The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1888-06-23
Then and Now.

The region around the head of lake
Superior has been the scene of great
developments and changes during the
past forty years, and particularly dur
ing the last fifteen or twenty years of
that period.
Forty years agol To look on this
expanse of time in history it seems
and is as nothing to all the time that
has flown before it. But look upon 1t
with the eye of an observer and think
er, and what do you see? A vast
line of mighty circumstances and for
tunes of nations have been decided.
Kings and emporers have passed
away; mighty wars haye fallen on
fair nations like frost ON the buds of
early spring. But all have past and
gone, and are now only remembered
IN history. The BOYS of today will in
forty years be old and care worn
men, almost old enough to return to
the: native dust, and time with its
unerring and eyer steady march, will
have swept the bloom and beauty of
youth from the maiden's cheek, and
replaced it with the furrewed brow Of
age and care, aud the lettering step of
feebleness.
SO time has changed the drift of af-
fairs all through the Northwest.
and the vicinity around the head of
Lake Superior has come to be posses
sor of no small portion Of the change
Forty years ago, around the head
OF Lake Superior, no sound could be
heard but the murmur of the forest
pines and the laugh of savage child
rem, or their cry of joy to see their
hunters and warriors return from
their savage sport, loaded down with
game or adorned with the scalps of
the luckless foe who had fallen in
native warfare. Or the song of some
native maiden as she hummed the
| music of her race and cheered the IN
mates of her fathers wigwam; or,
haply the clash Of battle, as the war
riors OF tribe met the warriors of tribe
and fought for supremacy, when the
dying groan of the yanquished
and slain mingled with the savage
yell Of the victor, and gave forth an
awful image and reality of the hayoc
of aboriginal war; or perchance the
crack of rifles was to be heard telling
that civilization was re presented there
bat not as civilizer; that the indian
savage had met the banished sons of
civilization, and that terrible con-
test was being waged; and the next
MONDAY sun would dry up the gore
of the sallen, and the breeze would
bear OH its wings the scent of CONCEAL
ed life blood, to tell to the raven and
the vulture that their feast was richly
spread; or the bark of the fox and
the hunters dog would resound thro'
the backwoods and glades, and be
echoed and re-echoed through the
| hills, only to be lost in the woods inn
| menSity, while the shout of the long
thaired hunter, the rush of the bubb4-
ing stream, the crys AMI songs Of the
forest brls, blent together III sort of
wild music, enough to charm the ear
Of any lover Of noisy, sylvan solitude.
But times are altered, and where
forty years ago the savage gathered
scalps and sung his wild war songs.
the sound Of rural industry is heard
on every siae. The hunters of old,
long haired and fantastic, the heroes
of a thousand novels, have passed
away forever, and form part of the
vast army of the universal dead The
/ Indian tribes that roamed through
our forests, are almost memory Of
what was, ouly few half-breeds re-
| manning as sort Of reminder. Their
/ language is fast passing away, and
only the rivers around-the Nemadji,
/ the Pokagama, the Amnic0n-bear
The indellible imprint Of the dialect
that shall soon be swept to the mystic
past.
And why all this? No CORY hand
Of destruction has shamed the name of
civilization, and reeked with native
blood? Mol One day about thirty
years ago white speck was seen on
the blue horizon of lake Superior, the
prov Of a little vessel caressed its
maiden waters, and the dream of In,
dian glory was done The little yes
sci bore hither rs her load men whose
most highly cherished objects were
development and the future, not self
ishness and the ftful present They
stepped aground on the present site
of Superior. which before was not
seen by white men-except couple
of missionaiers, and du I4uth and bis
| i'll fated little band and consecrated
it to civilization The tomahok and
the scalping kni:e fell pulseless
before It, not because it WAS war, but
civilization and peace
Not to mention our own bustIing
little city of 5000 people, and her sis