The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1859-03-10

INhO biduCuCo, NulCil uullC III Idtlluuc %
and longitude los, one-third the distance
from Lake Winnipeg to the Rocky Noun
| tans. The southern branch oi the Sas
/ katchewan. which takes its rise in the
Rocky Mountains near latitude 1872, (the
international frontier, and long tnde ll57,
! flows nearly east, till, in longitude IU7,
it defects greatly to the north to join the
northern branch of the Saskatchewan
/ This northern branch takes its rise In
about the same longitude as the southern
branch, but in latitude 80, and flows in
nearly southea>terly direction till, in lougi
tude 1912, it turns and flows almost north
east, and then, united with the southern
branch it porrS its waters into Lake Win
nlpeg, forming at its mouth the Grand
| Rapids, three miles III length. Except
| ing this obstacle, which is not insupera-
bic. the main and upper Saskatchewan is
navigable BY steamboats, in direct line
more than seven hundred miles, and by
the course of the stream nearly double
that distance-that is, TO the Edmonton
House, within sight of the Rocky Noun
tmns dat. 81, long, 1880. The South
Saskatchewan is equally well navigabIe,
/ it is said, to Chesterfield House in about
the same longitude. This river alone
drains fertile valley of 363 900 square
miles The Red River Of the North> the
other principal tributary of Lake Winni-
peg, flows almost exactly north along the
parallel of longitude 81, from latitude 40
! 80, .thc mead of steamboat nayi CATION, two
degrees and half this side of the inter
national boundary.
From this pointin Minnesota, therefore,
steamboat might sail northward, down
Red River and through Lake Winnipeg;
then dragged through the Grand Rapids
of the main Saskatchewan, she could steam
westward, till she was covered by the
shadows of the Rocky Mountains
The enter rising people Of St Paul, in
Minnesota, will place a steamer on the
Red River Of the North as early as the
coming June. One man who, in the
frrshcts Of last spring, got his steamboat
into the waters of Crow Wing river, offers
for two thousand dollars to take it apart,
and carry it on sIed2es ninety miles across
to Breckenridge, the head Of navigation
Of Red River, and launch it by the 18th
Of April He will give bonds of 5000
for the performance OF his contract. Al
ready the s. 600 are nearly or quite rails
ed by private persons, and the St. Paul
Chamber Of Commerce offers in addition
bonus of 500 each for three boats to be
delivered in the Red River any time dur
ING the coming summer, and a reward of
81 900 to any person who will run a steam
boat of one hundred tons burden on Red
River this Sunmer, beginning her trips on
or before the lst OF June next.
TCapt Arson Northrup is now transporting
"a steamboat Oh slydges, IN consider. lion of the
st.. PAM d0Ous. and expects t1 bc ready for
ais first trip by April Ist He haul~ his boat
on SedgcS from Gull to Red river, and is pro-
badly at his headquarters on the latter river
by this time,-ED JoUR.l
This is the first public step Of move
mcnt which is yet to divert the products
of the industry and wealth OF an inland
y australia 10 the United States. Into the
heart Of magnificent areas, hardly surpass-
ed in fertility ana beaury i'll the temperate
zone. the steamboat this summer will force
its way, aud mark the channel through
which their products will dow when those
regions have become populOus, as in Il few
more decades uf ears tney inevitably viii.
Precisely what are the cnaractorlstlcs and
capacities .ut these northwestern areas we
shall in a subsequent article attempt 10
show. Enough, however, Is known OF them
10 point Il comparison Of the sagacity Of
the merclau Of St. Paul with that of the
President Of these United States The
one, whose treasury is already depleted,
and who every day runs deeper into debt,
demands of the country $3O,0JO.0O0 to
open negotiations for buying an island
that we do not now want, from a country
that will not sell The others will spend
less than So, 600. and make Minnesota the
gateway to the northwestern areas OF Brit
l>h America.
The prospective results of this enter
PRISE it may not !e wise to predict, not at
least until the characteristics of those
areas are better known. The immediate
result is easier to see BY means Of this
steamboat and by means of the railroad,
two hundred miles long, between St Paul
and Breckenridge, sixty miles Of which
will be completed the coming year, the
trade of Assiniboia, the district of British
America occupied by the Selkirk Sc tie
ment, aud embracing the lower or north |
ern section of the Red River aud the pro-
ducti e valley of the Assinibolne, will be
at once firmly secured to the United States
1t is already concentrating at St. Paul,
and during last year amounted to million
of dollars There is a community of ten |
thousand people at AsSiniboia Fort Garry