The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-07-12
Where the Pines AdOrn
the Anglers Paradise


into fruit, raspberries just ripening,
strawberries that have done their sea-
sons work-"Nothing but pines!" to
the casual observer, yet how rich to
those who turn their thoughts to the
earth and read the book of nature as
she asks to be read, not skipping from
illustration to illustration-the pines
but coming the footnotes-the roses
rereading the parenthesis-the hl1es.
1t is not the pines that make the land
scape, but the roses, arbutus, triil1-
INN, lilies-these tell us: The eartn
(not the sky only is the Lords and
the fullness thereof.
Two hundred and fifty miles, like
webs of cloth, have been reeled off by
the fast-f1ying shuttle of the locomo-z
time loom as the voice Of the brake
man calling "Cass Lake" causes
rush for the rod and gun of the sports
man, the grips Of the commercial traV-
eler (the personification of American
enterprise), the boxes, bundles, etc., OF
the fathers of families. All are allve
with expectation and we step out onto
the platform and meet the representa-
tives of Cass Lake-not those who rep
resent them politically, but the farmer,
merchant, hotel keeper. jehu, aborig-
ine Show us the people on the depot
platform when a train arrives and we
will present you a mental snapshot
picture of the town. Judging from
these Cass Lake should be very sat
isfactory town to spend vacation IN,
and so we found it.
Cass Lake is a typical Northwest
town, fully alive to it's advantages, It's
difficulties, the dangers 1t must meet,
the trials it must face. 1t looks over
at Bemidji and sees a competition in
the race of progress. 1t sees all around
it wealth of forest that should be
turned into account in making 1t
populous city. 1t views the pines as
forming the basis of the Indian bird
cage, and says: 1.-The Indian has no
right to be kept as government ward.
restricting settlement and progress,
closing up states to the farmer and
merchant. He is able to work. Treat
him as white man. Give him all the
privileges of schools, make him a man
with all the rights and responsibilities
of an American citizen. If we owe him
anything for the lands he must vacate,
pay him in cash. Help him to better
things but help him in the right way.
Now he is an Indian, with all an In
dams laziness and love of ease through
the summer till the cold drives him
back from the forest to the log shacks
ON the town borders to beg, borrow or
live as best he may. There is no re-
Election in this on those who are car
rying out the orders of the govern
ment They have done wonders in
educating the aborigine, but the gen.
eral plan is vicious and should be abol-
ished. When the Indian starts for the
lakes and woods in the summer he
leaves behind him the spring bed, the
cooking stove, the washing machine,
ETC.. the actual evidences of civiliza-
ton. All he wants now are a few bent
poles and a canvas or bark covering
10 ,I,o H. 11n 81 fI1o nth
and washing and ironing do not trouble
him. He is again savage. And the
children come back from the schools
and seek out their parents in the
woods and civilization gets another
setback. Change the conditions, where
he must hustle to make living. Help
him as he huSt1es and the conundrum
what to do with the Indian" is solved
CaSs Lake is an anglers paradise.
There are pickerel, bass, pike, crappies,
perch, etc, innumerable, not to speak of
the muskalonge, that has tipped the
beam here with a record of f1fty-four
pounds for a single fish. In the lesser
lakes in this vicinity the fishing cannot
be surpassed.
For the health-seeker 1t is an ideal
resort. The air is remarkably dry and
pure because of the absorbent nature
of the sand. Water does not stand on
the surface after rains to develop into
disease breeding ponds and miasma-
fostering swamps, but is absorbed
quickly, leaving the atmosphere SUI
perior to that of the seashore, and the
balsam- yielding pines give to &the air
that freshness and healing power which
nature requires to build up wasted
energies and wrecked bodies.
What will we say more? Just this.
The country bordering on Cass Lake
gives promise of being rich in iron.
Yes, and coal also. Do not look in
credulous. Do not shake your head.
look wise and say, this Is a pipe
dream. Remember it was not the wise
men who found gold in Australia, CAL
ifornia and the Klondike. The savants
who sit around the library tables did
not spy out the Kimberly diamond
fields nor the pearl-yielding clam beds
of the Mississippi. We feel safe to
predict that ere long both coal and iron
will be prof1tably mined in this neigh
borhood. giving to Minnesota an i'm
petus greater than she has ever known.
Alex Heron.