St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-09-26
JUST Thirty YEARS AGO.


within that brief period in the development
of this Northwestern country. We are
fOrcibly reminded of this in looking over a
copy of the New York Tribune. dated
April 2S, 1857. A great deal of that issue
of the paper is taken up with Northwest
ern news. The first three columns of the
first page are devoted to the details of In
dian massacres in Iowa and Minnesota.
News that was two weeks old was regarded
as fresh in those days, and accordingly we
find letter from Mankato, dated April II,
published in the Tribune of the 2Sth in
ere. in Blue Earth county. are given.
Among the killed are mentioned the names
of WILLIAM and GEORGE WooD, Mr..
CHURCH and JOSIAH STEWART, and the
names of the women, Mrs. MARVEL and
Miss GARDNER, are mentioned as
having been carried away into captiv.
ity. When it is remembered that there
were seven persons killed, three wounded
and four women taken prisoners we see the
lack of facilities for news gathering that
newspaper correspondents had in those
days. The massacre occurred on the I'd oil
April, and ten days afterward the CORE
Spondent had not been able to get com
plete list of the killed and missing. When
compared with the Sank Rapids cyclone
last April, which occurred after o'clock in
the evening, seventysiX miles away from
st. Paul. and the next morning the ST. Paul
papers confined full and graphic descrip-
tons Of the event, together with list of
the killed aud wounded, we see at once the
progress that has been made within these
thirty years in the matter of news gather
ing. An account of the Indian massacre on
the Little Sioux river, in Clay county,
Iowa. is also detailed in a letter from Fort
Dodge. dated sixteen days before its publ
cation. An extract from the Minnesotan
gives an account of the state of feeling
which prevailed in St. Paul when the news
of the Indian troubles in the southern part
of the state reached this city. The martial
spirit of the pioneers rose immensely. A
public meeting was called and vol
unteers fiOcked to the standard that
was raised. a meeting of the town
council was held on the 14th OF
April, and a committee of three members
of the council, consisting of Messrs.
CHAMBLIN, KITTsoN and MCGRoRTY.
was appointed to confer with the officers at
Fort Smelling in regard to taking the
necessary steps to protect the settlers.
Considerable space is devoted to the
measure then recently passed by congress,
granting lands for the construction of rail-
roads in Minnesota. The St. Paul CORE
spondent of the Tribune says that the
passage of the bill bids fair to stimulate
speculation in this territory to an unwonted
degree. OF course new cities and towns
will be offered in quantities and sizes to
suit the most faStidiOus non-reSidents. So
long as Eastern people will buy such prop
erty, which has no value except for farm
ing purposes. in three cases out Of five so
long will the manufacture of maps continue.
Men who form an opinion from actual OBJ
servatiOn and comparison of views very
seldom invest their means in towns which
can only be discovered by the surveyors
aid, the prOprietorS having as little knowl-
edge of their whereabouts as their
very credulOuS customers" After dis
cussing the question whether or not a
free negro is sufficiently entitled to the
claim of citizenship to pre-empt public land.
the correspondent alludeS to q quarrel in
progress in the legislature over the location
of the territorial capital. He says "a bill for
the removal of the seat of government hay
hot /, q
by the committee on enrolled bills, whose
chairman. by secreting himself in room
of the Fuller house, prevented it with MANY
others from being presented to the governor
for his approval" From which it will be
seen that the methods the MCG1LL people
practiced in springing the Ramsey county
primaries on the GILMAN people are not
entirely new in Minnesota politics. The
correspondent then goes on to say that ga
copy of the original bill was, however. ap-
proved by the governor and claimed to be
lawful by the friends of the measure. An
attempt will doubtless be made to have the
next session of the legislature at st. Peter
though its success will depend very much
upon the opinion which Coy MEDARY NAV
entertain as to the legality and expediency
of the removal" The Gov. MEDARY here
referred to was the grandfather of Miss
NEvfNs, the young lady who was recently
married to JAMES &. BLAINE, Jr. This
st. Paul letter was dated March 26, and the
correspondent says in conclusion: 1.-THE
weather Is mild and the snow is RAPIDLY
melting, so that we hope for early naviga-
ton. This is very desirable to those habit
uated to newspaper reading, as the mail
contractor between this city and Dubuque
is not suspected of favoring this anthem
Ocratic entertainment" A correspondent
writing from Winona tells of an immigra-
ton boom in the southwestern part of the
territory. and that there is also a rush In
the direction of st. Anthony and ST. Paul.
where land is jumping up to S. and SIC
per acre. That is less than thirty years
ago, and yet the towns and cities which
then only existed on maps and could not
be found without the surveyors aid TO-DAY
count their populations by the thousand;
and the tens of thousands. The towns OF
st. Anthony and ST. Paul of thirty years
ago are to-day the Twin Cities, with theil
more than a quarter of a million inhabitants.
and their lands, which were then booming
at SIS and SO an acre, are selling to-day al
$500 and 81, 600 front foot. And all this
progress within less than one pendulum
swing of the nations existence.
THE DRESS COAT QUESTION.