Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-11-23
Pacific commerce, and indications seem
to point only in one direction.
The world faces the west.
Ed A. FRASER.
HERE AND e

l WIS up at Grand Forks the first
part OF this week, remaining there two
days, and returning at the urgent solicit
tatlon of several of the residents of that
city, including the proprietor of the
hotel at which I was one of the most de.
voted patrons of the table d'hote. The
proprietor said he was sorry to be forced
to invite me to go home, but that I at.
tracted so much attention and such
great crowds Of prominent people came
to see me, that the %frescoing on the
tiled floor was all being worn off, and
his solid silver knives and forks we're be-
ginning to disappear from the ancestral
treasure chests. Accordingly, he advis-
ed me to take time by the fetlock, and
return home, where I was better known
and not SO greatly courted by the masses.
l ave made it a rule always to take
such advice in the kindly spirit in which
it is intended to be received, and SO T
came home upon his friendly suggestion
and he regular train of the Northern
Pacific railroad.
Grand Forks is one of the prettiest
little towns in the state, being situated
upon the upper lip of the Red River of
the North, and only a stone 8 throw from
the business place of Mr.. Daniel Sulli.
van, the prominent prohibitionist, who
is said to have rendered material aid in
the great work of defeating resubmission
at the last session of the North Dakota
legislature. 1 make the location of
Grand Forks dependent upon the loca-
ton of Mr.. Sullivan's place, because I
feel sure this will afford a much clearer
idea OF just where Grand Forks is stu
ated than any other description I might
attempt. There are three bridges across
the Red river, leading from one town to
The other, and all of them are we'll pat
ronized, the trails being kept quite warm
the entire time by the feet of the people
who 60 Q to talk prohibition with Mr..
Sullivan.
To get to Grand Forks, you take one
Of Mr.. Hills Great Northern trains at
Fargo, at 4 o'clock a. M, close your
eyes, and are walked up thirty-seven
times along the road, in order that the
brakeman may be assured you are at
the wrong station. 1t was quite cool in
tn car upon which I took passage, and
the lights burned low-so low, in fact,
that | almost tripped over one of them
in walking rapidly along the floor of the
car to keep up my circulation. By be-
ing thus economical in the use of fuel,
and kerosene, MI. Hill has been enabled
to amass, not only several hundred dol.
lars IN actual cash, but quite large col
lection of passenger coaches, box-cars
and engines, and several miles of road
bed, upon which his trains are operated.
Mr.. Hill is reputed to be rather chilly,
and his cars resemble him very greatly
in this particular. 1t was quite warm
in Grand Forks when we got there,
but as as our car door opened, the
temperature fell quite noticeably, and
the Red River of the North froze up
with a loud report. This, of course,
precluded any further navigation this
season, except that across the three
bridges, of which I have already spoken,
which are navigable the year round.
The Red River of the North deserves
more than a f~eeting mention at my
hands. It is q timid stream, whose
chief service is to separate Minnesota
from the prohibition law. Its waters
TEEN with moisture in the wet season,
and are inh. bited by four or five steam.
boats belonging to the United States
government, which spends several
thousand dollars each year in discover.
ing that the river is unnavigable. Upon
each bank, there is a fuzzy growth,
which lends the stream an unshaven
and unkempt appearance, and affords
nesting places for the microbes in the
winter season. Grand Forks people, as
a rule, do not patronlze the river to any
great extent for drinking purposes, as
they do not believe the water is nutrl-
tious. 1t contains large quantities Of de-
cayed food and condemned articles of
wearing apparel, such rs old shirts, over
alls, rubber boots and fray ed collars and
cuffs, IN solution. These foreign havors
lend the water a glue-like appearance,
and if, at any time, it has to be used, it
is cut out IN square blocks with a
spade, and eaten with a knife and fork.
The East Grand Forks people do not
pay me anything for writing this pros
pectus of the Red river. I do it merely
to put the stream in the right light be-
fore the world. I do not know whether
the stream can eve be used for any
thing or not. If the people who live
along its banks continue to boycott the
water, the supply may increase to such
an extent in time that the government
may be enabled to gets its boats out,
and make a series OF tests as to the
naviRable Possibilities Of the city sewer
system. But it is hard to tell. For the
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