The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1882-07-01

"The Importance of the completion of
the Sault Canal can hardly be over:estim-
ated, and its consequence will be the vast
facilitation and increase of the commerce
of Lake Superior, and the incalculable en-.
chantment of the value of the public lands,
while a tide of emigration may be looked
for from Norway, Sweden, and the north of
Europe, as well as from New England
States, pouring into the northwestern
wilderness, and subduing the forests, and
extending far and wide the area of freedom
and civilization
"The country lying between Lake Supe-
rior and Hudsons Bay is now known to be
one of the most important mineral regions
in America and it should be borne in mind
that there are deposits of native copper on
Copper Mine and McKenzie's rivers, in the
same kind of rock that contain the stupend-
Gus l0des of this metal on Keweenaw Point
and the Ontonagon river. Every means
that tend to carry our population farther
northward tend to bring to light and to
practical utility the mineral treasures of
those regions while trade in furs and seal
skins will be brought nearer to us by enter
prising men, ii matters not whether of the
British provinces or OF the United States of
America.
'Ihe time is now come when the public
faith is settled on the value of the mineral
productions, and it is understood that good
working mines are sure to command and
reward the energies of capitalists and
miners, since it is proved that mining is
iah la tp Ton ,-,cl- f,;l L
the adventures in the selection of their
mines and in working them to advantage
THE TOWN OF SUPERIOR.
Under this head we can do no better
than to copy from description of the place
given by former editor of this paper, and
will let him take us back to it's birth
"The Town of Superior is situated on the
Bay of Superior, at the extreme West end
of the Lake, and of the entire chain of the
great lakes. Therefore all the great works
of internal improvement connecting with all
or either of the lakes-every improvement
of the numerous old channels of
commerce from the waters of the St. Law
renee to the Sault canal, and every new
artificial communication, will tend directly
to promote the commerce and prosperity
of Superior. Occupying as it does this
commanding position, with magnificent
han bor penetrating nearly the heart of this
continent, it seems designed by the Great
Architect of the Universe as the site of a
vast clty-the emporium of Il vast trade
AMI commerce-where goods can to ship
ped direct from Liverpool without once
breaking bulk, and transported hence as
the natural outlet to all that great and
fertile region lying west and north Of this
point, to the Saskatchewan valley on the one
hand and the Rocky Mountains on the other
The only question whether its future growth
and prosperity will be commensurate with
its already rapid development into the form
and proportions OF a city, depends upon the
rapidly with which the immense extent of
country naturally tributary to tins point
the great prairies to the west of us, the
garden valley of the Red River, etc-shall
be taken up by immigration.
The entrance into the bay OF Superior, on
the south shore Of which the town is situat-
ed, is about six hundred feet wide and for
the last six years has not been less than
ten feet deep on the bar. Inside, the bay
expands to more than one nile in width
and is seven miles long, furnishing an
available coast of more than fifteen miles
in extent. for the accommodation of com
merce and manufacturing establishments
Immediately beyond this bay is another
the Bay of st. Louis-of nearly equal
extent and advantages.
The harbor is the best natural one on the
whole chain of lakes, and of suffi cient capa-
city to accommodate the largest commerce.
A narrow strip of land, seven miles in
length, putting out from the Minnesota
shore, and thrown up by the caShing of the
waters of the lake with those Of the st.
Louis, forms the outer or sea-wall. The bay
is completely land-locked, and i'll it vessels
can defy the storm.
The Town was surveyed and the plat re-
corded by the 9th day of November, 1851.
The site is one of the most commanding as
well as the most beautiful of western cities
1t is elevated thirty-four feet above the
water, and as you leave the bay there is
gradual ascent, scarcely preceptible, vet
affording an excellent drainage. At regular
distances it is also drained by abrupt ravnes.
running toward the bay. To the eastward
of the town lies the broad expanse OF Lake
Superior, whose dark blue waters spread
out as far as the eye can discern. On each
shore the mineral ranges rise III all their
beauty and grandeur, casting their deep
shadows in the placid waters beneath"
A correspondent of this paper speaking
of the town, which he visited last summer,
says:
Il expect to see Superior a great city. A
more delightful place to spend The summer,
it seems to me cannot be found in the
Northwest, and hereafter, as the means Of
reaching there become known, and by land
improved, thousands will go in the summer,
to look out on your splendid harbor, and
climb the picturesque ridges on the North
Shore. For my part | expect to live to see
1t an attractive city in the winter where
can go and eat delicious lake fish, attend
your operas, your theaters, your concerts,
and whatever else is pleasant and refined.
'lf one sovereign can build a great city
at St. Petersburg, let us see what a thou
sand sovereigns can do"
The town fronts on the Bay, the streets
running parallel with it and the avenues at
right angles. The streets are eighty feet
wide, and the avenues one hundred.
The parties who projected and laid out
the town organized in the spring of 1854,
under the title of " Proprietors of SUPERB
Or" and were W w Corcoran, of Wash
ington, d G.; Robt. J Walker, New York;
G w Cass, Pittsburgh, Pa; Horace S Wal
bridge, Toledo, Ohio; Daniel 4 Baker,
D A Robertson, Geo E Nettleton and r r
Nelson, of this county and State; and Benz.
Thompson, Edmund Rice, James Stinson,
and VIM. H Newton of Minnesota,
VIM. II. Newton was appointed Agent
and Attorney in fact Twenty lots in diff
ferent parts of the town were donated by