Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-09-17

these distant regions. The great power ane
value of the Great Eastern will be on long
voyages, where she can carry coal for both the
out and home Voyages. ,anet st@ 8. =
As for her first voyage, l am glad she is tc
go to America !, and if it is carried out under
the direction of the enterprising Manchester
man, who has already set on foot one sue
cessful line of mail steamers to America, il
will unquestionably be a success. All have
heard speak of it, say they think Mr.. Lever S
offer a most liberal one, and it will certainly
bring some profit to the shareholders, and
hope they will look on it in commercial light
and close with him. He knows the Ameri-
can trade, and can get many more passengers
than company that has not yet commenced
operations.
A virginian's Views of Minnesota.
Correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch.
PETERSBURG, Va, Aug. 2.
am just in from the great new State of
Minnesota, having travelled the sixteen hun
dred intervening miles in the almost incredi-
bly, short period of three days and half
Though so far distant, the trip thither, or
back, is so pleasant and cOmfortable-and at
a moderate cost, too-that it really amounts
to nothing, considered as Journey The
routes are many, and all of them agreeable !;
for speed, comfort, beauty of scenery and
economy. On the morning of the third day
after leaving your city, the passenger is land
ed in Chicago to breakfast. The same even
! ing he arrives at Lacrosse, on the upper Mis-
sissippi, about one hundred and fifty miles
below st. Paul, and before noon of the fourth
day, he stands upon the levee of that rapidly
growing and enterprising city. He stands
there wondering at the vast extent of our
great country, (the centre of which he has
not reached and at the skill, enterprise and
capital which have accomplished for him such
a speedy trip ! All along the route his atten-
ton has been engaged with views of the rich
est agricultural country, and the finest natur-
al scenery, which the country affords. The
nights he has spent in sumptuous sleeping
cars, affording better facilities for rest than
any steamboat your correspondent has ever
met with, and, at appropriate times during
| the day, he has stopped at first-class hotels,
and has been allowed unusually ample time
to partake of the excellent meals prepar-
ed for him. He may make the trip through,
including every expense, for about $40 for
first-class, or about S29 for second class pas.
sage.
am surprised that this trip is not more
generally favorite with pleasure seekers than
it is. But few, as yet, have discovered its
advantages, and those few assert that to
breathe the pure and celebrating atmosphere
of Minnesota to wander about amongst it's
crystal lakes, rolling prairies, and lovely
Laughing waters" falls y to visit its yet
lingering Indian settlements, and to study the
habits and manners of the natives, to say
nothing of the splendid picture. scenery of the
Upper Mississippi, which far exces that of
the Hudson, is worth all the "mountain breez-
es" and humbuging sulphur waters that even
our own beloved Virginia affords. The time
is not far distant, surely, when it will become
the great resort of the Southern and Eastern
summer travel but those who go first, and see
and enjoy it before Art has despoiled the
beautiful works of nature will be amplest re-
paid.
There is no more beautiful country in the
world. Minnesota is appropriately named
the State of the ''Sky-Tinted Water" for it
is difficult to say whether its surface presents
more of land than water. Every few miles
the traveller meets with lovely lakes of clear
spring water, transparent to the bottom, and
rejecting from their surfaces sky as soft and
beautiful as that of Italy. These charming lit
tie seas, varying greatly in size and extent,
all seem to be thickly inhabited by the finny
tribes of the very best species, and bordering
as they do in some sections of the State, upon
nearly every "claim," they are of immense
advantage to the settlers as well for their use
as their beauty. Moreover, at the proper sea-
sons, their bOSoms are covered with very fine
qualities of wild ducks and geese. One is
struck with the quantity of these lakes on
looking at the map, but the map present not
one-hundredth Of them-only the very large
ones.
These lakes separate sections of the richest
and most beautiful rolling prairie land to be
found in the whole Northwest, with magni-
ficent supply of excellent timber, scattered
here and there over the face of it. The soil,
which is now being rapidly broken up, is a
rich black Gas your hat,) sandy loan, varying
from four to fifteen and twenty feet deep,
with "sub' which, when fixed with it,
makes it even richer than itself, and the whole
perfectly inexhaustible. The crops are such
as we are accustomed to in Virginia, only
spring wheat does better than winter, on &C
count of the scarcity of snow. Corn, wheat,
rye, barley and oats make up the grain crop
the two first particularly. But there are
some Virginians around Belle Plaine, on the
st. Peters River, which is the richest part of
the State, who are cultivating an excellent ar
ticle of tobacco, and ground peas also, with
great success, and assured me, tho they had
been at it for several years, they had not yet
seen fly or worm-it only needed to be
succored. Sweet potatoes also do admira-
bly,.
There is nothing, indeed, to prevent Min.
nesota from becoming one of the first agricul-
tural States in the Union, and as she is per-
fectly accessible to the Mississippi and the
lakes, she is destined to enjoy an immense
commerce. And when the great Pacific Rail
road is extended, one branch at least of which
must lie through this State, her influence in
every department of civilization, will be felt
throughout the country and throughout the
world. She is very young yet, but already
blossoms as the rose,"
it must resemble that of the original Eden
for no one ever gets sick, and invalids, particu
larry consumptives, come from every part o.
and are not disappointed. One inhalation
invest you with a quantity Of oxygen that
and drive you at least five years farther or
the course of life than you can possibly g
by any other route.
Experiences of imprisonment.
, The following is an extract from Coun
; Gonfallconier's account of his Imprisonment
Fifteen years existed in dungeon ter
feet square! During six years had com
panion during nine was alone neve
could rightly distinguish the face of him WIN
5 shared my captivity in the eternal twilight o
our cell. The first year we talked incessant
3 ly together we related our past lives, ou
lows forever pone over and oro- oe-o;- III