St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1858-10-21
S A-I1NI1 CLOUD.

St. Cloud is the point at which the Fed Riy-
CT trains cross the Mississippi on their way to
st. Paul. which proves it TO be the natural
Junction Ct land travel between these two great
arteries Of trade. 1t is at The present head Of
steam navigation on the Missssippi Bouts
run regularly, during the Spring and carly
Summer months, from st. Anthony to this
place. s-a
The map gives its position correctly with
reference to all the most important points in
the territory, but the peculiar beauty Of its
location, ana fertility Of the surrounding coun-
try cannot be transcribed. Within fifteen
miles OF St. Cloud, on opposite sides Of the
river, and at different points Of the compass
are eight lakes, varying in size from mile to
miles i'll circumference, all, save one, beau
titul, exceedingly, three Of them at least, deep
enough to float man-ot-war. Wooded banks,
clean pebbly shores plcntifally mixed with
cornelian; and waters abundantly supplied
with fish.
When Gov. Stevens made his survey Of %
northern railroad route TO the pacific, in '53,
he camped 'on the western side of the Mis-
sissippi, below Sank Rapids" The place was
namc!css--the present site of St. Cloud; but it
is here his route leaves the river. In the sum
mer OF 55 claim cabin was built on the spot
where We now write, q good saw mill, the
frame Of a large Hotel and eight other dwell
ings We're put up that summer. This last fall
there were three hundred and thirty-two votes
polled in the p1acinct Not the votes Of Indi~
ans Or Half Breeds, for there are none here
A ma ority Of the inhabitants OF the county
are hardy Germans, with sturdy wives and
children, cultiyating the soil and working at
mechanical employments.
The subsoil is sand and although the soil is
tn fnat ~: al, al, Loo,
supporting a rank vegetation, the drainage is
SO perfect and the air SO pure, that breathing
is g perpetual pleasure. IS yet, our physi-
clans have discovered no diseases peculiar to
TIE climate, no Indigenous complaint except
the 'Nlinnesota Appetite" which requires one
fourth more treatment than a modest Pennsyl-
| vania or Ohio attack Of a corresponding dis
case.
Any body who wants to drink whiskcy in
peace had better not come here, for the treaty
by which the land was acquired from the Sioux,
forbids its Introduction: and the Legislature
has passed q law enforcing that provision; but
people OF moderate means and industrious hab-
| it's who have children to educate, will find few
places where the opportunity for correct moral
training, healthy development Of muscle, and
the means Of pecuniary independence are bet
ter combined.
There are immense tracts Of pine lying above,
from which the mills at St. Paul, St. Anthony
and the Minnesota Valley are supplied These
employ large and cver-increasing force O.!
men, horses and oxen, who are to be supplied
with provisions clothing and feed. The soil is
waiting for an opportunity to produce unlilnit-
ed quantities of food, without troubling the far
mer crushing clods while the Mississippi fror,
St. Paul to Little Falls can afford to turn mill
at almost any point and has water power
enough to do the manufacturing for Cont
| ncHt.
Our natural meadows produce grass from
four to six feet high and the beef killed off our
prairies is quite equal to any stall fed We have
ever eaten. Our vcnison is fine at ten cents
per pound, rabbits, prairie hens, par!ridges,
ducks, &C., plenty. Thousands OF bushels OF
acorns for the hogs that are not here to eat
them. Fuel for the labor Of cutting and haul
ing off the ground; and there is no likelihood
Of the supply running out soon, as the Big
Woods'' extend from this place some twenty
miles or more, down this side Of the river, and
from eight to twelve miles back. Our prairics
are all dotted with strips OF wood land, s'Oal.
Openings which just look like cid orchards
dense thickets Of plum trees bearing delicious
fruit, grape vines, doing likewise. thousands OF
acres Of hazel bushes and strawberry vines. en-
gagged in the same business; while some hun
dred acres arc in the cranberry trade and turn
out an article, which for quantity and quality
cannot be excellcd The blackberries. redrasp-
berries and hops tack up their shingles in the
woods; and seldom disappoint the most SAN
guine expectations Of their customers. There
is still land ten Or fifteen miles back which set
tiers can get: at government price, by building
Il cabin and living on it until il comes into
market. Actual settlers can buy lots here at
from one to FIVE hundred dollars, and specula-
tors can have the same lots at from FIVE to tif-
teen hundred.
In some Of the river towns back, places that
will be pleasant villages, lots can be had gratis
by those who will build and live on them
This, in places where house can be built To-,
fifty dollars, that would be a palace compared
10 the dens rented in large cities for and S
dollars ner month, while the lot, with only the
aid Of a g"ubbins hoe and few days labor,
would bring vegetables to feed g family, and
every township Sas 600 acres appropriated to
the support Of schools.
! Seventy thousand acres are appropriated to
q State university. 4 fine building has already
been erected fo, the Use Of that institution. 1t
is situated at St. Anthony, built ct stone on an
cminence commanding a view of the fails and
| no State in the Union has {, better foundation
Tor good system OF popular education 30
other prairie State is so well timbsred as Min
nesota and no State more abundant1p supplied
with clear water. In the country surrounding
ST. Cloud and as far North and West as we have
any reliable account, settlers find no difficulty
in locating land ON a running stream or trans
parent lake with plenty Of timber at hand for
building, fencing and fuel, and as the land on
the West side Of tho TTnnor Mississ;ni ia onlv
open to pre-empticn, there is little opportunity
for SPECTATORS, and settlers have assurance OF
neigllbors and that rapid increase in the value
of their lands and in social advantages which
| arise from the system Of land in limited guam
titles to actual settlers.
! The country around St. Cloud, west of the
Mississippi was purchased Of the Indians in a
treaty made with them by Hon. Alexander
Ramsey and Luke Lea in 1852 and ratified by
the senate the same year. The Sioux had
| owned the land from 1927 but had not occupied