St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-05-21
SUPERIOR, WIS.
It's Great Natural Advanta-
ges, the Town Site and
the HarbOr. Is
Union OF Water and Rail Trans
portatiOn. A Lake Shore
Railroad Center.
Possible Manufactures. viii not a
Great City be Built at
This Spot?
Nature Favors 1t. VIII Not Man Accept
and Wisely Use Her
Free Gifts?
Our Correspondent Visiting at Superior
Bay Writes of What He
Sees There.
special Correspondence of the 1looe.

Especial Correspondence of the Glope.I
SUPERIOR, Wis, May 1S.-A few brief
weeks since I stood on the docks at Buffalo
New York, and gazed upon the immense
number of crafts. steam and sail. with their
consorts, the spacious barges, that We're
daily expecting their winter vacations TO be
ended. Here were great propellers, carrying
within themselves the vast machinery which
should soon throb with vitality and drive
them fast to that far northwest so rapidly
developing. They were in their best attire,
cleansed and garnished from stem
to stern, with elegant apartments
for their freigNts of tourists who will
admire and enjoy, in the journey westward,
the magnificent attractions of scenery and
healthfulness afforded by a voyage over this
great system of inland seas. Hidden from
sight were the vast receptacles for the pro-
ductiOnS and manufactures of our own
east and the offerings of foreign ports, des-
tined to be exchanged for the cruder pro-
ducts of the mammoth wheat fields, the rich
gold, silver and iron mines, and the exten-
sive cattle ranges OF the golden northwest.
Capacious barges, awkward but useful con-
sorts to these powerful and graceful leaders,
lay near by, awaiting their cargoes Of thou
sands of tons of freight. Hundreds upon
hundreds of slower craft depending upon
natures original motive power, the wind, to
carry them to their destinations, crowded
the wharves and docks. Here a
broad, blunt, old-fashioned schooner
humbly seeks protection beneath the tower
ing side of perfectly-modeled, and proud
sailing vessel whose acres of canvas, spread
upon its five lofty masts, invite the favors Of
the god of winds to speed it to its western
port Vessels of all sizes, and all models lie
here, ready and waiting for winter to remove
his frosty fingers from the surface of the lake
and allow them to spread their wings, or fill
their steam-fed lungs, and fly away to the
far west.
THE EASTERN LAKE METROPOLIS.
Behind me stood the great city of Buffalo,
the outgrowth of the extensive commerce of
the lakes Following the development of the
great northwest, with which it has the most
direct and the cheapest communication, Buf
falo has made rapid strides and in the last few
years has increased its population fully one
third. A beautiful city, rich in culture
and commerce, it stands the key to
the greatest lake water line in the known
world. From this prosperous eastern ter
minus my mind passed to tie far
west, to the osher terminus of this system of
inland navigation, thousand miles toward
the orient, and 1 naturally asked myself
"Where will be the
GREAT WESTERN LAKE CITY!
What point is to be enriched and refined to
metropolitan importance by this fast increas-
ing traffic?n
To-day stand at the far western end of
this wonderful water highway and look
eastward. The icy fetters are
broken, and fast the fleets, urged forward
by wind and steam, are speeding to the new
land. Freights of iron, coal and merchan-
die are coming, and for seven months will
the coming and going continue before
king frost again asserts himself As l look
around me here, at the head of the greatest
lake, [ know l have found the entrance to
that grand and prolific country; that i'm
mense northwestern empire whose capabili
ties are beyond computation that land which
will furnish the world with its food, and its
minerals, and which extends from the great
lakes westward to the great ocean, offering
to industrious millions, homes and wealth,
through its fertile prairies, its ex-
haustless mines, and its boundless
stock ranges. 1t is in the immediate pres
ent that this great country has been made
available by the completion of that wonder
full railroad, the Northern Pacific, and its
settlement and developeme ent has really but
just commenced. Of course the connections
can be made from fifty points by railroads,
but there can be but one point of connec-
ton for water and rail, and at that point must
grow up a great city, which shall, like Buffa-
10, stand without peer and without rival
Nature has as surely formed and located the
site of that future commercial center as it
has created and placed the planets It re-
mains with man to build the city,
Look at any correct map of the United
States and you viii be convinced that this
town of
SUPERIOR
is naturally the entrepot for the vast territory
of which 1 have spoken, always providing it
can furnish the facilities and answer the re-
quirements necessary to so important a
place. Come here as I have, and you will
quickly be sati SIZED that not only are all re-
quirements fulfilled, but that nature has
made it a simple and easy task for man to
build city here, and that, although compet-
itors may for a time secure more promi-
nence, necessity will demand and force the
building of that city, as surely as the sun
will shine forth after storm has spent itself
and passed.
There are several factors necessary to the
successful establishment of city. CONNER
cial1ntercourse and resources, location. pbys-
ical attributes, and energy combined with
industry and iberality. Of the first part of
these have briefly written-the vast traffic
between the east and west-the EXCHANGE of
goods not only with the different sections of
our own country, but with foreign nations
beyond both the Atlantic and the Pacific
oceans.
In location no city in the union is so fa-
vored. Naturally, railroad seeking the
east will select the southern shore of Lake
Superior, in fact there is no alternative. as if
would be an almost impossible feat, even in
these times of engineering triumphs, to con-
struct road along the north shore, through
the immense iron and granite ranges. Again.
if such road were practicable, there would
be nothing to support it save the produc-
tions of few mining and numbering camps.
On the south it would pass through
rich portion of a rich state, the productions
of which are annually increasing in quantity
and value. Coming then from the far west
in almost direct line what is the first avail