The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1878-09-21
Written for The Minnesota Farmer.
The North Shore.
BY PROF. n. Ii. wINCHELL.

iOiHiSu " INV A"N"i al W al plHS VI
the rocky structure, but the rim of
that basin is many miles from the
present shore line. The "Mesabi," /"
a Chippewa term signifylng diUide,
is the outer rim, of that basin as it
passes across Minnesota, some
thirty or forty miles distant from
Lake Superior, but 1t gradually ap-
proaches the shore as it extends
toward Canada. This range of hills,
with the Mississippi on the west and
Lake Superior on the southeast,
forms large triangle which is des-
tined to be the scene of large
share of the mining, manufacturing
and commercial industry Of the
state. 1t embraces natural resourc-
es Of soil, timber, mineral wealth,
navigation and water power in
great abundance and closer proxim-
I ity than any equal area that can be
named within the United States; We.
1t is at present almost wholly unin-
habited and impenet~able except
along few rude roads, and by q
few interchangeable explorers and ad-
yenturers.
Probably no state in the Union
presents greater contrasts of natural
surface than Minnesota. From the
fat and undulating prairies of the
southern and western counties,
where for scores and scores of miles
q furrow can be turned from the
primeval turf without dcviating or
stopping for a stone or snag, one
may pass in q few hours travel to
as rough and impossible bill ranges
as can be found in America, or to
as dense and majestic "forest pri-
meval" as the lamented Bryant
could have imagined. That portion
rudely called .he "north shore" en-
braces the rough side of the CON
trast. Yet this is not all rough;
there are some plains and some
fertile valleys.
The first decades Of q new state
are given up to the earnest means
of subsistence and income. 1t is
only when the exIgencies of growth
and civilization begin to reach out
for new fields that the more com
prehensive Industries of mining and
manufacturing are brought into ac-
tivity. Minnesota is at present
known as great wheat growing
state. That is natural. Its prairie
soil, requiring only the plow and the
seed, was the easiest of its natural
resources to bring into quick devel-
opment; but we must not forget that
we have within our limits over
eighty thousand square miles of
area, and that we control equal ad-
vantages for other kinds of wealth
and influence. The time is not far
distant when manufactures, mining
and trade will spring up in the nor
thern and eastern counties, and
they will be very largely embraced
within the area of the triangle des-
ignated.
The great western Wheat-raising
plains of the Red River of the
North, the Saskatchewan and the
Winnipeg viii require and create
these Industries at some more ac-
cessible point than New England or
Chicago. 1t is the growth of the
great new northwest, and largely
commensurate with it, that these
Will proceed in Minnesota.
The mining of the preciousmetals,
now auspiciously begun on the lake
shore, will follow the trend of the
geological formation across the
northern part Of this triangle. The
IRON of the Mesabi is of a superior
grade, more nearly approaching the
scandinavian ores than anything
yet discovered in this country, and
though this industry is wholly unde-
veloped, it is as promising as that of
any other iron district prior to its
actual exploration. The country is
covered with timber; largely hard
woods, which will supply the neces-
sary charcoal, while the pine of the
northern part of the state is as yet
largely untouched, and exists in
large quantities. The water pow
ers of the "north shore" are unpar-
alleled, and that of the St. Louis is
tavorab!y situated and accessible.
In tho De1lac Of .bo <. o.,;- xr-;ll
be made into flour a large per cent.
of the wheat of the western plains,