The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1901-08-20
From a Staff Correspondent.

From a Staff Correspondent.
Bemidji, Mimi, Aug. 19.-The extension
Of the Minnesota & International railway
or Brainerd & Northern, as it has here
tofore been known,-toward the Canadian
boundary, together with the influx OF
settlers into regions farther south, long
accessible, but neglected until the last
two or three years, is opening up vast
new country in Minnesota. A few years
ago it was generally believed, and many
Minnesota people still think. that that
portion of the state north of the North
ern Pacific railroad and east of the Red
river prairies, is good for nothing except
its timber, its iron and its stone and game.
1t WAS thought that the soil was worth
less and could never be titled to any
great extent. This impression and the
abundance Of cheap prairie lands of eX-
cellent quality not requiring laborious
clearing and grubbing, caused this north
ern country to be neglected and even
Stunned Dy the permanent settler. All
the timber lands tributary TO the Missis-
sippi, excepting those on Indian reserva-
tions, were long ago taken up in various
ways. sold to logging and lumber COM
panies and then stripped of their pine or
held for future needs. This process led
to little permanent settling, the claim
taker staying or pretending to stay just
long enough to get a negotiable title to
the land.
While much of the land on which pine
once grew, as we'll as wooded land that
never had much pine, was Of little value
for general agricultural purposes, it has
been found that there is much that is
fertile, that most all of it is adapted to
some agricultural use and that much of it
is especially adapted to dairy farms. In
consequence of this discovery there has
been great activity in the northern Min
nesota land market in the last two or
three years. The railroad and other own
ers Of land have been disposing of it
rapidly and much has passed into the pos
session Of bonafde settlers, many from
d Iowa, who are clearing off their land,
fencing and cultivating it and beginning
a work which means an entire change in
the physical aspect of this northern coun-
try within few years. So far the coun
ties which have benefited most from this
new movement are Aitkin and Cass. The
development in both. counties means much
for Duluth, but especially that in Aitkin.
AS this development extends to other
parts Of the wooded region Duluth will
acquire an agricultural hinterland which
the rough and rocky nature of the soil
precludes 1t from having near by.
The BENEFIT to Minneapolis.
But the settlement of Cass and neigh
boring timber regions should be as much
to the benefit OF Minneapolis as of Du-
luth, if not more. The distance from the
two terminal points is about the same,
the distance from Duluth to Brainerd be-
ing 119 miles and from Minneapolis 127
miles; and it is from Brainerd that the
Minnesota & International runs north
ward through the country to Walker,
while the Northern Pacific taps it to the
westward.
But the development of northern Min
nesota first as a lumber country and then
as an agricultural region, is now going on
to greater or less extent clear on up
to the boundary, east of Red lake and
west Of the iron ranges in general but just
now more particularly along the Mime
sofa & international, which, it should be
explained here, is an auxiliary company to
the Northern Pacific. This line is now
located from Bemidji in Beltrami county
where the old Brainerd Northern met
the Great Northerns Fosston- Duluth line
to Kooehiching on the Rainy River in
Itasca county. From Bemidji to Koochi-
ching is ninety miles. The rails have
already been laid to point fourteen miles
northeast of Bemidii and regular tri-
weekly train service is operated to Tur-
tie station, eleven miles from Bemidii.
The contract was let FOR the construction
of forty-one miles this year and last week
the company tried to let contract for
fifteen more but the scarcity of labor kept
the contractors from taking the risk. 1t