Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1854-07-04

The Excursion-St. Paul-St. Anthony,
j. A. Harris, ESQ.,, the editor of the Cleveland
Herald, was among the Excursion party which
visited our territory, and since his return he has
published in his paper several letters which for
truth and candor have not been equalled by any
other writer. 1t seems that he had no occasion
for ''brandy and tobacco" but kept his mind
clear by the enchanting beauty and scenery about
him. We have no doubt that he is a temperance
man, and we know that he is gentleman, in
which capacity we introduce him to our readers.
In speaking of St. Paul he says:
The morning of the Sth the excursionists were
summoned to the decks to catch the first glimpse
of wonderful st. Paul, the city of the Upper Mis-
sissippi. On rounding point the town appeared
in all its beauty at distance OF about four miles.
Expressions of surprise and admiration were uni
versal. Stretched along on the bluff bank OF the
Mississippi for nearly two miles, cleaned dome
and spre, white houses gardens and shrubbery,
and extensive, we'll built brick blocks. No town
East or West shows to better advantage from
distance. Magic had done tswork, and st. Paul
stood out Il New York in miniature.
The good people of st. Paul were taken by
surprise when the whistles of the steamers Gale
ma, War Eagle, Golden Era, Lady Franklin and
Sparhawk, announced the approach of the guests
Of the Rock Island Railroad Company. They ex-
pected their visitors day later, and had partial
" made arrangement: to give them grand well
come But being out of the beat OF telegraphs,
the arrival out of time was unheralded, and on
landing no public reception could be given. The
fleet, nearing the city, drew up IN line, ana,
with flags flying, bands playing, and the masses
on the boats and on the shore answering shout
for shout, moved up to the levee.
ST. Paul is situated on high bluff at the base
of which the river sweeps in graceful curve, at
two points the bluff receding from the shore,
and forming the upper and lower landings. The
city is mainly buil5 on broad plateau, in the rear
gradually rising, and forming beautiful elevations
for public and private editces. Population frona
5000 to 5000, mainly from the East, and daily
adding to their numbers. Good School Houses
have been erected, and the city contains eight
Churches. The Capitol, erected about year ago
at cost of 5000, is fine brick edifce, in
modern style and eligibly located. Six years ago,
the site of St. Paul was an Indian village and
sugar camp! and the Territory contained only
about 5000 inhabitants.
st. Paul is an enterprising, business city. New
buildings are going up, and lots ditto. Sixty to
one hundred dollars per foot front on the princi-
pal business streets is the selling price, and desi-
rable lands in the vicinity range from 50 to $50,
depending upon locality. There is a little diff
ference between this and $75 and $500 per acre,
vide the nincompoOp of the n. Y. Times.-ED.
The buildings in the city now number 800, many
of them large, substantial and elegant. Four
handsome daily journals are published here
Look again at your map, and you will see that st:
Paul is just about the geographical centre OF
North America, and visit here will satisfy you
that it is the commercial key to all the vast re-
gions lying beyond it to the North and West. 1t
is at the head of uninterrupted steam navi cation,
2070 miles from the mouth Of the Mississippi riv-
or, and every boat from below is crowded with
hardy immi grants to this magnificent land of for
est and prairie, hill and valley, river, lake and
waterfall.
After alluding in a complimentary manner to
several of our citizens, the editor proceeds to
speak of st. Anthony and the Falls:
St. Anthony is quite fourishing town, Of
magnificent distances,'' and contains about
twenty five hundred inhabitants, clustered about,
and scattered around, within some two miles of
the Falls. The site is beautiful one; several
of the buildings substantial and elegant and the
water power sufficient for dozen Lowells.
Above and below the grand leap, which is less
than thirty feet, the rapids resemble the Saut or
Niagara above the bridge. The Falls are divided
by islands into three distinct cataracts and these
are obstructcd by huge masses of rock, lashing
the water into thousand fantastic shapes. Here
the sheet of water is deep and unbrOken-there
it rushcs mady down an inclined ledge anon it is
white-crested and spouts up in showers Of spray
and below you it eddies, whirls, and dances
along in its compressed bed, &c furious and foam
ing, racing and roaring like the falls of Lodore."
The stupendous magnitude and awe-nspiring
sublimity of Niagara are lacking, and yet the
Falls of st. Anthony possess an odd beauty and
Il striking interest The tourist might spend the
summer months right pleasantly at the Falls and
its vicinity, including visit to Lake St. Croix
and steamboat trip up the Mississippi hundreds
of miles.
The following description of the Falls Of Min
ne-ha-ha, is beautiful:
IS You come upon the stream half hidden among
the trees and bushes, its face clothed with the
calmest gravity, when, all at once, it suddenly
smiles, and then giggles, and at last bounds down
in a hearty roar of inextinguishable mirth. So
convulsive is it with its glee that, YOU go under
the overhanging precipice and look through the
sheet, it seems to have fairly shaken itself into
lacework of silver spray"
We would be glad to quote more fully from the
excellent letter before us but space will not per-
nit. The account of the festival and reception at
the Capitol, is truthful, not overwrought, while
the concluding paragraph is full of regret at the
early departure of the guests. The writer says:
At eleven the guests reluctantly bid farewell to
their generous entertainers, repaired to the boats
already fre1l up for departure, and by midnight
were dreaming OVci tilo Pio.io"n' Anoio'' VI 'iAo
visit as they steamed rapi0iy down current so
emblematic of the resistless sweep o. Time, cnly
regretting that their tarry in the "goodly heri-
tage left behind had been all too brief, and con-
soling themselves with the promise of another
and longer sojOurn
"where the of st. Anthony, falls on the ear"
Now here is just the difference between the wri-
ter of the above and the writer in the NY Times
one is a gentleman in the full sense of the term
while the other is brim-ful of pedantry doubled
distilled with s'brandy and tobacco.''
% The Sheriff of Clayton County has publish
cd card exonerating the owners, Captain,
Clerks and Pilots of the steamer Henrietta, from
any blame in the late sad affair in which he was
severely injured. He thinks they did all they
could to save his life, and that they s'neither
countenanced or sanctioned the personal violence
to him by one of the deck hands, Ithas not yet
been ascertained who the person was who gave
him the blow.
CO. memorial signed by 1900 names, has
been presented in the United States Senate from
the citizens of Massachusetts, asking the repeal of
the Fugitive Slave Law.