Morning journal and courier., 1886-01-01
CORRESPONDENCE,
Tale of Two thin 2
 About Minneapolfs and St. Paul.

About Minneapolis and St Paul.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL COURIER:
 Had not Fort Smelling been a government
 reservation there would have been one city,
 instead of the twin cities known St. Paul
 and Minneapolis. That locality is the true
 head of navigation the Mississippi, al
 though boats used to run up as far as Mime
 apolis, and might do so again were obstruc-
 tions removed. The possible city that might
 have started from the reservation would have
 included the falls of Minnehaha as we'll as
 those of St. Anthony, and would gradually
 have taken possession of the long strip of
 table-land extending for about nine miles up
 the river from the fort; and would probably
 have left unoccupied the bluffs and ravines
 below, and with which St. Paul has had to
 contend from the first in her efforts to build
 up great city.
 A carefully prepared pamphlet has lately
 been published comparing the resources, in
 dustries, advantages and opportunities of the
 twin cities, which are at rivals and
 neighbors, and which may at some future
 period be consolidated into one metropolis
 The census of Minnesota has just been taken
 for 1885, and while it may be, in some re-
 spects, defective, it is official and presents
 the most reliable information accessible.
 OU. U
 population of 3, in 1888; to Ill, ,397, in 1885;
 and Minneapolis, from 45, in 1S45, to 129,-
 200, in 1885. Using the directories as
 standard of comparison, these hgur-s are
 confirmed; but comparing with the registra
 tion of voters or. with the enumeration of
 houses, the difference is more largely ill favor
 of Minneapolis which is really about 37, 900
 in excess of St. Paul. According to the mer
 eantile agency report of R. 6. Dun & Co.,, there are, in Minneapolis, 8, 511 business houses with an aggregate pecunlary respon-
 sibility of $53, 13S, ,00O; while in St. Paul
 there are 2,601 houses with responsibility of
 s36, SAT 500. Total for the two cities, $89,- 985 500. During the past three years there
 has been expended in new buildings in these two cities, S52, 300, ,000, in addition to
 8 large sum in public Improvements; and it may be safely affirmed that so great sum thus expended in London, Paris or New York, in so short time, would attract the admiration of the world. Yet the palstial hotels, massive business blocks, huge four ing mills and elegant residences built with this money stand on the wooded bluffs of the Mississippi, and the world cannot keep up with the facts. For instance, I read an editorial only yesterday in Boston paper, ence in Minneapolis as taking place Ion the frontier! Now the first thing any stranger notices, on visiting this region, is the phe- nomenal modesty of Minneapolis, in which | it is only rivalled by St. Paul. And yet we may invite attention to the fact that the paid up capital and surplus of the national and State banks of these two cities together are two and quarter millions in excess of ! those of New Orleans. Pretty well for Sthe frontier'!
 Minneapolis alone handled 10000, ,000 more bushels of wheat this year than Chica- go. The Pillsbury mill manufactured in one week this fall 40, ,050 barrels of flour, on ofa loxyc fyvry, her while the grist of the Pillsbury B is 2,000 daily. During the crop year just closed | those two mills made l. 73O, 900 barrels of doar, while the " asnburn lniIls made I,3IS, N 939 barrels; and there are, besides these mills, twenty eight others in these cities, with total daily capacity of 36, 800 | barrels. But lest it should be supposed that nothing else than four is made here, it | may as we'll be added that, aside from this staple, the amount of other manufactures in last year exceeded sgt, ,O0O, ,0OO. Indeed, this is the natural home for manufac- lures of all kinds, there being no other local ity in the West with it's advantages. Yet four is undoubtedly our strong point, and some curious arithmetician has calculated that if what has been made this year were made up into bread, twenty five loaves apiece l might be allowed to each nan, woman and l child in the United States, with respectable l margin for transportation; if the barrels | were roped together end to end pontoon bridge might thus be constructed from Bos- ton to Queenstown; or, if piled on top of each other. they would make column 2,366 miles high. But truce to these truly for midable figures. The latest pet schemes on foot are an ice palace in St. Paul, for which ! the plans are ready; and an industrial expos ition in Minneapolis, for which $250, 900 have ! been subscribed, and that will swing open its ! doors in 1886. |
 As specimen of Minneapolis modesty-t the genuine article-let me quote the conclu- ! ding sentence of one of our bright eulogistswho | frees his mind in these simple words: Min neapolis is the pet of the universe! She has ! the nerve and the enterprise to seize the reins Other cities may get on and ride to | glory but Minneapolis must drive. There is ! no parallel anywhere for city of her size and | age and while she may excite the envy of her nearest rival, all the rest of the world l bids her godspeed, and invests in her corner l Lots!"
 Before closing this letter, allow me to say ! 8 few words about the incomprehensible | climate that bleSses this marvellous re- | zion. After one of the most delightful sum- mers imaginable, we have had charming \ autumn. For weeks we have been anticipa ! ting the rigors of winter, but the skies re- main clear the ground is not frozen, there | is no ice in our lakes. On Thanksgiving day | it was SO dusty that the streets had to be | sprinkled; and the few fakes of snow that | have fallen since have melted they fell. | Fall ploughing, tree planting, etc, are going | on as if 1t were October instead of early | December Meanwhile we read of terrific ! storms, railroads blocked by snow, and pity l people east and south of us, who cannot en- joy the bland climate of Minnesota But l before this is mailed there may be sleighing, 1 for the signs are prophetic of a gathering | storm; let me close my letter quickly, there | and f fhsaS