St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-06-30
GIenIpoOI.

The village of Glenwood whose history l
shall sketch is located on the Little Falls and
Dakota division of the Northern Pacific rail-
road, about sixty miles west of Little Falls
and about twenty west from Sauk Center
where the road mentioned crosses the Fergus
Falls division of the st. Paul, Minneapolis
and Manitoba railroad. 1t is 14O miles from
st. Paul, and is the county seat Of and is
located very near the geographical center of
Pope county, Minnesota.
In the construction of the two great lines
of the Manitoba rood, the one mentioned and
and the Breckenridge division Glenwood was
left out in the cold as it were and found
Itself in the exact center between the two.
Cut off thus from direct rail communication
with the outside world it is not at all strange
that Glenwood, although possessed of many
wonderful natural advantages and located in
the center of one of the finest tracts of agri-
cultural lands on earth, whose unsurpassed
fertility possessed wealth untold, should have
only been small struggling village for
many years or that its immediate surround
ings were not largely improved or its lands
extensively cultivated.
POPE COUNTY.
Settlement in Pope county dates back to
1866 but of so limited an extent as to be
hardly worth mentioning until after the
building of the Manitoba roads, when its
rich, fertile lands began to rapidly settle up,
but as before remarked having no railroad
within its own limits Morris, Benson, Sauk
Center and Alexandra drew from Pope coun-
ty the wealth which was produced in it and
Glenwood only existed. it did not live.
The 250, ZOO acres of fertile lands within its
limits were little by little taken up (or rather
e part of them,) and people waited and
prayed for road. In November, 1882,
it came, and the current began to
flow that way. A complete settle
ment of the county became possible
and agriculture more profitable. The fertile
lands, numerous clear lakes, fine tracts of
timber and beautiful landscapes proved
doubly attractive with a railroad east and
west through its center and prosperity at last
began to dawn upon its people.
SURFACE OF COUNTY, ETC.
The general surface of Pope county is that
OF nigh rolling prairie whose rich, deep
loan is underlaid with porous clay subsoil,
which, like sponge, absorbs all surplus
moisture and retains it against the time of
need should the rain fall prove insufficient
for the demands of vegetation. There
is no section of country any-
where that is better watered than
Pope county. Its almost numberless lakes
fed by pure springs, its springs.
creeks and rivers, not only are
distributed all over the county and
furnish an abundant supply of the sweetest
purest water, but it is here that the little
Chippewa, one of the principal feeders of the
Minnesota, finds its chief supply The fire.
quent belts of timber scattered all over the
county too are a great attraction to the farm
er. While they are not extensive forests
they are of sufficient extent to furnish all the
necessary timber supply for home use for
many years. While this county is especially
adapted to the production of wheat, which
lnder favorable circumstances, shows pro-
iigious yields, often reaching thirty and
thirty-fye bushels per acre, yet oats,