The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1898-07-28

ny thriving little cities engaged in the
pursuits of business and manufacture.
the principal one of which is lumber.
The cities between Winona and st.
Louis inclusive cut more lumber than
all the other places in the United States,*
and at Clinton, Iowa, the largest gang
saw mills in the world are located.
Back in the early thirties and forties a
few brave, determined and resolute
men and women almost took their
lives in their hands when they Journey
ed westward to make new homes on
the banks and the valley of the Missls-
slppl river, territory at that time in
habited only by tribes of wild savages.
Twenty and thirty years they withstood
the hardships incident to new coun-
try before the sound of a locomotive
whistle was heard, and today the chill
dren and grandchildren of these early
settlers are moving factors in the
places where their parents and
grandparents first made start in life.
a country which now abounds in riches
and is picturesque in the extreme.
The business portion of nearly all
these cities is built on the low land
near the river bank or at the base of
the hills on account of advantage of
the river navigation and railroad facil-
tiles, the highlands being almost inac-
cessible to traffic, in many places en-
tlrely so, but then promontories furnish
the most magnificent locations for
homes that the mind can picture. From
them one can see the busy bustling city
below, for mind you he is hundreds of
feet above the tallest church spire, the
steamboats, and raftboats running up
and down the river, the swinging of the
great steel railroad bridge to let them
pass, the green covered hills on the op-
pOsite side, the broad fertile valley
with its ripening field.
''Where the Father of waters rolling wide
Skirts the city on its eastern side
A peasanter spot you never spied.'
And thousands of forest birds are
vainly striving to out-vie each other
with songs of the sweetest melody.
One of the striking characteristics of
the people living in these cities is their
intense love for home, and brief de-
scrlption of one will serve as a guide
for others. In the outskirts of Du-
buque, Iowa, there is suburb known
as West Hill. The property owners of
West Hill numbernot over twenty, each
one has beautiful home costing
several thousand dollars, and which
you could not buy today for double
what it cost, situated on plat of
ground, none less than five acres and
none over ten. The walks, the lawns,
the tlowerbeds, the shrubbery, the out.
buildings, command only the praise of
the passer by and nothing to crlticise.
One peculiar feature of the residents
OF West Hill is their universal love for
domestics pets and especially is this
true of one whom we will call Adam
Schmidt, a sturdy old German who is
the father of eight f1axen haired chill
dren. Each of these children has it's
favorite pet, there is dog, a cat,
lamb, calf pig, a duck, a hen, and
so on, but there is one animal that is
the pet of the whole family and that is
nothing more nor less than that animal
with the long ears and sonOrious bray
so often spoken of in the Bible. COM
monty called Jackass. 1t is a COM
mon sight to the passerby just as the
shades of evening have begun to de-
scend to see Jack standing out in the
back yard while the whole family often
gathered round him to bestow their af.
fectiOns. Two or three are astride of
his back, another is pulling his tail, one
crawls between his legs, but do what
they may Jack stands there perfectly
contented without ever moving a hoof
or switching his tail or wagging an ear,
one boy even halloas down his ears in
an attempt to make a horn out of them.
There is an adjoining back lot where
Jack is allowed to run during the day,
but at this certain hour in the evening
he is always waiting for the connecting
gate to open so that he can pass in