Niles's elementary geography including the geography, history and resources of Minnesota
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UO -i-s CO 02 <4-1 O d o • rH ■4-3 f-4 o (—< , d ~ <n d 02 co 02 -*H> d 4n rH d r-1 a, p 52 r> co CO 02 02 02 m 02 -4-H d -, CO 02 O CO O CO d sh d t3 02 > d id 4~t o -t-3 rd bfl • rH 02 w o • rH > • rH P 02 d £ d d -*-> o CO 02 d 02 02 O dn d 02 O rd bjQ rH r-H rH J=! r-J +■= < co ^ 02 4-= -*-> CO d <3 02 QJ W) a CO 02 rH — ^ d g 02 CO 05 02 CO Sh 02 ”d d CO d ?H o 02 05 d c^- CO 02 ©r. 02 H-H d •H CO 02 rd CO 02 biD d d « 8,® ts CO 02 02 bfi co d d 02 rH 02 cS a d c_> 02 d P £ <1 rH U'W J1 (91) ALONG THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY. READING LESSON LXIV. ALONG THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY. LET us go to the most northern land in Min- nesota, and take a canoe journey along the lakes and streams forming the boundary between our state and the Dominion of Canada. THE TRAPPER AND HIS GAME. Write all you can about this picture. How would you like a hunter’s Here we are, on a little tract of land cut off from the rest of the state. To the south and east is Lake of the Woods, with its rocky, moss-covered shores and marshy bays, filled with wild rice. There are hundreds of rocky islands, with trees and berry-bearing shrubs. We may see fifty of these islands at a single view. For many, many years fur traders, missionaries, and Indians, passed over this route in light canoes, which they carried around the falls and rapids. The country is almost as wild to-day as it was when the French established trading posts here, two hundred years ago, and we -must paddle our canoe and make the woods ring with our songs, as did those voyageurs of yore. Crossing the lake, we pass up Rainy Lake River, which is very wide, deep, and rapid. Rainy Lake discharges its waters into this river, over a rocky rim, around which we carry our little boat, and launch it above. On, on we go, through wind- ing channels, among a hundred slaty islands, fifty miles up this lake. We have seen the forest on Lake of the Woods, on Rainy Lake River, and here it is, on Rainy Lake, stretching far away to the south. If we enter this forest, we shall find sandy ridges, covered with pine, large swamps of tamarac, spruce, and white ce- dar, with white birch trees along the margins of the lakes and streams. In many places we may pick cranberries, blueber- ries, huckleberries, raspberries, or wintergreen. What a wild region it is ! We see the shy fox, the bounding deer, the bear, the lynx, wild pigeons, and drum- ming pheasants, in the woods; the marten, otter, beaver, mink, and muskrat, in the lakes and streams. The wading birds, such as the heron, the crane, and the snipe, rise from the shallow water at our approach. The swan and the pelican are also seen. Flocks of brent, geese and ducks flutter up from the fields of wild rice at the discharge of our gun. Pike, pickerel, bass, muskallonge, catfish, and sturgeon, almost crowd one another in the waters of hundreds of lakes and streams found in this forest region, extending from the Red River Valley on the west, to Lake Superior on the east, and far beyond the head- waters of the Mississippi to the south. life? To the Teacher. — The author does not think it wise to require pupils to draw the boundaries of all the counties in the state; no one is expected to remember their exact forms. He thinks it will be well to print the names of the counties and their capitals as the drawing proceeds. This will familiarize the pupils with their names LAKES, FIRES, ETC. ALONG THE GREAT LAKE. 9 3 and locations, which is all that can reasonably be required. Teachers who prefer it, may have the drawing done upon the blackboard. Note.— Draw the northern boundary, from the most northern point to the mouth of Vermillion River, and the principal streams flowing into the lakes and rivers forming it. Print names of coun- ties where they belong. READING LESSON LXY. LAKES, FIRES AND WATERFALLS. STARTING again on our canoe road, we find pretty lakes and rapid streams. Many of these lakes are in rocky basins. One, called Gun Flint, is so named because of the large number of flinty rocks found on its shores. Some of the lakes are covered with white water-lilies. There are many rocky hills, and in some places we may walk for miles on the bare rocks. East of Vermillion Lake, and extending across the northern part of Lake and Cook Counties, is what is called the “ Burnt Region.’1 Here was once a grand forest of pine. Fires swept over it, year after year, and no timber is now seen except in spots protected by lakes and streams. Thousands and thousands of acres are covered with nothing but moss. This moss is as soft as a spoDge, and it fastens itself into every crack and crevice of the rocks. Indians, hunters, and miners, more careless than the savages, build camp fires from which the flames spread rapidly, and consume large quanti- ties of valuable timber, increasing the extent of this burnt district as the years go by. Between North and South Lakes is a rido-e of land, called the “ Divide,” which is only four hun- dred and forty paces wide. From one side of this ridge, the water flows to Lake of the Woods, on its long journey to Hudson Bay; from the other, it goes on its way, through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence, to the Atlantic. We reach Pigeon River at Mountain Lake, near which is a height of land two thousand one hun- dred and three feet above the sea. This is the highest point yet measured in the state. The river has thirteen portages, and descends six hundred feet in the last six miles of its course, making one plunge of eighty-seven feet near its mouth. The last portage, of five miles, brings us to Grand Portage village, on Lake Superior. On our long journey we have seen only one or two Canadian forts, or trading posts. There are no roads, farms, or villages, in this part of Minne- sota. A few Indians and trappers are the only in habitants. Note.— Draw the boundary line from Vermillion River to Grand Portage, and Vermillion River and Vermillion Lake. Print names of counties touching the border. READING LESSON LXYI. ALONG THE GREAT LAKE. LONG before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Grand Portage had become a great fur-trading post, where hundreds of Indians Picture Lesson. — Here we see the fishermen at work. They have made a nice “haul 11 of whitefish and trout. One of the men is mending his net. He has raised a flag as a signal for a steamer to stop. The other man will soon have the fish in his barrel ready for the market. It would be pleasant to take the Indian canoe for a ride among the little pine-covered islands which we see in the distance. and voyageurs came from the far Northwest with their packages of furs to meet the fur traders from Quebec and Montreal. Here, and at other points along the coast, we -may still see lines of gaunt Indians, with packs on their backs, ascending the rocky portages, along narrow trails. 94 FROM CARLTON'S PEAK TO DALLES OF THE ST. LOUIS. We will take an Indian canoe for our voyage to Duluth, so that we may keep close along the shore and see its many wonders. We are now on the largest body of fresh water on the globe. It has been called the “ unsalted sea.” Great ships sail to and fro upon it, and it is one of our chief high- ways of commerce. Its waters are very cold, and so clear that we may sit in our canoe and look upon beds of col- ored rock and pebbles, forty or fifty feet below. Trout and whitefish are abundant, and of fine flavor. Large numbers are salted and packed, and many are shipped fresh to the cities of Minnesota and other states. The shore of the lake is rock bound, and it rises from ten to two hundred feet. We see no sloping, wooded plains at the water’s edge, but the hills and cliffs are covered with a dense growth of trees. There are many little bays and pockets, but there are no good harbors for large ships. We glide past little rocky islands and bold head- lands. The Great Palisade Rocks rise from the margin of the lake to the height of three hundred feet. From their top, we see the shores of Wis- consin and the Apostle Islands, thirty miles dis- tant, over the lake. Flowing into the lake are many streams of clear, soft water, in which are large numbers of speckled trout. Parties come here every summer to catch these fish, for mere sport, and many are left to de- cay on the banks. Though called rivers, these streams are quite small. They have their sources in the u Divide,” some twenty or thirty miles from the coast. Everv stream has its little lakes and cataracts, and deep gorges, where it cuts its way through the hills, and falls from six hundred to a thousand feet in its course. The hill country is full of waterfalls and rapids. Some of the streams enter the lake through high rock gates, so narrow that we may leap across the chasm, far above the water. Queries. — What is meant by the Declaration of Inde- pendence? When was it signed? Why is Lake Superior called the “unsalted sea”? Note.— Draw the coastline of Lake Superior, from Grand Portage to Beaver Bay, and the principal rivers shown on the map. READING LESSON LXVII. FROM CARLTON’S PEAK TO THE DALLES OF THE ST. LOUIS. LEAVING our canoe, we will learn something of the wild country from which these rivers flow. That part of Minnesota lying east and northeast of Vermillion Lake, is the only portion of the state that may be called mountainous. Back from the coast a little distance stand several peaks. Carlton's Peak rises 927 feet above the lake, and is one of the highest points in this part of the state. From its crest we see hills, streams, lakes, and for- est, forming a landscape of great beauty. BEAVER BAT, LAKE SUPERIOR. The Sawteeth Mountains, or hills, are a few miles inland. They take this strange name on account of their form. Their northwestern sides are very steep and high, and the opposite sides slope very gradually, so that, when we look over the ranges, they appear like the teeth of a saw. Still farther inland, we come to the Mesabi Heights, or Iron Range, called “Big-Man-Hills” by the Indians. This range contains great quanti- ties of iron, and several mines are opened near Vermillion Lake. FROM CARLTON’S PEAK TO DALLES OF THE ST. LOUIS. 95 In the hill country, in this part of the state, are found copper, silver, gold, and graphite of which pencils are made. This is the great mineral region of Minnesota. It is a rough, wild section, without roads, and its few inhabitants are found mainly in Beaver Bay, Two Harbors, and other small places alonff the coast. All the hills, ridges, and valleys, except in the “ Burnt Region,” are thickly wooded. In the hard-wood belt, near the lake, the undergrowth of shrubs and clambering vines is so close that we can hardly force our way. As we go west of this belt, pine is found in great abundance. Taking our canoe again, we make our way along the high, wild shore to Duluth, the Zenith City, with its bay and lake in front, and with its background of forest- crowned hills. In the harbor large ships from the lower lakes are seen, loading and unloading their cargoes. There are extensive docks, with piles of coal from the Ohio and the Pennsylvania mines ; warehouses, with goods; and huge elevators, with wheat from the west- ern prairies. We hear the buzzing of saws, the roar of furnaces, as they melt the iron, and the din of hammers. From this point the Northern Pacific Railroad stretches its iron arms across the continent, to Portland in Oregon, and to Puget Sound. The Duluth & Iron Range Railroad furnishes an outlet for the mineral wealth of this part of the state. The St. Louis River flows into the lake between two long, narrow tongues of land, called Minne- sota Point and Wisconsin Point, which extend from the highlands on either side, dividing the waters of Lake Superior from a small bay, or estuary, formed by the widening of the river. This bay is the land-locked harbor of Duluth. Passing up the river, we find it broad and crooked, with many islands, and with wide mead- ows close at hand, and wooded hills in the dis* tance. Eighteen miles up is the old village of Fond du Lac, once a trading post, where hundreds of dusky savages came with their furs. Here are the quarries that furnish the beautiful brown building stone, known as the Duluth sand- stone. This stone has been used in some of the finest buildings in St. Paul and Minneapolis, and much of it is shipped to other states. Three miles above the village we come to the Dalles of the St. Louis, and here, as the canoes could ascend no farther, the old portage trail, or narrow foot-path, began. No child living on our prairies would think of finding so wild a place in Minnesota. Slate rocks lie along the stream and through the forest, in every direction. Some are in high ledges, crowned with pine, cedar, or birch ; some form jagged shelves over the foaming stream, or rocky islands ; great masses stand on their edges, and others are shivered into a thousand fragments. The river does not make its descent at a single plunge, but it falls five hundred feet in about six miles. Beginning above at Knife Falls, which are so named because of the sharp edges of the rocks over which the water flows, the flood starts on its journey. Here it plunges over ledge after ledge, forming beautiful cascades ; there it rushes madly among HARBOR OB'1 DULUTH. 96 ON THE ST. CROIX. pointed rocks ; now it is parted by islands ; and then it is forced through some narrow gorge — boil- ing, plunging, foaming downward. At the lower falls, there are ten or eleven cas- cades, from six to ten feet in height, and extend- ing half a mile. The river is not very large, but the roar of its cataracts can be heard for many miles. Some day we may see busy mills or facto- ries driven by the water power furnished by these falls. The slate rock has been quarried, but it is not yet largely used for roofing, or for other purposes. All the country on the upper St. Louis and its tributaries is covered with timber. There is much valuable pine, maple, fir, spruce, ash, aspen, and cypress. This is one of the great lumber regions of the state, and large quantities are cut, and sawed at steam mills near the falls. After leaving the “ Last Rock,” a mile above Knife Falls, there are no ledges until we reach the Mesabi, or dividing ridge, which runs south of Ver- million Lake, and extends far to the west, in scat- tered hills of rock and sand, separating the streams flowing into the Mississippi from those flowing to the north. The Lake Superior section of Minnesota, and northwestern Wis- consin, with its wild and beautiful scenery, is fast becoming one of the great health and pleasure resorts of the country. The St. Paul & Duluth, and the Chicago, St. Paul and Minneapolis line of the Chi- cago & North-Western Railway, are pleasant routes to this charm- ing region. Queries. — Why do you suppose the Indians called the Mesabi Heights the “ Big-Man-Hills ”? What will be one of the chief occupations of this section? Note.— Draw the coast line from Beaver Bay to the mouth of the St. Louis River, locate Duluth, and draw the St. Louis River and its branches. READING LESSON LXVIII. ON THE ST. CROIX. TAKING the cars at Thompson, we pass through a forest region to the St. Croix. We see clear- ings with their stumps, piles of wood along the road, and stations here and there, whose principal trade is in wood and lumber. On the tributaries of the St. Croix grow large quantities of pine. Hundreds and hundreds of strongmen go into the pineries every winter. There are choppers, who cut down the trees; trimmers, who cut off the branches; sled-tender.s and skidders, who help to load; teamsters, who draw the logs on large bob-sleds; swampers, who open the roads; sawyers, who cut off the logs on the banks of the river; cooks, who prepare the food; and extra hands, to help where most needed. Every man has his place, and all goes like clock-work. When the water rises in the spring, the logs are rolled into the streams, and river-driving begins. This is very hard work; from dawn to dark the men keep the logs moving with the current. Sometimes the logs are so numerous as to hide the water in the river for miles. It is often late in June before they are all safely boomed, near the large mills, down the river. On the St. Croix, we also find forests of tamarac, cedar, and hard- wood timber. There are oak open- ings, grub prairies, smooth prairies, and many beau- tiful lakes. In Washington County, the prairies are high and rolling, with fine farms and buildings. Taylor’s Falls is a little city containing saw- mills, a stave factory, a carding mill, and other manufactories, operated by steam, though the St. Croix furnishes water power, not yet improved. Below the village are the wonderful Dalles of the St. Croix. The river cuts through a range of hills, forming a gorge whose walls rise from one hundred to one hundred and seventy-five feet above the water. Between these walls the river rushes, at first very swiftly, forming eddies or whirlpools, until it makes a sudden bend. It then glides quickly along, re- FROM DALLES OF ST. CROIX TO POINT DOUGLASS. 97 fleeting, like a mirror, in its deep waters, the dark image of the rock columns towering high above. In the rocks, near the Dalles, are many curious pot-holes, fifteen or twenty feet deep, and twenty to twenty-five feet across, which were worn by gravel or loose stones, kept in motion by the whirl- ing waters which once ran over the rocks. The Devil’s Kitchen, the Devil’s Chair, and many other interesting things, are seen in this vicinity. Note.— Draw the boundary line, from the St. Louis River to the St. Croix, and copy the latter river to Taylor’s Falls. Copy the west- ern branches of the St. Croix, and print names of counties drained by them. Print names of county seats where they belong. READING LESSON LXIX. FROM THE DALLES OF THE ST. CROIX TO POINT DOUGLASS. TAKING onb of the steamers, which ply as far up as the rapids, we descend to Stillwater. The river is bordered by bluffs, and there are many fine views. Twelve or fifteen miles below the Dalles, we pass the “ Standing Cedars,” which long ago marked the boundary between the Chip- pewas and the Dakotahs, two powerful Indian nations. Two miles above Stillwater is Painted Rock, once held sacred by the Dakotahs; On its face, numerous figures and images were carved and painted. FAIRY FALLS, STILLWATER. Stillwater is at the head of Lake St. Croix. The business portion of the city stands on a narrow plain, surrounded by high bluffs, on which are many fine residences. The first settlement was made by John McCusic and Elam Greeley from Maine, Calvin Leach from Vermont, and Elias McKean from Pennsylvania, in Oc- tober, 1843. The city has grown to be a place of great impor- tance. There are mills, where the logs which come from the pineries are drawn from the booms, and sawed. Cars are loaded, and sent to parts of the state where lumber is needed, and rafts are floated down the Mis- sissippi. There are large flouring mills SOUTH STILLWATER. Make a list of the things seen in this picture, and then write all you can about them. 98 SOURCE AND UPPER WATERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI. and elevators. Great quarries of limestone, of excellent quality, are worked; one of these was opened as early as 1847. The State Prison is located here. Shut up in its narrow stone cells, are many men and women who have committed crimes. They are sent here from all parts of the state, some for one or more years, and a few for life. The prisoners have their hair cut short, and are clad in coarse garments. They are forced to work hard, and are not allowed to talk with one another. Each prisoner has a cell which is closed with a strong iron gate. In this cell he eats his plain food, and sleeps all alone m Ins hard bed. In the morning the prisoners are marched to the workshops in long lines, and they return in the same way when their work is done. The workshops are very large. Cars, furniture, threshing machines, and other farm implements, are manufactured. Like many other lakes in Minnesota, Lake St. Croix is formed by the widening of the river. It is a long, narrow sheet of clear water, with hill- sides sloping gently to the water’s edge; narrow valleys, with villages and farm houses; plateaus, rising one above another; and high bluffs in the distance. At the junction of the river with the Mississippi, is Point Douglass. The St. Croix was named after a Frenchman who was drowned at its mouth. Note.— Copy the St. Croix from Taylor’s Falls to its mouth. Print names of counties and county seats on your map. READING LESSON LXX. AT THE SOURCE OF THE GREAT RIVER. AMONG the clear, bright lakes of Minnesota, on the highest lands between the Arctic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi begins its course. Within our state it grows from a rill to a great river, half a mile wide, and five to twenty feet deep. That part of the state drained by the upper Mississippi and its branches, as far down as the Crow Wing River, is a great forest region, with hills, dales, copses, small prairies, and hundreds of lakes. Its uplands are covered with pine, spruce, and birch, and its swamps with the tamarac and willow. On the slopes of its sandy hills, the canoe- birch, the alder, and wild rose, extend to the very margins of the rivers. On the borders of the larger lakes, where the soil is good, and on the bottom lands, are the sugar maple, oak, ash, elm, and basswood. The white cedar and spruce-pine are sometimes seen. | The hawthorn and wild plum grow in the thickets, and raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and cranberries, are plentiful. The bear and the deer are yet seen in these wilds. Fur-bearing animals are found in the lakes and streams, and fish are abundant. There are white fish in the deeper lakes, and here, too, are swarms of leeches. Countless numbers of water- fowl fatten upon the wild rice which grows in the swamps about the lakes and along the streams. The whole country, above Grand Rapids, is a great watery plateau, with lakes in every direction. The first white man who is known to have seen the source of the Mississippi, was W. Morrison, an Indian trader, who visited Lake Itaska in 1804. This lake is fed by several small streams, the largest of which has been called u the infant Mis- sissippi.” Itaska is only five miles in length. A thick forest of pine and hard-wood grows on its shores. The Mississippi is about one rod wide where it leaves the lake. For some distance, its banks are low and swampy.* Note.— Copy the Mississippi from Lake Itaska to the mouth of Leech Lake River. Copy Leech, Cass and Winnibigoshish Lakes. READING LESSON LXXI. UPPER WATERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI. THE most beautiful country near the head- waters of the Mississippi is around Cass, Winnibigoshish and Leech Lakes. This was al- ways a favorite hunting-ground of the Indians. When the whites first came, large villages stood on their shores, and here, to-day, we find the Chippewa on his reservation; the squaws have their gardens of corn, potatoes, pumpkins, and squashes. There are groves of maple, from which the Indians make their sugar, and fields of wild rice, from whence they paddle their canoe loads of grain. Cass Lake was named after General Lewis Cass, who visited it in 1820. It is twelve miles long, and has many bays and islands. Winnibigoshish is an Indian word, meaning turbid water. Leech Lake is large and deep. It has long, wooded points, deep bays, and, here and there, rock walls, thrown up by the ice. * See Geological and Natural History Survey, 1880-84. IN THE PARK REGION. READING LESSON LXXII. IN THE PARK REGION. ON the southern branches of the Crow Wing*, the dark evergreen gives place to the oak, the sugar maple, and other trees that cast their leaves in autumn. In Todd, Douglass and Stearns Counties, there are large bodies of hard- wood tim- ber, with prairies and lakes. There are many farms, thriving towns, and pleasant homes. Alexandria is a fine little city, whose clear, deep lakes are the delight of the summer tourist. Lake Osakis is widely known, and we may take a pleasant sail upon its waters. Sauk Centre, on Sauk River, has abundant water power, with flouring mills, saw-mills, a fan- ning-mill factory, and other in- dustries. At St. Cloud, we find mills for the manufacture of flour, lumber, wagons, sash, doors and blinds, and lumbermen’s tools. The hard- wood and pine forests fur- nish lumber for all kinds of machinery and wooden goods. Steam is the motive power at present, but the water power of the Mississippi, now running to waste, will be used in the near future. The gray and red granite of St. Cloud is taken from quarries near the city. It makes beautiful and durable monuments and buildings. Some of it is seen in the Custom House at St. Paul, and it is shipped to all parts of the Northwest. On a plateau, sixty feet above the river, stand the Third State Normal School building, and the Ladies’ Normal Home, in which, in 1869, the school was opened, with Prof. Ira Moore as Principal. The state erected these fine buildings, and offers free instruction to students who promise to teach in the public schools. The best citizens of St. Cloud have always given the school their warm support, and we now see many earnest pupils from all the counties in this part of the state. In this city is also located St. John’s College, the leading Catholic educational institution in the On this lake, in 1833, Rev. W. T. Boutwell established the first Protestant mission west of the Mississippi. He cut the logs for his cabin, and carried most of them together on his back. Across the outlets of some of these lakes, the United States Gov- ernment is building dams. Great reservoirs will be formed, and large quantities of water will be held back. In the summer, when the Mississippi, below St. Paul, gets low, the gateways of the dams will be opened, and the water from the reservoirs will raise the river so that large steamers can run with ease. At Sandy Lake, one hundred miles below Grand Rapids, is a portage to the St. Louis River, over which voyageurs and explorers traveled for two hundred years. This was the great route from Lake Superior to the Mississippi. OLD TIMES IN MINNESOTA. MODERN If we could visit this forest region in the winter, we should see camps of lumbermen on many of the streams, gathering the crop of pine and cedar. Millions of feet of logs are floated down the Mis- sissippi to Minneapolis during the season of fresh- ets, and much lumber is sawed at the mills along the Northern Pacific, and is sent away to the Red River Valley and to the plains of Dakota beyond. Brainerd, the City of the Pines, is the largest place on the upper Mississippi. Here are railroad shops where a large number of men are employed; saw-mills, planing mills, and factories for the man- ufacture of lumber, are busily at work; long trains of wood are sent west, to warm the prairie homes. The forests and lakes offer fine sport to the hunter and fisherman. In 1870, the forest was growing where the city now stands. Note.— Copy the Mississippi and its branches to Crow Wing River, and print names of counties drained by these streams. Print names of capitals. 100 IN THE PARK REGION MINNEAPOLIS. THIRD STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, ST. CLOUD. state. It has many pupils, and a large number of professors. In the eastern part of Meeker and McLeod, and in Wright, Carver and Hennepin, is the northern part of the Big Woods, in which we will ramble at another time. West of the Big Woods, on the border of a rich, rolling, lake-dotted prairie, which stretches away to the Minnesota Valley, are Litchfield and Glencoe, two fair towns, with many pleasant homes and much trade. Note. — Copy the Mississippi from Crow Wing to Minneapolis; copy the southern branches of the Crow Wing ; copy the Sauk and Crow; and print names of counties drained by all these streams. READING LESSON LXXIII. IN THE PARK REGION - Concluded. TN Morrison, Benton, Mille Lacs, and Isanti Counties, are forests of hard-wood and pine. Large numbers of pine logs are cut on the head- waters of Rum River. At the head of this river is Mille Lacs, a name meaning “ Thousand Lakes.” This lake is one of the most beautiful sheets of water in Minnesota; it covers two hundred and four square miles. Except at the south, the shores are high, and in many places there are walls of bowlders, which the ice has forced up from the bottom of the lake. There are islands and capes composed en- tirely of rocks. There are many nice building spots, sheltered by hills, some distance back from the lake. Mille Lacs was once a noted place. Hundreds of savages dwelt here, in a village called Katkao. Here, Du Luth unfurled the flag of France, two hundred years ago. Here, in 1780, Father Hennepin lived among the Indians. Between this lake and the “Standing Cedars,” on the St. Croix, the Dakotahs and Chippewas had many a hard-fought battle. On the east bank of the Mississippi, below Brainerd, is Little Falls, with its steam mills, unused water power, and granite quarries. At Sauk Rapids is one of the finest water powers in the state, and extensive quarries of granite, which has been used to form a dam across the Mississippi. The stone from these quarries is very valuable. From this place down to Minneapolis, are level prairies, oak openings, lakes, fringes of tamarac and other timber along the streams, with farms and villages here and there. At Anoka, are busy saw-mills, working up the logs from Rum River, and flouring mills, which grind much wheat. Note. — Copy the Rum River, and other eastern branches of the * Mississippi, and Mille Lacs. Print names of counties and county seats. READING LESSON LXXIY. MINNEAPOLIS. WE come now to Minneapolis. The city covers many square miles of land, and new buildings are going up on all sides. Passing along its broad, level streets, we see large busi- ness blocks and throngs of busy people. In the quiet portions of the city are fine school-houses, churches, and residences, with trees, grass and flowers on their well-kept grounds. There are parks, waterfalls, and lakes, not far away, where people may rest and breathe the fresh air. Street cars go and come with their loads of passengers. Water works and gas works supply water and light. At night the electric light beams from the top of an iron mast, two hundred and fifty-seven feet high, to guide the people on their way through the streets. But we must see the Falls of St. Anthony, and MINNEAPOLIS — MILLS AND SCHOOLS 101 A PART OF MINNEAPOLIS. some of the manufactories that bring wealth to the city, and give it a name abroad. Standing above the iron bridge, which crosses the river a short distance below the falls, we have the view seen in the following picture. nine inches in diameter. Near the west end of the bridge is the Union Depot, one of the finest build- ings of its kind in the Northwest. Just above us, in the rapids, is a small, rocky island, with a few, low trees. Beyond this is the Manitoba stone-arch railway bridge, 2,300 feet in length, and wide enough for a double track. Four of its spans are each 100 feet long, and its height is 65 feet. Its foundations are in the rock, twenty feet below the surface. The piers are of granite, from Sauk Rapids, and the rest of the work is limestone from Kasota, and from the quarries near Minneapolis. This is said to be the longest bridge of its kind in the United States. Its cost was a million dollars. A little farther up are the Falls of St. Anthony, and that part of the river which flows west of Hen- nepin and Nicollet Islands. The part flowing east of the islands is not so large. The falls are only sixteen or twenty feet high, but the river is broad, and there is much water. There are rapids above and below the falls. The descent is over eighty feet within the city limits. The picture gives us a distant view of the suspension bridge, which crosses the river from Bridge Square, on the West Side, to the beautiful Nicollet Island, which contains about fifty acres. The view from this island is very fine, and many elegant residences have been built upon it. The length of the bridgeway is 630 feet, and its stone towers are eighty feet in height. The largest cables, or wire ropes, that support the bridge, are Note.— Copy the Mississippi from Minneapolis to the St. Croix., and locate Minneapolis, Fort Snelling, and St. Paul. Print names of counties. READING LESSON LXXY. MINNEAPOLIS - MILLS AND SCHOOLS. EAR the falls, on both channels of the river,, are the manufactories, whose machinery is driven by the water power. There are twenty- seven flouring mills, which can produce 28,000 THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. 102 MINNEAPOLIS MILLS AND SCHOOLS GRINDING ROOM. This picture shows a part of the grinding floor of one of the great Minneapolis mills. The wheat passes from the floor above, through the spouts, to the rollers and stones below. What is the man in the foreground doing ? From what country; do millstones come ? How is the building lighted ? Why do you think so ? barrels of flour in a clay. This would load 224 cars, or 2,800 farm wagons. The Pillsbury “A” Mill, which is seen in the picture, on page 101, at the right, near the great arch, is said to be the largest in the world. It can turn out 5,000 barrels of flour in a day. Long trains of cars come to the mills, loaded with wheat, and other trains leave with flour. The wheat is taken from the cars, cleaned and ground, and the flour is cooled, bolted, packed, and weighed, by machinery. Hundreds of men are employed about the mills, and millions of bushels of wdieat are ground every year. Who eat the bread made from this flour? Much of the flour is eaten right at home, but more is sent abroad. It goes to feed the boys and girls of New England, many of whom never saw a field of wheat; it is sent to other parts of our own country, where very lit- tle wheat is raised; one- third, or more, goes over the sea to the Old World. Eng- land is the best customer, butothercoun- tries also take a share. On the evening of the second of May, 1878. one of the largest mills in the world, known as the Washburn “A,” suddenly exploded. This was instantly followed by the ex- plosion of two other mills that stood near, and by the burning of three more. Eighteen persons lost their lives. In the first mill, the force of the explosion was so great that all the walls fell, and hard- ly one stone was left upon another. These mills have since been rebuilt, and others have been added to the number. There are nineteen saw-mills. In their booms are acres of logs, which were floated down the Mississippi from the forests which we saw on its head-waters. The logs are drawn up the “ways” into the mills by strong chains. They are placed on carriages which slide, and the gang and circular saws go through them. In a few moments they come out of the mills as lumber, to be drawn away by teams and piled in the large yards, or to be shipped over the state in the cars. Besides the mills which we have visited, there are factories for the manufacture of agricultural implements, planing mills, sash and blind factories, oil mills, woolen mills, paper mills, and hundreds of other manufactories. MINNEAPOLIS EARLY HISTORY 103 bestI xxxx BEST BEST : Patent •foDcVVy PACKING ROOM. Here the flour is put into barrels and sacks. What a busy scene it is! the falls after his patron saint, St. Anthony, of Padua. He tells us that the “ curling waters ” were regarded by the Indians as the dwelling place of a great spirit, to whom they were required to bring gifts and offer prayers. In 1766, Jonathan Carver, a British subject, born in Connecticut, was here, and drew the first pict- ure of the falls. In speaking of them, and the country around, he says: “A more pleasing and picturesque view can not be found in the uni- verse.” In 1837, Franklin Steele made a claim which included the falls on the east side of the river, and built a log cabin upon it. This was the first house in what became the city of St. Anthony. Other settlers followed, but it was not until 1848 that the first saw-mill, outside of the Military Reserva- tion, was started. The first school was taught in a little cabin, in 1849, and a post-office was estab- lished the same year. READING LESSON LXXVI. MINNEAPOLIS -EARLY HISTORY. f I ^HE first white man who saw the Falls of St. Anthony was Louis Hennepin, a Catholic priest, who came here in July, 1680. He named Clouds of smoke rise from tall chim- neys in all di- rections, and here steam is used instead of water power. Minneapolis is, indeed, a great manufac- turing center; it is also noted for its public schools. The State University is located in East Minneapolis. Its grounds are on the high banks of the river, and they are adorned by many fine old forest trees. There is a large library and museum. The University of Minnesota is free to all. No doubt some of the boys and girls who read this book will finish their education here. There are several private schools of note. At Curtiss’ Business College, we find many young women, as well as young men, who are learning to write, to keep accounts, and to transact all kinds of business. The Minneapolis Academy is a school which fits pupils for the State University. Augsburg Seminary is a Scandinavian school, with many students. The packing floor is below the grinding floor. 104 THE OLD FORT. SHIPPING THE FLOUR. Here we see men shipping the flour to all parts of the world. Write a story of the wheat from the time it is sown until it is eaten in the Old World. As early as 1821, the government had built a saw-mill west of the river. This was the first mill erected in Minnesota. It was fitted up as a flouring mill, in 1823; here the first wheat was ground. The flour was sold to the government, and used by the soldiers at Fort Snelling. Col. John H. Stevens was the actual pioneer of Minneapolis. He settled west of the river in the summer of 1849. One of his daughters, now dead, was the first white child born here. Other settlers followed, and, by the end of 1850, there was a small number of cabins to mark the place of the future city. Nearly all of the land on which Minneapolis now stands was included in the Fort Snelling Mil- itary Reservation, and it was not until 1855 that the settlers were allowed to “ prove up ” their claims. After this the population increased very rapidly. The first flouring mill west of the river was finished in 1859. Minneapolis- and St. Antho- ny continued to grow as sep- arate cities un- til 1872, when the two were made one by an act of the legislature, and St. An- thony lost its name. As we look over Minneap- olis, we can hardlv think «/ that less than fifty years ago nothing was to be seen here but the wild prairie, the trees, the wa- terfalls, and a few Indian wigwams. Queries. — Over what railroads do you think most of the wheat is brought to the Minneapolis mills? What roads will be most likely to carrj away the flour? Ask your teacher to point out some of these roads on the map. Is flour shipped by way of the Mississippi to New Orleans? READING LESSON LXXVII. THE OLD FORT. FROM the Falls of St. Anthony to Fort Snell- ing, eight miles below, the Mississippi is rapid, and the valley is narrow, and walled in by ledges and bluffs, from eighty to one hundred feet high. On our way to the Fort we may see the Falls of Minnehaha, which have been called “ Laughing Water.” These falls are fifty feet high. They are very beautiful in summer, but more beautiful in THE OLD FORT 105 winter, when the Frost King has laid his hand upon them and wrought their spray into many curious shapes. On the high, rocky promontory, where the Missis- sippi and Minne- sota unite, stands Fort Snelling, with its white walls and the Star-Spangled Banner above them, floating to- day as it floated in 1821. The corner- • stone of the Fort was laid on the tenth of Septem- ber, 1820. At that time, Minnesota was a wilderness, and the building of this Fort was the real beginning of United States rule on the upper Mis- sissippi. The name first given to the Fort was St. An- thony; in 1824, the name was changed to Fort Snelling, in honor of Col. Jo- seph Snelling, un- der whom it was erected. The first mar- riage of white per- sons in Minnesota took place on these grounds, in 1820. Here, the same year, a daughter was born to Mrs. Snelling, the first white child born in the state. It lived but a few months, and the stone that marks its lit- tle grave may still be seen in the military burying-ground. The first Sunday school established in Minnesota, was held within these walls, in 1823 ; and on the second Sabbath in June, 1835, thirteen years later, for the first time in the state, a church was organized, and the or- dinance of the Lord’s Supper was administered. The Virginia, the first steamboat that plowed the waters of the up- per Mississippi, landed here in the summer of 1823. The Indians called it the “ great fire canoe.” When the boat neared the shore, they were much frightened, and the children, squaws and braves scampered away with streaming hair.* About these walls, coun- cils wrere held with Indian chiefs and savage tribes. Here came traders, ex- plorers, mission- aries, and trav- elers. When the Great Rebellion broke out, this was the re- cruiting place for the soldiers of our state, and here they gathered for their discharge at the close, of the war. Many a brave volunteer, who marched away to the music of the fife and drum, came not back with his comrades. Across the river is Mendota, the oldest village in the state. It had its beginning late in the year 1819, when * See History of Minnesota , by Rev. E. D. Neill. FALLS OF MINNEHAHA. At these falls, Hiawatha Paused to purchase heads of arrows Of the ancient Arrow-maker, In the land of the Dacotahs, Where the Falls of Minnehaha Flash and gleam among the oak-trees, Laugh, and leap into the valley. There the ancient Arrow-maker Made his arrow-heads of sandstone, Arrow-heads of chalcedony, Arrow-heads of flint and jasper. Smoothed and sharpened at the edges, Hard and polished, keen and costly.” —Longfellow 106 ST. PAUL log huts and pickets were erected for those who were sent to build the Fort. For many years, it was nothing more than an Indian agency and trading post. The oldest stone dwelling house in Minnesota still stands here. It was built by General Sibley, in 1836, and is said to be in a good state of preserva- tion at the present time. OLD FORT SNELLING. When Alexander Ramsey, the first Governor of Minnesota, and his family arrived at St. Paul, on May 27, 1849, he found no room at the public houses there, and became the guest of General H. H Sibley, at Mendota. How strange this seems, when we think of the many hotels now found in St. Paul. In 1825, a party of Swiss, who had settled in the Red River Valley, in the Dominion of Canada, and had been driven out by the great flood of that year, came to Minnesota, and made themselves homes on the Military Reservation, mostly near Minne- apolis and St. Paul. They cultivated their lands, and had considerable stock. They were the pio- neer farmers of Minnesota. Fifteen years after- ward, these settlers were driven from their claims by troops sent out from the Fort, and their cabins were destroyed, to prevent their return. READING LESSON LXXVIII. ST. PAUL. ET us visit St. Paul, the capital of the state. ■ Taking the cars at Mendota, we soon cross to the left bank of the Mississippi, and glide along close under the steep, white, sand- stone bluffs, that border the bottom- lands and form the margin of the plat- eau, on which a por- tion of the city stands. In some places, buildings are seen on the brink of the preci- pice, eighty to one hundred feet above us. Landing at the Union Depot, near the river, we find ourselves in the midst of a crowd of passengers. They are from all parts of the world, and are coming and going on the one hundred and sixty-four trains that go in and out of this depot every day. There are immigrants from Germany, Scan- dinavia, Ireland, and other Old World countries. How weary they look, after their long journey over sea and land! They are seeking homes in Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, or in the British Dominions on the north. 