The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-11-07
The Northwest.
Minneapolis and it's Growth-The Great
Flour Mills-The LAUNDERING Industry
Streets and Street Scenes-Some Maine
Men in Minnesota.

lOJU n1luu6dpOliS Will nave CtDO NuftlLeU LtOuS-
and inhabitants; while Number Three, who
speaks as one having authority, declares that
1900 A. d. will find not less than five hundred
thousand people gathered around the Falls Of
st. Anthony; and other authorities, equally
trustworthy, look forward with confidence to
mammoth city, st. Paul and Minneapolis con-
solidated, which twill astonish the nation and
all creation" by its manufactures, commerce,
wholesale and retail trade, wealth, population,
and, one can but add, its magnificent distances.
Well, it is idle to repeat what these enthusias-
tic Northwesterners prophesy about the coun-
try of which they are so proud; even ministers
from the pulpit do not hesitate to enlarge on
the growth, prosperity and enterprise of "our
beautiful city" whenever it is necessary "to
point moral or adorn tale." Their state
ments give one faint glimpse of the Western
tS6Basapfy %Base6 t9 take liberal view of things,
tin Chuzzlewit. But truly the rapid and
healthy growth and business prosperity of the
Young city give color tothe most optimistic
views of the future. The percentage of growth
from 1870 to 1880 was 269 per cent.
OF course the interest of the city clusters
around the great water-power, the oft-de-
scribed Falls of st. Anthony, the magnificent
Touring mills being very attractive to strang-
ers. Minneapolis millers claim that no
city in the world can show Touring
mills equalling theirs in size, capacity,
perfection of machinery and complete
ness of detail The Washburne ga" has
a double railroad track running through it.
These mills are said to consume 100000
bushels of wheat, and turn out 10000 barrels
of flour yearly. L can't vouch for the quantity
but the quality know is exquisite, having in
mind rolls made from "Gold Dust, "Pills-
bury's best" or "Washburne's Superlative,"
light to the last degree of ethereality, and
white as seafoam. The boundeSs wheat fields
Of Minnesota, Dakota, Manitoba, the valley OF
the Red River of the North, produce an even
increasing supply of wheat sufficient for any
future demands of this great flour industry.
LAUNDERING is another great interest which
thrusts itself far more obtrusively into notice.
The river is filed with booms and jams of logs.
There are many saw-mils at the Falls and
many great steam mills further up the river.
The noise of the gang saws and planning mills
is persistent and penetrating, and the screech-
Ing Oh lu0 HILL WulSbl6S ID uioOldOuAEs IhCAO 10
never-ending procession of wood carts on the
streets, generously distributing their contents
on the roadway, the refuse of the mills being
universally burned under the name of "gang"
"slab" or "Domension" wood. There is an
immense lumber yard every few blocks, giving
forth the familiar, aromatic scent of new pine.
There are four-horse or mule teams moving
lumber and getting stnck in the mud. There
Is sawdust, sawdust everywhere, and there are
the thousands of workmen employed in the
lumber interest When the mills shut down
in the Fall, many os these laborers don fantas-
tic conical caps of two or three eolors, and gor-
geoas flannel suits. red and blue being the fa-
yorite colors, and, with manners corresponding
to their attire, parade the streets like swarm
Of birds of brilliant plumage ready to take
their fight. They go to the pineries for the
Winter, returning in the Spring, healthy and
toughened by their Winters exposure. Too
many OF theIa selebrsts their return and dissi. %
barrooms
"a very merry dancing, drinking,
Laughing, quafing and unthinking time"
Neal Dow or soma disciple of his would find a
broad field here.
Minneapolis has many "irons in the fire"
y
half a million attached to the city for paved
streets, sewers and enlarged water-works-al
of which the city suffers for. A City Hospital
and School of Medicine on large scale has
been opened. The repudisted Minnesota
bonds are to be paid fifty cents ON dollar
There are many immense business blocks in
process of construction, one OF which, the Syn
dictate block" will be the largest business block
under one roof in the United States, so they
say. The Chicago, Milwaukee q st. Paul r.
Oh
5000 men, and a freight car mandatory will
be built, employing 5000 more. A Cincinnati
millionaire is to build q hotel at the cost of
half a million. and it is reported that negotia-
tions are going on for the construction OF
Touring mill double the capacity of any yet
erected. From February to September of this
year, 1900 dwelling houses and !, 200 mont feet
Of business blocks were built. Notwi thstand-
ing this prosperity in the real estate market,
the professions are overcrowded, and retail
trade, in every department, overdone.
1t is hardly necessary to say that 1t Is cold
here in Winter and hot in Summer. On this
great open table land tempered by no ocean,
sheltered by no mountains, we have to take
whatever weather that current OF air which
"gets the underholt' brings with it. This is
learned Professors theory, not mine. 1t is
said that there have been seasons when not
drop of rain fell from seed-time to harvest
On the other hand it has poured ever since the
first of September, except for an occasional
pause in which the clouds break away only to
gather again, In consequence the streets are
covered with deep, thick mud, the consistency
OF mortar, the crossings have totally disappear
ed, and with them the overshoes OF many an
unfortunate pedestrian who rashly attempted
to cross; cellars and easements are flooded; the
undug potato crop is ruined and worst all the
farmers Fall plowing indefinitely post
poned. Lower down the rise of the Mississip-
pi has had very disastrous effects
$50 you are from Mainel" some one said to
me the other day well, you've no reason :. to
was ashamed of itD "Many of the first men in
our city came from Maine"
OF course L knew that. The mere mention
of the names of "Washburne," Morrison"
"Pray', and hosts of others-the most remark
able men in the city, as Mr.. Jefferson Brick
might say-abundantly proves that. Dr.
French, late Of your city, popular and public
spirited physician, has had much influence in
organizing the new Hospital A minister
whose society is one of the largest in the city,
told me that at one time all the officers OF his
church were Maine men, which shows that,
in the midst of irreligious and Sabbath
bresking people they cling to the teachings OF
their childhood There are great many New
Englanders here, and they recently have or
ganized New England society. notice that
in spite of the boasted Western broadness of
thought people do not early get over very
apparent feeling of pride in their New Eag-
land extraction.
SwedeS, Germans, and NorWeglans are very
abundant, but l see few Irish. L think it
must have been a Minneapolis man who said
Boston seemed strange to him chiefly because
he was there whole month and no one ad-
dressed him in German. A prominent local
politician earned and still carries the nickname
of "Ole Blankson" ny going from saloon to sa-
loon for the laudable purpose of making HIM
self agreeable to Scandinavian voters. A Gus
tom not altogether unknown to other candi-
dates, fancy.
Portland and Minneapolis differ in many
ways which will readily suggest themselves,
but most of all in the manner with which they
receive strangers. Portland, the Conservs-
tive, wants to know about the family, property,
social standing and intellectual attainments of
a stranger before she extends to him the ex-
treme tips of her gloved fingers Minneapolis
welcomes a stranger with warm, hearty
hand-casp and ou-are-just-the e-one-l l-wanted
tosee air which makes him feel at home at
once.
But the worst thing about Minneapolis is, it
is fifteen hundred miles from Maine,
NORTH STAR.