Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-12-11
THE NORTHWEST.
A Ride Along the Northern Pacific
Railroad,
Correspondence Of the Cleveland
Herald.l

> knliTOhu,
Correspondence of the Cleveland
Herald
2 MoORHEAD, Nov. IL, 1872.
Z Except among those directly inter
ested, we believe the Northern Pacific
= Railroad has received but a very gem
eTal attention. There has been such
{ an universal satisfaction in having
one line of railroad across the CONT
/ nent, that the progress of the second
has awakened nothing like the inter-
est that was bestowed upon the first,
: This was so much the case, with US at
least, that when we determined ON q
trip over this line we must eOufess to
have had but vague idea Of where
we were going, or of what we were
! going to see, and though we may
. have been uDexceptiOuably ignorant
on this subject. yet We believe few
J particulars in regard to the completed
portion of the road, and the effect it
has already had upon the adjacent
country may not be uninteresting.
In the firs5 place We would wish to
speak of the road itself, for in this We
must confess To have been greatly dis
appointed. Although quite prepared
to find a road over which trains could
run with some degree Of security, yet
that we should be able to travel the
entire distance from Duluth to the
Red River of the North, with as much
safety aud comfort as we would have
in going from Cincinnati to Buffalo,
seemed hardly among the pOssibili-
ties; yet it is nothing more than the
truth. The entire distance, two hun
dred and fifty two miles. frum Duluth
TO MOOrhead, the furthest point now
reached by regularly running trains,
is as well built and as thoroughly
equipped a road ss could be wished.
II IL carefully and sOlidly ballasted.
and the rails being connected by the
plate joint, you roll over il rs smooth
~ as sou would over the New York
Central, or in fact over any other well
built road in the country. That por-
ton of the road. IwentyfOur miles ia
length which winds up the st. Louis
river from Duluth to the junction OF
the main line with the Lake Superior
and Mississippi division, presents ali
the magnificence of scenery. and con
~equenIly all the difficulties TO engin-
eering, of which rugged hills, rocky
but yLu ride over il as smoothly and
with as perfect a sense of security a.
you would over the PennsyIvania
Central. Indeed, it has not unfre
quently been compared to that road.
and for wildness of scenery, and, with
some few exceptions, for sOlidiiy OF
construction, even, it fully suStains
/ the comparison. The views you get
of great gorges at y our feet, with the
| tops of tall pines way down below
Ou. and of the dark waters of the ST.
Louis tumbling over immense series
OF upheaved stlata are fairly startling
in their wildDess, and are in them
selves well worth the trouble Ofa visit
nut il is not until you leave the juno
/ TiOn and have been whirled for hours
through forests that seem almost sOlid
in their density, that you fairly begin
TO realize that you are actually trav
ersing that Northern Minnesota which
on the map looks SO dreary and hope
less.
For about one hundred miles after
leaving the junction above mentioned,
the land is quite low, in many places
swampy, and the whole Is covered by
a dense growth of small timber. IL
numerous places Gndeed you are sell
dom long out of sight of one of them
the swamp seems to have eondenseG
into dark little lakes, which, sur
rounded by ghOstly looking birch |
trees, are perfect picturesO of desOlatiOn.
The prospect along here is certainly |
not inviting, though I. ON its novelty |
the ride through it is by no means
nIonOtonOus. To look from your com |
iUrtable car and think that you really
are in a genuine bowling wilderness |
which, with occasional breaks of bleak |
prairie and lonely, mysterious lakes !
stretches far away north 10 the very
Truzen ocean itself, produces in Ont
who has never before been out the |
ordinary lines of travel, decidedly |
odd and by no means unpleasant sens |
alton. This short portion o. the road. |
u is said presented more diffirultie>
in it, construction than will any pOr
tiDn of the entire distance 10 Puget |
Sound, and this fact, together with |
the thOrOughness and rapidly with |
which these difficulties have been
overcome, leads TO very encouraging
conclusions in regard to the early anu |
satisfactory completion of the whole
line.
You are hardly prepared after this /
long ride through desOlafiOn to mud
thriving little town OF $500 iuhabIt |
ants apparently right in the midst of
il: yet such is Bralnerd. 1t is one OF /
those little towns that have sprung VI /
20 suddenly along the line of the road.
and which, being few months ahead
of its neighbOis, has got considerably /
the tart Of them. A town more com
plPteiy in the woods could hardly be
imagined. 1t has grown so fast thai
time has only been taken TO clear
away the heavy growth of pine tim
Der enough 10 admit of opening streets
aud building houses. The town is sO
tucked away among the trees, in fact
that from any one point IL is impOssi-
BILE to see but a limited portion of il,
and this, together with the long ave
nues of pines, gives iI decidedly odd !
appearance. BTainerd is OH the Mis-
>issippi river, and will soon have
railroad direct to ST Paul Already |
has it the msehine shops and man
sging offices of the railroad, aud, in
word, expects some day TO be place
of no little Importance, fact which
is evidenced by the prices demanded
.or corner lots, and the laying out ol
streets over n considerable portion OF
the adjacent country.
A short distance beyond this place
you get out Of the woods and enter a
really fine country, rolling prairie
which SOOn settles down to the dead
level of the great Red River plain,
over which the track stretches in one
unswerving line for sixty five miles.
IL Is here that you first see the Won
derful effect which the building Ofthis
road has had. Farms are laid out,
faIm houses are nuiit and being built,
and everything shows signs Ofa grow
ing prosperity. Without wishing to
go into statistics at all we would mt re
Iy mention that from Pernam, seven
ty miles west of Brainerd, the surplus
of wheat to be shipped over the North
ern Pacific this ar is 10000 bushels,
and when We consider that this is the
first years crop (fOr a little over one
year ago Perham had not an inhabit-
anti, the figure is not bad one. How
ever, this is only an item. /,
The Red River of the North Is
crossed at MOOrhead by fine wooden
bridge, which is so constructed as to
admit of the passage Of wagons. From
this point the road is completed, or
rather the track il laid $50 miles into
DakOto, almost in fact to the Missouri
River, though regular trains have not