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 5
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
At Red Lake, " a good country."
Another Account .- Mr. Wheelock's official report, which estimates 2000 square miles of this district as suitable for agriculture, says : "The soil of all the
48
NORTHERN MINNESOTA.
valleys on the southern slope of the watershed (dividing ridge above described) is lacustrine ;" "a great deal of it rich lacustrine alluvial deposits ; the bottoms deeply alluvial ;" " the sandy soils of the uplands highly im- pregnated with lime, and when the calcareous clay which underlies it approaches the surface, it forms a strong, rich soil."
Natural Drainage going on .- He notes the observation of Norwood, that the whole district including the summit level and the southern slope is undergoing a process of drainage, and so rapidly that a large addition to the tillable land of the State may be calculated upon at no distant period. The observation of Mr. Mattocks, given above, corroborates this theory.
Sources of the Mississippi .- Mr. Nicollet explored the creek which empties into Itasca Lake, and says : "Its head waters unite at a small distance from the hills whence they originate, and form a small lake, from which the Mississippi flows with a breadth of a foot and a half and a depth of one foot." It passes through two other lakes, and gathers other tributaries, until it finally emp- ties into Lake Itasca 15 to 20 feet wide and 2 to 3 feet deep, issuing from the lake 16 feet wide, 14 inches deep, beautifully transparent, with a swift current ; after an hour's descent, the breadth of the stream enlarges to 25 feet and its depth to 3 feet.
. The Summit Level of the Mississippi around its Sources. -At Pemidgi Lake he says : " So far the Mississippi has received the contributions of ten rivers ; its wide and flattened bed, completely covered by water, presents a lake (or rather pool) from forty to fifty miles square, clogged up with aquatic plants, with intermediate spaces of clear water, looking like channels ; but among which it is difficult to discover the true course of the river, for
49
LAKE SUPERIOR DISTRICT.
at certain seasons of the year the whole is nothing more than a marshy prairie."
Wheelock speaks of it as an " interminable labyrinth of streams and rice lakes, meadows, ponds, bogs, and cranberry swamps."
THE EASTERN OR SUPERIOR DISTRICT OF NORTHERN MINNESOTA, embracing Lake and St. Louis counties, north of Lake Superior, is the mineral district, where iron, copper, slate quarries, gold and silver ore are the most valuable resources.
Surface of the Country, Scenery, Timber, &c .- General Views .-- Owen says : "Relatively, the high ranges and chains of hills which begin in Canada and cross into Minnesota, north of Lake Superior, may be termed moun- tains, although they only rise to the height of between 1200 and 1300 feet above the lake at the highest points, and less than 2000 feet above tide water. The valleys. between these mountain ridges are often from 5 to 600 feet below the summits, and vary in width from one or two miles to narrow gorges not over 200 or 300 yards across. * In the trap region, rugged mountain scenery prevails ; in the schistose and granitic belt, occasional knolls or low ridges, with intervening lakes or swamps, make up the scene ; and in the drift re- gion, lines of conical hills, irregular depressions and low ridges, with long slopes, constitute the main features of the country. The rivers have numerous falls and cas- cades, and in the small deep valleys often expand into beautiful lakes, the clear waters of which appear almost black under the dark shadows of the high rocky walls which enclose them." * " All the hills, ridges and valleys of the north shore with the ex- ceptions already named, are densely timbered. Among the trees are white cedar, birch, spruce, fir, pine, aspen,
5
50
ST. LOUIS RIVER VALLEY.
maple, elm, ash and basswood, with a dense under- growth.
Agricultural Character : Pineries, &c .- Aug. H. Han- chette, State Geologist, 1864, in his official report, says : " The soil of the district is well adapted to the cultivation of wheat of the best quality, oats, rye, barley, the esculent roots, grasses, and most serviceable garden vegetables."
Timber .- " Mainly of a valuable kind and specially adapted to mining purposes. White and Norway pines, spruce, birch, sugar maple, basswood and ash, from the coast back to the dividing ridge."
St. Louis River Valley. - Clarke, geologist, says : " Extensive forests of pine and cedar prevail in the val- leys of the St. Louis and tributaries ; between the lake and Upper Falls, the valley is timbered with sugar maple, lime, birch and poplar, and the land is generally of the best quality." Owen says : "From its mouth to a dis- tance of eighteen miles, the river runs through a rich alluvial bottom, from one to three miles in width, partly timbered and partly covered with natural meadows." He says the timber for the whole distance to Upper Embar- rass, consists principally of aspen, poplar, fir, spruce, pine, ash, and some hard maple of small growth." Above East Savannah, " hills generally come up to the river on one side, while soft maple and elm bottoms are spread out on the other." Land, thin soil and mostly poor.
Cascades : Scenery : Fine Supply of Water for Mining and Manufacturing .- Hanchette says : "There are few if any mining districts in the United States as well sup- plied with water as the north shore of Lake Superior within the limits of this State. There are forty-three rivers and creeks, the volume of water in the least of which is sufficient if properly appropriated to wash fifty ton of stamped rock per day.
51
WISACODE RIVER VALLEY.
" The majority of these streams have their sources in lakes and low lands away beyond the ranges, and running nearly parallel with each other, cut down through them and find their way to the great lake over rippling cascades or frowning precipices magnificently high. It is safe to estimate the water power of the district in every way adequate to all the wants prospective of mining or man- ufacturing enterprise."
The most Inviting Farming Region on the North Shore. -" The entire valley of the Wisacode River is well adapted for a settlement of farmers ; a dozen or twenty pioneers, with their families, would find it one of the most inviting fields for settlement on the north shore. The breadth of the valley is generally about one mile; the soil is rich, alluvious, free from swamps, timbered in sections 15, 16, 21, 22, 27, and 28 with black and blue ash, elm, yellow birch, white pine, balsam spruce, white cedar, and tamarac, and in sections 3, 4, 9, and 10 sugar maple is added, all of good size. One tamarac was measured, and found to be ten feet in circumference ; the pines, cedars, and spruces are also of the largest size and best qualities ; the shrubbery con- sists of high bush cranberry, white thorn, dwarf maple, red plum, and large-sized hazel ; also raspberry, goose- berry, and black and red currant.
Its Waterfalls .- " About the middle of section 27 a creek comes into the Wisacode from the north-west, the valley of which is similar to that of the river. A quarter of a mile above the mouth of this creek is one of the most symmetrical waterfalls met with in this region- just such scenery as the school girl in her first attempts at painting would delight to sketch; the creek above glides gently over a bed of basaltic trap to the verge of an escarpement," &c., &c.
52
CLIMATE.
The Rainy Lake River Valley, described by Sir George Simpson as "favorable to agriculture ;" as " a gentle slope of greensward, crowned in many places with a plentiful growth of birch, poplar, beech, elm, and oak," resembling the banks of the Thames in fertility, and the river navigable for a hundred miles.
....
CHAPTER IV.
CLIMATE .- Official Descriptions in Brief, and Testi- monials of Distinguished Men .- Col. J. J. Abert, chief of topographical engineers, writes officially to the War Department in 1854: " The healthfulness of the climate, and the productiveness of the soil of Minnesota, are not surpassed by the most favored regions of our country. The cold is not so intense, nor the climate so changeable, as that of Massachusetts. * * During the summer the heat is ample in intensity and duration to perfect all the cereal grains, and the long snows of winter protect the wheat from the freezing out so common to the valley of the Ohio."
Dr. David Dale Owen's official report, 1851, of a geo- logical survey of Minnesota and the Northwest, gives the approximate mean, at noon, of the two warmest months of the summer of 1849 on Lake Superior, near lat. 47º, as 68°3' and 64º5', and says " this indicates a moderate and delightful climate." He gives on page 469 an
53
COL. CHARLES WHITTLESEY.
Abstract of the Three Coldest Months in 1844-5-6.
MONTHLY MEANS.
Dec., 1844. .... Sunrise 20°93'
9 A.M. 22°45'
3 P.M. 25°09'
9 P.M. 22°20'
Jan., 1845 ... 66
19°96'
21°70'
66
23°61'
20°32'
Feb., 1945. ...
66
20°96'
23°03' 66 28°
2 82'
Dec., 1845 .. . .
66
16°38'
19º06'
20°12'
18°16'
Jan., 1846. ...
23°29'
25°03'
28°74'
24°54'
Feb., 1846. ...
66 16°35'
18°53'
23°32'
18°17'
Lowest point in Dec., 1844, 6° above zero.
In Jan. and Feb., 1845, zero.
1845, 4° below zero. In Jan., 1846, 2°, and in Feb. 9° below.
After giving the observations of the army surgeons at Fort Wilkins, taken from the reports of the Surgeon- General at Washington-for three winters, he says, they " show a much more moderate winter than would be anticipated in lat. 472° north. *
Residents suffer little from cold, owing to the uniformity of the temperature."
Pope's official report to the War Department, 1850, says : "But a very small portion of Minnesota is north of the rich wheat regions of Canada ; and facts go to prove that Canada is neither too cold for the cultivation of grain, nor for the comfort of the inhabitants."
" The coldness of the climate will be no great objection to that class of persons emigrating to Minnesota from New England."
Col. Charles Whittlesey, of Cleveland, Ohio, who made a geological exploration of the mineral regions of Min- nesota in 1848, 1859 and 1864, in his report printed by the Legislature of Minnesota, says :
" Observations upon temperature, which have been kept at Superior, at the west end of Lake Superior, for more than ten years, show that the climate around this part of the lake is much milder than it is further east. The snow is less deep, and the climate better adapted to agriculture. This is in accordance with a well established principle of meteorology, that proceeding westward on lines of lat- itute the climate becomes milder."
54
CLIMATE.
Right Rev. Thomas L. Grace, of the Catholic Church, Bishop of St. Paul, in a letter contributed to this book, Feb. 25th, 1869, says : "From my experience during a residence of nearly ten years in Minnesota, I can confi- dently testify to the very remarkable salubrity of the climate, at all seasons of the year. Though the winters are long, the prevailing temperature is moderate. Inter- vals of severe cold weather occur occasionally, but they are not usually of longer continuance than three or four days at a time. The dry, bracing air of Minnesota is pleasant compared with the damp, raw atmosphere that characterizes the winters of more southerly States. The agricultured advantages of the State are deservedly re- garded as among the very best."
Rev. Dr. Horace Bushnell, of Hartford, Conn. (whose letter relating his cure of consumption by our climate, see under "Healthfulness of the Climate,") closes his letter as follows: "The peculiar benefit of the climate appears to be from its dryness. There is as much, or even a little more of rain there than elsewhere in the summer months, but it comes more generally in the night, and the days that follow brighten out in a fresh, tonic brilliancy, as dry almost as before. The winter climate is intensely cold, and yet so dry and clear and still, for the most part, as to create no very great suffering. One who is properly dressed finds the climate much more agreeable than the amphibious, half-fluid, half-solid, sloppy, grave- like chill of the East. The snows are light-a kind of snow-dew, that makes about an inch, or sometimes three in a night. Real snow storms are rare ; there was none last winter. A little more snow to make better sleighing would be an improvement. As to rain in winter, it is almost unknown. There was not a drop of it last winter, from the latter part of October to the middle or about the
55
REV. DR. BROWN.
middle of March, except a slight drizzle on Thanksgiving Day. And there was not melting snow enough for more than eight or ten days, to wet a deer skin moccasin, which many of the gentlemen wear all winter."
Rev. Dr. F. T. Brown, of St. Paul, on the 17th Janu- ary, 1868, wrote to the Philadelphia Presbyterian :- "Your many thousands of readers-at least some of them-would, I think, be interested in an account of the late " cold term " here-the coldest in St. Paul for many years. Last Sunday and Monday, thermometers in dif- ferent localities in the city, indicated 40°, 44º, and (in one place reported to me, that I have not verified) 48º below zero.
" During the week previous, the electrical phenomena were marked and striking. Parhelia, or mock-suns, or as they call them here, 'sun dogs,' were to be seen every day ; and some days followed the sun from his rising to his setting ; being particularly brilliant at sunrise and sunset. And at night there were ' moon dogs.'
" The morning displays far exceeded anything I had imagined of these things.
" In one form or another these magneto-electrical dis- plays continued through the week, the cold daily getting more and more intense. Sunday morning the mercury was down to 40°, 44°, and possibly 48° below zero. The sky was without a cloud ; not a breath of air was stirring, and the stillness and perfect quiet of everything was that of a Sabbath in summer. I went to my study as usual, . and felt no unusual sensation of cold. In fact, the ex- hilaration of being out in, and breathing the air, was purely delightful. My Sabbath school met at nine o'clock, and was attended as usual. Quite small children were present, who had come two miles. My own children were all out, though one of them is but five years old, and none
56
CLIMATE.
were suffering from the cold. The church services, morn- ing and evening, were attended much as usual. In short, the intense cold seemed to trouble no one. In the even- ing I had occasion to walk two miles to see a sick man, and suffered no inconvenience from the cold. Monday morning the cold was the same as Sunday morning, but toward evening moderated, and that night it snowed.
"I speak of these things because I could not have un- derstood them before experiencing them, and could scarcely have believed them possible. Both Sunday and Monday I was out and about, just as on other days ; and though clothed precisely as I was in New York last win- ter, (with the exception of fur cap and gloves,) when the coldest weather was 5º above zero, I have not suffered at all from the cold here, as I often did there. I have in my congregation men and women who removed here from Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Mississippi, and they all enthusiastically declare that it does not seem so cold here as it often did in the States whence they came. I can now understand Dr. Kane's statement, that he could, without inconvenience, stand 70° below zero, if no wind were blowing. And fortunately, here the coldest days are the stillest days."
Rev. Dr. H. A. Boardman, of Philadelphia, having been sojourning at St. Paul for his health, wrote to the Philadelphia North American and Gazette, October 21st, 1868. After speaking of the absence of rains in winter, the rarity of thaws, and the uniformity of the atmosphere, he says :-
" This ensures a dry and comparatively equable atmos- phere-the two qualities most congenial to weak lungs. It is the uniform testimony of the residents that they suffer less from the cold than they did formerly in the wet and variable winters of lower latitudes."
-
57
HEALTHFULNESS OF CLIMATE.
CHAPTER V.
OFFICIAL AND OTHER TESTIMONY TO THE HEALTHFULNESS OF THE CLIMATE .- A CHAPTER FOR INVALIDS OF ALL KINDS. -Pope, Topographical Engineer's Official Report, (1850,) says : "The climate is far more healthy than that of the wheat regions of Illinois and Iowa."
Col. J. J. Abert, Topographical Engineer's Official Report, (1854,) says : " The healthfulness of the climate, and productiveness of the soil of Minnesota, are not sur- passed by the most favored regions of our country."
David Dale Owen, U. S. Geologist's Official Report, 1851, says :
"At the Pembina settlement, owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, to a population of five thousand, there was but a single physician ; and he told me, that, without an additional salary allowed him by the company, the diseases of the settle- ment would not afford him a living. The health even of the more marshy portions of the district seems better than from its appearance one might expect. The long bracing winters of these northern latitudes exclude many of the diseases, which under the prolonged heat of a more southern climate, the miasm of the swamp engenders."
Dr. Chas. A. Leas, U. S. Consul at Madeira, in a pub- lished letter dated Sept. 10th, 1866, says : "Nearly eight years ago I entered the foreign service of the government, was consul in Northern Russia, Sweden, Central America, and now here, and though I do not now practice medi- cine, yet I have made the subject of climate, as a curative agent in consumption, a special study ; and in connection with my annual report to the State Department at Wash- ington-just now sent on- * * I have endeavored to show, from observations, that consumption, in its earlier
58
HEALTHFULNESS OF CLIMATE.
stages, is best relieved by a visit to a residence of greater or less extent in high northern latitudes, instead of warm climates, as is the usual custom. I have further sug- gested Minnesota as one of the finest climates for that purpose."
In his report to the State Department, he speaks of the superior purity of the air " in high northern latitudes, such as Russia, and the north-western portions of the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains," and indi- cates the atmosphere suitable for consumptives. He then says : "For such an atmosphere as is here indicated, I would suggest to invalids affected with pulmonary dis- eases that they are most likely to find it in Minnesota. The time, however, for such to seek relief in cold or warm climates is when their disease is in the first or fore part of the second stage."
Surgeon G. K. Wood, U. S. Army, speaking of the advantages of a northern over a southern climate in cases of consumption, says : " Although in the north the winters are extremely cold, a stimulant and tonic effect is the only result of exposure in the open air." He speaks of "the present injudicious course of sending consumptives to the hot, low, and moist coast, and the islands of the Gulf of Mexico," and says it " should be abandoned." "In diseases of debility the remedies are tonics and stimulants. What is more debilitating than affections of the. lungs? and what less tonic than heat and moisture combined, as is found in the climate of the Gulf Coast? It is simply not cold, and has no other advantage over the northern States."
Disturnel on the " Influence of Climate in North and South America," says : "The great health-restoring region of the United States, embracing the Upper Pe- ninsula of Michigan, Northern Wisconsin, Minnesota,
59
PROF. TRALL, M. D.
Dakota, and Montana, east of the Rocky Mountains, lies between the 44th and 49th parallels of latitude. * * Over this immense prairie region there seems to be a healthy influence prevailing throughout the entire year-particularly in regard to the absence of cases of consumption and malignant fevers. Minnesota may be said to excel any portion of the Union in a healthy and invigorating climate.".
He quotes authority for the statement that "In North America the diseases of the respiratory organs, of which consumption is chief, have their maximum in New Eng- land, in latitude about 42º, and diminish in all directions from this point inland. The diminution is quite as rapid westward as southward, and a large district near the 40th parallel is quite uniform, at 12 to 15 per cent. of deaths from consumption, while Massachusetts varies from 20 to 25. At the borders of the dry climate of the plains, in Minnesota, a minimum is attained as low as that occurring in Florida, and not exceeding 5 per cent. of the entire mortality." " Invalids suffering from pulmonary complaints and throat disease, are almost uniformly benefitted by the climate of the above northern region having a mean annual temperature of 40° to 50°."
Prof. R. T. Trall, M. D., founder of the New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College, says : "The clear, dry, brac- ing atmosphere and invigorating climate of Minnesota have long enjoyed a world-wide reputation, especially in cases of incipient consumption, confirmed dyspepsia, bronchial and rheumatic affections, and have been exten- sively resorted to by invalids from the Eastern States and Europe. And it is well known, that invalids can bear without discomfort, in a dry atmosphere, a temperature of 30° to 40° below the disagreeable point of the damp and chilly atmosphere of the Atlantic Coast."
60
HEALTHFULNESS OF CLIMATE.
Horace Greeley spoke at the Minnesota Agricultural Fair in 1865. He writes of Minnesota, in a contribution to this book :
"I knew that many had gone to her for health; I re- joiced to perceive that most of them had found it. In quiet homes, as well as at the Fair, I found every one strong, elastic, active, vigorous, buoyant." (See letter elsewhere in full.)
THE EXPERIENCE OF INVALIDS CURED .- Who should and who should not go .- When to go and when not.
Rev. Dr. Horace Bushnell, of Hartford, Conn., in a published letter, says :-
"I went to Minnesota early in July, and remained there till the latter part of the May following. I had spent a winter in Cuba, without benefit. I had spent also nearly a year in Cali- fornia, making a gain in the dry season and a partial loss in the wet season; returning, however, sufficiently improved to re- sume my labors. Breaking down again from this only partial recovery, I made the experiment now of Minnesota; and sub- mitting myself on returning, to a very rigid examination by a physician who did not know at all what verdict had been passed by other physiclans before, he said, in accordance with their opinions, 'You have had a difficulty in your right lung, but it is healed.' I had suspected from my symptoms, that it might be so, and the fact appears to be confirmed by the further fact, that I have been slowly, though regularly, gaining all summer.
" This improvement, or partial recovery, I attribute to the climate of Minnesota. But not to this alone-other things have concurred. First, I had a naturally firm, enduring constitution, which had only given way under excessive burdens of labor, . and had no vestige of hereditary disease upon it. Secondly, I had all my burdens thrown off and a state of complete uncaring rest. Thirdly, I was in such vigor as to be out in the open air, on horseback and otherwise, a good part of the time. It does not follow by any means, that one who is dying of hereditary consumption, or one who is too far gone to have any powers of endurance, or spring of recuperative energy left, will be re- covered in the same way. A great many such go there to die,
61
REV. DR. BOARDMAN.
and some to be partially recovered, and then die; for I knew two young men so far recovered as to think themselves well, or nearly so, who by over-violent exertion brought on a recurrence of bleeding and died; one of them almost immediately, and the other in about twenty-four hours-both in the same week. The general opinion seemed to be, that the result was attributable, in part, to the over tonic property of the atmosphere. And I have known of very many remarkable cases of recovery there, which had seemed to be hopeless. One, of a gentleman who was carried there on a litter, and became a hearty, robust man. Another, who told me that he coughed up bits of his lungs of the size of a walnut, was then, seven or eight months after, a perfectly sound-looking, well-set man, with no cough at all. I fell in with somebody every few days, who had come there and been restored; and with multitudes of others, whose disease had been arrested so as to allow the prosecution of business, and whose lease of life, as they had no doubt, was much lengthened by their migration to that region of the country. Of course it will be understood that a great many are sadly dis- appointed in going thither, and that as the number of con- sumptives making the trial increases, the funerals of the con- sumptive strangers are becoming sadly frequent."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.