Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1861-10-17

is not yet quite finished. In many pla-
ces there are yet perpendicular preci-
pices OF fifty or one hundred feet left !;
and nearly the whole length of onr
route we could trace the sharp edge of
layer of stone few feet in thick
ness and some sixty or seventy feet
above the level of the river. Its uni
form elevation and unbroken regular
ity preclude the idea of upheaval by
volcanic action. 1t seems to have
been formed while the clements we're
in repose, and afterward the process
of induration was probably progress
ing many ages before it reached it's
completion. At the same time the
river was no doubt forming it's chan
mel. At first mere thread, it may
be, indenting the surface, then cutting
its way down through the quicscent
layers, encroaching laterally also up
on the banks, it has in the course of
time scooped out for itself the deep
and broad channel through which it
flows. The cliffs often assume fantas-
tic forms. Now you behold hill sur
mounted by what is apparently an an
cicnt fort built of red sand stone. The
marks OF age are upon its SCARED and
broken walls. Its sides are covered
with moss and trellised with vines.
Then again ruined castles, towers,
battlemcnts, arches, rise up before us,
and we can hardly be made to believe
that we are not voyaging up the
Rhine and gazing upon the ancient
ruins that crown its banks. They
certainly people the imagination with
wondrous fancies.
The Mississippi is not, as some may
suppose, broad, grand sheet of wa
ter, extending from the base of one
bluff to that on the other side. Low,
swampy islands, covered with dense
thickets of willows, with now and
then an oak, cottonwood, or a tow
ering elm, swarm here without num-
Der, and among them the great Father
of Waters makes his way by almost
innumcrable channels. Lake Pcpin
differs not materially from any other
section of the river, only that there
are no islands for the distance of thir.
ty miles, and the broad sheet Of water
occupies the whole space from bluff to
bluff.
The traveller finds numerous "cit-
les" located upon the river banks.
A few of them bid fair for substan-
tial growth and permanent existence.
New and rough now, they will mature
with the country. The great majori-
ity, however, are of that species ex-
tensively known as paper cities"
Eastern capitalists have made large
investments T" in some of them. Most
of them, after brief hot-bed growth,
have gone into a speedy decline. A
dilapidated warehouse, forsaken tav-
crn, a well-patronized groggery, and
a few scattered huts are all that re-
main Of the once proud paper city.
Its proprietor-the great speculator,
who had both founded city and made
fortune in single day. and thence.
forward had, with unselfish generosity
devoted himself to the work of enrich
ing his Especial friends" by making
them shareholders in his city stock
contenting himself with only par val
uc in good bankable funds this great
speculator has gone into liquidation
along with his city. His "friends
have long since placed their invest
ments to the account of profit and
loss," and there they will probably re-
main without redemption.
Only a few years since the native
Indians were the sole posscssors and
occupants of all this region. Now it
is only here and there that the "lone
Indian is scen---a stranger, solitary
where once his people lived. OF one,
middle-aged Indian, We made note.
He was sitting listlessly upon large
log lying upon the shore. He was
clad in a coarse and dirty blanket, his
hair was matted and filthy, his face
was painted sort of slate color, with
verunllion stripes across it, both above
and below his eyes. He was the
very impersonation of stolid imbecili-
ty. No expression Of intellectually
flashed from his eye, no indication of
an emotional nature played upon his
countenance. A human being lacking
the the humanity. Under the ferocity
of excited madness, we have no doub.
he could crush and mangle his victim
with as little emotion as would be felt
in an iron wheel doing the same work.
Surely God never intended SO great
and glorious country for so base a
race Of beings. Better give the whole
up to buflaloes.
st. Paul is q city of wonderful
! growth. 1t is situated on an elevated