paul
upon whose cornerstone, laid in 1919, the mortar
| 1, l,oJ =; bov
Yes: laid in 1897 1t was on the LIST da,
of June of that year, that the proclamation o
Gov. Ramsey declared Minnesota Territory dull,
organized in pursuance of the ac. Of Congress O
the previous Sd of March. This act bestowe
''local habitation,'' and official name not only
our territory but on our city. 1t declared st
Paul the temporary capital Of the new government
that declaration gave us our first impetus
til nee properly dates the founding Of st. Paul
Think Of the extraordinary contrasts the..fv,
years since claps'ng exhibit: .g---zza. vi
Five years ago, about two dozen houses consti
tuted st. Paul! Five years ago, two hundred
souls were about all tha people of St. Paul -
Five years ago, Saltwater was much the larges
town in the Territory; and five years ago, st
Anthony had but three dwellings! Five year.
ago. the only lands within the territory alike till
able and purchasablc, were embraced within tn
small triangular section of country, two sides o.
which were the st. Croix and Mississippi Rivers
and the other line drawn from the latter "A
about Rice Creek to the former at about Marin
Mills-a mere fea-bitc for the colossus Immi
grafton, then as now stalking with more thar
scvcn-lcagued boots into the bowels of the land
Some change, since those days, few and shor
though they have been! Some alteration, sine
that early time, in the face and relative position
Of things in st. Paul 3--e-oaa aqar
TO our original ncuclcus Of population, thou
sand people have been added for each year o
growth The whole census of the Territory fiv
years ago--though the tavern registers were the
copied and the dead summoned from their grave
to figure on the census rOlls-numbered fcwe
souls by several hundred, than ST.. Paul herself
single handed, can at this day show filling he
busy streets. Her g two, dozen houses'-(n clrl
half of those were whisky dens and a moiet
bark-roofed log huts )--have had myriad prog
eny; for almost a hundred buildings are presen.
cd now for every one that was standing at tina
period; and amidst them at the present time, W
are happy to recognize the churches bidding fai
to outnumber the grOggeres which was not b.
any means the case at any time in l849!-whl
amongst the crowd of structures we observe on
brick hotel Of such ample dimensions, that within
itsalonc, the whole Of original St. Paul, houses
and people, might easily have been encased
though with anything less than a sort of Chimes
wall, itwould be tough job to attempt to cnclos
our modern fve-year-oid city! 10 moss fsqa,
Enclose st. Paul, indeed! Fence in a prairi,
fire! Dam up Niagara! Bail out Lake Superior
Tame wolf Civilizc Indians! Attempt an,
other impracticable thing; but not to set mcte,
and bounds, to the progress of St. Paul! s
WHEN, in the antique ages, five years since
ST. Paul was first laid out into town lots, begin.
ming little below Monsieur Pigs Eyes old log
sroggey whereby stone warehouse now stands
and extending to about Gov. Rmsey's residence
in the upper town-had any prophet or son of q
prophet or spirit rapper or mesmerist or Indian
medicine man, ventured to predict, that the said
mile long by half mile wide so surveyed, would
ever be settled, occupied, built upon--the lots
rise in value from fifty dollars up to one, two and
three thousand-that long rows of stores, DWELL
ings, and shops of various kinds would by this