Year: 1873

tlement o. the case can be reached The ar


ticle in the Kenosha Telegraph referred to,
reads


! Delays are dangerous The grant has lain
TOO long without the State constructing the
roads N accordance with the grant It has
lam so long that even if there is no dancer of
Its reversion, there is danger or its heinz di
Yerted from the purpose for which il was
granted. 1t was granted for the construction
OF railroad from or near Prescott on the
Mississippi river, to Superior and BAYFIELD,
and for these purposes it should long ago
have been applied. Had 1t been applied when
1t should have been, Superior would probably
now De place Of five or ten thousand iuhah-
itants and business in proportion, and Dufu,h
would have been place of not more than as
many hundred, or perhaps not have been.
And Bayfield, too might have quadupled the
number OF its inhabitants and the anne unt of
its business. But in place of this a railroad
has been constructed IN Minnesota from St,
Paul to Duluth, and Duluth, without natural
advantages ANYTHING near equal to Superior.
has become the place of thousands of inhab-
ltants and business in proportion. In time.
there VIII be city or cities at the head of
Lake Superior of one hundred thousand in
habitants-perhaps several hundred Thousand
and the people of Wisconsin have some in
terest in whore that city shall be. They Ger
tainly should have interest enough even at
this late day not to allow it to be taken from
" lscOnsln and built mp in Minnesota without
all effort to retain it where it belongs And
the effort to retain it, on the part of the
State, will consist largely in the speedy con
struction of the railroad from the Mississippi
to Superior and Blyfeld, in accordance with
The Superior and St. Croix Land Grant And
there should be no diversion Of The grant for
the construction of any other roads till these
roads are constructed and equipped. Then
and not till then, if there is anything Of the
grant left, it will be time to apply it for the
construction of other roads. The past neg
lect of the State in the non-use of the grant
and the n0n-construction of the roads never
can be made good to Superior and Wisconsin.
For Duluth has got such start that it is and
probably will continue to be place of con
siderable Importance, even with the best eff
forts of the State, whereas if the State had
used the grant and constructed the roads
when it should have been done, Duluth might
never have been, or be of but little cOnse-
quence either present or prospective But
great as has been the neglect of the State
and great as has been the loss to Superior
and Wisconsin, all is not vet lost Railroads
are to be constructed from Superior connect
ing with the Lake Superior and Mississippi al
Ricc's Point and as the Junction of the Nor
thern Pacific. This will give Superior rail
road C INJECTIONS through Minnesota. But
these connections do not give Superior her
right Of railroad connections in and through
" iscousin, nor DO they relieve the,Srate from
the duty and obligation to give her such con
nections by using The grant and constructing
the railroads to Superior and Bayfield, And
the more speedily the State discharges her
duty and fuifils her obligations in these res
poets, the less will be the loss for past neglect,
and the greater will be the advantages here
after to Superior and Wisconsin