Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-04-27
From Minnesota.
ST. PAUL April IA, 1870.

evening. In this interim we q time to
make some observations in this town of
western antiquity.
Prairie-du-Chien is a town of about
5000 inhabitants, situate on the east side
of the Mississippi river, on the extreme
southern border of the State of Wiscon-
sin, and 90 miles below the head of
navigation. Its general appearance Is
that oil moderate prosperity, and by no
means the town we cnniectuTed It to be.
The houses, with the exception of Is or
20, are one-story and look old and wealth
~er-beaten.
From appearances one would not mis-
trust that it was the Sabbath day. Stores,
groceries, warehouses, bar-roOms, were
all open and seemed to be doing a -four
ishing business. The reports of guns in
duck shooting, reminded me of a brisk
skirmish during the Atlanta campaign.
Fishing, pitching quoits, &C., seemed to
be INDUCED in as largely as though it
had been a week day.
The chief points of interest to me were
the remains of two old pioneer forts,
known by the citizens here as h old
n new Forts Crawford. Col. Hamll-
ton, commanding a small battalion of
the Reg. u. S. Rif1emen, commenced the
erection of old Fort Crawford in 1916, and
| completed il in 1877, just in time to pre-
vent a general massacre of all the white
! settlers in that vicinity; for a few weeks
after its completion this fort was severe
ly beseiged by the allied warriors of
several tribes OF Indians who, after sew
eral weeks trial and after losing a large
number of warriors, became discouraged
and retired in good order, THAT is good
order for Indians to their homes in the
forest farther west. Upon the redOubt of
old Fort Crawford is erected a fine resi-
dence now occupied by Col. Brisbos who
was the first white child born in the new
colony. This fort is situated in the NORTH
part of the town and about 40 rods back
from the river.
New Fort Crawford was built one and
one-half miles below the old one by Gen.
eral Zachary Taylor, (then Lieut.. Col.
Taylor,) commanding the list Reg. Z. s.
l., in the yea 1929. Col. Taylor with
his family, resided in a two-story house
Just to the rear of the fort, and il was in
this house that JEFF. Davis wooed and
won the affections of General Taylor's
daughter, Hattie, against the wishes and
consent of her parents. jefferson at that
time was brevetted ID Lieut.. in the reg
ular army, and had been ordered to re-
port to Col. Taylor for duty. Not wish
ing to be baffied in love matters, he
sought and obtained duty elsewhere
This accomplished, he procured a leave
of absence and returned to the house of
his brides father sometime midway be-
tween the hours of 6 p. NJ. and 6 a. NJ,
and Just as "a few silvery clouds fitted
athwart the disc of the gentle moon"
Jefferson received in his arms, from the
chamber window, his dear, his loving,
his devoted Hattie, with whom he eloped
down the river; when a soon as pOsSi-
BILE "they twain were made one flesh"
At eight O'Clock Sabbath evening, we
crossed the river (which is said to be
higher than it has been for years. to
McGregor, on the Iowa side, where we
had to wait until s A. NJ, Monday, when
the train left for st. Paul. The country
is extremely rough; in fact nothing but
deep cuts through limestone rocks, deep
files, trestles, curves up a grade 50 feet
per mile for five miles, when we came
upon the beautiful prairie of northern
Iowa, from this point to within 20 miles
of Saint Paul lies one continuous prairie
sometimes rolling, sometimes perfectly
level as far as the eye a reach. All
along the line of the railroad the farmers
were busily engaged sowing their wheat.
The land seemed dry, and perfectly tilla-
bic, although large snow drifts lie along
the fence sides and in the cuts OF the
railroad.
The farmers set fire to these prairies to
burn off the stubble every spring, and
we suffered not a little at times from the
smoke thus produced. l was told the
green grass would spring up
through the dense mat Of dead grass
from the previous falls growth, and the
grass crop would be a failure unless 1t
was burned over every spring. We
reached St.fPaul at Z p. NJ, Monday
evening. On Tuesday we had a long and
pleasant interview with OSsian L. Dodge,
who resides here, and is at present Sec
rotary of the Chamber of Commerce.
He remembers we'll many of his old
friends in Warren and vicinity.
st. Paul 1 find to be a city of considera-
BILE pretentions, containing a population
Of some 5000 inhabitants. Occupying a
most eligible and commanding location
at the head of navigation of the longest
and most important river on the CONT
nent, and practically, At the mouth OF
the Minnesota, it is the key, commercial
ly, to a vast region north and west. The
products of the immense valley of Min
nesota, and the country north for hun
dreds of miles must pay tribute at this
common gateway, and the towns OF this
extreme northwestern country are sup
piled with their fabrics, groceries, and
agricultural implements from 81. Paul,
making the place q depot, exchange, and
wholesaling emporium.
The luc.tliOn vi 81. Paul makes il the
largest fur market in the United States.
rhe furs include the varieties found in
the northern partof this continent, which
rival in the markets of the world the
best Siberian. The American traders
and Hudson Bay Company bring their
furs here and return with their annual
MI A--lA 10th r-n wG g both
| immense and valuable.
Nature has scarcely exceeded art in
| furnishing important advantages to this
| point. ST. Paul is to-day the centre of an
elaborate system of railroads including
within its coils all sections of the State,
! with an ultimate end in view of making
important connections with the great
National highway reaching to the At
lantic on the east, and stretching to the
Pacific on the west. Nature and art
have both combined to make this city
the great metropolis of the northwest
Never wss there a spot better adapted for
the building of a snowy and delightful
city.
The town site is elevated 20 feet above
the river, with q river front of four miles,
and surrounded on the rear with semi
circular plateau rising so feet above the
town. This beautiful elevation of land
back of the city is of easy grade and oc-
| cupied by many princely residences thai
enjoy a magnificent view of the city and
river.
81. Paul seems to be wearing, n able
to sustain, some of the airs of a Metropol-
itan tOwR-the spacious wholesaling
houses, commodiOus hotels, elegant
church and school edifces are on a scale
of magnitude seldom if ever seen In a
place Of equal size. The nations of the
earth are fairly represented here-people
from the old world have met and ming
led with people from every State in the
Union-their differences rapidly obliter-
ated and moulded into one people, siml-
lar in customs and manners,
I see here c~ongregated the hard hand
ed laborer, the shrewd calculating man
of business, the restless, keen-eyed spec
ulator and capitalist, the politician, the
idle wanderer, the man of broken fortune
and lost health, the gentleman Of leisure
and lady of fashion.
The greater part of the citizens here
are young and enteTprising, and besides
the natural inspirations of youth this
pure climate contributes not a little TO
their energetic character, and lively
movements.
The history and rapid growth Of Saint
Paul could only be written correctly by
one who has witnessed its progress and
/ EXPANSION from a territorial village on
| the outskirts of civilization to a substan-
tally built city Of q, 600 or 10000 inhabi-
tants. A stranger can collect but a brief
sketch. Tomorrow we expect to visit
Minniehaha, Fort Smelling, Minneapo-
lis and st. Anthony Falls.
Reports are rife in the city to-day that
"