The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-01-31
SAINT PAUL. FRIDAY. JANUARY 81 1862

and the startling, yet long obfuscated fact
is elected, by this unmaguitudinous tome,
that this precise, regionous locality, u.s. per
haps, 10 the rOundest, and, perhaps, most in
termediate, equidistant proximate position of
the terrestrial sphere We inhabit. TO elluci-
date this fact,--cOntinued the schOolmaster,
ALLOW me to direct your apprehensive facul-
ties to the following passages, which are to
be found 90 the initial page of the text of
the remarkable volume under present exam.
ipatiOn:
without initiating the pious extrava-
gance of SanudO, the position of Minnesota
in the physical system of this continent,
may be described as the western counter
part, upon the inland waters of America, of
the Asiatic summit Of the Mediterranean basin
the Onphalos of the new, as Jerusalem of the
old world. Excluding exceptional irregu.
larities of outline, the mass of North Amer
lea may be described as contained in an
ellpse resting on the concentric arcs Of the trigid
and torrid zones whose transverse a1is, extend
ing through fifty degrees of latitude north
and south, and coysyate diameter crossing
fifty degrees of longitude east and west,
intersect at the heart of Minnesota. The
point thus fixed as central to the external
CONFORMATION and climatic extremes Of the con-
tinent Is lifted to the summit Of geographical sig
nifcance, by it's central and commanding re-
lations to the whole interior physical system
of the continent.
"For the geographical centre of North
America at the heart of Minnesota, is also
the pinnacle of its great water shed, the CEN
trail source of those majestic rivers, whose
broad basin determine the physical contour,
the climates, the commercial movements, the
avocations, and the political destinies Of
two-ffths of the continent.
All the grand features Of the continent.mould-
ed and adjusted By the supreme sa0ay and pressure
Of the prinaeual s0aters whose Ararat sOas here,
are tremendously grouped by the sublime
grautation Of nature around this central sum-
nit"
We had only a small copy Of Walkers
dictionary, in the whole place, and were
nightly bothered to make out what all OF
this meant. How basin could have a
summit puzzled US all, until Tinker, The tin.
man, told US, that most likely it was turned
bottom side up. The schOolmaster told US,
that he had read Josephine all through, from
end to end, and that there Was 20 such man
ever in Jerusalem, as Omphalos. We all
understood what "the summit OF geograph-
ical significance" meant, of course or if we
didn't, we didn't let on that we didn't,
Transverse axis" the carpenter said, be
had never heard of before. On looking at
our dictionary, we found that "coDjugate"
meant married so that "copjugate diane.
ter" meant married diameter which, my
wife said, spoke we'll for Minnesota "diam-
eters," and that she hoped they were living
happily together, and keeping house in that
"gr.at watershed" that the book told so
much about. We were all very much
pleased to find that Minnesota was ''fxed"
so nice and scentrai TO the external confg
uratlOns aud climatic extremes OF the con.
tinent." 1t didn't iaige with our notions,
though, that "ArGrat was here" for we had
always heard that n Oah made bis first land.
ing somewhere aoOut Judea but when the
sch00imaster said that all that could be &C.
counted for SOY the sublime gravitation of
nature" we didn't feel like arguing the
point, particularly as the Parson, who was
there covered his handkerchief with bis face.
and said nothing.
The schOoImaster then went on to read
out OF page 6, something more about that
"great basin," (Which the tinman eased US
up on, when We first got bothered about it,)
as follows
zone half the whole of that portion of the
continent within the climatic limits of successful
is occupied by this great azluvia1
basin. A vast plain, formed at the same ge-
illogical epoch, by the same causes, operat-
ing equally upon homogeneous materials,
covered throughout its whole extent with
a uniform calcareOus mould of mex
haustible fertility, zoned u, the harmonious
transitions Of nature Vih the characteristic flora of
all climates, and producing in spontaneous
abundance the staples of each.'
The schoomaster looked in the dictionary,
and found that "alluvial" meant qooshed
ashore, or doaoD q stream which, be said,
accounted perfectly, to bis mind, for the
way that the "great basin" got here He
wasn't quite so we'll satisfied as to how
" Hover wou look when it was once
fairly . zoned in the harmonious transition
OF nature" but be presumed it must be
beautiful. - e4
With the talk all round about what we
had heard, and with another speech from
the schoolmaster, which come IN ghty close
on to the book Tor the big words be said,
the evening was pretty we'll used up, and
We adjourned penbima contradiction, as the
master said, till next Saturday night, when
we're going to take another turn at Mr..
WheelOck's book. aof
Going home, l just thought to myself,