New-York daily tribune., 1865-09-30
7hole, the West was never before 80 thrifty !.

River at GAINESVILLE, which will soon be mann
featuring city Of decided importance and fo,t.
at Watertown, the right branch tending ~
Green Bay, the left to the Mississippi. Abor.
WATERFOWL, the country is new to me. and
much of it excellent, though it is not 80 m;
formly good as the southern portion of the Stat
In fact, there are not many regions of eon,,
area on any continent that can vie in exceuenc.
Of soil with the valley of Rock River. Mir
swamps, that were once shallow lakes, but bav.
gradually filled so as to be seldom covered with
water, frequently diversity the country stretch.
ing westward from Watertown.
Near Portage City, we crossed the short cana,
which connects Fox River with the Wisconsin
aifording passage way for boats from Gree,
Bay and the Great Lakes through the Ms,is.
spp to the Gulf. The rivers are here less tb.,
two miles apart; the Wisconsin, very much
the larger, is usually some four feet the higher
and its waters, when in flood, often copiousv
overspread the marsh which separates them and
so found their way to the Gulf of St. Lawrence
believe the little canal has not proved good
venture to its owners, as it is essential 70 the
prosperity of such an enterprise that it should
not only be feasible but that it should subserys
public need: and there seems to be little pro.
duce that seeks market through this canal.
Though we approach the Wisconsin at Por.
age City, we cross it at Kilboum City, fourteen
miles further west, and it was now so dark that
/ saw nothing. believe the valley Of this i'm.
portant river has hitherto ministered to human
wants mainly from its vast wealth Of Pine and
is deemed in the main infertile.
La Crosse, as the highest point by many miles
at which railroad from the East has thus far
tapped the Mississippi, is an active, thriving
young city of 5000 inhabitants, the focus of
very considerable trade.
The steamboat Northern Belle was here
awaiting US, and laid her course up the river
within an hour after our arrival. We passed
Winona-the chief river port of lower Mnncso-
Ia, about daylight next morning, and spent
the day in deeply interested observation Of the
ever-changing scenery of the Upper Mississippi,
whose beauty surpaSses my highest anticipa
tions Though villages Of fifty to five hundred
houses appear on one or the other bank at IT.
regular intervals of five to fifteen miles, yery
little of cultivation is presented, and apart frou
the villages, the eye ranges over a prospect
little changed by the labors of civilized man.
The bluffs" or inclosng hills, are usually
three or four hundred feet high; perpendicula
at few points, but generally sloped SO as to be
covered with grass and timber-the trees mainly
oak and scattered though many OF the innu'
merablc ravines that intersect and segregate
them seem thckly wooded, as are their crests
sometimes, and the valleys of the tributary
streams almost always. Back of the BLUFFS, es-
pecially on the Minnesota side stretches broad
expanse of treeless prairie, which has been quite
generally located and much of il settled By I'M
migrants from the East, who find their timber
in the ravines and valleys of the tributary
streams aforesaid.
The bluffs frequently crowd the river, but
they usually recede from it half mile to two
or three miles, and, near the mouths of some o.
the larger tributaries, they are nearly or quite
lost to view, though seldom from both banks at
once. Between them, on one side or both sldes
of the river, but in part forming islands in its
bed, stretches an intervale averaging perhaps
two miles in width, almost uniformly wooded
with elm &C., its surface but three to six feet
above the present surface of the mighty river,
whereby portions Of it are annually and nearly
all of it is occasionally submerged. This intel.
vale seems sandy and less fertile than | would
have presumed it; and this, with the liability
to inundation, must account for the fact thai
not one acre in each hundred of it has yet been
subdued to cultivation.
Lake Pepin is simple expansion of the rvei
to an average width of some two miles
for distance of twenty-five or thirty.
Having no current, it freezes sooner and re-
mains frozen longer than the stream above and
below, so as to present temporary obstacle to
navigation. 4 May.pole has been planted OF
its icy covering. though it usually opens By the
middle of April. The bluffs whichncloSe 1t are
less rugged than some OF those which cast tae'f
evening snauoNS INTO OuE AHuIVu A"FF
Sea- on the Hudson: but this Is the nooler ana
grander expanse 1T must soon be recosnfea
as one of the legitimate attractions OF the SUM-
mcr tourist.
Minnesota has bounteous crop of "neo''
and is now selling it for cash at prices ranging
from Zoe. to 81 O5, according to the acceSS1ph'
ity of the point at which it is marketed "esF
orn Wisconsin is likewise favored. ! hear tae