The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1874-02-21
st. Paul, Mimi, Feb. IA, 1874.


St. Paul, Mimi, Feb. IA, 1874.
To the Editors of the ST. Paul Pioneer
Please allow me space to review
the letter OF Mai. Gen. Hazen, cop
led into yOur paper this morning,
from the New York Tribune OF the
7th inst. While the Generals letter
is, in the main, true, it is calculated
to convey wrong impressions and
do The country northwest Of us, great
harm. Already the letter has been
copied into the Cincinnati C0mnaer-
ciaJ and papers of like i k, and false
conclusions drawn from it's state
ments are being sown broadcast
throughout the land by papers which
have an interest in gripping the
Northern Pacific enterprise, and di-
verting attention from the North
west
w hen | cast my fortunes on the
line OF the Northern Pacific beiicy-
ed the country, cursed by Gen, Ha-
Z n, to be as he represents it: re-
gion of extreme cold in winter and
continued drouth in summer; q re
gion worthless for agricultural pur-
poses, but | know better now.
The General expects his conclu-
sions will be denied, and says they
will be; thus admitting that there
are two sides to the question-ad-
lnitting that men equally intelligent
as himself, and perhaps closer OBJ
servers, viii arrive at a different
conclusion.
He writes Of the Northern Pacific
line. and his denunciation is made
to apply to the Iauds through which
that road runs: and yet he is sta
toned at a point $50 miles north
west of Bismarck; $50 miles from
the nearest point on the Northern
Pacific and derives his conclusions
from the surroundings there.
At his station, on the fifth day Of
last December, the thermometer
registered, he says, q deg below
zero.
On that morning at Fort Lincoln,
where the Northern Pacific strikes
the Missouri river, the thermometer
registered 16 deg. below; at Dakota
Headquarters IN St. Paul, that morn
ing, % deg. below. | was at Fort
Lincoln, myself, at the time, and
speak trcm personal kno Wedge, as
well as from record. About the l4th
of January the thermometer regis
tered at Dakota Headquarters, ST.
Paul, % deg. below; at Bismarck,
II deg. below; yesterday the ther-
mometer registered at Dakota head
quarters 8 deg. below; at Bismarck
5 deg. below. What the tempera-
ture may have been at Gen. Hazen's
quarters | know not. | desire to
compare the Northern Pacific line
as located, not with a region 25O
miles northwest Of its present ter
minus, but with that excellent re-
gion il Minnesota which even Gen.
Hazen is constrained to commend.
June, July, and August, the Gen
eral says, were the only months last
year in which there was no snow.
True. On the 18th day of May /
was at the 10th siding, 80 miles east
Of the Missouri, then the end of the
track on the Northern Pacific, and
there fell that day about half an inch
of snow. On the 18th Of May, 1865,
in Central Ohio, | remember a sim,
liar storm. It fell in the morning,
and IN the afternoon the ground was
bare. At Bismarck, on the 22d day
Of September, similar storm oc-
CURED. In October, when deep
SHOWS fell in Ohio and other East
ern States, at Bismarck there was a
light fall Of rain, ending with barely
snow enough to whiten the ground.
Indian summer prevailed until
Nov. 25th, and on the morning of
the 26th tootmeu for the first time
crossed the Missouri on the ice. But
here is the Generals testimony:
The Indian Summers here are beau-
titul beyond description, that of the
past autumn rivaling the widest
flights of imagination. and lasting