The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1869-09-04
The Great Wheat Field WOnde7-
fWI Richness of o. Little
K7aOaU7a Reg;On.

| /WC 1lCCIt5CSSS VI u LtCCtG
KnOaU7a Region.
Carleton" Mr.. G. @. Coffin, writes in very
enthusiastic terms to the Boston Journal from
the Red River of the North, five hundred miles
northeast of Chicago:
One of the most wonderful features of this re-
gion is its climate Here we are inlatitude 4e
several degrees further north than Boston, but
the summers are longer than in Massachusetts,
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 Hamp-
SHIRE selecting this as their future home, say that
this climate is far preferable to that of New Eng
land
Yesterday saw Scotchmau, who lives five
hundred miles north of this point in straight
line, on the shore of Lake Winnipeg. The win
ter there he says, is not severe as at Chicago.
Scientific men have speculated on this phenomena
but We have seen no satisfactory explanation. -
Doubtless it is due to a combination of causes
the influence of the great lakes on one side and
the Rocky Mountains on the other-to the Mis-
souri, and Mississippi and Red rivers, TO the cur
rents of air sweeping up the Missouri valley from
the dry plains of Nebraska. Be the cause what
it may, the fact remains that here--reaching from
| Chicago northwest over a territory embracing
! Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dakotah, Northern Mon
| tana and vast region in the British possessions
i lie the wheat lands Of North America.
| No other country has such domain. The
plains of Bavaria and Hungary, upon which Cen
ralEurope relies for its grain, united, would not
exceed in area a 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 only kept in heart by con-
slant application of fertilizers but here the soil
is in its virgin state, yielding such returns as are
uot obtained in any other land, unless it be in
the San Joaquin and Santa Clara valleys OF Caifor-
| MIA
| The most fertile acre of the Gangees valley in
India, will not yield greater return than these
of the Northwest. The Nile and the Yangse-
the fertility renewed by each annual hood-nay
vie with the upands of Minnesota, but there are
sections along this Red river of the North--along
the Cheyenne and Mouse rivers of Dakotah,
which are not surpassed by the richest iu The
heart of China or on the Delta OF the Nile.
All of this territory lies north and east Of the
Missouri, and this side of the Rocky Mountains.
We have spoken of it as wheat field, and have
said nothing of its other resources, but here are
the supplies of timber from which the people OF
more southern sections are to receive their future
building materials. Looking out from my tent
toward the northeast can see, on the horizon,
the dim blue outline Of the timbered region
around the streams forming the head waters of
exhaustive supplies of coal. Between the Red
river of the North and the Rocky Mountains, lies
the great coal field OF this granary of the Conti-
nent. One the streams that find their way into
Lake Superior and on the Mississippi, are sites
for manufactures, where in coming years, the
hum of machinery, the clatter Of the shuttle and
buzzng of mill wheels will break the stiffness Of
the primeval solitude.
know that many Of those who will read this
l.. L. ;Io f,,f,,r ,oI
to take enlarged views of what our country is 10
be in coming years but am confident that
there is no man-even him Of the most compre-
hensive mind-that has taken just measure OF
the future greatness of this region.
Many of those who, perchance, may read these
lines, have visited Illinois and seen the wheat
and corn-fel6s and cultivated lands of that State
reaching on and on in boundless expense-have
heard the music of the reapers gathering the ripen
ed grain have beheld the harvest fields extended
as far as it is from Boston to Omaha, over tract
as wide as from Montreal to Philadelphia and
you have the area of the wheat field lying north
west of Chicago.
1t is region presenting features different from
the country along the highway opened to San
Francisco by the Union Pacific road. The plains
of Nebraska and Kansas-magnifcent in extent
ARE traversed by no great water courses. The
streams are few-and when the summer heats
pIcVdllj lucy uWluulS " ilNuiCtoi "hu oSSohS
wholly dry but here there are eTer-fowing I
streams and lakes of pure fresh water, fed by |
never-failing springs. Ride where you will over |
his vast territory, and you are always in sight |
of a river, creek, or lake Of purest water
where the waves break on pebbly beaches, and |
where thousands of waterfowl rear their young |
beneath the oaks and naples that fringe the rip
pling streams
Beautiful as are the praires of Illinois and |
Iowa, nature has been even more generous in her
adornment of of the Northwest. The larger !
lakes are bordered by parks and groves, present
ing landscapes of indescribable beauty. Many |
pioneer on this Northwestern verge of civilization |
may look out from the door of his log cabin, on |
scenery as enchanting as any in old England
True, there is no background of mountains, no |
rocky crag, or deep and tortuous defles, but |
there are undulations sunny slopes, gentle swells,
rounded wood-crowned SUBMITS, looking down |
upon lakes and ponds dotted with emerald islands |
or rejecting from the CLASSY surface the transcen-
dant beauty of the landscape.
This region is attractive, not only because it
has productive soil and genial clime-not be-
cause there is great prospect Of material wealth |
but here nature has done much to promote that |
esthetic culture, without which community can
never reach the highest place of civilization
Here in coming years, on the borders of these
lakes, costly mansions will be reared. Where
now the pioneer feeds his pigs will be seen parks
and lawns; where now the ground is cucumber
ed with wrecks of carts and sleds, or is heaped |
with manure from the stable, will stand, by and
by, works of art chiseled from finest marble.
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