Minnesota as it is in 1870 : its general resources and attractions for immigrants, invalids, tourists, capitalists, and business men ; with special descriptions of all its counties and townsand inducements to those in quest of homes, health, or pleasure, Part 19

Author: McClung, J. W. (John W.)
Publication date: 1870
Publisher: St. Paul : McClung
Number of Pages: 378


USA > Minnesota > Minnesota as it is in 1870 : its general resources and attractions for immigrants, invalids, tourists, capitalists, and business men ; with special descriptions of all its counties and townsand inducements to those in quest of homes, health, or pleasure > Part 19


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24


POST OFFICES .- Dover Centre, Farm Hill, Haverhill, Little Valley, New Haven, Othello, Quincy, Rock Dell, Salem, Six Oaks, Viola.


243


PINE COUNTY.


OTTERTAIL COUNTY,


With 56 townships, or 1,288,000 square acres ; 165 lakes ; surface and soil, timber and prairie, like Douglas ; one of Pope's "garden spot" counties ; some parts marshy and poor land ; a fine body of elegant pine timber in the northern part, sufficient for the Red River Valley for a long time, if economically used. Some of the finest water- powers, commencing at Dayton, and extending to near Ottertail Lake. This lake has an abundance of large white fish similar to those in Lake Superior. Population in -1868, about 800. Vote in November, 1868, 127; 105 Republican. Heavy immigration in 1869, and population estimated at over 2000; three-fourths Swede and Nor- wegian, and one-fourth American and German.


OTTERTAIL CITY, the county seat, is the only town, and has 20 or 30 buildings, with the usual accompaniments of trade, &c.


CLITHERAL is a post office.


PINE COUNTY,


On the St. Croix, has about 41 townships or about 945,000 acres, valuable chiefly for its large bodies of pine lumber. Dr. Norwood, in Owen's Report, says of the country between St. Louis River and Pokegama Lake, on Snake River, including this county and a part of Carlton : "After passing the high hills south of the great bend of the St. Louis River, the country is undulating, but not knobby, and occasional small prairies with numerous wet meadows and tamarac, spruce and cedar swamps, present themselves in every direction, until the head waters of Kettle River are reached. It is covered with


244


PINE COUNTY.


a great depth of red marl, clays and drift, based upon red sandstone." This brings us to the Pine County line .. The following includes Pine County also.


NATURAL MEADOWS .- " West of the Bois Brule, and south of the great bend of the St. Louis River, the valleys. which are depressed but little below the general level. of the country, are occupied in most localities by either swamps or natural meadows. Some of these meadows are very extensive, and bear a luxuriant growth of grass, often 5 or 6 feet in height. It is coarse, but sweet, and is said to make an excellent hay, being much used as provender for cattle in all the pineries and in the settled. parts of the territory where it grows."


SOIL AND CAPACITY FOR DRAINAGE .- " The soil of these: valleys is generally lacustrine. Many of them present every indication of having been uncovered or drained at a comparatively recent period, while some of them are- evidently in proces of drainage at the present time, and so rapidly, that a large addition to the tillable land of the territory may be safely calculated upon at no very distant date. Should it become desirable to do so, the process of drainage might be easily accelerated by art,, and at inconsiderable expense."


The Valley of Snake River from Pokegama Lake to the: St. Croix, is a good country. On the east line of the county bordering the St. Croix, there is also some good farming land, but the chief value of the county is its pine. timber. Population, about 250; vote for Grant, 35; Seymour, 5 ; assessed lands, 213,977 acres ; value per acre, $1.51; assessed property, 1860, $425,725 ; 1868, $331,575 ; balance about like Kanabec.


VILLAGES .- Chengwatana is the county seat and only town. The Superior Railroad runs through it and will. doubtless bring forth other villages in due time.


245


:


POPE COUNTY.


POPE COUNTY,


With 20 townships or 460,000 acres, organized August, 1866, has about 3000 population, about half Swedes and Norwegians, one-third Americans, and balance Irish, Scotch, &c. Vote for Grant, 311; Seymour, 62. One of Pope's " Garden Spot " counties, so much like Douglas and Ottertail, one description will answer : has 80 lakes, among them White Bear, 10 miles long, which "in the spring and fall literally swarms with ducks and geese, white swans and pelicans." Surface stone, and some limestone quarries. Brick, hard and basswood lumber at $16 to $20 ; fuel, $3. Good water-power on the Chippe- wa River, and near Glenwood, fine natural meadows in all parts of the county.


STATISTICS .- Land assessed, 97,838 ; value per acre, $2.05 ; school land, one-eighteenth ; railroad land, about 56,960 acres ; homestead, 54,960 ; government land plen- ty. Assessed property, 1867, $310,552 ; 1868, $305,442 ; personal, $135,965. Horses, 238 ; cattle, 1436 ; mules, 14 ; sheep, 737 ; hogs, 78 ; carriages, 10 ; watches, 53 ; pianos, 1; merchandise, $3238; money and credits, $6507; school districts, 19 ; houses, 4; value, 1390 ; scholars, 420 ; year's increase, 163. No churches or mills in the county. Religious services in school houses.


GLENWOOD, the county seat, is pleasantly located on White Bear Lake, has 4 stores, 2 hotels, a lawyer, car- penter and blacksmith, and about 20 houses. Wants a hardware and drug store, a doctor, a grist mill, cabinet maker and newspaper.


POST OFFICES .- Anderson, Gilchrist, Lake Johanna, Otto, Reno, Westfield.


246


RAMSEY COUNTY.


POLK, PEMBINA AND PIPESTONE COUNTIES.


FOR POLK AND PEMBINA, SEE "RED RIVER VALLEY," "NORTH-


WESTERN MINNESOTA," AND "CASS COUNTY." FOR


PIPESTONE, SEE " WESTERN MINNESOTA," AND "MURRAY COUNTY."


RAMSEY COUNTY.


42 townships, or about 104,000 acres; two townships of good farming land, balance sandy, broken, brushy oak openings, interspersed with level tracts of fair land; 20 large lakes ; timber scarce; good building limestone ; some fair water-power near St. Paul. Wild land, $3 to $5, $10, and $20 ; improved, near St. Paul, $50 to $100; fuel, $6 to $8 per cord ; lumber, $16 to $45. Population, 1860, 11,962; 1865, 15,107; 1869, estimated, 24,000; Americans, 8000 ; Germans, 5500; Irish, 5000; French, 1500; Norwegians and Swedes, 1500; English, 800; Bohemians, 400; others, 1300. Vote for Grant, 1669; Seymour, 1928.


STATISTICS .- Land assessed, 86,128 ; value per acre, $7.22; school land, 3276 ; cultivated, 1867, 6727 ; wheat produced, 38,420 bushels. Assessed property, 1860, $5,827,599 ; 1865, $6,308,058 ; 1868, $9,265,949 ; personal property, $3,183,607 .* Horses, 1460 ; cattle, 1830 ; mules, 65; sheep, 608; hogs, 916; carriages, 443 ; watches, 631; pianos, 236; merchandise, $932,270; money and


* The property, as returned, counting the gross receipts of insurance companies the same as in 1867, was : St. Paul, $3,210,220 ; Reserve Town- ship, $28,518; McLean, $53,208; White Bear, $12,693; New Canada, #34,736; Rose, $24,050 ; Moundsview, $1376. An abatement of bank stock from 90 to 50 cents by the State Board of Equalization caused a. reduction of several hundred thousand dollars. in the assessed value of the county.


247


RAMSEY COUNTI.


credits, $183,103. School districts, 20; houses, 20; value, $54,135 ; scholars, 5851 ; year's increase, 440.


CITIES AND TOWNS .- ST. PAUL, the county seat and State capital, handsomely located on a plateau, 114 feet above the river, with a terrace of bluffs in the rear ; had a population in 1849 of 400; 1850, 840; 1855, about 5000; 1857, 10,000; 1860, 10,600; 1865, 12,976 ; 1869, estimated by directory census at about 20,000-names reported being about 5600. Nationality about in the ratio given for the county.


GROWTH IN WEALTH .- Personal Property .- Assessed, 1855, $513,220 ; 1856, $549,315 ; 1857, $1,197,400 ; 1858, $579,609 ; 1859, $815,217 ; 1862, $713,761 ; 1863, $853,- 689 ; 1864, $1,520,562 ; 1865, $2,639,522 ; 1866, $2,909,- 437; 1867, $3,148,163 ; 1868, $3,210,220.


Real Estate .- Assessed, 1855, $1,867,247; 1856, $3,277,450 ; 1857, $6,437,235 ; 1858, $3,464,700 ; 1859, $4,955,984 ; 1862, $2,141,285 ; 1864, $2,849,616 ; 1866, $4,484,414 ; 1868, $5,977,387.


Incomes. - 1864-5, $851,805 ; 1865-6, $886,505 ; 1866-7, $920,569 ; 1867-8, $924,343 ; 1868-9, $1,003,- 372.


Building Improvements reported for 1867, $712,860 ; 1868, $1,005,050-total buildings, 361, of which 48 were business blocks and stores, 276 dwellings, 3 churches, 4 hotels, &c. For 1869 there is more building than ever before-one hotel alone costing by estimate $150,000.


Banking Business .- Three national banks, with a capital of 900,000, sell $12,695,167 exchange per annum. Four private banks sell $3,942,396. Total exchange sold per annum, $16,637,563. One private bank, with a capital of $100,000, just commenced, not counted.


Daily cash receipts and disbursements of all the banks, $413,470.34. Average deposits for national banks for


248


RAMSEY COUNTY.


quarter ending October 1st, 1869, $987,436 ; four private banks, for August, 1869, $430,485. Total deposits, $1,417,921, as officially reported to U. S. Assessor.


Mercantile Business .- The mercantile business of St. Paul extends from Central and Southern Minnesota, and the north half of Wisconsin, to Fort Garry, 600 miles north-west, and was reported in 1868 by the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce as amounting to $15,000,000. Two wholesale houses are reported to have each a capital of $150,000. There are over 100 dry goods and grocery houses, besides wholesale jobbers of hardware, stoves, drugs, clothing, agricultural implements, &c., &c.


Manufactures .- 167 manufacturers, who pay special tax to the United States for year ending May, 1869, report value of their products $683,310. Manufacturers of beer, ale, spirits, tobacco, cigars and snuff, not in- cluded with the above, $343,181.


Five flouring mills, with a daily capacity of 200 barrels, estimated by millers, $450,000.


Two iron foundries (estimated,) $190,000; two saw mills (estimated,) $125,000; 4 vinegar manufactories, $18,000 ; two pork packers, $10,000; gas, $36,000; cut stone, 1868, $50,000 ; 5 planing mills and manufactories of doors, sashes, &c. (estimated,) $150,000 ; bread and crackers (estimated,) $65,000. Total manufactures, $2,120,490. Adding, for imperfect returns to assessors, under estimates, and sundry small dealers, $250,000, will make the manufactures of St. Paul nearly two and a half millions of dollars.


Railroad and River Business .- (See Part First, pages 135-6.) River men estimate that 48,000 tons of freight are brought to St. Paul by steamboat. Passengers car- ried on St. Paul and Pacific Railroad first 8 months of 1868, 74,478 ; same period, 1869, 94,246-averaging in


.


249


RAMSEY COUNTY.


the summer 600 passengers daily. Freight carried, 1867, 36,489 tons; 1868, 62,099; 1869, large increase, not figured. Freight carried on St. Paul and Sioux City road, 1867, 30,259 tons ; 1868, first 9 months, 35,294 ; 12 months ending October 1st, 1869, 86,516 .* Passenger earnings same periods, $71,552.47; $73,357.31; $126,- 968.52.


The St. Paul and Superior and the St. Paul and Mil- waukee are now running into the city, but we have no statistics of their business. Having 5 railroads with from 2 to 6 daily trains, and 2 or 3 daily steamers, carrying passengers and freight, some idea may be formed of the railroad and river business of the city from the above meagre reports of the St. Paul and Pacific running north- ward into the least populous portions of the State, and the St. Paul and Sioux City. .


Railroads .- The St. Paul and Pacific, with a line to Pembina and another to Breckinridge ; the St. Paul and Superior ; St. Paul and Sioux City, connecting near Shakopee with the Hastings and Red River Railroad ; St. Paul and Milwaukee ; St. Paul and Chicago ; the Tomah and St. Croix, via Hudson to St. Paul ; the St. Croix and Superior, via Hudson, with branch to Bayfield; and the St. Paul and Stillwater,-are the 11 railroads converging at St. Paul, 10 of them land grant roads, and rapidly building. (See " Railroads," Part First.)


Libraries. - Besides the State and the Historical Society libraries, the St. Paul Library Association has a library open daily to the public, with 3725 books on hand in January, 1869. It had 7 public lectures in the winter


* The freight for last twelve months consisted of wheat 904,158 bushels ; flour, 53,292 bbls .; general merchandise, 84,153,100 lbs .; lumber, 7,990,865 feet, estimated at 3 lbs. per foot. For further business of the road, see page 136.


250


RAMSEY COUNTY.


of 1868, by Anna Dickinson, Prof. Yeomans, Wendell Philips, J. S. C. Abbott, Mons. Du Chaillu, and Dr. Hayes, costing $1281, and netting $705 profits.


Churches .- There are 4 Catholic churches, 3 Episco- palian, 5 or 6 Methodists (foreign and native,) 3 Presbyterian, 1 German Lutheran, 1 Baptist, 1 Congre- gational, and 1 Universalist.


Miscellaneous .- There are 45 practicing and 25 non- practicing lawyers, 34 physicians, over 150 saloons, 3 first-class hotels, a United States Custom House of granite and iron, in process of erection, to cost about $300,000, lodges of Masons, Odd Fellows and Good Templars, 2 orphan asylums, each giving an annual fair, with a net profit of over $3000, an Opera House costing over $35,000, and sustaining theatricals a part of the year, a musical society and 2 bands of music, a Young Men's Christian Association, with daily prayer meetings and rooms open day and night, a Home for the Friendless, and various other benevolent associations for men and women, 3 daily and weekly papers, 4 weeklies and 1 monthly. The city is lit with gas, and supplied with water by water- works.


The Future of the City .- As her citizens differ on the question whether her population in 10 years will be 50,000 or 100,000, we will let the outside world speak of her future.


Carleton, correspondent of the Boston Journal, in July, 1869, said :


" To ride through the streets of St. Paul, to behold its spacious warehouses, its elegant edifices, stores piled with the goods of all lands, the products of all climes, furs from Hudson Bay, oranges from Messina, teas from China, coffee from Brazil, silks from Paris ; all the products of industry from our own land ; to behold the streets alive with people, crowded with farmers' wagons laden with wheat and flour, to read the signs " Young Men's Christian Association," " St. Paul Library Association," to see elegant school edifices and churches, beautiful private residences, surrounded by lawns and adorned with works of art. * * * * sends an indescribable thrill through our veins. * * This section of Minnesota is far enough removed from Chicago, and the country is so fertile, so vast, so boundless in its resources, that a great commercial centre must exist somewhere in this region. The merchants of this city are determined to secure the prize if possible."


251


REDWOOD COUNTY.


The Winona Republican of August 22, 1869, said of St. Paul :


"The city is steadily marching on to stable and certain prosperity. Evidences of this prosperity are witnessed in the numerous handsome and substantial business blocks and elegant private dwellings now in process of erection-many of them at a cost fully attesting the faith which the property holders of St. Paul have in the future of that city."


"But it is not alone in the magnitude of her building operations that St. Paul gives evidence of growth and solidity. The wide and all-embracing sweep of her railroad connections, present and prospective, constitutes a foundation for future greatness to rest upon, which no temporary adversity, or even possible rivalry, can subvert. Her iron arms are stretching out, almost literally, to every point of the compass. On one hand she is being linked to the vast inland Sea of Superior-on the other she is grasping the illimitable empire of the Far North- west-a region of boundless savannas, of fertile vales, of hills in which lie em- bedded the precious metals, &c., &c. * * * The order given, the other day, over the Ocean Cable, by the European capitalists who own the main line of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, to complete that road to the Red River of the North, a distance of 225 miles from St. Paul, before the close of the present year, is an event the full force and importance of which can scarcely be grasped at a single effort. It is a stroke of financial daring which, but a half dozen years ago, would have startled the people of the whole country."


LITTLE CANADA, or New Canada, 7 miles from St. Paul, is the only village in the county ; has a hotel, 5 or 6 houses, post office, and is an old settlement, principally of Canada French.


LAKE COMO, 2 miles from St. Paul, has 2 or 3 hotels and sail boats, for the accommodation of fishing parties.


WHITE BEAR LAKE, 10 miles by rail from St. Paul, has 2 or 3 hotels, with sail boats, &c., for fishing parties- also an Episcopal church and post office.


POST OFFICE BUSINESS .- In 1852 the cash receipts for stamps, postage, money orders, &c., per quarter was about $150; 1869, from $30,000 to $40,000. Letters received for St. Paul over 22,000 per week.


REDWOOD COUNTY,


Embracing a large part of Southwestern Minnesota, de- scribed on pages 35-6-7, Part First, has territory enough to make six counties, covering 110 townships. It is a new county, nearly all open to settlers, and its growth has been mainly within 3 years. Population, 1865, 95 ;


252


RICE COUNTY.


1869, about 2500 or 3000. 1868, vote for Grant, 138 ;


Seymour, 8. Principally Americans, Norwegians and Swedes. It has 60 lakes, and the resources of a rich county.


STATISTICS .- Land assessed, 1868, 103,493 acres ; value per acre, $2.24 ; school land, one-eighteenth ; homesteads numerous ; under cultivation, 1867, 268 acres. Assessed property, 1865, $12,153 ; 1868, $277,503 ; personal, $42,- 870. Horses. 120; cattle, 431; mules, 32 ; sheep, 282 ; hogs, 76 ; carriages, 6 ; watches, 34 ; merchandise, $3425 ; money and credits, $3281. Schools, 3 ; house, 1; value, $10 ; scholars, 154 ; year's increase, 34.


REDWOOD FALLS is the county seat and principal town, with 300 population. Near the place a mineral paint is being manufactured, and veins of coal discovered, which promise a good quality of coal.


YELLOW MEDICINE has a post office, and is the nucleus . for another village.


RENVILLE COUNTY,


With about 23 townships, lies about 60 miles along the Minnesota River opposite Redwood County, and is a fine agricultural county and but little settled as yet. (See Chippewa County.)


RICE COUNTY,


South of Scott and Dakota, and west of Goodhue, has 18 townships, or about 415,000 acres ; about two-thirds timber, balance prairie gently undulating ; all north and west of Cannon River, more or less covered with timber


253


RICE COUNTY.


of the " Big Woods " variety-oak, maple, basswood, but- ternut, walnut, poplar, elm, and almost every variety growing in the Northern and Western States. A belt along Straight River, three or four miles wide, soil very deep and rich in the timber ; and a rich black sandy loam 10 to 20 inches deep on a clay subsoil in the prairie. Natural meadows in timber and prairie. 20 large lakes. Brick all over the county, and limestone at Faribault. Water-power on Cannon and Straight rivers. Price of wild land, $2 to $15, improved, $10 to $35 ; some govern- ment land ; crossed by St. Paul and Milwaukee Railroad. Population, October, 1853, about 100 ; 1860, 7549 ; 1865, 10,977 ; 1869, about 19,000; one-half Americans, one- sixth Germans, one-ninth Irish, 1000 Norwegians, 500 Bohemians, 500 French, balance others. Vote for Grant, 1785; Seymour, 1266.


STATISTICS .- Land assessed, 287,925 acres ; value per acre, $5.22. School land, 3162 ; homestead, 3305 ; cul- tivated, 1867, 37,726 acres. Wheat, 286,438 bushels. Assessed property, 1860, $1,364,071 ; 1868, $3,130,184 ; personal, $1,078,794. Horses, 3572 ; cattle, 8646 ; mules, 74 ; sheep, 7588 ; hogs, 3875 ; carriages, 410 ; watches, 330 ; pianos, 46; merchandise, $163,898 ; money and credits, $155,858. School districts, 95; houses, 84 value, $74,499 ; scholars, 5448 ; increase, 414; flouring mills, 10 or 12 ; saw mills, 2 or 3 ; churches, 15 to 18.


CITIES AND VILLAGES .- FARIBAULT, the county seat, population 4000, at the junction of Cannon and Straight rivers, on the railroad, with a fine water-power, has an Episcopal College, High School for young ladies, a Theological Seminary, Deaf and Dumb Asylum, 2 Con- gregational churches, a Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, and Episcopal church, an Episcopal Cathedral now building, designed to be among the finest west of Chicago, 5 flour-


22


254


RICE COUNTY.


ing mills, 2 saw mills, 3 breweries, 1 tannery, 4 wagon and carriage, and 1 agricultural implement, plow, door, sash, blind, and melodeon factory, 60 different business houses, 2 banks, 15 hotels, 9 lawyers, 7 doctors, a card- ing mill, shops, &c. Building improvements, 1866, $181,000; 1867, $184,000 ; 1868, estimated, $200,000. Its exports in 1867 were, by rail, 7,500,000 lbs., and 7751 passenger tickets sold for $20,020. Average law busi- ness for several years, 18 new suits per annum. There is a weekly paper here.


NORTHFIELD, 14 miles from Faribault, and 38 from St. Paul, on the railroad and Cannon River, has 2900 popu- lation, mostly from New England, with 200 or 300 Swedes and Norwegians, and as many Germans and Irish. It has 33 business houses. Mercantile business, 1868, $406,000 ; manufactures, besides flour from 2 mills, $180,000 ; building improvements, $102,000; estimated for 1869, $244,000. First-class water-power, a flour mill shipping 18,000 barrels per annum, and another costing $30,000, with a capacity for 80,000 barrels per annum. Five churches, and a Congregational college just erecting a fine building. A bank with $25,000 capi- tal, and another organizing with $50,000 capital. The town has 15 clergymen, 6 lawyers, 5 doctors, a weekly paper, claims to ship and receive more freight than any town in the county, and in 1868, that the railroad received at Northfield 40,000 bushels more of wheat than at any other town on its line, except Minneapolis-flour being reduced to a wheat basis.


DUNDAS, on the railroad and river, 11 miles from Faribault, has 500 population, mostly Americans and Canadians, a fine water-power, large flouring mill, saw mill, furniture factory, 4 stores, a Presbyterian and Episcopal church, hotel, shops, &c. The town is growing.


255


SCOTT COUNTY.


MORRISTOWN is also a growing village, ranking next to DUNDAS. WARSAW, CANNON CITY, SHIELDSVILLE, and WALCOT, are also small places, with stores, shops, mills, &C.


POST OFFICES .- Fowlersville, Hazelwood, Millersburg, Union Lakes, Wheatland, Wheeling.


ROCK COUNTY.


See " Western Minnesota," page 36, Part First, and Murray County. It has a few settlers and post office at Laverne.


SCOTT COUNTY,


West of Dakota, on the Minnesota River, has about 10 townships, or 230,000 acres ; one-third prairie, balance timber of the Big Woods variety ; brush, meadow, and marsh. A good deal of the land is rough, but a large proportion tillable ; soil rich black sandy loam, especially in the woods ; 30 large lakes, Credit Lake being over six miles long, and a resort for pleasure parties for boating and fishing ; water-power at Jordan and Hamilton ; best limestone for lime and building purposes. Land $5 to $30 per acre. Population, 1860, 4595 ; 1865, 8621 ; 1869, over 12,000 ; three-eighths Irish, one-half Germans and Norwegians, Germans leading all others, one-eighth Ame- ricans. Vote for Grant, 479 ; Seymour, 1455.


STATISTICS .- Land assessed, 200,766 acres ; value per acre, $4.08 ; school land, 4179 acres ; cultivated, 1867, 17,980 acres ; wheat, 195,268 bushels. Assessed property, 1860, $682,502.49 ; 1868, $1,395,070 ; personal property, $484,134. Horses, 1777 ; cattle, 6752 ; mules, 81 ; sheep,


256


SCOTT COUNTY.


4293 ; hogs, 3705 ; carriages, 66 ; watches, 85 ; pianos, 15 ; merchandise, $78,251 ; money and credits, $12,029. School districts, 64 ; houses, 42 ; value, $17,940 ; scholars,. 4119 ; year's increase, 266.


VILLAGES .- SHAKOPEE, the county seat, 32 miles from. St. Paul by rail ; population 1600, 6 hotels, 7 dry goods, 4 grocery, 2 hardware, 2 drug, and 2 confectionery stores, besides shops, 5 lawyers, 3 doctors, 6 clergymen, 2 Catho- lic churches, a Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presby- terian church, a lime kiln that ships lime to all parts of the State, and 2 weekly papers. There is a railroad. machine shop for repairing and building cars.


BELLE PLAINE, 47 miles by rail from St. Paul, has 1000 population, 9 stores, 3 hotels, 2 saw mills, cabinet and carriage shops, &c. ; Presbyterian, German Catholic, and Episcopal churches ; 3 lawyers, 2 doctors, 2 clergy- men, a wheat elevator, a salt spring, which a company has been formed to work. Good roads have recently been opened to all parts of the country, resulting in largely increasing the trade of the town.


JORDAN has about 1000 population, 3 hotels, the best water-power in the county-25 feet fall, three large grist and flouring mills, 1 doctor.


HAMILTON, 20 miles by rail from St. Paul, has about: 100 population, 2 stores, a large flouring mill, good water- . power, Catholic church, wants a hotel and a number of mechanics. A fine drive of five miles back leads to the finest and largest fishing lake, where 15 pound pickerel,. and the finest bass, pleasant boating and picturesque surroundings offer attractions to tourists, invalids, and. gentlemen of leisure.




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