STATE SEAL.STATE SEAL.
A waterfall (supposed to be that of Minnehaha) within a shield; this part of the device was intended to symbolize the idea of water for the amount and varied forms of which Minnesota is distinguished above any other part of our country. In addition was represented the figure of an Indian pointing toward the setting sun, as his course of destiny runs, with his tomahawk, bow and arrows; at his feet opposite the Indian was the figure of a white man, with a sheaf of wheat and the implements of agriculture at his feet, representing to the Indian that he must partake of the habits of civilized life or depart toward the setting sun. In one corner of the field appeared a distant view of Lake Superior, with a ship in sail. In another was a view of a river, indicating the Minnesota river, running from the westward, with a steamboat ascending its stream. In rear of the shield and waterfall were three trees, which are typical of the three timbered regions, the oak on the left typifying the south and southwest portion of the State, the pine in the centre typifying the great pine regions of Lake Superior, Upper Mississippi and St. Croix, and the maple on the right typifying the north and northwestern portion of the State. For a motto to accompany the words state of Minnesota, A. D. 1858, which were placed upon the upper rim of the seal, the words placed upon the lower rim of the seal were, "Liberty and Union, Now and Forever One and Inseparable." The act of the legislature went to the governor, who returned it to the senate approved and signed, July 14, 1858.
Some length of time elapsed before the appearance of the great seal as appended to official documents, and when it did appear it was very different from the one adopted, and the credit of the design was given to Rev. E. D. Neill by the newspapers commenting upon it. However beautiful and appropriate the design of the present great seal of the state of Minnesota, there seems to be no evidence that it was ever legally adopted, and the question may well be raised as to its validity. It lies, however, in the eternal fitness of things that a state without a legal constitution should also be without a seal.
At the joint convention of Dec. 19, 1857, Hon. Henry M. Rice and Gen. James Shields, of Mexican War fame, were elected senators. The Republicans supported David Cooper and Henry D. Huff. During this session the presiding officer of the senatewas Richard G. Murphy, a somewhat eccentric character. His decisions were often diverting. When perplexing questions arose he would say gravely, "The chair can not decide more than two questions at oncet." After passing many really important measures, the legislature adjourned March 25, to meet June 2, 1858.
The legislature met, pursuant to adjournment, June 2d, the State having been admitted in the interim. Lieut. Gov. Holcombe presided over the senate and proved an acceptable and able presiding officer. The five million amendment having been approved by the people, this legislature passed a banking law, establishing banks in various parts of the State with the five million bonds as a basis.
It can do no good at this late day to raise a question as to the validity of the acts of the first state legislature, but it is due to ourselves and others who with us at the time protested against the validity of acts passed at this session, to give a few extracts from senate and house journals tending to show that a feeling of distrust was quite general. The ground of this opinion was the fact that the legislature elected as a state legislature held its first session prior to the admission of the State, and under the administration of the territorial governor, Medary, through his secretary, acting in his place. The question was openly discussed, not only in the legislature but in the public press of the State.
As early as Dec. 8, 1887, the following protest was presented in the senate:
Senate Chamber, St. Paul.
We, the undersigned senators of the state of Minnesota, do hereby enter and record this, oursolemnPROTEST, against the recognition by this body, in any manner, directly or indirectly, of Samuel Medary, Esquire, governor of the territory of Minnesota, as the governor of the state of Minnesota, or as being invested with any of the rights, authority, privileges, powers or functions of governor of said state of Minnesota.
And we dosolemnlyprotestagainst the recognition by this body, in any manner, of the claims of the said Samuel Medary, to exercise any of the rights, authority, privileges, powers orfunctions of the governor of the state of Minnesota—such claim being wholly unauthorized and unwarranted by the constitution of the state of Minnesota; and in violation of the expressed will of the people of the state of Minnesota, and an attempted usurpation of office, at war with the fundamental principles of free government, and dangerous to the liberties of the people.
D. G. Norton,Lewis McKune,Geo. Watson,Edwin M. Somers,Boyd Phelps,J. K. Reiner,H. L. Thomas,James Ridpath,Michael Cook,Charles H. Lindsley,E. N. Bates,E. Hodges,A. G. Hudson,Jonathan Chase,W. H. C. Folsom,S. S. Beman,Delano T. Smith.
D. G. Norton,Lewis McKune,Geo. Watson,Edwin M. Somers,Boyd Phelps,J. K. Reiner,H. L. Thomas,James Ridpath,Michael Cook,Charles H. Lindsley,E. N. Bates,E. Hodges,A. G. Hudson,Jonathan Chase,W. H. C. Folsom,S. S. Beman,Delano T. Smith.
On December 8th Mr. Norton offered the following resolution to the senate:
"Whereas, By the provisions of the constitution the executive officers of the State can not qualify until after the admission of the State by Congress, and
"Whereas, There is no governor of the state of Minnesota to whom acts may be submitted, as required by the constitution; therefore,
"Resolved, That this legislature can pass no acts which could become a law until after the admission of the State by Congress, and the qualification of the governor elected by the people."
The resolution was adopted and referred to the following committee: Van Etten, Streeter, Jones, Norton, and Folsom.
The majority of the select committee reported December 21st, claiming that by the enabling act the people of the Territory were empowered to form a state government, which they did, electing their delegates on the second Monday in July, 1857, to form a state constitution, and take necessary steps for establishment of a state government; that these delegates met at the time and place appointed, and on the twenty-ninth of August adopted a constitution which was submitted to the people and adopted by a majority of over 28,000 votes. That on the thirteenth of October, in conformity with an article (section 16, article 16) of the constitution then adopted, the people had elected representativesto Congress, governor and lieutenant governor, judges and members of both houses of the legislature, the latter to meet on the first Wednesday in December at St. Paul.
The majority admitted that the governor elected under the act could not qualify until after the admission of the State, but claimed that the members of the legislature did not rest under the same disability, but were competent to legislate because they derived their power from the constitution itself, and had been directed to meet for that purpose on the first Monday in December, and that because they were thus required to meet they were authorized to act. The people were omnipotent in the premises. They had declared that the governor should not qualify until after the admission of the State, and that the members of the legislature should meet. It was absurd to suppose this body should be called together and have no power to act. They held, moreover, that the territorial governor was empowered to act until his successor could legally qualify; that the framers of the constitution of Minnesota and the people had declared that he should be continued in office until superseded by a state officer, and that the very time had been specified when he should be thus superseded, namely, on the admission of the State into the Union, and therefore that Samuel Medary was,de factoandde jure, governor of Minnesota; that Minnesota was then a stateoutof the Union, and that the acts of the first legislature would be legalized when the State was admitted.
The minority report, signed by D. S. Norton and W. H. C. Folsom, claimed that the constitution contemplated an admission into the Union as a prerequisite to the exercise of state sovereignty, in article 5, section 7, where it is enacted that "the term of each of the executive officers named in this article shall commence upon taking the oath of office,after the State shall be admitted by Congress into the Union, etc."
Section 9, same article, provides that "Laws shall be passed at the first session of the legislatureafter the State is admitted into the Unionto carry out the provisions of this article.
"Section 1, article 16,schedule, provides that all process which may be issued under the authority of the territory of Minnesota previous to itsadmission into the Union of the United States, shall be as valid as if issued in the name of the State."
Section 8, same article, provides that if the constitution shall beadopted by a vote of the people, the governor of the Territory shall forward a certified copy of the same to the president of the United States, "to be by him laid before the Congress of the United States."
The minority claimed that under the first of the above cited sections there can be no qualified governor (elected under, and according to the provisions of the constitution) to whom "bills"mustbe submitted before they can become laws, untilafter"admission"—nor indeed can there beanyexecutive officers, contemplated to perform the duties of their several offices, until that time.
In reference to the provisions of section 18, article 16,schedule, as inconsistent with that view, it was claimed that the territorial government should continue, and that its officers should exercise the sovereign powers delegated to them by the Union, until, upon an admission by Congress, and a surrender of sovereignty to the State, its authority should commence.
It was claimed that this section (6) of article 16, requiring the legislature to convene on the first Wednesday of December, 1857, was an oversight or error. After considerable debate the majority report was adopted by a party vote. A similar protest, signed by all the Republican members of the house, was presented to that body. In addition to these protests there was in both branches of the legislature continuous and various protests by the minority against the exercise of legislative functions.
In the house, on Jan. 25, 1858, Mr. Sheetz offered a resolution with reference to the causes of the delay in the admission of Minnesota, asking that a committee of three be appointed with instructions to investigate the circumstances of this delay and report to this house upon these points:
First—As to whose duty it was to forward to the president for submission to Congress a copy of the constitution.
Second—Why an incorrect or incomplete copy of said constitution was forwarded to the president.
Third—What official correspondence, if any, has passed between the governor and the acting governor in regard to this matter.
On motion the resolution was adopted.
Mr. Sheetz, from the committee appointed to communicate with the acting governor relative to the admission of the state of Minnesota, submitted the following report:
To the Honorable House of Representatives:
Your committee appointed to inquire into the causes of the probable delay in the admission of Minnesota into the Union, ask leave to make the following report:
Your committee find that according to section 8 of the schedule to the constitution, it is made the duty of the governor of the Territory, upon the adoption of the constitution by the people, to forward a certified copy of the constitution to the president of the United States, to be by him submitted to Congress.
Your committee have conferred with his excellency, Acting Gov. Chase, and have ascertained from him that at or about the time of the adjournment of the constitutional conventions, there were deposited with him, as acting governor in the absence of Gov. Medary, two copies of the constitution as adopted by the two branches of the constitutional convention, one copy signed byfifty-onemembers of the Democratic branch of the convention, and the other signed byfifty-threemembers of the Republican branch of the convention, that the two copies were preserved by him in the same safe, side by side where they now are.
Your committee are further informed that a short time prior to the departure of our senators and representatives elect for Washington, the governor caused to be made a transcript of the constitution as requested by the schedule and that instrument, which transcript was forwarded to the president of the United States.
No record is known to your committee to exist of the time and manner of making such transcript, and your committee, in the absence of the governor and his private secretary, can not ascertain whether said transcript contained the names of the members of the two branches of the constitutional convention or not.
Your committee are also informed by Acting Gov. Chase that there has been no official correspondence between the governor and himself upon this subject since the departure of the former for Washington.
All of which is respectfully submitted and signed.
H. W. Sheetz,G. L. Otis,J. J. Cruttenden,Committee.
In May, 1857, Congress gave to Minnesota, then a territory, a magnificent grant of about 9,000,000 acres of land, to aid in the construction of several projected trunk roads through her bounds. The roads specified were: From Stillwater, by way of St. Paul and St. Anthony Falls, to a point between the foot of Big Stone lake and the mouth of the Sioux Wood river, with a branch via St. Cloud and Crow Wing to the navigable waters of the Red River of the North; from St. Paul and St. Anthony via Minneapolis to a convenient point of junction west of the Mississippi to the southern boundary of the Territory in the direction of the mouth of the Big Sioux river, with a branch via Faribault to the north line of the state of Iowa, west of range 16; from Winona to a point on the Big Sioux river south of the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude; also from La Crescent via Target lake, up the valley of Root river, to a point of junction with the last mentioned road, east of range 17, every alternate section of land designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side of said road and branches. It was enacted that the lands granted were to be subject to the disposal of the legislature.
An extra session of the legislature was convened in June, 1857, to accept the grant and devise means to build the road.
The financial crisis of 1857 and unwise legislation in 1858, notably the attempt to issue $5,000,000 in bonds to aid in building the roads, served to delay the various enterprises projected, and for many years but little work was done, notwithstanding persistent effort at every state legislature to effect favorable changes in the condition of affairs.
A few of the $5,000,000 bonds were issued, but the general dissatisfaction, and feeling that they were not issued on a legal or rational basis, depreciated their value, and they were sold at a sacrifice and afterward redeemed by the State.
The idea of a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific was openly discussed as early as 1837, in which year Dr. Hartwell Carver memorialized Congress on the subject and promulgated his views through the press and by pamphlets. In 1845 AsaWhitney evolved a plan for the northern route, and awakened considerable popular enthusiasm, but by many the project was considered as a swindling scheme, or at best a visionary enterprise. Mr. Whitney made a preliminary survey from Prairie du Chien as far as the Rocky mountains. Mr. Josiah Perham, afterward the first president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in 1857 projected a road from Maine to Puget Sound, to be known as the People's Pacific Railway, and obtained a charter from the Maine legislature, but on bringing his scheme to the attention of Congress was prevailed upon by Thaddeus Stevens to abandon this scheme for another, agreeing to aid him in the passage of a bill for the construction of the present Northern Pacific route. The bill passed both houses and was signed by President Lincoln, July 2, 1864. The first permanent officers were: Josiah Perham, president; Willard Sear, vice president; Abiel Abbott, secretary; J. S. Withington, treasurer.
The grants of land voted by Congress were accepted, and in the following year the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota granted right of way. Not much was done until 1869, when Jay Cooke & Co. became financially interested in the road, and might have been successful in placing the bonds of the road upon the eastern markets but for the European war, during which time the firm of Jay Cooke & Co. went down overburdened with railroad securities. The financial panic of 1873 which followed found the company in possession of 555 miles of completed railroad, of which 450 reached from Duluth to Bismarck, and 105 from Klamath to Tacoma on Puget Sound; but embarrassed by want of funds the enterprise made but little headway, and in 1875 Henry Villard was appointed receiver, and a decree of sale obtained by which the bondholders were enabled to become the preferred stockholders. Under the new arrangement and by the powerful aid of Henry Villard and Thomas F. Oakes, the public, and especially the capitalists of the country, regained faith in the enterprise, and the work was pushed steadily forward until September, 1883, when the golden spike was driven at Gold Creek by Henry Villard. Mr. Villard resigned the presidency of the road in December of the same year, and Robert Harris succeeded him. The main line of this road extends from Duluth to Tacoma, a distance of nearly 2,000 miles, and the number of miles on the main and branch lines aggregates 3,395.
The magnitude of the work, the leagues of wilderness to be traversed, the mountain ranges to be crossed, the streams to be bridged, the supposed obstructions from wintry storms to be overcome, all these were of such a nature as to make the project seem impossible. It was, nevertheless, through the liberality of the government and the enthusiasm and executive ability of its managers, accomplished in a comparatively short time.
The government contributed to this road a land grant of forty sections to the mile. With this liberal basis, bonds for the required amount of money were speedily furnished to build and equip the road from Lake Superior to the Pacific coast. This road has, however, the advantage of southern roads, in that it traverses a rich agricultural and mineral region throughout almost its entire extent, passing through belts of timbered land not excelled in the quantity and quality of their production. The mineral regions are rich in gold, silver, copper, lead and coal.
The country along the road is being rapidly settled, and the property in its possession, and that of those who have made improvements along its line, has increased to many hundred times its original value.
The Wisconsin legislature in 1854 chartered a company to construct and operate this road, then called the St. Croix, Superior & Bayfield railroad. May 3, 1856, Congress granted twelve sections of land to the mile to aid in building a railroad from Hudson in the St. Croix valley to Bayfield on Lake Superior, with a branch to Superior City. July 5, 1864, this grant was increased to twenty sections per mile, with indemnity lands to make up deficiencies. These lands were ceded directly to the State. A company was created by the state legislature of Wisconsin, to which were consigned the lands and franchises granted by the government for the purpose of building the road. The lands and franchises passed through several organized companies. Impediments to construction arising, extension of time was asked and obtained from the United States and Wisconsin governments, complications arose, delaying the construction still further, other companies claimed part of the indemnity lands, and litigation ensued. The state legislature upheld the charteredright, and appointed agents to watch the timber and protect the interests of the company. A sum amounting to $200,000 was collected from trespassers and at once applied to the building of the roads in 1879.
The St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls Company in 1872 had built a line of railroad from Hudson to New Richmond. In 1874 the St. Croix, Superior & Bayfield Company obtained possession of this line of road and continued it in the direction of Superior, completing it in 1883 to Superior City, Bayfield, Washburn, and Ashland. The company have built a road from Hudson by River Falls to Ellsworth in Pierce county. The main line to Lake Superior passes through a rich agricultural and immense pine region. The company have constructed at Washburn, on Chequamegon bay, extensive docks, elevators, warehouses and shops. There are on the main line 20 wooden bridges from 25 to 100 feet long, 10 from 100 to 300 feet, 10 from 300 to 500 feet, one of them on a branch of White river being 90 feet high. The amount of logs and lumber carried over this road amounts (1888) to 1,240,000,000 feet, and 1,500,000,000 feet remain. There are few trips more enjoyable to the tourist than the one over this road, terminating as it does on the north, in a region attractive for its beautiful scenery, including the lovely bays of Ashland, Washburn and Bayfield, with their picturesque shores, hills green with spruce pine and balsam, and the Apostle islands, favorite haunts of summer travelers. The road is splendidly equipped and well officered.
The first land grant for Minnesota was made in 1854, for a road from St. Paul to Lake Superior. This bill gave twenty sections per mile to the company building. While the bill was in the hands of the enrolling committee, some fraudulent changes were made in its provisions, as a consequence of which, after it had passed both houses and was in the hands of the president, it was recalled by the house of representatives, which had originated it, the fraudulent passages were pointed out, and the further consideration of the bill was indefinitely postponed.
Railroad enterprise received a check from which it did not recoverin many years. May 5, 1864, Congress gave ten alternate sections on each side of lands to aid in building the Lake Superior & Mississippi railroad. This grant was increased to twenty sections per mile, and indemnity lands were given. The state of Minnesota has also given seven sections of swamp land per mile. The city of St. Paul also gave a bonus of $250,000 in city bonds, to run twenty years, and St. Louis county gave $150,000 in bonds for a like period. From the proceeds of these lands and bonds an excellent thoroughfare has been built and maintained. The franchises pertaining to this road changed holders many times before the road was completed.
The original incorporators were mostly citizens of Philadelphia who, under the name and title of the "Nebraska & Lake Superior Company," obtained their charter from the territorial legislature May 25, 1857. Their chartered rights were amended and their name changed to that of "Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad Company." The times for building were extended by Congress and the state legislature from time to time, as asked for by the company. The road was commenced in 1867 and completed to Duluth in 1870, and the name changed to "St. Paul & Duluth" in 1875. The first cost of building was $7,700,000. The company have in addition built branch roads from White Bear to Minneapolis, from White Bear to Stillwater, from Wyoming to Taylor's Falls, from Rush City to Grantsburg, from North Pacific Junction to Cloquet, and a branch in Pine county to Sandstone City. The Taylor's Falls & Lake Superior branch road received seven sections per mile of swamp lands from the State, $10,000 in ten per cent bonds from the town of Chisago Lake, $5,000 from the town of Shafer, and $18,600 from the town of Taylor's Falls.
Presidents of the St. Paul & Duluth railroad: Lyman Dayton, W. L. Banning, Frank Clark, John P. Illsley, H. H. Porter, James Smith, Jr., and Wm. H. Fisher.
Under the land grant of 1857 a road was projected between St. Paul and St. Anthony Falls, and completed in 1862, the first railroad in Minnesota, though others had been projected at an earlier period. This road was afterward extended to Breckenridge on Red river, and branches were built to St. Cloud, andfrom St. Cloud via Fergus Falls and Crookston to the national boundary at St. Vincent, and from Brekenridge through Dakota to the Great Falls in Montana. Subordinate branches to various points in Northern Minnesota, Dakota and Montana were also built. The roads from Minneapolis to St. Cloud and Breckenridge were built with German capital.
After the completion of the main lines a financial depression occurred, the bonds were sold at a low figure and subsequently passed into the hands of J. J. Hill and others. The aggregate mileage of this road and its branches amount to 2,685 miles. It traverses a wheat growing region not surpassed on the continent. The present terminus, the Great Falls of Missouri, is a mining centre for gold and silver. The country tributary to the road can not fail to make it one of the most important highways of commerce in the great West, and thus far the energy and ability of its managers has made it equal to the immense demands upon it.
Under the grant of 1857, a road from Stillwater to St. Paul was projected, the road to commence at Stillwater and to proceed via St. Paul and Minneapolis to the western boundary of the State. The company holding the grant, through legislative action effected a change in the conditions of the grant allowing them to commence at St. Paul, building west and northwest, as a result of which the road from Stillwater to St. Paul was not built. After ten years of inactivity upon this portion of the road, the Stillwater people demanded, through their representatives in the legislature of 1867, legislation compelling the building of the road as originally devised. At this session Hon. John McKusick, not then a member of the legislature, but still an influential man, and representing public sentiment, importuned the company holding the franchises, through the president, Hon. Edmund Rice, either to build the road or to transfer the franchises to some responsible company who would build it. Hon. Henry A. Jackman and the writer, members of the ninth legislature, after conference with the president of the company, introduced a bill conveying the franchises from the original company to a company of St. Croix valley men, to be organized forthwith, with the conditions that they at once proceed to buildthe road from Stillwater to White Bear, connecting with the St. Paul & Duluth at that point. A section was placed in the bill locating the railroad lands near Kandiyohi lake. These lands were among the most valuable in the grant and were to inure to the new company at the completion of the road. The bill was passed and approved by the governor. The road was completed to Stillwater Dec. 20, 1869.
The legislature of 1869 transferred 44,246 acres, or one-half of the Kandiyohi lands, to the St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls railroad.
Part of the lands originally granted to the Stillwater, White Bear & St. Paul railroad were transferred by the legislature of 1869 to the St. Paul, Stillwater & Taylor's Falls railroad. The proceeds of the sale were to be applied to the construction of the above named road. The company was organized under the general laws of the State and incorporated Sept. 23, 1869. The route of the road defined in the articles of incorporation is between St. Paul and Taylor's Falls by way of Stillwater, passing through or near Marine, with a branch road to Hudson, Wisconsin. Length of main line from St. Paul to Stillwater is seventeen and fifty-four one hundredths miles. Hudson branch line from Stillwater junction to Lake St. Croix, three and one-fourth. South Stillwater branch line from Stillwater to South Stillwater, three miles. The first train by this line reached Stillwater from St. Paul Feb. 9, 1872. The capital stock, $1,000,000, may be increased at pleasure. The number of shares of capital stock is 10,000 of $100 each, limit of indebtedness, $1,500,000.
That part of the road to be built from Stillwater to Taylor's Falls up to the present date has not been completed.
In 1884 the Wisconsin Central built a branch road from Chippewa Falls via New Richmond to St. Paul, passing into Ramsey county east and south of White Bear. The bridge over the St. Croix river about four miles above Stillwater, belonging to this road, is a fine piece of workmanship, built entirely of iron and resting on solid stone piers. The total length of the structure is2,400 feet, there being ten spans, each 160 feet long, and a viaduct, 800 feet long, on the Wisconsin side.
The track is 87 feet above low water mark. The entire cost of the bridge was about $197,000. It was damaged by a cyclone in 1885 to the amount of $10,000.
The franchises and swamp land grant of the Lake Superior & Mississippi railroad pertaining to the Taylor's Falls branch were in 1875, by legislative enactment, transferred to the Taylor's Falls & Lake Superior Company. In 1879 these franchises and lands were transferred to the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad Company. In the fall of 1879 the St. Paul & Duluth Company built a branch road to Centre City. In the spring of 1880 the Minneapolis & St. Louis Company built three miles of road southward from Taylor's Falls, accomplishing in that distance as difficult and expensive work of its kind as had been done in the State, the grading being made through the trap rock ledges of the Dalles, and along the face of the nearly perpendicular bluffs overlooking the river. In the summer of 1880 they transferred their franchises and one-half their swamp land grant to the St. Paul & Duluth Company, by whom the road was completed from Centre City to the road already built at Taylor's Falls, Oct. 29, 1880.
The river division of this road follows the west bank of the river from Dubuque to Hastings, passing through all the river towns. Crossing the river at Hastings it passes through the towns of Newport, Cottage Grove and Denmark, and the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, terminal stations. The line from St. Paul to Hastings was built in 1869, by the Chicago & St. Paul Railway Company, under charter granted to the Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company in 1857. The present management obtained control of the line in 1872. The bridge across the Mississippi at Hastings was constructed in 1878, and was the first iron railroad bridge in the State. In respect to cost and workmanship it ranked with the important structures of the Northwest. The total length of the river bridge is 706 feet, and consists of an iron draw span 300 feet long, two fixed spans each of150 feet in length, and a combination span on the north shore 106 feet in length. The cost of the structure was $200,000. In 1884 a branch line was extended from Point Douglas to Stillwater.
The following memorial, introduced by the writer while a member of the state senate of 1877, is the first public mention or suggestion of this road as far as we are aware. It was adopted by the legislature, forwarded to Washington, read and duly referred to the committee on railroads:
STATE OF MINNESOTA.NINETEENTH SESSION. S.F. NO. 36.A MEMORIALIntroduced by Mr. Folsom, Jan. 12, 1877.TO CONGRESS FOR RIGHT OF WAY AND GRANT OF LAND FOR RAILROAD PURPOSES.To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:
STATE OF MINNESOTA.NINETEENTH SESSION. S.F. NO. 36.
A MEMORIALIntroduced by Mr. Folsom, Jan. 12, 1877.TO CONGRESS FOR RIGHT OF WAY AND GRANT OF LAND FOR RAILROAD PURPOSES.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:
Your memorialists, the legislature of the state of Minnesota, respectfully represent that the rapidly increasing settlements of the Northwest, the surplus agricultural products and material developments demand greater and cheaper facilities than now existing, and a more direct transit to the Atlantic seaboard and European ports, and eastern products transported to the Northwest.
That the saving in the distance to eastern markets of three hundred miles, by a railroad route from St. Paul and Minneapolis to Sault Ste. Marie, will tend to more fully develop the great wheat growing region of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dakota, and Montana. The surplus of wheat, which forms one of the most reliable exports from our government, in shortening the distance to European markets three hundred miles will give encouragement to this great source of wealth to our whole land, and deserves aid and protection.
That by reason of the facts set forth in this memorial, andmany other considerations, the nearest transit makes cheap transportation and thereby develops the country and increases prosperity.
To further these objects, we ask Congress to donate land to aid, and the right of way through government land to build, a railroad from the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis to the falls of St. Marie's river.
Sept. 20, 1879, a large mass meeting was held at St. Croix Falls, the object being to consider the feasibility of the "Soo" route. Over five hundred persons were present, among them delegates from Minneapolis, St. Paul, Stillwater, and Superior City. The subject was discussed and resolutions passed favoring the building of the road to Sault Ste. Marie via the Dalles of St. Croix.
Not, however, till Sept. 12, 1883, were the articles of incorporation filed in Wisconsin and Minnesota by W. D. Washburn and others of Minneapolis, for the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railroad Company.
The road was completed to the "Soo" in December, 1887. At that point it connects with a branch of the Canadian Pacific. The St. Marie river is to be crossed on a union bridge built by the roads centring at that point. It is now under construction, and will cost when completed over a million dollars. The length of the line is about 225 miles. The capital stock is $12,000,000, divided into 80,000 shares of common stock, and 40,000 shares preferred. The board of directors for the first year is composed of the following persons, all residents of Minneapolis: W. D. Washburn, president; H. T. Welles, John Martin, Thomas Lowry, George R. Newell, Anthony Kelly, M. Loring, Clinton Morrison, J. K. Sidle, W. W. Eastman, W. D. Hale, C. A. Pillsbury, and Chas. J. Martin.
The following comparison of distance will be of interest to the people of the Northwestern States:
Miles.Miles.St. Paul to Chicago411Chicago to New York City962New York to Liverpool3,040——4,413St. Paul (via Sault) to Montreal997Montreal to Liverpool2,790——3,787——Difference in favor of Montreal route626
The Chicago, Burlington & Northern Company constructed a road from Chicago to Savannah, Illinois, and from that point up the Mississippi, along its east bank to St. Paul, crossing the St. Croix at Prescott. The road from Savannah to St. Paul is two hundred and eighty-five miles in length, and was completed in 1886. The cost complete, including rolling stock, was $30,000 per mile. The road was built on a grade of nine and eight-tenths feet to the mile, and its curvature nowhere exceeds three degrees in one hundred feet. The St. Croix, Chippewa, Wisconsin, Platte, Grant, and Fever rivers are crossed by iron bridges.
Miles.Manitoba3,200Northern Pacific2,200Hastings & Dakota344Pacific division of the Minneapolis & St. Louis223Minneapolis & Pacific230Omaha, Western division627Milwaukee, River division100Milwaukee, Iowa division100Minneapolis & St. Louis100Burlington & Northern100Northwestern, Omaha section176Minnesota & Northwestern (now Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City)200Wisconsin Central100Soo Ste. Marie210North Wisconsin250St. Paul & Duluth216——Total8,476
As early as 1858, when the writer was a member of the Minnesota senate, he introduced a memorial to Congress for the improvement of the St. Croix river, and of the Mississippi at Beef Slough bar, below Lake Pepin. This was the first memorial presented on this subject. Subsequent legislatures continued to memorialize Congress, but it was twenty years of continuous pleading before any attention was paid to the subject. In 1878Thaddeus C. Pound, representing the St. Croix valley in Congress, secured the first appropriation. Mr. Pound also secured the first appropriation for the Mississippi reservoirs.
The following appropriations were made from time to time: 1878, $8,000; 1879, $10,000; 1880, $8,000; 1881, $10,000; 1882, $30,000; 1883, $7,500.
This money has been expended under the supervision of Maj. Farquier and Charles J. Allen of the United States engineering corps, with headquarters at St. Paul. The improvements carried out consisted in removing snags and all impediments in the channel or along shore, removing sandbars, thus deepening the channel, building wing dams, and riprapping the shores. The work has been well done, and the expenditure is a most judicious one.
As the prosperity of a country depends, next to its natural resources, upon the avenues of communication with other countries, the people of the Northwest naturally took a great interest in the improvement of their waterways. The states lying along the Mississippi and its tributaries found by these streams an advantageous southern outlet for their produce. But much needed to be done in the direction of improving navigation by clearing away obstructions, deepening the channels, and affording facilities for crossing rapids. As the settlements extended toward the great lakes, it became evident that the prosperity of the country would be greatly enhanced by communication with the lakes. In the absence or scarcity of navigable streams this communication, if obtained, must be by the improvement of navigation of the upper portion of these streams having their source near the lakes and their connection by canals with the lakes or their tributaries. By this means it was thought a better route to the Atlantic and to the Eastern States would be afforded for grain and other products than that afforded by the Mississippi. In the Minnesota state legislature of 1875 a bill was introduced making an appropriation of $10,000 for a survey of the route connecting the waters of Lake Superior with those of the St. Croix. This bill met with much opposition, but was finally passed, the amount having been reduced by amendment to $3,000. Lucas R. Stannard and Robert B. Davis were appointed commissioners, and with the meagre amount did all that was possibleto be done in surveying the route. As the author of the bill, I insert here, as a matter of history, and as a sufficient explanation of my own views and those of the friends of the measure, a synopsis of the arguments presented to the senate advocating the measure:
"The route from Duluth via the lakes and St. Lawrence, and the Atlantic to England, according to correct computation, is about six hundred miles shorter than the route via Chicago and New York. The northern route is being made feasible by the improvements made by the British government on the Welland canal and Lachine rapids, and by the improvements made by our own government on the St. Clair flats and the Sault Ste. Marie canal, by which a depth of water is obtained sufficient to float vessels drawing twenty feet. This route to Europe will be traversed in much less time than the New York route. Vessels will be constructed for this inland American trade, and starting from the west end of Lake Superior with a cargo of grain that two weeks before was waving in the sunlight on northwestern prairies, will pass direct to Europe without breaking of bulk or reshipping, while the southern route requires reshipments at Buffalo and New York. Figures can scarcely do justice to the vast business that will be transacted on this open route as the northern part of the United States and the adjacent British possessions are settled.
"The opening of this route will tend to create new treaty stipulations and unlooked for interpretations of the old with the Dominion government, and establish commercial confidence and secure trade not realized to-day. Cheap transportation is the demand of the age, and this route will afford to the hundreds of millions of bushels of wheat and the commerce of Central North America the desired outlet to the best markets of the world. To many these ideas may seem chimerical, but we believe that the progress of the country and the development of her commerce in the not distant future will justify them, and that predictions now regarded as fanciful will be fulfilled to the letter.
"Minnesota as a state is just in the age of development. She is rising to power and influence. Much depends upon our legislature, more than depended upon the legislature of New York when, actuated by good counsels it connected the waters of theHudson with those of Lake Erie by the 'Clinton Ditch,' so called in derision by the enemies of the measure. But the wisdom of Dewitt Clinton, the originator of that famous waterway, advanced the settlement of the great West at least a quarter of a century.
"Minnesota in her location holds the key that will unlock the largest body of fresh water on the globe, and open to it one of the most fertile and extensive wheat growing districts on the continent, a country that will soon vie with the country around the Black sea in the quantity and quality of its grain production.
"Shall we stand idly by whilst our neighboring states are moving to secure cheaper communications with the seaboard states? Cheap transportation, the lever that moves the world, is claiming the favorable attention of Congress, and men and means have been provided to ascertain the most feasible routes on which to bestow her aid for the transferring of the surplus products of the country to the markets of the East.
"The reports made thus far by the national committee make no allusion to Minnesota's great gateway to the East by Lake Superior, nor to the improvement of the Sault Ste. Marie canal. The committee dwelt somewhat elaborately upon the project of connecting the Mississippi with the lakes by means of a canal between the waters of Wisconsin and Fox rivers, neither of them good navigable streams. No authorized survey has ever commended this as a cheap route. Only one plan can be adopted by which a thoroughfare can be made profitable to the government and to the Northwest over this route, and that is to construct a ship canal along the Wisconsin river from the portage to the mouth.
"If the government can be prevailed upon to open up this route no one will deny that it will be of incalculable benefit to the people of Wisconsin, and to those further up the valley of the Mississippi. Let its friends do all they can to push forward the great movement.
"To Minnesotians I would say, let Wisconsin have much of our aid. I trust it will not take thirty-five years of the future to open up what thirty-five years of the past has projected. Wisconsin alone and unassisted ought to have accomplished this great work years ago, if the work could have been accomplished as cheaply as it has been represented.
"Let Minnesota look nearer home. The headwaters of the St. Croix are nearer to Lake Superior than those of any other navigable stream. Large Mississippi boats, whenever occasion has demanded, have made their way to the Dalles of the St. Croix. The falls and rapids above this point for a distance of four miles have a fall of but seventy-four feet, an elevation that could be overcome by means of locks. By means of wing dams at Kettle River falls, and other improvements at no very great cost, the river could be made navigable to the mouth of the Namakagon. This river, though put down as a tributary, is in reality the main stream, and can be navigated to Namakagon lake, which is but thirty miles from Ashland, and can be connected by a canal with Chequamegon bay, or with White river, a distance of only a few miles.
"If we pass up the St. Croix from the mouth of the Namakagon river, we shall find no serious obstructions to navigation till we reach the great dam built by the lumbermen twenty miles below Upper Lake St. Croix. The conformation here is of such a character that an inexhaustible supply of water can be held—more than three times what is held in the celebrated Summit lake in Ohio, which feeds the canal connecting the waters of the Ohio and Lake Erie. It is but a mile from the former lake to the source of Brule river, an affluent of Lake Superior, but as the waters of the Brule are rapid and the channel rocky, and its outlet is on a bleak and unhospitable stretch of lake shore, destitute of any harbor, we prefer the route from the Upper St. Croix lake to the bay of Superior, a distance of about thirty miles, a route well supplied by reservoirs of water, and with no difficult or insurmountable hills to overcome.
"Hon. H. M. Rice, who was one of the commissioners to survey the St. Marie's canal, pronounces this the most feasible and direct route for our contemplated canal.
"Other routes have been proposed, as from the St. Croix to the Nemadji and St. Louis rivers, but of the feasibility of these I am not so definitely informed.
"Believing, gentlemen of the senate, that you are in full accord with me that this great Northwest demands not only state aid in developing our natural resources, but the assistance of the general government, I recommend the proper presentation of this subject before Congress by our senators and representativesuntil our prayers are granted for the improvement of the same."
In the session of the Minnesota legislature of 1876 I again introduced a memorial to Congress asking for an appropriation of $10,000 to make a government survey of the St. Croix and Lake Superior routes.
George R. Stuntz, the veteran explorer, surveyor and civil engineer, who accompanied the United States reservoir commission to the Upper St. Croix waters, and who had made previous scientific examinations for the purpose of forming a correct idea of the contour of the summit dividing the waters flowing north and south, and of the practicability of constructing reservoirs, and of the cost of connecting the Lake Superior and St. Croix waters, makes the following report, which is valuable for the reliable data given:
"There are evidences that in the glacial period this was the channel through which flowed a river of ice, and that subsequently for a long period a vast volume of water coursed through this channel from Lake Superior to and down the Mississippi. The valley is everywhere of great width in proportion to the present volume of water, showing evidences of currents of great velocity fifty feet above the high water marks of the present time. These ancient banks of the river are composed of heavy drift gravel and boulders bearing the marks of the glacial action and having their origin north of Lake Superior. This valley extends across the height of land in township 45, in range 11 west, and in the northern part of it the Brule river rises and flows north into Lake Superior.
"At the copper range in township 48, range 10 west, section 23, a ledge of trap rock stands in the valley. In the eddy of this rock and extending to the southward or up the present stream is a well defined moraine of large boulders and gravel showing that the glacial river ran south. To the north of this point the Brule river makes a straight cut to the lake through sandy red clay deposits peculiar to that region.
"In this ancient valley the lowest point on the summit at the headwaters of these two streams is about 460 feet above Lake Superior [Lake St. Croix, at Stillwater, is 117 feet higher than Lake Superior] and 346 feet above Lake St. Croix. Upper Lake St. Croix is 12 feet below this summit. The St. Croix river onemile above the mouth of Moose river is 25 feet below this summit. The St. Croix river discharges 15.360 cubic feet of water per minute at the mouth of Moose creek. The Brule river discharges about 5.805 cubic feet of water per minute in the north part of township 46, range 10. The distance from Taylor's Falls to Lake Superior by the valley of the St. Croix and the valley of the Brule river is nearly 150 miles.
"There are several exposures of trap rock along these streams and an abundance of brown sandstone of good quality for building purposes, being easily worked.
"Can Lake St. Croix, at Stillwater, be connected with Lake Superior by canal and slackwater navigation? Yes. This question has been definitely settled by the recent examination of the United States engineers, under the direction of Maj. Chas. J. Allen, of the sources of the St Croix river, with reference to the construction of reservoirs to improve the navigation of that river and the Mississippi.
"By constructing a dam one mile above the mouth of Moose creek, on the St. Croix, of sufficient height to raise the water 25 feet, cutting a canal 75 feet wide, 12 feet deep, 1-1/2 miles long, across the summit, and building a dam in township 46, range 10, across the Brule river, high enough to raise the water to the same height as the dam on the St. Croix, and you construct a lake over thirty miles long, affording uninterrupted navigation across the summit for that distance, and utilize the waters of the St. Croix and its branches and the Brule, and by the capacity before given the amount of water is sufficient to pass vessels through locks 75 feet wide, 300 feet long, 12-1/2 feet lift, at the rate of 3 per hour, or 73 in 24 hours, at the dryest season of the year. This settles the question of practicability.
"The whole improvement will cost less than $8,000,000, and by placing the lowest dam and lock at Prescott so as to always hold Lake St. Croix at the high water mark will give two hundred miles of slackwater navigation connecting the Mississippi river with Lake Superior, accommodating boats of large size and deep draft, propelled by steam, at the usual rates of speed used on the rivers. Average cost per mile, $40,000.
"It would accomplish another object. The improvement of navigation on the Mississippi river by a system of reservoirs on its tributaries would be most effectually accomplished by holdingone or two feet of extra head upon each of the thirteen dams proposed, thus storing up during the spring freshets vastly more water than can be held in the small reservoirs on the tributaries of the St. Croix. There are no very large natural reservoirs in the Upper St. Croix valley.
"Hold a three foot head on the lake as a reserve from the spring freshets and you have stored up 34,073,000 cubic yards of water to be used in the dry season in August and September. Continue this plan to the source and you have in the St. Croix valley a continuous reservoir one hundred and fifty miles long. Connect the two systems as proposed above and you have a route furnishing the cheapest transportation that can be had and at the same time obtain a system of large reservoirs to improve the navigation of the Mississippi river.
"This is one of the improvements that the Northwest needs for its present, future and more perfect development.
"The proposition and figures are given, after a series of examinations extending through a period of over twenty-five years, for the purpose of calling out investigation."
Public discussions of the matter in the legislature and in conventions were not entirely in vain. Public attention was aroused and interest awakened in the great question of inland navigation. In 1885 the great waterways convention convened in St. Paul, at the call of Gov. Hubbard, of Minnesota. This convention was attended by over 1,000 delegates from the states of Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and from the territories of Dakota and Montana. Ex-Gov. Bross, of Illinois, acted as temporary chairman. The permanent organization elected Maj. Wm. Warren, of Kansas City, president, Gen. G. W. Jones, of Iowa, vice president, and Platt B. Walker, of Minnesota, secretary.
Various schemes for internal improvement were brought before the convention and ably advocated, but each in the interest of a particular section. The members from Florida wanted a ship canal for that State. Illinois and Eastern Iowa advocated the Hennepin canal scheme. Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Western Iowa, Dakota, and Montana demanded the improvementof the Missouri river. Wisconsin and Northern Iowa the completion of the Fox and Wisconsin canal. Minnesota and Wisconsin agreed with all for the improvement of the Mississippi from the falls of St. Anthony to the Balize, for the improvement of the Sault Ste. Marie canal, and for the internal improvements asked for generally in the states and territories represented.
The result was the passage of a series of resolutions recommending a liberal policy in the distribution of improvements, and favoring every meritorious project for the increase of facilities for water transportation, but recommending as a subject of paramount importance the immediate and permanent improvement of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their navigable tributaries. It was recommended that the depth of the Mississippi be increased to six feet between Cario and the falls of St. Anthony. The Hennepin canal was strongly indorsed, as was also the improvement of the Sault Ste. Marie, and of the navigation of Wisconsin and Fox rivers, of the Red River of the North, and of the Chippewa, St. Croix and Minnesota rivers. The convention unanimously recommended as a sum proper for these improvements the appropriation of $25,000,000.
Some of the papers presented were elaborately prepared, and deserve to be placed on permanent record. The memorial of Mr. E. W. Durant, of Stillwater, contains many valuable statistics. We quote that portion containing a statement of the resources and commerce of the valleys of the Mississippi and St. Croix:
"The Northwestern States have not had the recognition that is due to the agricultural and commercial requirements of this vast and poplous territory, whose granaries and fields not only feed the millions of this continent, but whose annual export constitutes a most important factor in the food calculation of foreign nations. During the past decade the general government has expended $3,000,000 on the waterways of the Upper Mississippi. The improvements inaugurated by the general government in removing many of the serious impediments to navigation warrants the belief that still more extensive improvements should be made. It is an error to suppose that the palmy days of steamboating on western rivers has passed. In demonstration of this take the quantity of lumber sent down the Mississippi. There was shipped from the St. Croix river during the year 1884to various distributing points along the Mississippi river 250,000,000 feet of lumber, 40,000,000 of lath, 37,000,000 of shingles, 2,000,000 of pickets; from the Chippewa river during the same period, 883,000,000 feet of lumber, 223,000,000 of shingles and 102,000,000 of lath and pickets; from Black river during the same period was shipped 250,000,000 feet of lumber, 40,000,000 shingles, and 32,000,000 lath and pickets, aggregating 1,383,000,000 feet of lumber, 300,000,000 of shingles and 176,000,000 of lath. The tonnage of this product alone foots up over 3,000,000 tons. The lumber value of raft and cargoes annually floated to market on the Mississippi will not vary far from $20,000,000. The capital invested in steamboats, 100 in number, used for towing purposes is $1,250,000; while the saw mills, timber plants and other investments incidental to the prosecution of this branch of industry will foot up fully $500,000; while the labor and their dependences engaged in this pursuit alone will equal the population of one of our largest western states. There are sixteen bridges spanning the river between St. Paul and St. Louis, and it is important that some additional safeguards be thrown around these bridges to afford greater safety to river commerce."
Mr. Durant says there has been a general cry for some time past that the days of steamboating on the Northern Mississippi and tributaries were over; but he thinks it will be forcibly shown in the coming convention that, if they are, the only cause for it is the extremely short and uncertain seasons for steamboating, resulting from the neglected and filled up channels. If the channels can be improved, so that steamers can be sure of five months' good running each year, he thinks they will prove to be one of the most important means of transportation in the Upper Mississippi valley. They will then be used for the transportation up and down stream of all heavy and slow freights in preference to railroads, on account of cheapness. It would prove a new and the greatest era in upper river steamboating.
It appears from a report made at the convention, that during the year 1884 there were 175 steamboats plying on the Mississippi from St. Louis to points above. Two thousand seven hundred rafts from the St. Croix and Chippewa passed the Winona bridge, and the total number of feet of logs and lumber floated down the Mississippi from the St. Croix, Chippewa and Blackrivers was 1,366,000,000. The total passages of steamers through the Winona bridge for 1887 was 4,492. On the St. Croix, above Lake St. Croix, during the season of 1887 there were 3 steamers and 25 barges engaged in freight and passenger traffic only. The steamers made 141 round trips between Stillwater and Taylor's Falls, 75 round trips between Marine and St. Paul, and 20 round trips between Franconia and St. Paul.
The following is a showing of the lumber, logs, rafting, and towing business on the St. Croix during 1887: There were 51 steamers engaged in towing logs and lumber out of the St. Croix and down the Mississippi, the total number of feet handled by them being 250,000,000, board measure: The total number of feet of logs (board measure) which passed through the St. Croix boom in 1887 was 325,000,000. The lumber manufacture of the St. Croix during that year was valued at $2,393,323.
Whereas, The North American continent is penetrated by two great water systems both of which originate upon the tablelands of Minnesota, one the Mississippi river and its tributaries, reaching southward from the British line to the Gulf of Mexico, watering the greatest body of fertile land on the globe,—the future seat of empire of the human family on earth,—the other the chain of great lakes flowing eastwardly and constituting with the St. Lawrence river a great water causeway in the direct line of the flow of the world's commerce from the heart of the continent to the Atlantic; and
Whereas, Between the navigable waters of these continental dividing systems there is but a gap of ninety miles in width from Taylor's Falls on the St. Croix, to Duluth on Lake Superior, through a region of easily worked drift formation, with a rise of but five hundred and sixty feet to overcome, and plentifully supplied with water from the highest point of the water-shed; therefore,
Resolved. That we demand of Congress the construction of a canal from Taylor's Falls to Duluth, using the Upper St. Croix and the St. Louis rivers as far as the same can be made navigable, the said canal to be forever free of toll or charge, and to remain a public highway for the interchange of the productionsof the Mississippi valley and the valley of the great lakes; and should the railway interests of the country prove powerful enough to prevent congressional action to this end, we call upon the states of the Northwest to unite and build, at their own cost, such a canal, believing that the increased value of the productions of the country would speedily repay the entire outlay.
The Pennsylvania was the first steamer that descended the Mississippi. She came down the Ohio from Pittsburgh, creating the utmost terror in the minds of the simple-hearted people who had lately been rather rudely shaken by an earthquake, and supposed the noise of the coming steamer to be but the precursor of another shake. When the Pennsylvania approached Shawneetown, Illinois, the people crowded the river shore, and in their alarm fell down upon their knees and prayed to be delivered from the muttering, roaring earthquake coming down the river, its furnaces glowing like the open portals of the nether world. Many fled to the hills in utter dismay at the frightful appearance of the hitherto unknown monster, and the dismal sounds it emitted. It produced the same and even greater terror in the scant settlements of the Lower Mississippi.
In 1823 Capt. Shreve commanded the Gen. Washington, the fastest boat that had as yet traversed the western rivers. This year the Gen. Washington made the trip from New Orleans to Louisville, Kentucky, in twenty-five days. When at Louisville he anchored his boat in the middle of the river and fired twenty-five guns in honor of the event, one for each day out. The population of Louisville feted and honored the gallant captain for his achievement. He was crowned with flowers, and borne through the streets by the huzzaing crowd. A rich banquet was spread, and amidst the hilarity excited by the flowing bowl, the captain made an eloquent speech which was vociferously applauded. He declared that the time made by the Gen. Washington could never be equaled by any other boat. Curiously enough, some later in the season, the Tecumseh made the trip in nine days. The time made by the Tecumseh was not beaten until 1833, when the Shepherdess carried away the laurels for speed.
We have but little definite information as to navigation on theMississippi during the ten years subsequent to the trip of the Pennsylvania. The solitude of the Upper Mississippi was unbroken by the advent of any steamer until the year 1823. On the second of May in that year the Virginia, a steamer 118 feet in length, 22 in width, with a draught of 6 feet, left her moorings at St. Louis levee for Fort Snelling laden with stores for the fort. She was four days passing the Rock Island rapids, and made but slow progress throughout. It is heedless to say that the Indians were as much frightened at the appearance of the "fire canoe" as the settlers of the Ohio valley had been, and made quick time escaping to the hills.
Judge James H. Lockwood narrates (see Vol. II, Wisconsin Historical Collections, page 152) that in 1824 Capt. David G. Bates brought a small boat named the Putnam up to Prairie du Chien, and took it thence to Fort Snelling with supplies for the troops. The steamer Neville also made the voyage to Prairie du Chien in 1824. The following year came the steamer Mandan and in 1826 the Indiana and Lawrence. Fletcher Williams, in his history of St. Paul, says that from 1823 to 1826 as many as fifteen steamers had arrived at Fort Snelling, and that afterward their arrivals were more frequent.
During this primitive period, the steamboats had no regular time for arrival and departure at ports. A time table would have been an absurdity. "Go as you please" or "go as you can," was the order of the day. Passengers had rare opportunities for observation and discovery, and were frequently allowed pleasure excursions on shore while the boat was being cordelled over a rapid, was stranded on a bar, or waiting for wood to be cut and carried on board at some wooding station. Sometimes they were called upon to lend a helping hand at the capstan, or to tread the gang plank to a "wood up" quickstep. When on their pleasure excursion they strayed away too far, they were recalled to the boat by the firing of a gun or the ringing of a bell. It is doubtful if in later days, with all the improvements in steamboat travel, more enjoyable voyages have been made than these free and easy excursions in the light draught boats of the decades between 1830 and 1850, under such genial captains and officers as the Harrises, Atchinson, Throckmorton, Brasie, Ward, Blakeley, Lodwick, Munford, Pim, Orrin Smith and others.
Before the government had improved navigation the rapids of Rock Island and Des Moines, and snags, rocks and sandbars elsewhere were serious obstructions. The passengers endured the necessary delays from these causes with great good nature, and the tedium of the voyage was frequently enlivened by boat races with rival steamers. These passenger boats were then liberally patronized. The cost of a trip from St. Louis to St. Paul was frequently reduced to ten dollars, and considering the time spent in making the trip (often as much as two or three weeks) was cheaper than board in a good hotel, while the fare on the boat could not be excelled. The boats were frequently crowded with passengers, whole families were grouped about the tables or strolling on the upper decks, with groups of travelers representing all the professions and callings, travelers for pleasure and for business, explorers, artists, and adventurers. At night the brilliantly lighted cabin would resound with music, furnished by the boat's band of sable minstrels, and trembled to the tread of the dancers as much as to the throbbing of the engine.
The steamer, as the one means of communication with the distant world, as the bearer of mails, of provisions and articles of trade, was greeted at every village with eager and excited groups of people, some perhaps expecting the arrival of friends, while others were there to part with them. These were scenes to be remembered long, in fact many of the associations of river travel produced indelible impressions. In these days of rapid transit by rail more than half the delights of traveling are lost. Before the settlement of the country the wildness of the scene had a peculiar charm. The majestic bluffs with their rugged escarpments of limestone stretched away in solitary grandeur on either side of the river. The perpendicular crags crowning the bluffs seemed like ruined castles, some of them with rounded turrets and battlements, some even with arched portals. Along the slopes of the bluffs was a growth of sturdy oaks, in their general contour and arrangement resembling fruit trees, vast, solitary orchards in appearance, great enough to supply the world with fruit. On the slopes of the river bank might have been seen occasionally the bark wigwams of the Indian, and his birch canoe gliding silently under the shadow of the elms and willows lining the shore. Occasionally a deer would be seen grazing on some upland glade, or bounding away in terror at sight of the steamer.