The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1875-05-20

therein, by the way Of Brainerd, Lit
tie Falls, Sank Rapids and St. Cloud.
That wheat and -four are for more
&kely to 60 to Duluth from St. Cloud
and Sank Rapids Ola Brainerd, than
they are to get to Duluth if they ever
60 to St. Paul on their way.
| The great hills and the granite,
trap and slate rock lodges that have
for so many centuries looked down
upon the western end of Lake Su-
perior and upon Superior and St.
Louis bays were not pregnant with 80
finely-developed and healthy a city
as the fancy Of Jay Cooke and a
Banning led many people to suppose
they would be when the Lake Su-
perior & Mississippi railroad should
pour the nourishment Of millions of
bushels of wheat and millions of bar
rels of -four and the other products Of
the great New England Of the North
west into the youngster and cause
its early expansion into "the most
wonderful city of the continent"
Wonderful city! So it is.
"And since it's so soon done for,
wonder what it was begun for"
believe that Mr.. Egan himself be-
lieves Duluth to be "played out"
He acted very much like a person
who was hunting for something to
turn up or something to turn over.
1t is a safe wager that his single
will be hung out in St. Paul in less
than six months.
My advice to the young child, Du-
luth, is the same given by Horace
Greeley, "Go 'cest, yoes'sg man; go
euest;" but I would add, "Don't, for
heavens sake. go through St. Paul or
Minneapolis, unless you desire to be
cleaned out and never get any furth-
er west" What I mean is, that the
founders Of the city Of Duluth should
have gone west into the very heart of
our rich wheat districts, gone there
by going around and behind the cities
ofSt. Paul and Minneapolis, and
reached for the business from first
hands. The citizens of Duluth
should urge it; should go in for any
and every route that would run 4 car
direct to their docks from the wheat
fields and mills of Minnesota, but
should not let any more of those cars
Of wheat 60 through St. Paul than
they can help. I heard a Minneapo-
lis miller say that he chopped the Del
ano Bill would not pass, and that
the bondholders or anybody else
would not build that piece of road,
for it would cut off all the Sank VAL
ley wheat from them, and also give
the millers up that way big advan-
tage." 1t is true, that if the road to-
day was finished between Sank Rap
ids and Brainerd every bushel, Of
wheat in the Sank Valley would be
worth from three to five cents per
bushel more than it otherwise can be.
Compute the quantity for sale and
figure out the amount for yourself:
Mr.. Egan thought there need be no
hurry in building any more railroads
in the counties named, that the bond
holders would do it as soon as any
body, that it was reasonable and
right that they should have further
time, and that in the meantime the
roads already constructed, (meaning
thereby the Branch Line from St.
Cloud to St. Paul, and the L. s. &
M. r. R. from St. Paul to Duluth,)
could accommodate all the business
for which Mr.. Delano was urging the
building at once of the road from
Sank Rapids to Brainerd. 1t would
let the hearts blood out of the Lake
Superior & Mississippi Railroad to
build the road from Sank Rapids to
Brainerd the stockholders and
bondholders of that company know
it, and their paid attorneys know it.
The Hon. j. J. Egan, of Duluth,
as / mentioned in former letter,
had a bill of his own for a swamp
land grant to aid in the construction
of a railroad from Duluth to the
Iron Range, and the Hon. G. A. Gil
man had some swamp land grant
lines to look after. Mr.. Egan was
sharp enough to run his railroad
through the Senate, and into a law
Of the State. Gilman's railroad train
went off the track after it left the
House, and the last seen Of it Senator
Knute Nelson was trying to pry it on
again, while Senator Somebody was
laundering around knocking the
"bait" out from under the "skids" or
"prys."
| Messrs. Gilman and Nelson wanted
Senator Capser, Of Sank Centre, to
help pry it on, but it was late at night
and Mr.. Capser did not fully under
stand that kind of railroading, and
he didn't zry much. There were
enough Senators who thought that
perhaps it was as we'll to let the Ex-
tension and the swamp land lines
he there until next session, so did so
but E an's bill had got in out of the
cold. What Senator Graves would
have done was not tested, but I think
| he would have studied out the inter-
ests of Duluth had time been given
to investigate.