Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-01-16
Letter From Hon. N. Richardson

x }i;0'E 'il@& 34&& *9@&f "a 'F>&tt}&E*E' ? 81
-. :. 49,. -. -.a4 L-.z..gssssf. =.
Letter From Hon. N. Richardson.
- u.,z CContinued, from last week.1e -: -.Y4
On board St. Paul and Sioux City train at St.
James, Mimi, Dec. 80, 1878. ~.
To the north west l could also see
Dukota territory. I came down from
the high. bluff and passed over into
Nebraska on the ice.arcAs' T. came to
the west bank of the river a poor fel.
low with i, mule team Was coming
down the bank with a load of err cen
cottonwood when one Of the hind
wheels Of his wagon gave way and
every spoke in it broke, and he was
using language suitable to the occasion
Wood appeared to be very scarce. I
saw some four or five teams hauling
Lockwood from the river. On GET
ting back into town I found saloon
at which I took "zwei glass lager"
and made som enquiry Of the Dutch
bar tender as to times out in Nebraska.
He said they were very dull, and that
real estate was down to nearly nothing,
especially in that place, Covington.
Pointing across to the opposite block
he said that the meat shop and two
dwelling houses adjoining can be
bought for 5000 -Four years ago the
man building them paid $1,000 for
the ground on which the buildings
stand.
The bank, from the present bed Of
the river onto the level plain on the
west, is about eighteen feet high, and
has recently caved off and is nearly
perpendicular. On the east side I ex-
amined the sand stone rock and other
things, where some idea can be formed
as to what the country is made Of. I
noticed the end of log that was pet
ri6ed in the rock. At another point
I discovered In the soft sand rock the
point of bone, and on digging it ont
with my knife found it to be the hip
bone of some large animal, but it was
too tender to hold together. So there
is no denying but what the country
along the Missouri at Sioux City is
made up of drift from the upper Mis-
souri, or somewhere else. Sioux City
is quite railroad center, having five
lines running into it, and three lines
strike out from the west side of the
river, so that the future greatness Of
Sioux City is assured beyond doubt.
| I started for home at 1890 last even
ing, and reached this place at 5 this
morning, where we are compelled to
lay over nine hours on account of a
freight train being wrecked ahead Of
US. On starting for St. Paul we soon
raised the wrecked cars. I counted
nine freight cars tumbled in different
directions, some bursted wide open and
the grain strewed about. We had no
further trouble. and got into St. Paul
at Z M. I left St. Paul at 7:30 in
the morning, and reached home safely
at 1890 P. M, having made good use
of my railroad passes for the last week
of the year on which they expire. In
my travels I saw no country that beats
Morrison county to live in. The Red
river valley, however, is beautiful
country, aud for wheat raising is des~
tined to beat the world. Southwestern
Minnesota is very destitute of timber,
and but little progress has been made
in tree culture. I saw some Of the
railroad land agents, who claim that
the prospect for heavy immigration
next season is good, especially along
the line of the Northern Pacific rail-
road. N. RICHARDSON.