The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1855-12-01
MONDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 26, 1856.
Bridge at Fort Smelling.


Bridge at Fort Smelling.
What say you, property holders and bus
iness men of st. Paul, to the erection of a
Wire Suspension Bridge across the Missis-
sippi at Fort Smelling? The Minnesota Val
ley people wish more direct route into St.
Paul in the winter time than by Minneapolis
and St. Anthony I; the country "out back /"
for fifty miles is already, in a measure,
settled up and next year the white mans
plow will turn up the rich prairie soil as far
northwest of us as the head of navigation on
Red River. We have long contended, and
often urged, that St. Paul should bestir her
self with greater energy than she has ever yet
manifested to open up roads leading to her
from the North, Northwest and the North
East. A Suspension Bridge at Fort Smelling
would put us in direct communication with
not only the Minnesota valley in winter time,
and in times of low water in the summer
when boats cannot run, but also would prove
key which will unlock to us, with ease and
facility, the entire trade of all that vast coun-
try lying to the northwest, and extending to
Hudson's Bay. St. Paul should build this
bridge nou, and before this trade is forever
diverted to points north and west of us.
We presume a suspension bridge, after the
plan of the st. Anthony structure, could be
built at Fort Smelling at an eXpsnsc of
$4,000. The stock of the st. Anthony
bridge is now paying an interest of "A per
cent on the investment, and of course this
per centage must rapidly increase from year
to year. Bridge stock at Fort Smelling
cannot fail to be as profitable at once as the
St. Anthony stock; which fact is an addi-
tional incentive, aside from the increase OF
business which it would bring to st. Paul
for our moneyed men to take hold of the en-
terprise. .
What say you then, gentlemen, to procuring
an act Of incorporation for this purpose from
the Legislature soon to convene? Hoping
that a movement to this end will soon be
made in the proper quarter, we transfer
below the material portion of a leading edi-
torial which we find in the MinnesOtian of
August 9th, 1853: nn,.sr.
"DIREcT COMMUNICATIONS WITH RED
RIvEh.-St. Paul is now the acknowledged
centre of trade, not only for Minnesota, but
a large portion of adjacent Wiscohsin. The
nositio;, she has assumed she can Keep
must keep-wiIl keep. She is the farthest
n int on the Mississippi reached by steam
heats from below, and, as matter OF course,
all eo,me -cial intercourse carried on north
of her must &c by some other conveyance,
save that which, after portage of nine miles
around the Falls of St. Anthony, for few
weeks each wear, can ind channel, by
means of small steamers, as far up the MIS-
sissippi as Sauk Rapids-seventy-five miles.
Westu ard, we have the Minnesota klver,
the most navigable tributary of the MiSsis-
sippi above the Illinois, and quite equal to
that. with the exception of early spring and
late fall North h-,oestooard lies a vast produc-
ing region, hundreds ofmiles in extent, which
we must reach, partly at least, by artificial
means It will not do to await the building
of the Puget's Sound Railroad, for that may
never happen-and if it should happen, it
viii be a long while, comparatively, after this
We want some easy and direct communica-
ton with the Red River Valley, and want it
now-as soon as it can be opened.
"How can it be opened? This is ques-
ton we are now about to consider, briefly Of
course.
@During the recent visit of the Red Rivol
traders to ST. Paul, we learned that the pro
iect is seriously entertained of building
steamboat to ply between the head OF navi
CATION on that stream and lower Lake Wm
nepeg, the receptacle of its waters Lak'
Winnepeg is one hundred and twenty mile
below Pembina. 1t is large lake, it will b.
remembered--too large perhaps for naviga
tion by ordinary steam craft, suitable for ou
Western rivers But here, at the mouth Q
Red River, we meet the commerce of Hud
sons Bay, which comes up through Nelsol
River, and across the Lake. Here, also, W
are in the very centre of the Hudson Ba.
Company's operations; and we have also tu
command Of the vast farming regn wstht
the British border,-along the banks of Re
River. Including tie Selkirk settleu,ert--
settlement already Of five or six4thousan
.sAecui turists, and rapidly increasing. s.'.o1 g
+ gSoN,T;et US come over upon. Americf;a
soil. Red Rivers ssoendiag from the parall'
of forty -nine-Sour northern boundary;