St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1861-03-28

support, and six hundred acres in each town.
chip for common schools So, We are likely to
have good school system.
4. tha Winslow House you may consider
whether you will 50 up by boat or stage; and
~ you will want to SEQ both routes better 80
up by stage and come down~by boat. The
current Of tho river is very rapid, and it will
require thirty -six- hours to 60 by boat, while
you cor, go up by stage in twelve and come
down BY boat IN six. Tho old military road
madeby tho U. s, runs up the cast, side of tho
Mississi ppi from Fort Smelling, which lies be-
tween St. Paul and St. Anthony, to Fort Rip
Icy lying nearly two hundred miles above on
the east side Of the river. This is the best
stage road have ever travelled. For the first
twenty miles-that is up to Anoka at tho
mouth Of Rum river the country is broken
There are numerous streams to cross and q
good deal Of up aud down grade, but the
ground is sandy, mud scarce, and no rocks to
,leafen one with the rattling of the wheels
The motion is about as easy rs that Of city
street cars. Tho timber along this road is
generally scrub oak, stunted and gnarled by
tho annual fires consuming the rich grasses
and weeds at their feet. The soil looks 50 san
dy that . stranger would think it worthless,
il it were not for the grass and weeds; unless
he passed at . season when the fields appear
TO groan under their load Of standing grain:
The land on that side of the river is princi PAL
ly owned by spectators and in places one
rides eight and ten miles without seeing q
house, still there are many fine farms; but
the impression is that few years Of till ,ge,
without manuring would cxt aust it. Down
the Rum river comes great numbers Of pine
logs and after you pass this the country be-
comes more lcvcl-a mixture Of prairie and
oak openings. These oak openings look just
Ike old orchards, and to eastern eyes, give
the country an inhabited, home look. All The
way up, the tall forests on tn, west side Of
tho river, are in full Wow; and to tho other
eide lie low ranges Of hills. The graded Min
ncsota anil Pacific Railway is almost parallel
with the road and there are several beautiful
lakes on the route. One, twelve miles below
the St. Cloud crossing, is called "Clear Lake
I. is one mile in circumference, almost per-
feet circle. and looks like bowl sunk in the
prairie. 1t has no outlet, DO trees on the
bank, neither rises nor falls, and the grass
grows down to the point at which tho wind
drives up the waves. From thence the shores
and bottom arc clear sand and bright pebbles,
mixed, as are the pebbles OH all the lakes and
rivers of that region, with cornelian, agate and
other precious stones. When we come to the
St. Cloud Lower Ferry house, the stage stops
70 change the mail, and we get out and meet
the stage which takes US over the river: and,
Col. Emerson, ''mine host the jolly post
master Of Brantford, l. G. East St. Cloud. The
stage wo came in goes Oh up to Fort Ripley
through = country which grows poorer and
more thinly settled until it reaches Grow Wing
where civilization ceases, until you cross to
Superior City at the head Of Lake Superior.
But We cross the Father of Waters on q
swinging ferry which takes us over in q few
moments IN 81, Gov. Stephens, Of Washing
ton Territory, crossed here in making his
rurvey Of a railroad to tho Pacific, and camp
I'd on the groun where st. Cloud now stands.
The travel to and from Red River crosses here
The Hudson Bay Co. have all their goods
brought from New York to the Mississippi by
railway, up that to St. Paul by steamboat,
around tho Falls Of St. Anthony by wagons,
then By steamboat from St. Anthony to St.
Cloud, from whence it is taken By wagons and
xlcds two hundred miles westward to the Red
River Of tho North, thence by steamboat down
to the selkirk Settlement and Fort Garry.
One transporting company of St. Paul has
n contract with the Hudson Bay Company, to
Ave years from St. Paul to Fort Garry. This
is oil reshipped from boat to wagon at Saint
Cloud. for Sank Rapids just above, makes this
the heal Of navigation. One boat, the North
Star, was taken over the rapids by horses, two
ye<cs ago, and ran thirty miles TO Little Falls
when it was again drawn over these and ran
up to Fort Ripley; and on to point two hun
dred md fifty miles above St. Cloud, when it
WAS stopped by impossible falls. The engine
OF this pioneer hal been taken out Of the
Gov. Ramsey, the first stea nboat which ever
ran above the Falls of St. anthony. 1t was
then taken out Of the North Star and drawn on
slels by oxen two hundred miles to the Red
River, and is now in the pioneer boat there
tho Arson Northup-namcd for the man who
took it over and built the boat. All this time
you may imagine the stage has been crossing
the ferry and winding up and around a steep
wooded bluff sixty feet high, SO that we are in
St. Cloud. On one side of the principal street
md on the bank Of the river commanding a
hne view of miles Of river, and green islands,
woodland and prairie, stands the Stearns