The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1882-08-19

the hOnieGteader's shanty, or the new settcr
home. barn or haystack. "Now and then
cluster of cottonwood or soft maple, firing
ing some shallow stream that wanders hithe
and thither over the plain, as II In doub
where to go, and finally, after doubling agaii
and again in Their tracks, manage to find thu
Red River" o.
OF the geological formation OF the valley
and the "Lsurentide period" some writer
thinks that "If we were to allow our imagins
ton to go back to the period when the great
lake spread over the valley before the break
ing down of the Laurentide range, through
which the waters Of the whole northern slope
have found their way to the sea, we could see
vast expanse of the blue matters covering
deeply the whole area, with here and there Q
sand dune or islet near the margins, and the
shore lines thckly spread with glacial debris"
There was then more distinctly dividing
ridge between the lake and the Minnesota
river. which was the southern barrier, and pre-
vented the waters from OVERLOOKING the broad
plains of the western part OF the southern
portion of the state. A great portion OF this
ridge has been swept away and leveled 'wn
by local freshes and the corroding influences
of the elements The great lake was then
bounded on the east by the higher lands which
now mark the border line OF the big woods, "
and the western boundary over thirty-iive
miles from the present river is distinctly
marked by its sand hills and graveled lodges.
The northern limit of the valley now drained
is some forty miles below Winnipeg, at the
inlet of the Red River into the lake that once
covered the rich field now being rapidly pop
ulatcd. Thousands Of years have elapsed
since the process of draining the huge basin
began, for we know that the erosion of such
hard crystalline rocks rs compose the Lauren
tide barrier are only corroded and removed by
the dull tooth of time; but silently and unceas'
| ingly the slow process has come on, until the
indurate barrier has been almost conquered
and the lake that once extended through more
than nine degrees Of latitude has been con-
fined to the more unpretentlous limits OF less
than three. And yet the erosion and waste
goes on, and will continue until the water
shall have reccded from the whole length and
breadth of the present Lake Winnipeg and the
muddy stream that now forms its southern
inlet shall only be left to define its center.
The mutations of the thousands of years that
have passed since the great valley became dry
land have been many and varied. The soil
that now lies rich and deep over richer and
deeper lacnstrlne clay is not the the work Of
a single century but of hundreds Of centuries,
and great forests and huge trees and vast
fields of rank grasses and ferns have been sac
rifced in Its foundation and during all these
years, while nature was building up and tear
ing down to prepare this valley for the abode
of man, Its physical character has been
brought up the present condition"
The tide of immigration that is spreading
ont over the great plains of Minnesota and
Dakota, has never had parallel In the history
of the world! Biographies have not kept
pace with the development of the country.
Places that few years ago were mere hamlets
and trading posts to-day are hourishing towns
and booming cities"
But Minnesota has been the load star of adj.
venturers from the world over for more than
two hundred years. Even when the first ink
lings of our northwestern geography began TO
dawn upon the jesuit fathers and their co.
laborers In the explorations of the lakes and
the Mississippi, the beautiful land beyond the
great river fired the imagination of the early
Canadian settlers, and even Europe grew inter
ested IN the far northwestern country as tales
of Its wonderful soil and beautiful scenery
we're carried back to the outposts Of civillza.
ton Comparatively speaking, it seems only
few short years since most OF this region of
Minnesota was useless waste, and exclusively
the property of the red man. But few years
have worked miracles for this region, and to.
day we see
Where once the Indian roamed as monarch, king,
Now glides the iron horse.
While along the rivers and streams, in the
words of Whittier:
| "Behind the sacred birch canoe,
| The steamer smokes and raves;
| And city lots are B,rked for sale,
Above old Indians graves"