St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-29

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Ohio. They arrived in ST. Paul yesIer-
day morning, are the guests Of the Du-
Iuth Il Winnipeg Railway company and
are going 10 point on their line known
as La Prairie. Itasca county, Mime
sofa. IL is some 20O miles from 81. Paul,
and about half that distance from Du-
luth. The object Of the gentlemen IN
making the trip is to look after their IN
tercsts i'm the mineral districts OF the
Mesaba, and to lay plans for the fur
thcr development OF the country. mat
being the natural point from which TO
take in the surrounding territory, they
will temporarily locate there and make
side trips. by team as well az the rail-
ways branches, 10 various places ~
which they are Interested. Ihey VIII
return TO 81. Paul via Duluth.
A Future ClIy.
La Prairie is at the confluence Of the
.'Father OF Waters" and the Prairie
river, with the Swan river emptyng
into the former few miles below the
town. In the days OF the red man boats
piled the upper Mississippi from this
junction TO Little Falls. and at the pres
cnt time there are two steamers, The
Fawn and Andy Gibson. making SEMI
weekly trips from La Prairie to Aiken.
This town has for years been the nat
ural port Of entry 10 the country laying
north. and, rs settlers located. necessity
compelled the railway company last
fall to open station at this point. The
town was plated by tie Northwestern
Improvement company, and today mum
bers some coo souls with supply trade
10 the miners aud lnmbermen that
would DO credit to a city Of 10000 in
habitantS. 1t is the terminal Of the
first division of the main line and iron
divisions with a spur built portion OF
the way TO the mines and ready Tor com
plction when needed. The railroad
shops are located here and arrange
mcnts have been made TO enlarge them.
Contrary to this portion OF the North
Star state, the land from the Junction
of the two rivers back to the edge OF
the Mesaba range is quite smooth and
as pretty as the eye OF man ever looked
upon. with this tOwn's lnnumerable adj
Vantages it Is surely destined to be the
NTH city in the commonwealth at not
far distant day.
The LAUNDERING Interests.
On either side of the railway for a dis
tance Of fifty miles before reaching La
Prairie is To be seen fine growth of
cedar suitable for ties and posts, and
several large contracts and shipments
have been made TO other railroads. The
timber that is tributary to this point Is
simply astonishing, and VIII easily last
for the next fifteen years. The Prairie
river alone can supply 1000, 600 logs
of Norway pine and 5000 .0OO,OOO tama-
rack, spruce and cedar. In this section
is an abundance of hard and curly
maple, white and black oak, yellow, red
10, a. f.It.r Ton
rack, cedar, pine. Eastwood and linn. To
give the reader faint idea of
the Importance Of this town to
lumbermen: The Wells Stone Mer-
camille company has branch
at this point, aud last season it sup
piled seventy-iivc large camps, besides
iunumerable small ones. Four miles
above the town. at the Rapids, the
Prairie river is full OF logs, ready to
move with high water, and along the
water front of the town the bank OF the
Mississippi river is covered with logs
brought from the interior by rail TO be
driven down the stream.
The Minerals.
The Mesaba range runs in north
easterly and southwesterly direction,
and the nearest point is about five miles
from town. The North Star shaft is
within thirty minutes drive of the sta
ton: the Buckeye, Diamond, Longear,
Warner and lrgins mines being from
ZEN to fifteen miles away. The railway
has a track built as far as the river and
surveyed to the mines, SO 1t will be
ready for business when activities COM
mence. The Duluth, NesaUa IL North
ern, now under construction. will eX-
tend from the Stoney Brook junction on
the Duluth " Winnipeg TO $500, where
il will strike the west end of the Mesa0a
range. The parties interested in 1t are
headed by A. W. Wright The Prairie
river, from town TO rhe rapids and be-
Noud, abouuds in a fine quality of gran
ite that can be utilized for building pur-
poses. There is plenty of power and
water, so that with proper machinery
the output of the mines can be worked
on the ground in an economical man
nCr.
Fishing and Hunting.
Within close proximity of town are
numerous lakes that are literally alive
with the finny tribe, and have not been
tished to death, as is the case with a
great many of our fishing resorts. To
the north are Trout, Bass. Prairie, Po-
kegama and Spider lakes, besides the
rivers are full of them. BY way OF illus
tration. while at the rapids OF the Prairie
river a few days ago, member OF our
party caught two pie6erel- probably
twenty inches long-with his naked
hands. If it wasn't bit of history |
would refrain from telling fish stories,
for know well that man is ever after
looked upon with dlstrust-and "none
are so blind as those that will not see"
Mr.. Bailey, gentleman III the employ
of the railway, says THAT last season
every week 1000 pounds of black bass
and wall-eyed pike were shipped from
this point To st. Paul, Minneapolis and
Duluth" The waters contain pickerel,
black and rock bass, wall-eyed pike
white fish, muskalonge, land-locked
trout and perch.
The game consists of geese, ducks.
prairie chickens, Snipe, pheasants and
grouse. AS for big shooting, there are
deer. elk and moose in large quantities.
This place is surely a haven for the
hunter and feast for the fisher.
Farming and 9omeSteads.
Rock in Northern Minnesota is so
plentiful that tract of land devoid of
stone is indeed a novelty. There are
some very nice farming lands in Itasca
county adjacent to La Prairie. and it
stands out like an oasis. The soil is in
realty "maTl," consisting of lime, clay
ana Sdlu, ana - CdphpIe vi pIouuCIHg
wheat, oats, rye, barley, and, in
fact. anything cultivated in the temper
ate zone. There was no necessity of
people hunting for homes and farms
rushing pellmell into the Sisseton res
ervation, for North of La Prairie about
Trout lake there are excellent oppor-
tunities for homesteaders. 1t was quite
sight last week to see the Chippewa
Indians about Trout lake making SUI
gar. There is a vast amount of maple
In that section. Close to the town are
beds of clay we'll adapted for making
brick and terra Gotta. and as the rates
"a transportation to Duluth are low the