The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-10-20

So~., ~. SSoo.oe VI tSoO TO 400 miles, as the Mo-
80 long or draining half 90 large an area And
TINS Is by far the largest tributary streams
winch have their course mainly in This atet.
On the other hand, the lakes OF Mnnesots 49,
esumated at ten Aousa,sd and this n everv
10y y. non moving water which does
doubtless far within the actual number 49,
-lakeiets-ponds which are barely more Than
giant springs-lakes a hundred miles aro,,,.s
and lakelets OF scarcely half an acre s1ot H.
State in every part, but especially thronohont
Inc censr% ana nor5ns1 portions. in profu-
Of the 81, 900 square miles, or "a mn noo
acres, judge that nearly or quite Tenth ~
permanently covered by water. Minnesoat." - +
grand plateau, ranging from 1000 tn > nao,
feet above the ocean level, wherein the Missis.
sippi. the st. Lawrence, and the Red River Of
the North, have their ultimate sourceA There
are some stout hills in the remoter sections'.
put the high table land is seldom broken Saw.
Dy the streams, which traverse it through i'm
terVales ten TO three hundred feet below the
Ievei o. the adjacent country. These inter.
wales are In good part wooded; and the plains
are DIVERSIFIED at moderate though uneqnal
distances 6y belts Of low, scrubby, brushwood,
Win tougn, ragged, windrocked oaks RISING
occasionally shove the thick copse. wherei1
poplar and white birch disagreeably abound.
VI course there are extensive tracts of valnahIo
timber, especially Of pine mainly in the North
while sugar maple is found in other auarters.
but cannot resist the impression that pooa
timber grows slowly and scrubbily on the
is less genial to trees than to men. shallbe
very happy to find, on fuller ACQUAINTANCE.
this impression Mistaken .osr -.
The Mississippi is the most salient feature of
the landscape. Raising wholly within this
State, it has course OF over 800 miles within
it or upon its eastern border, during which, it
absorbs some ten or twelve considerable rivers.
with innumerabte smaller streams, and be.
comes sufficiently capacious to be navigable
at all seasons for steamboats, of ample burden.
The Falls Of St Anthony, at this point, present.
the first absolute barrier to navigation :: but
the current hence to St. Paul (sixteen miles by
water, nine by land) is rapid and shallow, so
that most boats stop at that city, which has, in
fact, difficult " bar or shallow some miles
below it. There were three or four small
boats on the river above this point but the
extreme low water of the last tw6 dryseaeons
discouraged their owners, so that they man.
aged to get them somehow below the FAllA
and left the river above to rafts and fat-boats.
though they might DOW be glad to have than
back again. 30 i.i 81 D"l
But rivers unless of the first oualitv. areno-.
ing out of fashion. The Mississippi itself Will
soon be regarded as IA old fogy, too slow for
this fast age, A railroad to run down it's val
ley, crossing 1t at Hastings, and again near Wi
mona, is already being graded, and will doubt
less soon be in operation, taking good share
OF the river transportation and nearly all its
travel. Then the Minnesota Central inst OPEN
ed hence to NOrthfeld, and in few daysmore
to run 70 Faribault, is to be rapidly pushed due
South till, in connection with affiliated roads,
1t forms through line to st. Louis, 4l3 miles
from these Falls. answering to over 800 BY til.
river. These viii be rival roads. but the wo
Is wide enough for both. The managers of .
Central expect to bring hither II, 900 busht :
running; which. for fifty miles of new lad,
through country but eight O. ten years old,
and never yet one-qnarter plowed, is not bad.
Another road that starts from st. Paul and
aims at the Pacific has already been two
years open TO this point, and now runs
thirty miles further northwest, expect
ing within year to open forty miles
OF the overland trade with the Red River
and the British settlement thereon, and so
with our newly-d6covered gold region on the
Saskatchewan and in the adjacent Rocky
Mountains. Another railroad Is to run up the
Minnesota, beside one already reaching west
ward from Winona, and several others: Con-
gress has dealt generously with this State in
the matter OF endowing railroads With lands,
yet not improVidensly, since the roads are
needed to make the lands available Without
them wheat must be grown for forty cents per
oushel IN sections where with them, it will be
worth seventy-five. Only build the roads and
the nation and the treasury will be enriched by
the land grants. $40 - -
st. Paul has some 13, 900 inhabitants, while
this place, including st. Anthony g Falls. across
the river, has some 6, 900; aud there seems to
be quite jealous rivalry between them, which
Is quite absurd. st. Paul will always be the
pracucal head OF steamboat navigation on the
Mlsslsslppi, despite the fact that small boats in
good stages OF water may come up to Mendoza
and even to the foot of the Fall. If Congress
could be importuned and og-roAed into spend.
Ing million dollars in improving the channel
OF the river, between the two points, some
trade might thereby be diverted from st. Paul
10 minneapolis but why should it, The
ence nnimpoftant save to the land specula-
tors OF one or the other locality, and Mime
apolis has advantage enough in her enormous
vet most facile water-power, which may be
made TO give employment to q population of
O,OOO souls. 1t has no superior but Niagara
and surpasses that inasmuch as the pineriee
above and the wheat lands all around are
calculated 10 supply it with profitable en-
pioym' Mt. And these are but the rude be.
glnnlngs Already, besides paper mill and
other such. wooden factory is in full opera.
ton, turning out 800 yards per day of Satinets
ana other substantial fabrics, all of which find
an eager home market, as they viii when the
DAILY production shall have been quadrupled.
Another such is nearly ready, and there is room
and profitable business for dozen more: and
for cotton factories also. Nowhere on earth
are the benehcient influences of our Protective
Tariff destined to be more sienally or more
promptly realized than throughout the Great
West. And this city, as one consequence,
ought to quadruple its population within the
next ten years. H.G.
Hon. JOHN VAN buren, made an elo-
quent speech in Albany, on the 5th inst.
1t abounded as usual in humorous pas
sages, among which we quote the follow
ing:
Now, President 'hnson himself, it is fire.
quently said, may die before the expiration of
his ofhcial term, but TO this my answer is that
no democrat ever died in the Presidential of.
nee. Cheers and laughter. 1t is very Gu
Inns