St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-04
Special tn ana Glnhe.
The Trip.

all feeling very tired got early into thei
bunks.
The Trip.
Correspondence of the Globe
HELENA, Mont, Aug. 1.-The frs
twenty-fOur hours of the trip, which
brought the st. Paul jobbers from theil
home to the Missouri river, were hours Of
unmiXed pleasure. The magnificent liber
ality of the Northern Pacific Railroad com.
pany in providing the elegant train in which
the trip was made, and the courteous an6
indefatigablel attention paid by the
officials and employees who accompanied the
party, 10 securing their comfort and cOnven-
ience, became more and more apparent as
the trip progressed and was most heartily
appreciated. Such men fifty represent the
grand enterprise which has bound the great
oceans together with its bands of steel.
1t lis hard TO realize. as one ride along
in the luxurious Pullman coaches upon the
smooth steel rails with scarcely jolt or a
jar, when they pass pOpulouS and thrifty
cities and villages and gaze ar mile after
mile of waving grain, with which this great
road is lined. that only about twenty years
ago this extensive and now productive
region, this agricultural paradise, was set
down as a wilderness, a desert, wild
uninha5itable region, tit only for a dwell
! ing place for poor ''LO- etc.
What changes time has wrought The
finger of science has touched it with its
wonderful magnetism, and what
TRANSFORMATIONS
Only let a person be set down at any point
at 100 miles out of st. Panl, and Just imag-
inc the Northern Pacific land all other
! Northwestern roads, torn up its entire
length. How long would the present thriv-
ing and wealthy population exist? II
would indeed become bowling wilderness,
naked, tenantleSS and void. How well we
can all remember with what scOrn and de-
rision the project of this great transconti-
mental railway was met at its inception,
and how it has had TO fight its way against
odds from that time to this. How many
good men and true have met financial ruin
in Its accomplishment, and yet how grandly
it stands forth to-day as a monument of
their Sagacity and practical foresight. The
prosperity and wealth of st. Paul are closely
linked with the prosperity of the Northern
Pacific road. From over its l, 900 miles of
| track the products of a continent. and vast
amounts of imported foreign goods, find
their way TO this great commercial center Of
the Northwest, while its western-bound
| trains convey from the warehouses of the
81. Paul jobbers TO the stores of the local
business men in the tEt sands OF cities and
villages along the line the goods which their
trade demands. 1t is little wonder that the
| iObbers of ST. Paul should desire to run
over part, at least. of this great field
themselves, and meet personally the men
with whom they have been doing, and are
to do business, and 10 cement a social as
well as
BUSINESS RELATION.
With something like this end in view this
excursion was undertaken. As their train
drew up to the different stations on the first
days run many Of the local merchants met
for the first time members of the different
houses with whom, perhaps, they had
been dealing for years. while their faces
and their business places were alike new
sight TO the iobbers. In all instances the
mutual greetings were warm and cordial,
and the interest and enthusiasm displayed
by the local merchants and business men in
pointing out to the jObbers the many ad-
vantages which their homes afforded for
business, and the varied and abundant re-
sources their section of country possessed,
was only equa.ed by the interest with which
the jObbers viewed them.
The many evidences of local thrift and
prosperity which the first days run wit
messed. and the cordial and hearty recep-
ton rendered the cxcurSiOnists, are subjects
which those who composed the party will
always recall with pleasure. But few peo-
pie who have never visited this vast North
ern Pacific country have any adequate idea
OF its magnitude or extent its resources or
capabilities. Even some of the brightest
and best OF our wholesale men, who have
been for years sending goods by the many
thousands of dollars worth each year, from
the time when its construction train first
reached the prairie country west Of Brain
erd down to the present day, have had
but very imperfect idea of its
VAST MAGNITUDE
or Importance. In fact, each year its
returns show such a wonderful in
crease and such unexpected develop
ment as 10 surprise those best pos ed
and most sanguine Of its ultimate conse-
quence and Importance. In conversation
with Mr.. George X. Finch, eX-president of
the JObbers' union and one of the beSt-in-
formed gentlemen on the topic of the
Northern Pacific country. he expressed HIM
self in terms of great surprise at the Won
derful developments the past three years
had witnessed in Montana and Western
Dakota. Said Mr.. Finch: ''Why. three
years ago it did not appear as If the Bad
lands could ever become habitable or be
made TO produce anything, and now we
find towns Springing up everywhere, and
business as yet i'm its infancy, but already
of great proportions, which aStonishes every
one who sees it." Speaking of the North
ern Pacific country in general. Mr.. Finch
said: Il regard il now, as L always have
done, as naturally tributary to ST. Paul
The people. I believe, feel generally
friendly to the Northern Pacific Railroad
company, which has made very much of
their country a possibility. and / believe
they generally reciprocate the friendship of
the St Paul jobbcTs. We look forward TO
the development of this great region as we
Go to that of our own city, for we consider
this country really part of st. Paul. We
regard its future trade just as much ours as
we do that of the Minnesota valley. The
Yellowstone country, very much of it,.
HAD BEEN SETTLED
many years before st. Paul had any way
Of communication with it, and many of the
elder merchants were still dealing with
Boston and New York, where their aSsocia-
tions had been for many years, but as the
younger men were taking their places,
ST. Paul was rapidly reSeuing this portion
of the Urade and ii spirit of liberal treat
ment fair dealing. enterprise and pluck
counted for anything. taken in conjunction
with the superior advantages st. Paul pos
sessed as a wholesale point, the question
would soon be settled. 1t was impossible
to compute the volume which this trade
was bound TO assume. The Northern
Pacific for many hundreds of miles had
gone ahead OF civilization, where white
men had never been before. What the
possibilities OF this vast region were no man
could foretel. ST. Paul stretched out
friendly hand to this country, saying to its