Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-09-02
THR RUTLAND. HERALD
TIM xrD RIVER OF THE NORTH
n Bacson of Unsuypassed Beauty.
DAKOTA CRY, July e, 1850 =

OAAOIA VIII ~ IL
THB CITY. ~ s. 2 esAtsfi
Our ts.As ars pitched On the heoa1 yrai-
rie in tie subur6s Of Dakota City, In the
territory Of Dakota. The Rsd River Of
The North winds past n, between banks
Dhaded BY lofty elns and oaks, and wide
1aaplss.
The city contains one house, but has .
population Of fourteen persons. The
Hsyoe and the hesd of the fsmily u .
French Canadian. Mr.. Merchaud, whose
Indian wife has made him the happy IL
Their Of twelve children. he 10 to be our
guide on our return. Mr.. Battineau,
who has brought US hither, win go ON to
the Missouri.
OUR JOURNEY.
In letters already forw,fded I have spo-
ken of the beauty and fertility Of the
country in general terms, but dare say
that there are many who have been turn
ing over the question of emigration in
their minds who would like to have moro
specific information, and l purpose there.
fore to go over the ground once moro to
speak of the characteristics of the north
west section of Ninneaota, now especially
inviting to the emigrant in prospect Of the
immediate opening of the Northern Pa
cifc Railroad.
A railroad il already contemplated
from St. Paul up tho eastern bank of the
Mississippi, about eighty miles to Saux
rapids, just below which, on tho eastern
bank Of the stream, stands st. Cloud, .
smart, thriving town, und the present
point Of departure for all the carts and
wagons bound for tho Red River country,
and the Hudson's Bay territory.
Spread out now the best map of Min
nesota you can obtain, and you will see .
small stream entering the Mississippi,
from the west at this point-tho Sank
river. Our first camp was three miles
west Of the city, where we were drenched.
and our tents blown down in one OF the
widest Aercest thunder storms ever
known in this region, which carried des-
olatisn and death TO several homes.
From this point our course was up the
Sank valley, in = southwesterly direction
about twenty miles, then northwest about
forty miles to Sank Centre, near the
north west centre of Stesrns county.
Tho river all the way has flowed
through region where every acre almost
mioht be called fertile, except that about
ten miles west of the Mississippi We find
q low ridge Of granite. 1t is coarse grain
cd and very hard. 1t rises mid the vast
reach of level prairie like coral reef in
mid ocean.
One other peculiar feature we notice
The Sank river seems to Do the boundary
between timber and open prairie. Ride
to the top of the loftiest hillock you can
; And, and sweep the horizon. Northward
are beautiful groves Of timber-oAks, elms,
naples, box elder, poplar, and hero and
there q tamarsc and black birch. Suoth-
ward, a. far a. the eye can reach, there is
not tree to bound the sight, but a sea Of
R1ass, with here and there fields of wheat
oats and barley, waving in the gentle
breeze, and distant farm houses dottlng
the landscape.
From Sank Centre our course wac lit
tie south of west for thirty miles to White
Bear Lake and the town of Glenwood.
The lake IL due west about sixty Ave miles
from St. Cloud, and not much of the land
beyond this poiut has yet been taken up.
There are many desirable locations-some
AZ beautiful AZ any in Minnesota, which
may be secured in this region.
We reach here the region Of small lakes
thousands Of which are found in Min
nesota-that have neither outlet nor inlet,
but whose waters are never stagnant. We
camp beside them at night, water our
horses, fill our camp kettles, and make our
coffee and ten from the waters stored up
in these natural reservoirs. We have
reached the plateau upon which the rain
fall finds way in three directions-east-
ward TO the Mississippi, southwark into
the Minnesota river, and north and west
into tho tributaries of tho Red River Of
the north.
In some places the soil is thinner here
than in the Sank valley, and We sec
granite boulders and cobble stones that
were brought from the far north in the
drift period and dropped upon these
ridges.
From White Boar Lake our oourso has
boon north weat from this point, through n
country unsurpassed for fertility and beau
ty. And were We To ride on to tho North
west ono thousand miles from this point,
We should find tho same features Of soil
and climate.
have thought Of this region as being
In tho far North--but We are only trih,
north Of tho latitude OF Paris, which is
classified by geographcrs M being in the
middle OF the temperate zone The line
OF tho Northern noifo Railroad will run
through just such "a zone--all the way
across tho continent-through the heart
Of the productive West. True, We here IN
Dakota city have an elevation of Ave Or
six hundred feet above that of Paris, but
AZ we go northward from this point to-
k. -.
less. The climate is said to b. rnilder
even at Fort Carey and on she Saskat-
chawrn than it il here. Certain it il that
less snow falls in Montana in the winter.
and on the Assinsboine than ut st. Paul,
AZ in Vermont and New Hampshire.
TIMBER AND FUEL.
The great want Of the region north west
Of White Bear Lake il timber and fuel,
which can only be supplied by the con
struction of railroads. The objection does
not apply to the region north Of the Sank
Valley and TO this valley Of the Red river.
The timbered regions Of Minnesota lies
mainly east of the Mississippi, aud also
north of the Sank on the western side OF
the Mississippi.
Immigrants usually have sharp eyes,
and they select their farms where timber
and fuel are contiguous to good prairie
land. On such land they can quickly
have home and surround themselves
with the comforts and luxuries Of life. II
requires comparatively, but little labor to
fence in homestead of one hundred and
sixty acres, to put up log house where
timber il near ut hand. Nor does it take
lo.g to make life comfortable, when
twenty five bushels of wheat per acre is
raised on the sod, as in this valley.
would suggest to those who may be
seeking new homes in this region, to se-
lect such lsnd.
Coal has been found in many places
throughot the north west, and this line OF
the projected road will run over the great
central coal field of the continent, 81 that
settlers need not fear there will be a lack
Of fuel in the future.
HrnonN'o