Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-06-20
MINNEAPOLIS.
Advantages of the state OF .sClear
Waters"-The Wonders OF Nature
Charming Sights on Every
hand Make a Perpetual
Delight for the
Traveller

| Traveller.
From an Appeal Correspondent
MINNEAPOLIS, June I4.-Here am In the
State of "Clear Waters" or as some have it,
| 'iSky-tinted Waters, which being the correct
| Interpretation | am unable to determine, not
having lexicon of the language of the Da-
kotas or any of their wise men at hand for
| ready reference; but Minnesota, with Its soft
| flowing cadences of sweet sounds, has &C.
quired far broader significance for her
adopted children and the sojourners within
her borders than for the native born. The
| land of seven thousand crystal lakes and in
| Vulnerable waterfalls, and the parent of
mighty rivers. is also the land of beautiful
prairie and magnificent woodland, of rugged
| gorges and PERCEPTIONS rivers and bluffs, of
hills and lakes, and natural parks of almost
boundless wheat6elds, of thriving cities and
| towns, of manufacture and commerce, ex-
tending even to the marts OF the old world,
and above all, the land of the purest and
most invigorating ozone-laden atmosphere,
| bringing healing on its wings to many a
| hopeless invalid, and recuperation and re-
| freshment to thousands of the weary and
heavy laden seeking her shores in search of
| recreation. | have been a couple of weeks In
| the State, but so much have | seen along its
| length and breadth that hardly know where
| to begin, SO l will describe my last trip first.
| 1t was to the DaIles of the st. Croix. The
| early morning tram, over a branch of the
Minneapolis and st. LOUIS railway, took
me TO White Bear lake, fifteen miles dis
| tint, where | changed to the Saltwater
branch of the st. Paul and Duluth railroad
| for Saltwater, twelve miles farther on, located
| on and beneath the bluffs of the st. Crolx.
| | looked over this beautiful city of twelve
| thousand inhabitants, on my return trip.
| when | had an hour or two to spare, not only
| in surveying It's natural beauties, but also In
/ re ont ,noN funtc. no
! most noted are the Younger brothers, who
! have taken up life residence In fine stone
mansion under the hill. Bot for the up trip:
A steamer of the st. Paul and st. Crox
| packet company was In waiting, and l en-
| parked at once on the G. B. Knapp, for Tay-
! lor's falls and Dalles, about thirty miles up
stream. Here commenced one of the most
| delightful excursions of my life up the rapid
| river, its amber tide telling of the intermna-
| BILE pine forests of the great northland,
whence it flows, until midsummer has dried
| the woods, after which its waters Is said to
| be as clear as crystal. Our gallant craft
stems the swift current and on we speed, be-
| tween the wooded shores, rising now in bold
| headlands abruptly from the water edge and
| again retiring little in more gentle mood
| before lifting their bulwarks skyward, leay-
| ing little wales of sylvan beauty between the
verdant walls and the water flow; among
low wooded islands, which are strung, either
| singly or IN groups, along the entire distance
| to the Dalles, sometimes enclosing a perfect
| labyrinth of narrow channels through which
| the steamer threads her devious way, so close
| to the shore at times that the branches bend
| and break before her as we pass as before car
riage III forest road; yet so deep is the water
| that q landing can he made almost anywhere
| along either the islands or the main shore,
/ even though there be no wharf. Saw-mllls
occur at frequent intervals along the shores,
| their soft gray, weatber-6eaten walls and
roots nesting beneath the canopy OF green In
| as perfect harmony as the gray columns that
! support it, or the gray rocks which begin, now
/ and then, to appear-precursors of the more
| rugged scenes which are near at hand But
| more brilliant colors are not wanting. The
| log drivers along the booms, with Their red
and hlue and green flannel shirts, and an oc-
| casioual "Warmegan the floating home OF
| these hardy woodSmen and rivermen, sort
of cabin and flatboat csmblned-hed up
I against the shore, give vivid touches to the
PICTURE But the green itself il. not monoto-
| nous, but varies from the delicate tints OF the
! lichens and the willows and. cottonwoods,
| through the gradations of the golden green
of the soft maple, the deeper tiEts OF the
| feathery butternut and box-elder and the
! graceful elm, and the ash and Eastwood, to
| the deep emerald of the oak, and the somoer
| shades of the Norway pine, which begins to
! put IN an occasional appearance as We ascend
| the stream. The white blossoms of the crab
! apple also tighten up the picture, and blue
| bells and buttereups spangle the green kward
! beneath, and over all bends the soft,
cloud. hecked azure of d refulgent sky.
| A resh breeze, laden with the fra
! GRANGE of the woods, and charged with
! electricity, thrills and animates the entire be-
! ing, and the glad songs of the wild birds
! swinging on the branches ring through the
| forest alsles, rejoicing our hearts as we glide
| along this beautiful highway amid natures
| businesses. Down In the river gorge all is
| primitive. but on the high lands, back from
| the river, beautiful farms stretch away ON
either hand, both In Minnesota and Wiscon-
| sin, the river forming the dividing line be-
tween the two States. | am told that until
the vicinity of the Dalles is reached, where
the prairles merge gradually into the forests,
| with only occasional farms, and then the
| great north wilderness the lumbermans' do
main sets in, where the deer and the bear
and the wolf still roam, and the Cnppewss
/ drag out a precarious existence. So far,
earth and sky were In harmony, and as we
assembled toward more rugged; scenes the
heavens seemingly kept pace. The clouds
! grew darker and the breeze grew stronger.
| Portentous purple and iron and lead were
mingled with the blue and white, in accord
| with our wilder surroundings. At Osceola,
| on the Wisconsin shore, we made quite a
| stop, long enough to run up wild glen some
| eighty rods, to the Osceola CASCADE where
| the waters after tumbling down an irregular
| stairway of rock for some distance, dash their
! pretty foam oyer a cliff, forty or fifty feet IN
| width, aud plunge to the bottom of the gorge
| forty feet below, the precIpltous walls. of
| rocks and foliage rising the hight of seventy
five feet on either side, and one of these
| crowned with an old gray MILL, adding to
| the picturesqueness of the scene. A mile be-
low Osceola is the st. Croix mineral spring,
| of maRnesia and iron, quite noted in this
vicinity, at which point there is a large sum-
mer hotel on the hill. A few miles further
| Oh, Rock Island and the adjoining craggy
| shores give hint of the weird wonders be-
| yond, and presently we glide into the Dales
| themselves, In all their Piutonian ruggedness
1 and Wlld beauty, where the powers of dark
| ness and Of light have met in dreadful con-
hict ia the ages gone by, the former
triumphant for time, and strewing ruin
| broadcast, In an hour, perhaps, which the
light of untold centuries has been unable to
etface, although it has softened, where 1t
could, craping the rocks with clinging vines
| and trees and shrubs back from the river,
but along and near the gorge Pluto still
reigns supreme and mocks at Time. Here
| battlements of lgneous rocks line the stream,
/ broken and tossed and SCARED and scanned.
| and piled high into fantastic shapes, aud
| followed out into wells-here rising into per-
| pendicular walls on either side, and again
| forming irregular masses of disjointed frag
ments. The immediate walls vary from City
to one hundred and seventy feet in hight,
and these are backed by the bluffs of the
| river, rising couple of hundred feet higher
still. The steamer ventures only about a
quarter of a mile within the Dalles, the
Whirlpool above rendering nagiGRtlon dam
gerOus. The Dalles proper extend only
about half a mile. A half mile further up
are Tia falls, or more properly, rRpides,
as there is no very decided cataract,
only the rushing, boiling rapids, extending
distance of about six miles, sill the "Warme-
gans, in the hands of experienced boatmen,
shoot the rapids In safety. At the Dalles,
little back from the river, are a large num-
Der of wells or pot-holes in the solid earth,
some of which are fron, twelve to fifteen feet
in diameter and thirty TO forty feet deep,
which seem to have been worn by loose rock
| and indicate that the river formerly flowed
at Q higher level. Night came on apace
and dreams of the old days, when internal
fires upheayed these rocks and cleft