The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1894-04-06
SAFE INVESTMENT.
Mr., JnO c. Noe Writes Entertainingly
on MankatO, and Blue Earth
County Realty.
Unexcelled Opportunities for Profit
able Investments.

About eight years ago young man
called upon me at my office, and
seemed laboring under great excite
ment. / had known him years before,
but did not recognize him at first, as
he had moved away from Mankato,
and had been living in the mining
districts of Montana, with relative
who was large mine owner. L had
but little trouble in recalling him, as
an upright and reliable young fellow
with whom / used to come in contact,
when he lived in this vicinity. He
soon made known the cause OF his
excitement. He had been using the
knowledge gained by him in Montana,
and had found indications Of quartz
gold in the bluffs of the Blue Earth
River, between the Cement works ana
the mouth of the LIE Sueur River. L
found that his visit to the City, was
about at an end, and that if he could,
he proposed to return here with a
good miner, and continue his re-
searches. | have never heard from
his since.
Only few years ago, it is said, that
about sixty dollars worth of gold dust
was obtained by a stranger, near the
Milwaukee Railroad Bridge over the
LIE Sueur River, doubtless taken from
the CLAW bluffs to be found in that
vicinity.
Several times during the last ten
wears. persons have called upon me,
claiming to have found the long
looked for Copper Mines on the LIE
Sueur River, but upon being urged to
dig further in the discovered spot,
before making an announcement to
the world, the indications of copper
soon came to an end.
1t has always seemed strange to me,
that men are SO prone to search for
that which will give sudden wealth,
spending all their efforts for the one
chance in 10000, when there is an
abundance and to spare, of that which
can be developed and daily utilized,
bringing sure competency in the long
run. There doubtless is gold, and
other precious metals, in the sand and
clay and stone Astounding on every
side, but who can in these times of
activity and quick appropriation of
things, spare the time and energy
necessary to extract the minute par
ticles of gold, when the industrious
use of the same gifts OF, nature, will
daily bring food, and garments, and
comforts. and homes and lands, to the
whole community.
1t will be difficult matter to find
spot more favored by nature than
Mankato. The old settler remembers
the time when no one supposed for an
instant that the quarrying of stone in
our bluffs would ever prove to be the
source of employment to hundreds of
men every year. | expect to see the
time when a thousand men will gain
their living yearly, in our stone quar-
ries.
Early in the eighties, | made an
effort to interest eastern Cement
Companies, in the Cement Stone
which Captain Beatty had discovered
here, but the idea that there was any
Cement Stone west of the Mississippi
river was secuted. Afterwards sew
eral boxes of this stone were carried
to Milwaukee to be examined, burned
and tested, and ere year had elapsed
the Standard Cement Company had
possession of all the land from which
the stone was taken. 1t is not I'M
likely that ere another decade has
passed by, there will be several &C.
ment companies operating large
works here.
An abundance of clay on every side
of us awaits skilled hands, for the
making of fire brick, paving brick,
table ware, ornamental and plain
building brick, sewer pipe and drain
tile. The advent of cheaper fuel,
will lead to the erection of factories
and kilns for the production of all
these things. | have on exhibition at
my office, pitcher and plate,
made from clay found within 3 miles
of this city.
And last, but not least, the richest
land in the whole country lies tribu-
tary to this city, the prairies and
timber lands, the uplands and bot
tom lands, producing marvelously.
Creameries and stock farms, and
diaries, testify to the belief in diver
sified farming, which has brought
about so much prosperity to the
farming community. Long ago it
became plain to all that Southwestern
Minnesota, of which this city is the
metropolis, lying in the great corn
belt, and north of the malarial line,
is the greatest farming section of the
land
During the late financial strain the
farmers in all the country tributary