Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-05-02
Correspondence of the Rutland Herald. !
81. Louis and Missouri.
ST.. LOUIS, April 25, 1857

Aoi oWay Aioh tho SiSSu Nuns Va wa
mont is interested in your State, which
is represented here by many a sturdy
Vermonter, who came to seek, and has
found his fortune in this great State of
Missouri. You in New England, often
think you are pretty near the center OF
the Union. But you must consider the
vast movement of population through
the central States. st. Louis is near
the geographical centre of the United
States, and the centre of population is
now within $50 miles of st. Louis. This
city has a population of more than 200,-
900 people. 1t covers some 20 square
miles. We have at the present time
more than an hundred splendid steam
ers, loading and unloading. The Father
of Waters is rushing by our door, sweep
ing the SHOWS off the mountains into the
Gulf Of Mexico. You may judge some
thing of the extent of our river naviga-
tion from the fact that there are Is, 400
miles Of connected steamboat naviga-
tion in these great rivers. I have been
on steamer which has gone $500
miles, on the Missouri river alone.
People East have no conception of the
extent and magnitude OF this mighty
valley or basin, which lies between the
Rocky Mountains and the Alleganies.
st. Louis has an hundred churches, and
as fine schools as any in the Unietd
States.
During the war st. Louis held a di-
vided sentiment. Many sympathized
with the South. Our trade was largely
Southern, and where your trade is there
is your heart also. But the loyal peo-
pie of the city, backed by the German
element, prevented the city and. the State
from siding with the South. The growth
OF the Republican sentiment in the State
has been constant ever since. And now
there is no more loya. or radical State
in the Union, unless we accept the gallant
State Of Vermont, where the sun never
sets.
In paper of such general circulation
as the RUTLAND HERALD, want to tell
the people of Vermont something OF
Missouri. My next shall be more special
and particular and possess the virtue Of
greater brevity.
THE GREAT STATE OF MISSOURI.
While it is true that every State in
the Union from the Atlantic to the Pa
citlc has it's peculiar advantage, and il
rich in some things if wanting in others
l risk little in saying that the grea
State OF Missouri contains within itself
perhaps more elements of prospective
prosperity, wealth and power, than al
most any other. 1t is not my purpos'
to depreciate the advantages of othe
States, but to tell in brief and simpl
words something Of the riches o
Missouri, and do this not so much TO
the sake of Missouri, as for the thous
ands who are casting about for new
home in the West. And I am glad @
the opportunity of speakidg in you
columns of this great State.
POSITION OF MISSOURI.
In natural resources, agriculture
capabilities, mineral riches and in gee
graphical position, Missouri stand
among the foremost of the great State
of the Union, 1t is in the heart of th
great Mississippi valley, midway bt
tween the Atlantic and the Pacific, du
, west of Virginia, Maryland and South
: ern Pennsylvania, in q temperate an
most charming climate, secure alik
| from the severe frosts of Northern, an
2 the wasting heats of Southern State
= 1t is In the centre of the Union.
{ For 470 miles the Mississippi rive
: washes it's eastern frontier, while til
a rapid Missouri passes for hundreds
e miles through the State, pouring i
/ turbid waters into the Mississippi twen'
8 miles above St. Louis. 1t has other rive
1 navigable for hundreds of miles that a.
e lost in the presence OF tnese mlSu
= streams.
# AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN MISSOURI.
t Missouri has fOrty-three million acr
l. of lands, or sixty. seven thousand squa
h miles, and throwing out all waste lar
d we have an immense area of the richie
n tillage in the world, and but compar
lively small population to occupy
, ! Slavery kept out the tide of free EN-
or .tion, which, impeded here, swept in
the colder regions of more Northel
States, and it is only of late that tt
aoricn,tn raj capabilities of Nilsson
! have been d. 'sclosed.
, soUr, twRsT MISSOURI.
The Southwest Pacific railway, whit