The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1888-02-08
ST.. PAUL, February l, 1883

ST. PAUL, F0Druary L, 1855.
| The crowds that throng the streets of
St. Paul contrast strangely with the sights
| from the car window crossing the plains
of Dakota. Vast wastes Of dreary snow
with here and there lonely cabin remind
one of an immense sea of rolling fo II
with a few stray RATS of logs or br sh
floating upon it. No paths, no roads no
motion, nothing to indicate life; it q
dreary sight. There is, however, n t q
large quantity of snow, but it is Dirt 90
badly, and the drifts are very hard ~
hard, in fact, that the snow has been cut
into blocks in many places and built up
into fences to catch the drifts, should 9TH
er storms sweep across this section.
Our sleeper had porter who for three
nights and two days kept an equal tenn
perature in the car; it was never too warm
nor too cold. [ mention this as a Won
derful case in railroad history-more start
ling even than the Manitoba construction
feat of last summer. Did any one ever
experience the like in mid-winter before?
Beside the fine crop Of snow now to be
seen in in Dakota I notice quite crop of
new elevators along the track. The
strides that Dakota is taking as wheat
producing section is phenomenal, and still
but small fraction of her wheat lands
are cultivated.
st. Paul is gay just at present-in fact
as near feverisn as cold country could
be expected to get. Last night Third
street was one mass of light and action.
Thousands Of lights in globes of different
colors line the streets on either side and
are thrown across from side to side IN
scores of arches. All traffic was removed
and the sidewalks given up to solid mass
of spectators, while bands of music and
and all sorts of grotesque groups of mask
ed figures took possession OF the street
and the Mardi Gras fun ragged throughout
the evening. While the spectacle is
brilliant one the fun was not the fun of
the south. Mardi Gras in the North Star
state [ do not believe will ever be a Mardi
Gras of New Orleans. Those people who
look at Mardi Gras from Arctic overshoes
and fur coats and caps and with the cares
peculiar to stovepipes and coal bins rest
ing upon them can never give up with
with that same abandon to light fun
which is peculiar to the races of warmer
countries.
I divided my time last evening between
the Mardi Gras performance on the street
and Clara Morris, in ''fArticle At" at the
Grand Opera House. The greatest emo
tional actress on earth-the one, you
know, that becomes SO in sympathy with
her part that she sheds actual tears was
at her best. Love revenge, insanity and
death in passion of rage in the last act
were depicted as perhaps no actress on
the stage at present can surpass.
This morning I went up to take look
at the ice palace and see the Scotch game
ef curling The palace is a beautiful
thing, but not as imposing as it would be
If located where there are no great bW II
ness structures to dwarf its size from
comparison.
Curling is great fun and seems to pro
duce the keenest enthusiasm among the
players. For the spectators, however, the
curling does not begin to make the fun
that is produced by the brooming. Each
player not Only slides beautifully pol
ished oval stone along the ice, but wields |