The Republican journal., 1869-08-19
TIE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.

Received on Freedoms field of honor
TIE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
We have heretofore made some allusion to
the grp3t enterprise of the Northern Pacific
Railroad designed to cross tho continent from
Maine to the mouth ct the Columbia River,
through the CanadaS, Michigan, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, and the vast region beyond.
Congress- has already granted an immense
tract Of fertile land, principally in fact, in
1id OF the enterprise. a party of gentlemen
Interested in this GRAND scheme is now in that
REGION for purposes Of observation. Among
der Cobuirl, of Maine. A correspondent of
the Boston journal, who accompanies the eN-
prdition has written the following description
ut the region that it trayerses-
RED RIVER OF TIE NORTH, July, 1869.
want to hold a familiar talk this morning
with the great multitude of people in the Fast
about this country Of the Northwest.
WHERE WE ARE.
Spread out before YOU, my friends, the map
Of North America. not of the United States
alone. but Il map which will show YOU the
British Possessions Of the Northwest Let it
De school atlas il YOU have nothing better.
Ily ruler upon it and draw line north
west from Chicago, running through St. Paul,
or Minnesota. At the western boundary on
The bank OF the Red River of the North, you
viii lind our camp.
look out from my tent and see the water
glding past, to pour its cver-ncreaSing food
INTO the frozen ocean Of the North through
Hudson, Bay.
Here the river is perhaps one hundred and
fifty feet wide and six to ten feet deep, wind
mo through the level prairics. Rank grass
crows upon its banks wild fowl build their
nests aldng its rcrdy shores; bobolinks are
pouring forth their rollirking songs the spar
row sends mp his cheerful chirp; the swallows
are twittci'ing mcrrily; insects are humming
in the air; the sun shines through a mellow
haze. while all around as far rs the eye can
sec there il such richness Of vcrdure, such
wealth of grecnncss and display of flowers,
tha the language descriptive of the Elysian
fields, and the choicest and best of pocsv, is
too orrcless and feeble TO convey an idea OF
the richness and beauty Of this fair region OF
the world.
EXTENT OF THE DOMAIN.
FOLLOW in Imagination the line which you
nave drawn from Chicago. Here you arc
900 miles distant from that city. Follow on
the tract which some of our party are to take
and You will find Just such verdure, such soil
such climate, such flowers in bloom, even
though You travel one thousand miles from
this point TO the northwest. Fifteen hundred
mile. from Chicago, in the far northwest, you
will hear the bobolinl pouring out his love
song; You will find the soil as fertile there,
the climate as mild. summer and winter as
ON the prairieS around Lake Michigan.
The fields of wheat on these plains Of the
northwest are as Observation-Disclosures advanced
to-day than in New England. Fifteen days
hcnce the reapers will be cutting the wheat
and the harvest viii 90 on here Just rs it does
in New England.
ClIMATOLOGY.
One of the most wonderful features Of this
region is its climate. Here we are in latitude
lG-seyera degrees further north than Bos-
ton, bul the summers are longer than in Mas
sachusctts, and the winters. though colder,
are less severe than in that State. The air is
dry. the days calm, and the hundreds of men
that | meet, who have come hither from
Maine and New Hampshire. select this as
their future home, say that this climate is fal
preferable to that Of New England.
Yesterday saw a Scotchman, who lives
five hundred miles north OF this point in a
straight line on the shore of Lake Winnipeg
at Chicago. Scientific men have specialized
ON this phenomena but we have seen no sat
i1iactory explanation. Doubtless it is due to
a combination Of cause.-the influence of the
great lakes on the one side, and the Rocky
Mountains ON the other-to the Missouri and
Mississippi and Red Rivers, to the currents OF
mir sweeping up the Missouri valley from the
dry plains of Nebraska. BE the cause what
ii may the fact remains that here-reachino
from Chicago northwest over territory en-
bracng Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dacotah
Northern Montana, and a vast region in the
British Possessions-le the wheat lands OF
North America.
COMPARISON WITH OTHER LANDS.
No other country has such domain. The
plains Of Bavaria and Hungary upon which
Central Europe relies for its grain, united,
would not exceed in area single county in
Minnesota The fine lands of Prussia have
thin soil, while the wheat fields Of France
have been cultivated for centuries, and are on
" kept in heart by constant application of
fertilizers, but here the soil is in its virgin
state, yielding such returns as are not obtain
cd in any other land, unless it be in the San
Joaquin and Santa Clara valleys Of California.
The most fertile acre of the Gangees Val
ley in India will not yield a greater return
than these Of the Northwest The Nile and
the YngtZ-their fertility renewed by each
annual llood-may vie with the uplands of
Minnesota, but there are sections along the
Red River of the North-along the Cheyenne
and Mouse rivers of Dacotah, which are not
surpassed by the richest in the heart of China
or on the Delta of the Nile!
OUR INHERITANCE.
know that many Of those who will read
this letter are aeon stoned TO look into the fl-