The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-02-07
ftDULUTH."
The South to the North,
A KENTUCKY CONGRESSMAN MAGNIFIEs THE
GLoRIEs OF THE MINNESOTA ME-
TRoPoLTs OF THE FUTURE.

On LuO Nv. VIVA ohd
railroad grant bill, j. P. Knott, of the
Fourth Kentucky District, indulged in
some amusing comments on Duluth,
which, as a bit of broad fun, will be en-
joyed by the friends as we'll as the foes of
that place:
Duluth The word fell upon my ear
with peculiar and indescribable charm,
like the gentle murmur of a low fountain
stealing forth in the midst of roses, or the
soft, sweet accents of an angels whisper
in the bright, joyous dream of sleeping
innocence.
Duluth Twas the name for which
my soul had painted for years, as the hart
panteth for the water-brooks Renewed
laughter.1 But where was Duluth
Never, in all my limited reading, had
my vision been gladdened by seeing the
celestial work in print. Laughter And
felt profounder humiliation in my
ignorance that its dulcet syllables had
never before ravished my delighted ear.
Roars of laughter. | was certain the
draughtsman Of this bill had never heard
of it, or it would have been designated as
one of the termini of this road. / asked
my friends about it, but they knew moth
ing of it. rushed to the library and ex-
amined all the maps could find. Laugh
ter.1 | discovered in one of them deli
cate, hair-lilse line, diverging from the
Mississippi near place marked Prescott,
which supposed was intended to repre-
sent the river st. Croix, but I could no
where find Duluth
Nevertheless, l was confident it existed
somewhere, and that it's discovery would
constitute the crownug glory of the pre-
sent century, if not of all modern times.
{ Laughter. | knew it was bound to ex-
ist in the very nature of things that the
symmetry and perfection Of our planetary
system would be incomplete without it
[renewed laughter1 that the elements Of
material nature would loug since have re-
solved themselves back into original chaos
if there had been such hiatus in creation
as would have resulted from leaving out
Duluth. [Roars of laughter.l In fact,
sir, was overwhelmed with the convic-
tion that Duluth not only existed some-
where, but that wherever it was, it was
great and glorious place. I was convinced
that the greatest calamity that ever befell
the benighted nations of the ancient world
was in their having passed away without
a knowledge of the actual existence of
Duluth; that their fabled Atlantis, never
seen save by the hallowed vision of in-
spired poesy, was, in fact but another
name for Duluth that the golden orchard
of the Hesperides was but political SYM
onym for the beer-gardens in the vicinity
of Duluth. [Great laughter.l
was certain that Herodotus had died a
miserable death because in all bis travels,
and with all his geographical research, he
had never heard Of Duluth. Laughter.
| knew that if the immortal spirit of
Homer could look down from another
heaven than that created by his own
celestial genius upon the long lines of
pilgrims from every nation of the earth to
the gushing fountain of poesy opened by
the touch of his magic wand. if he could
be permitted to behold the vast assemblage
of grand and glorious productions of the
lyric art called into being by his own in-
spired strains, he would weep tears of
bitter anguish that Instead of lavishing all
the stores of his mighty genius upon the
fall of lion it had not been bis more blessed
lot to crystallize in deathless song, the
rising glories of Duluth. [Great and con-
tinued laughter.
Yet, sir, had it not been for this map,
kindly furnished me by the Legislature of
Minnesota, might have gone down to my
obscure and humble grave in an agony of
despair, because could nowhere find Du-
luth. Renewed laughter.1 Had such
been my melancholy fate, have no doubt
that, with the last feeble pulsation of my
breaking heart, with the last faint exhala-
ton of my feeting breath, should have
whispered, "Wherc is Duluth ?" [Roars
of laughter But, thanks be to the benif-
icence of that band of ministering angels
who have their bright abodas in the far off
capital of Minnesota, just as the agony of
my anxiety was about t. eliminate in the
frenzy of despair, this blessed map was
placed in my hands; and as uufolded it a
resplendent scene Of inetfable glory opened
before me, such as | imagine burst upon
the enraptured vision of the wandering
peri through the opening gates of paradise.
Renewed laughter There, there for the
first time, my enchanted eye rested upon
the rayishing word Duluth
This map, sir, is intended, as it appears
from its title, to illustrate the position of
Duluth in the United States; but if gem
tlemen will examine it, think they will
concur with me in the opinion that it is
far too modest in its pretensions. 1t not
only illustrates the position of Duluth in
the United States, but exhibits its relations
with all created things. 1t even goes fur
ther than this. 1t lifts the shad owy
veil Of futurity and affords us view of
the golden prospects of Duluth far along
the dim vista of ages yet to come.
If gentlemen will examine it they will
fnd Duluth not only in the center of the
map, but represented in the center of a
series of ooncentric circles one hundred
miles apart, and some of them as much as
four thousand miles in diameter, embrace
ing alike in their tremendous sweep the
fragrant savannas of the sunit South and
the eternal solitudes of snow that mantle
the ice-bounded North. Laughter. !
How these circles were produced is perhaps
one of those periodical mysteries that the
most skillful paleologist will never be able
to explain. Renewed laughter But
the fact is, sir, Duluth is pre-emineutly a
central place, for | am told by gentlemen
who have been SO wreckless of their per-
sonal safety as to venture away into those