Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1857-03-07
From the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser.
Tho STATE az Mime ,ota,

the admission into the Union of this young fertile
and vigorous Free State. Full of hope and prom
Use, she will rapidly grow to be the worthy peer
of the greatest and proudest of her sister States.
The bill which has been reported assigns the
boundaries of Minnesota, sets apart portions of
the public domain for the support of schools and
colleges, and for the erection ofpublio buildings,
gives her number of salt springs, and Eve per
cent. of the proceeds of all public lands which
shall be sold within the State.
As the Territory of Minnesota is about four
times as large as Ohio, Congress will very prop
erly restrict the State to narrower limits.
In soil, climate and scenery, Minnesota is one
of the most attractive regions Of the Northwest.
In lS49, when territorial government was given
to it, its population consisted (aside from wild,
full blooded Indians) for the most part of Cana
dians-voydgeurs and their families, and half,
quarter, eighth and sixteenth breed Indians
These people still remain in the Territory, scat
tered over it in the various localities where the
territorial organizations found them. They are
described as quiet, good people, attached to our
flag and government, though deficient in energy
of character, as compared With the settlers who
have since thronged to the Territory.
Though it may be doubted whether o country
can be very picturesque which lacks mountain
scenery, all who have travelled in Minnesota con-
cur in pronouncng it region of great loneliness.
Il is fine, rich, unduating country, partly prai-
rie and partly oak openings, intersected by nu-
merous streams, and diversified with countless
fresh water lakes. These Lakes are one of the
most striking features of Minnesota scenery
They are most numerous between the st. Croix
and the Mississippi, but they also abound west OF
the later river. The water is clear, cold and
rather shallow the shores are lined with pebbles
or clean gravel; and on one side or the other are
commonly skirted with growth of timber. Ma
ny Of these lakes are covered with wild rice, and
alive with water fowl. Others pass into tama-
rae swamp, filed with forest of young tama-
RAGS, as thick they can stand and as straight as
arrows. The water of the lake finds its way thrO'
this swamp into another basin, forming another
lake, which, in turn, ends in similar swamp,
the waters forming one succession of lakes.
Excluding the tamarac swamps, which answer
an excellent purpose in supplying fencing mate
rial, and some rough and barren spots interspers-
ed among them to the east of the Mississippi, and
near its head waters, the soil of Minnesota is ex-
cellently adapted to agricultural purposes. 1t
consists Of o rich sandy Joan. The sand, which
is pretty large ingredient, gives it light, warm
character, we'll adapted to bring forward rapidly
the crops which must be ripened by the sun of a
short summer. Maize is as certain crop there
as it is in Illinois, and gives 6ns yield, although
it cannot often be planted before the early part
of June. All the cereals do we'll, and for grasses
there is no better region in tie world. Fat cattle
and fine horses, and the products of the dairy in
great abundance, are sources of wealth to which
this region invites the farmer.
Although large portion of Minnesota consists
of prairie, there are numerous broad belts of well
timbered land. Oak, hard maple and black wal
nut abound in many parts, while within the linn
its of tie Territory are some of the most extern
sve and valuable pineries in the world. There
are eighty miles of uninterrupted pine forest on
the upper Mississippi itself. The st. Croix and
its branches. the Rum river, and many other
tributaries of the Mississippi, ore tb;ckly skirted
with excellent Pine timber, which will afford ON
ployment to armies of lumbermen till the middle
of the next century. When we consider the vast
prairie region below, we cannot doubt that the
lumber of Minnesota is to be one of the chief
sources of its wealth. The woodman's axe al
ready resounds through long stretches of forest,
scores of busy saw mills are already located at
the waterfalls with which the streams of the Ter
ritory abound.
Besides the richness Of the soil and the bounty
of nature, great inducement is offered to farm
ers to emigrate to this Territory, in an immedi-
ate home market. limo other part of the West
is there so great demand for agricultural prod
ucts. There are soldiers at Fort Smelling and
Fort Ripley to be fed there are forty thousand
Indians who receive bounties from the govern
ment amounting to large sum annually; and as
these retire before advancing civilization, the
great growth of the lumber business will supply
more mouths than will disappear. In most parts
of the West, the farmer must send his grain and
pork thousand miles to reach market. In the
Territory there is a home demand for all that
can be raised.
One of the chief attractions of Minnesota is
the remarkable salubrity of its climate. The air
is cool, bracing and invigorating the water pure
and excellent; fever and ague, the bane of most
new countries, entirely unknown. No languor,
no debility is felt by the inhabitants of this char
ming region, which is ample compensation for
winters of considerable severity. Though the
climate in winter is intensely cold the mercury
being a considerable portion of the time below
zero, the almost uniform clearness and stiffness
of the air, enable people to pass the day out of
doors with scarcely any inconvenience. A Min
nesota winter is described as frequently present.
ing great attractions to the eye. Its remarkable
hoar frosts, filling the air with minute crystals,
which sparkle like millions of diamonds in the
morning sunlight, encasing shrub aud forest in
glittering spangles, afford scene Of surpassing
magni6cence.
The streams are usually locked up in ice about
the middle of November, and the reign of winter
extends fdr into the spring months. When, at
length, the snow and ice begin to melt away, the
atmosphere, which during the winter is rsmarka-
bly, dry, becomes filed with moisture, and rains
are abundant, accompanied by boisterous and
disagreeable winds. The season continues cold
and backward until May, when the transition to
the verdure and loneliness of summer is very rap
id. Crops cannot be put into the ground with ad-
vantage till the beginning of June, and real warm
weather seldom sets in before July. Then the
sun, which in that high latitude is long above the
horizon, pours down his beams with an intensity
rivalling the heat of the tropics, and bringing
vegetation forward apace. The heat, however.
is tempered by refreshing breezes, and the nights