Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-06-16

4uItC cAtcuSlVc mllIS, OTtScu Uy
steam, and at one place we noticed
q stavc factory apparently doing a
large business. Thisis the hunters
paradise. Several times during the
passage through this boundless for
est, deer were discovered by the
track, standing like statues, and
gazing with the petrifaction of fear
and establishment upon the steam
monster.rwhich had invaded their
native wilds. Such incidents rs
this served to relieve the monotony
ofthe pine forests, until we reached
THE ST. LOUIS RIVER.
The railroad intcrsects this stream
about 35 miles south of Duluth, and
here the interest Of the trip culmi-
mates. To the lover of the sublime
and grand in nature, no more salts
flying spectacle can be presented
that the Dalles of the St. Louis river.
The first sight the traveller gets OF
it from the cars, is where it dashes
out of a wild and rocky canon
straight across the track, foaming
and dashing against the huge rocks,
and flashing itself into fury at once
terrible and sublime. From this
point for thirty miles the railroad
runs along its western bank, and
for the whole distance the stream
is one mass of foam. The fall is
very great, and the bed Of the
river is filled with Jagged rocks,
lodges with almost perpendicular
strata, forming in places natural
dam across the raging food. At
other points, huge piles of rock, torn
by the upheaval Of some former age
into the fantastic forms of ruined
towers and castles, rstand sentinel
like in the midst of the stream, the
wild waters of which dash them
selves in impotent fury against their
sides, and go foaming down the
rapids to encounter new obstacles.
Over all this scene of turbulence,
stand the solemn pine woods. their
tops bathed in the vapors rising
from the vexed waters below, while
to add to the fearful grandeur Of the
the track of the railroad
crosses number Of deep chasms or
gulches running at right angles to
the river, the trestle work in one
instance being lis feet high, and
900 feet long. The sensations in
crossing this airy bridge in full
view of the raging torrent below,
may be imagined but not described.
This portion of the trip was voted by
the entire party, well worth a jour-
ney of a 1000 miles, and the sensa-
tons of awe inspired by it, will not
soon be effaced from the minds of
the beholders. Descending to the
view it is estimated that
the water power at the Dalles of the
St. Louis is equal to 200, 900 horses,
and it is not without the bounds of
probability that when the North
Pacific railroad is extended into the
famous wheat growing region on
the Red River of the North, the
mills for grinding its immense pro-
ducts will locate here. Here are
found also immense beds of slate of
excellent quality, and in quantities
equal to the demands of the entire
west. A company has already been
formed for it's preparation for mar
ket. AS the sun began to approach
the western horizon the train ran
out of the timber, and lake Superior
in all its vast expanse and beauty
was spread out before the visitors.
A little later and the train halted at
the far famed, much feared, and
much trumpeted metropolis Of the
North,
Duluth is situated on an easy
slope of land, recently stripped of
dense growth of pine, on the west
ern end of Lake Superior. Before
it, on the left, lies the lake with it's
open roadstead partially protected
by a breakwater, along the
shores Of which stretch the docks,
depots and warehouses,
belonging to the North Pacific and
Lake Superior & Mississippi Rail
road companies. Here all the COM
mcrce of the place is carried on,
vessels take on and discharge car
goes and steamers land. TO the
right, separated from the lake by a
narrow scythe-shaped spit of land,
seven miles long, called Minnesota
Point, lies St. Louis Bay, the mag
spacious and perfectly safe
harbor of the future great city-if
it shall become great. From the
lake to the bay, across Minnesota
Point, about half a mile from it's
base, is dug the famous canal,
about which so much has been said
of late in the papers, and which is
yet the subject Of litigation between
the States of Wisconsin and Mime
sofa. BY this canal Duluth gains
access to her land-locked harbor,
and she will not give it up without
a struggle.
The signs of energy and progress
are every where visible about the
new CITY No locality in tho conn.