The emigrant aid journal of Minnesota. [volume] (Nininger City, Minn. Terr. [i.e. Minn.]) 1856-1858, 1858-01-02
Telegraphic Line from Prairie du CnieAa
10 saint Paul.

The distance by the present mail route from Prairie
an CHEN to ST. Paul is about 2l0 miles. A telegraph
line over that route would cost for It's construction about
500 dollars ,,i mile, 50 that The cost OF establishing 4
telepraphic connection between Prairie du Chen and -.
Paul. would be about i4O, 900 dollars. The main line
crossing the Mississippi say at la Crosse, would pass
through La Crescent. Homer, Winona, Minnesota, lee
peeotah, Wa'ashaw, LAX City, Red Wing, Hastings
and Nininger. 70 81 Paul and from thence 1t might DC
extended up the Miunesc,a and Mississippi yalIeys-and
hv the way Of Stiliua alter IL 81. troix Falls, IN course OF
time 20 be connected with Superior City. But 1t Is Il
Prairie du Chen AMI st. Paul and st. Anthony line
that we propose as til, subject Of immediate attention
Of the 100000 dollars nerussary .eH IS constructions
if extended to st. Anthony, 5000 dollars, we tn'nh'
could be raised wi,ic,.; difficulty in st. Paul and st:
Artbouv after the pres. mt pressure shall have relaxed
and Hastings, Red Wing, Wabashaw, Lake CITY
Wiuona, La Crosse, with the contributions OF the mail
Ter towns along the route could certainly afford to sub
scribe $4,000 dollars more-and any company "onio pc
glad 10 undertake the work upon 'hl4 fesiS, anu take TIE
rest of she stock themselves
Would it pay!
The aggregate population Of the towns on the pro-
messed route after leaving Prairie du CHEN, including St.
Paul, St. Anthony and Minneapolis is about $4,000, Of
which q 900 is in the last three towns named. 1t is
not presumed that these towns, with this population,
would afford business enough of themselves to make the
enterprise remunerativc. But besides the patronage of
,ie sowns on the other side Of the river, that of the in
terror towns must DC taken into account. Two-thirds of
.fhe entire population of tho State is contained within a
narallel distance Of fifty miles from the points mentioned.
The business which q Telegraph lime would do upon
this basis of population is net to be estimated By com.
arison with the Eastern States or even any other West
~ States. 1t must be rceollected that this population
is for the most part fresh fro"a the East-that it writes
At least ten times as many letters as the same number of
neople anywhere else in the United States east of Illinois
and Wisconsin,. Every man, woman and child has dear
friends left behind with whom they are in intimate and
constant communication, and there is scarcely u family
whose relationships with the East are not such as to
give rise to the necessity for such IL prompt and immedi-
ate communication with their Eastern friends as only a
Telegraph affords. Every sixth man has business con-
pections with the East-aud nothing is more severely
felt. especially in winter, by our business men than the
want of a telegraphic communication with their Eastern
correspondents. The bankers alone, in the recent 6nan-
cial excitement, would have paid the current expenses
of such a line. Nearly every Que of these towns, more
over. has its newspaper, and some Of them two, three
and four newspapers.
We present these considerations in the hope that at
tention will be drawn to the feasibility Of an enterprise
which, if carried out, whether it pays or not as a pccu,
uiarv investment, will more than compensate for any
pecuniary outlay, in bringing us within the circle of the
social intercourse Of States, and removing the barriers
which now isc!atc us from the civilized world St. Paul
Advertiser.