Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-11-03
At THE EAST.
ANOTHER LETTER FROM A WELL.
KNOWN SACRAMENTAN.
A Trip Through City and Country
Our Fruit at the G. A. r.
Encampment.

bus Ohio. We remained some two hours
at that place. The distance between Min
neapolis and St. Paul is eight miles by
rail. Minneapolis is built upon the Mis-
sissippi, overlooking the Falls of st. An
thony. The beauty of the falls has been
destroyed for the purpose Of utility. A
broad, smooth wooden apron has been
built entirely across the river, over which
the water flows. The power thus obtained
is utilized for driving mills and factories
of all kinds, to which Minneapolis is in
debted for her great prosperity and rapid
growth. In 1880 Minneapolis had popu-
lation of 47,000 while to-day its inhabit-
ants are estimated at 100000.
Minneapolis has many fine buildings of
architectural beauty. The importance of
her numbering trade is great In 1886 her
sawmills cut over 315,000000 feet of lum-
Der, and made 105,000000 shingles and
89,000,090 laths. The largest flour mills
in the world are located here. The output
of flour for the year 1885, | am told,
amounted to 5,473,000 barrels, and is
greater now, while in 1860 it was only 30,-
900 barrels. This shows an almost mar
velous increase. The largest mill turns
out 300 barrels of -four per day.
The jobbing trade of the city aggregated
over S43,000,0 900 in the year 1886, while
the wheat handled at this point is greater
than at either Chicago or New York.
The two sections of the city are sepa-
rated by the Mississippi river, and are
connected by six bridges, four for railroad
purposes. All trunk line railroads running
into st. Paul have connections leading into
Minneapolis, and several street-car lines
connect the two cities.
st. Paul, the Capital of Minnesota, has
population of about 10000. 1t is stu
ate at the head of navigation upon the
Mississippi, 1000 miles from its mouth. 1t
is built upon what might be called terraces,
ranging from a level with the Mississippi
to hight of ninety feet, and overlooking
the father of waters. 1t is very pict-
uresque-looking place. Its growth, like
that of Minneapolis, has been very rapid.
Six trunk line railroads run into st. Paul,
connecting it with all parts of the United
States, and two lines of large passenger
steamers ply between st. Paul and st.
Louis Navigation opens in May and
closes In november.
st. Paul is a port of entry, and it has
six national and five State banks. The
aggregate capital of these is about $S,000,-
000 Fine avenues of the city have been
laid out over many of the hills leading into
the prairie lands and to the beautiful lakes
in the vicinity. The street Improvements
of st. Paul and the sewerage system have
been carried on regardless of expense, I'M
til now they have as good streets and as
fine sewerage system as any city in the
United States. My experience has con-
vinced me that money laid out on streets
and sewers will be returned tenfold by an
increase of wealth and population.
Alter leaving st. Paul we were taken
over the Chicago, Milwaukee and st. Paul
Railroad, following down the Mississippi
as far as La Crosse The scenery rivals
that of the Hudson. We pass steamers
going up and down the river, and hun
dreds of log-booms from the far north are
being piloted and moving slowly on their
way to points where they will be sawed
into lumber and used in building up some
Western city. We pass numerous places
many Of them good-sized cities, which are
sustained by factories and agriculture
Whenever the train stopped sufficient time
to permit us to get of, | inquired if they
raised fruit in the vicinity. One party at
one of the large towns replied "Fruit,
-! why, stranger, we do not thaw out
until June, and freeze up again about the
middle of October, and we cannot get a
fruit tree to grow in that length of time"
In other words, their seasons are so short
fruit will not ripen within the time.
We gave out some ordinary-sized Bart
lett pears at several stations which were
received with surprise, as they surpassed
anything they had ever eaten or seen in
the fruit line. There are many cities in
the Northwest that have never had pound
of California fruit, if its inhabitants state
ments can be relied upon.
As we proceeded down the river the
river the scenery became more interesting,
the high bluffs upon each side seemingly
to have been a continuous line of hills
across the river at one time, and having
been struck with some magical rod which
made passage for the grand old Missis-
sippi. A great many lime quarries and a
fine quality of building stone are seen along
the line of the road between st. Paul and
La Crosse. am told the building stone is
shipped as far as Chicago.
from there to point beyond Chicago the
country was blank to us, as we passed
through it in the night, which was another
disappointment, as many of us wished to
get a glimpse of Milwaukee and enjoy the
scenery as we rode along the lake shore to
Chicago. We were some thirty hours
late, and expected to have at least
eight or ten hours in Chicago, but
again we're doomed to disappointment,
as we passed through Chicago about A
NJ. on the morning of the 10th of Septem
Der. The passenger traffic being so heavy
towards Columbus, and there being SC
many special trains upon the road, it took
our train from 4 A. NJ. until P. NJ. of the
10th of September to run from Chicago to
Columbus. The country through the
northen portion of Indiana is not thickly
settled and the farm buildings aud i'm
provements are of poorer quality than
expected to see. They are of class that
does not indicate prosperity, except in 9
few instances.
As | stated above, we arrived at Colum,
bus at P. NJ. on the 10Th. just eight day.
upon the road from Sacramento. 1t being
late and the city crowded, the Pullman
Company kindly allowed us to remain
on board of the cars all night without addi
tional charge.
| will pass over the G. A. R. celebration
MS you have had fuller description thar
what / could give you. | never expect tC
again witness SO large number of people
at one time, as / did at Columbus upon the
day OF the parade. The exhibit sent or
by the State Board of Trade attracted {
great deal more attention than / antlci
pated it would. The carload of fruit do
mated by the citizens of Sacramento added
materially to the success of the enterprise
never saw people so eager to get buncf
of grapes or peach as they were. They
fought for it. We had to cease giving i
out at different times, as the men forgo
their manhood and crowded the ladies t,
such an extent that some were
almost suffocated. Rest assured W
made it go as far as possible
In fact, 1 do not believe the sam
amount of fruit was ever distributed to s.
many people before, and hundreds got
taste of California fruit that never saw o
tasted any before. 1t did more to adyer
tise California and Sacramento than al
the Eastern advertisement that was eve
done We gave it out in the forenoon an
afternoon, and between the hours set the
would manufacture all kinds of method
and dodges to have US give or sell them