The Portland daily press., 1871-07-03
Letter from the Northwest.
MINNEAPOLIS, MIMI, June 26, 1871,

healthiness of her climate, or the energy and
moral worth OF her people. Twenty one years
ago the first civil, or Territorial, government
was originated, when ST. Paul was small
trading point OF few hundred Inhabitants
and all west of the Mississippi was either in
possession of the Indians or held as military
reservations. 1t was only about dozen years
since that the State organization took the
place of the Territorial. At that time not an
inch of railroad was TO be found in the State.
To day her railroads-built chiefly with land
grants from tue General Government-are
measured by hundreds of miles, extending
from the commercial aud manufacturing CEN
tres at st. Paul and st. Anthony Falls to the
head waters Of Lake Superior, to the remOtest
settled regions far up the Mississippi river,
across the broad praires to the Red River OF
the North, off southwestWard in the direction
of Sioux City and Omaha to the State line,
down the Great River to Hastings, Red Wing,
Winona and other points at which connections
are made with Eastern roads --bo sides other
routes of scarcely less Importance Sill, now
| lines are being prosecuted, one to connect st.
Paul directly with Chicago, another from Min-
neapolis to st. Louis and the coal fields of
Iowa, besides the great Northern Pacific, over
which the iron horse is now running from
Lake Superior, across the Mississippi, to very
near neghborhood of the line of Dacotah Ter
ritory.
Unlike your Eastern country where roads
are built to afford facilities of communication
for settled portions Of the State, here they are
penetrating into unsettled regions, beyond the
1 n1ra No. - 1
the development of the country rather than
the accommodation of existing settlements and
| traffic And to this end have the railroads of
| Minnesota proved admirably adapted, the tide
of settlement invariably flowing out along
their lines, telling and subduing forests where
they exist, and converting the broad acres"
| of natural prairie flower gardens into fruitful
| fields.
Considering her far inland and frontier posi-.
ton, Minnesota is highly favored in CONNER
cial point of view. From her only Lake port,
Duluth, may be shipped, during the seven
months of open navigation, all the SUI plus
products of her soil, finding easy access TO tide
water at New York, Boston and Portland. A
barrel of -four, manufactured at St. ANTHONY
Falls, requires only one hundred and sixty
miles of land carriage to deliver it on board
| steamer that will land it at Ogdensburg or
Montreal, and with your P. & o. railroad
completed, it can be carried from the interior
navlgable waters to the warehouses in your
city by that route without trans-shipment, as
it may be now from the St. Lawrence by the
Grand Trunk road. At the present time from
one thousand to twelve hundred barrels daily
~ I'd cd from thn ~.
tnd market by the route Of the Great Lakes.
Southeastern Minnesota fluids ample outlet for
her products by that great highway of the ma.
| tion-the Mississippi River.
City development keeps pace with that of
the State. ST. Paul, with warehouses that
would reflect credit upon Ne York city, has
now a population of over twenty thousand,
while Minneapolis-a city in which the first
white child born, if now living, would be only
twenty years of age; city whose first real de-
velopment commenced less than fifteen years
since-contains fifteen thousand souls, and is
increasing with almost incredible strides. The
present season, while the business of the couu.
try at large is below the average, an incre ase
of probably fifteen or twenty per cent. will be
made to the value of the buildings of the city
more than twenty of the new ones being first
class fire proof stores-while the inserting tide
of population keeps all her accommodations in
demand.
Let no one infer from this statement that
riches are the sure reward of effort, for compe-
tition is rifle. and all branches of trade are
| crowded if not overdone, and particularly is
this true of the professions. Rents are exorbi-
;rh
high, and notwithstanding the cheapness of
bread, the cost Of living is equal to that of New
England. The fact that money readily COM
mands from twelve to eighteen per cent. per
annum. and that banking is almost uniformly
successful, shows that screw is loose some
where, which renders ordinary business sue
cess as doubtful as in the older States. Idoubt
if real, permanent business success is so often
achieved here as with you. Economy is less
systematically practiced, and habits OF extrav-
agance if not wastfnlness are easily contracted
The pressing demands for personal chaIity--
distressing appeals to the humane for relief
are greater here than in New England, proba-
bly, because, first, public charity is not so per-
fectly organized, and, second, the objects of
charity are so often from the ranks of newly
arrived foreigners who are unable to state their
wants in Ineligible English. Time will work
wonderful and refreshing changes in this re-
gard.
To give your readers an idea of the extent of
single element of our foreign population,
need only to refer to an event transpiring the
present week in this city-emphatically the
event of the week. The German popula-
ton are holding their Sengerfest-S State
Musical Convention-and one thousand stran-
gers are estimated to be in attendance!-
The city every where is in gala dress, flags ard
streamers flying from every available point,
evergreens filling the streets, festoons and
arches of the same material spanning the
thoroughfares, and Lager flowing as freely as
the waters of the broad Mississippi. The Dutch
have literally taken the city, and yet perfect
order and general sobriety prevail. II the cul.
| tivated musical talent of the German pnpula-
| ton of the State can send thousand repre-
sentatives to four days convention, leave
| it for others to make the figures by which to
represent the aggregate population which has
| flowed into the "Gopher State" from the Ger
man speaking States of Europe.
The Scandinavians - Swedes, Norwesians
and Danes are estimated at upwards of sixty
thousand, while the Irish arc found in swarms,
the larges religious congregations, in all the
cities OF the State being those of the Irish
Catholics. The German Catholics, as a GEL
| eral rule, have churches separate from the
Irish.
Minnesota is emphatically cosmopolitan
State. Nearly all the natiouaties of Europe
have made contributions to her population
while the French Canadians have found their
way here in large numbers. In this city the
New England element is very large-largest,
probably, than in any other city Of the State
schools, churches and other institutions of an
advanced civilization are abundant, while the
State at large has her Reform School for boys
Insane Asylum, University, three Normal
Schools, and many other institutions deserv-
ing of tender regard.
In another letter, should L end early oppor-
tunity to write one, may speak of the great
stigma which rests upon the fair name of the
State, financially, in the Eastern money mar
kets. allude, of course, to the States alleged
standing railroad bouds,-and in doing SO I
will endeavor to be fair, to nothing extenuate
| or set down ought in malice, but will state
facts as set forth by both parties,--there are
| two sides to the question, those who oppose
the payment OF the bonds, as we'll as those
the States reputation.
| noticed at the railroad station to-day
pleasant sign of. the intimate relation be-