The Portland daily press., 1869-06-09

gineers ana dfaughtSmen, having their head
quarters perhaps no nearer the eastern land
than the old "Elm House" in your city, would
draw up their "plans" of timber land, with
range and lot duly specified, diversified ifneed
be beautifully with hard wood and pine, up
land and meadow, cedar swamp and tillage
land, with streams and mill sites, and how
easily the gudgeons from Boston, New York
and elsewhere were induced to bite at the
hook so adroitly and artistical.y baited, and
how bitterly some Of them cursed specula-
tion and eastern lands after visiting the prop
erty for which they had literally parted with
their gold. And think, also, some of your
readers will remember a remarkable specimen
of nervousness and eccentricity, who was as
much confined to the hotel aforesaid as one
SO nearly omnipresent could be, who made
1t speciality to create those ''plans," and
who had his regularly graduated tariff of
prices, charging moderate sum for a CON-
mon plain plan, so much -addiiia,,~i1S. ~. uNeA-
styling it with timber, so much for nicely
drawn serpentine stream running through OF
contiguous to all the principal pine timber
pdlCnGo, 1uu tAuNltlO1aA oltAAA AOA SaSA sA-3@-
privilege with which his fertile brain adorn-
ed the streami N -ifai W ,7nlftiHil 2
All these things are still fresh in the minds
ofmen who, even while remembering the later
sensations, will nevertheless read Without
a doubt and swallows without suspicion all
the glowing descriptions of western lands
and the advantages which they offer for bus
insss or investment, not dreaming that the
West has its painters who are as fruitful in
ingenuity Tor making the worse appear the
better side, for lithographing town plots, and
creating stleams, mill sites, heads Of nayiga-
ton, short cuts to wealth and other marvels
oflnatural advantage, as was the genius o.
the Elm House of old in this peculiar voca-
tioD.
But leaving this generalzing, will notice
few of these highly wrought and artistieal-
ly colored "plans," created in land, newpa-
per, and even more "officiap offices, in ihe
West, designed specially for the Eastern mar
ket.
" At the present time the three great objects
of Minnesota speculation, the success of
which depends largely upon 3fring the East
ern financial heart" are, first, the construc-
ton of the Lake Superior and Mississippi
Railroad, eeanAotias-s St. -Rsui with the head
of Lake Superior at Duluth; second, Du-
luth itself, which Is to be the New York of
the Great Lakes, and throw even Chicago in
the shade, and third, the Northern Pacific
Railroad, designed TO lead from Lake Superb
0boh ,1,rfh 10 Goun6 in
| Washington Territory. Some of the state
ments put forth to secure attention to these
entefpFiseS,~rd flood Minnesota with money
spent In their constructlv.. and outfit. and
give impetus to immigration and specuIasian
are what I propose to test in the crucible Of
stubborn facts. aafaa st.
b. The st. Paul and Superior road, by the way
has already ''passed the Rubicon," and its
early completion is beyond doubt; still it has
lands and bonds to sell, the latter backed by
mortgages upon the former, while at points
aleng the road, and particularly at its Lake
terminus, there is field fer the largest kind Of
| speculation. f ~ .nt ea
| 4 To aid this specific enterprise and the Du.
luth speculation, it has been one great labor
of those in the sring" to create an impression
that, By the line which this road win open
the products not only of this State but
ofseveral others, as well as the expected
freight by the contemplated Northern Pacific
road, will find their outlet to the sea, flowing
down the lakes to Buffalo and Ogdensburg,
and the st. Lawrence, independent of all
way stations" without opening matches OF
breaking bnlk, to Liverpool and other Euro.
pean markets. Papers outside the State are
influenced to give publicity to these Btopian
plans and expectations, and even such infin.
ential journals as the New York Tribune and
Philadelphia Press put forth statements
which are copied with avidity by our local
press, though every intelligent man here is
fully persuaded of their fallacy.
For example: recent number of the Tri-
bune says the road from st. Paul to Lake Su-
| perior, when. completed, will save the freight
| on three hundred miles of rail carriage to
water navigation, on all the wheat, flour, beef
apd pork of Minnesota, Northwestern Wis
consin, Northern Iowa and Dakota, which
now 60 to Chicago and Milwaukee. Now in
the first place, Minnesota has neither beei
nor pork to ship anywhere out Of the State
but has hitherto imported and still contin-
ues to import large percentage of these ar
eielss rs4saissa- lAea.s
from this fact, there is no part of the State ol
Iowa, and no part of the wheat, beef and
pork producing portions of wisconsin, that
| are not nearer to Milwaukee or 9th
er ports on Lake Michigan than to Lake
| Superior, and these States enjoy the benefit
| of the free navigation of the Mississippi
| aud of competing lines of road to both Mil
| waukee and Chicago, while from the latter
city to the lower lakes is less miles by water
than from Duluth, and Milwaukee is some
eight hours of steam navigation nearer to
! the East than Chicago. 1t is equally true
that the great wheat-growing and asricul-
| tural regions of this State are much more
| convenient to markets by the Missis-
sippi than by way of Superior, the whole
| northern half of the State, with small ex-
! teptions, being undesirable if not unsuited
for farming purposes. The productions Of
Dakota, seeking eastern markets, will neces
| sarily take the same route as those of Iowa
Competition has already reduced the freigh
on wheat from st. Paul and Minneapolis tc
Milwaukee and Chicago to ten cents a
bushel, while it is only six cents or trifie
more from those ports to Buffalo, and yet l
| l have heard a Duluth 'blower," witnin the
last three days asserting that the St. Paui
road to Duluth would reduce the freight on
wheat from the former place to Buffalo, at
least tbirty-one cents per buslell The intelli-
gent readers of the Press can judge whether
\ q single line of road, through a wilderness
country that is entirely unIroductive and
over destined to abound in agricultural prod
uets, is likely to draw away from competing
roads and shorter lines tn. great staples
which must find their market on the Allan
tic seaboard. @
The longer seasons of ice embargo of Lake
Superior than Of the Milwaukee route is an
other drawback, which has been convenient.
! kept out Of sight as much as lcssible. 1t
} frequently asserted that the stnits of Mack