The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-17

as picturesque a bit Of scenery as Min
nesota has, and one Of which as little
is heard, probably, in the haunts Of
men, as the headwaters Of the ice
bound Mackenzie.
Few, indeed know that the steam
boat exists at all, and still less are
aware that these tri-weekly voyages
continue from early spring till late in
the fall on the crooked Red Lake river
from the source in the big double reser-
Voired water sheet from which it takes
it's name to the falls at near the mouth
of Thief river, whence the name OF
the village, Thief River Falls. A re-
cent tourist took a kodak on the Red
Lake express, and one or two bits Of
the scenery reproduced herewith con-
vey but family the pastoral charm Of
the ever changing banks of the sinuous
stream, resplendent in the brilliant
leaves of October, mirrored in the
Iimpid surface of the stream.
There are reasons, perhaps, why the
scenic beauties of the Red Lake river
are unfamiliar to the general public
While they are but fifty miles from
one of the great transcontinental lines
and within a nights ride Of the Twin
Cities. with proper connections, it is
only on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays that the semi train
connects Polk county's metropolis,
Crookston, with the gateway to the
Indian reservation at Thief River Falls.
The railroad makes the one train cover
two spurs running into the Red River
lake region three days a week and
down the Fosston country the other
three, with a rest day Sunday.
1t is leisurely train, this accommo-
dation. as 1t is known under that
world wide rule of railroading which
denominates as an accommodation
train, one on which the accommoda-
tions are poorer than usual. But it Is
. q restful trip, this one. Talk about
the strain of railroad travel. All the
tired brain worker needs IS to get out
in this country, and if the fitting Of
the telegraph poles tries his eyes, he
may Chamber out of the coach, pick
few cat-tails or CLEAN some wild mus
tard, walk up the track q bit and wait
for the train again. for the roadbed
of the Thief River Falls branch is
built to railway club scale only In
width. There is a mile of the same
system near st. Paul, which cost some-
thing like million dollars. But the
miles between Shirley and Thief River,
Falls We're much less expensive. There
are the usual number of rails and ties,
but they are laid on the surface that
was found there, generally speaking.
The grading crew on that bit Of con-
structiOn had little to do
Thief River Falls is itself just such
g community as might have been eX-
pected to arise on the border of an
Indian reservation. 1t shows the in
fuences of opposites fighting for
supremacy. Civilization and barbarism
met there, and the former put store
clothes on the later. That brought the
merchants. The prairie meets the
forest there, and the thresher and the
saw mill clatter along within ear shot
of each other. The hunter goes east of
town and brings back, if he dares, a
moose, mayhap; west, prairie chick
en-.
To the west the prairiey to the east
the woods. 1t is through these latter
that the little stern wheeler paddles
along, and the afternoon sun now gilds
the flaming paddle boards and anon
glistens in the bubbles of the cut
water as the boat doubles on her
full glory of an autumn day, the trip is
q beautiful one. While now and then
q jack pine log is to be seen poising
an uplifted end toward the craft the
timber along the banks is of a vastly
different character. Ash, elm, elder,
basswood, willow, oak, all these, with
their many hued foliage, are to be OBJ
served along the banks-loW reaches,
that suggest, as the water winds around
and through them, the poorly defined
bayou like streams of the Southern
everglades but which lack the distinc-
tive scents of the magnolia. A few
miles above the village, at a sharp
bend in the rivera path leads up the
first noticeable bank to log hut, be-
fore which, on the brow of the bluff,
stands like a sentinel, the gabled wood
en- box that marks the Chippewa
grave. A squaw carries pail of
water in as the steamer passes and
that is the last sign of human life un-
til the next morning. All night the
boat has plowed through the star-lit
waters. and the timber gradually dis
appears as the morning finds the same
winding stream losing itself, or trying