504 



MINNESOTA. 



tribution of pamphlets (the printing only 

 being done at the State's charge), 35,000 copies 

 of. Hewett's pamphlet (in English), 5,000 of 

 Kilholtz's (in German), and 5,000 of Colonel 

 Mattson's (in the Scandinavian languages), were 

 distributed in 1868, their editions having been 

 exhausted several months before the end of the 

 year. He submitted, also, a report of Mr. Jo- 

 seph Y. Prince, of New York, and a circular of 

 the Citizens' Association of the same city, tend- 

 ing to direct immigration to Minnesota and 

 inviting the cooperation of the State. 



It appears worthy of being noticed that with 

 a population not amounting to half a million 

 persons, all included, the State of Minnesota 

 had in 1868 no less than 1,382,690 acres of 

 land under cultivation, and in the same year 

 gathered from it a product of 16,126,825 bush- 

 els of wheat, 4,598,760 of corn, 6,103,500 of 

 oats, and 1,608,900 of potatoes. Her grain 

 specimens sent to the Paris Universal Exhibi- 

 tion were honorably mentioned by the judges. 

 But, besides gathering such abundant crops 

 from her soil, she had also last year from the 

 woods 249,267,918 feet in logs, 41,000,000 feet 

 of sawed lumber, 9,500,000 laths, and 500,000 

 shingles manufactured; the market value of 

 said lumber product being estimated at $3,750,- 

 000. All this seems to give unmistakable 

 proof of the natural resources of the State as 

 well as of the activity, resolution, and energy 

 of her inhabitants. 



There appears to be good ground for believ- 

 ing that, besides her other great resources, 

 Minnesota possesses no little mineral wealth in 

 the northeastern portion of her territory, here- 

 tofore regarded as sterile and almost valueless. 

 From the judgment given by several eminent 

 geologists, who have repeatedly explored the 

 place, and more from the results of numerous 

 experiments made by practical miners, "the 

 northeastern region of Minnesota, includ- 

 ing Vermilion," is declared to be a mineral 

 country ; the district which contains the pre- 

 cious metals " extending from the Falls of St. 

 Louis River, on the north shore of Superior, 

 to beyond Fort William in the British pos- 

 sessions." It is affirmed, on the results ob- 

 tained from numerous assays, that the surface 

 rocks of the Vermilion veins, and the rocks of 

 other points, yield on an average $25 per ton, 

 at a cost of about $8 for extracting the gold. 

 There being at Vermilion abundance of wood 

 at hand for mining operations, the working of 

 mines would leave a profit large enough to 

 make it a well-paying business. 



With regard to the advantages of merchan- 

 dise and passenger transportation by railway, 

 on December 1, 1868, there were 559 miles of 

 it in actual operation within the State. Of the 

 said number, 128 miles were constructed and 

 opened during the year, and the directors of 

 the several companies have declared their in- 

 tentions still to extend their respective lines in 

 1869. 



But far greater advantages are expected to 



flow into Minnesota from outside railroads, 

 than she can derive from those running within 

 her own limits. By the completion of the 

 Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad, whose 

 whole line it is confidently expected will be 

 opened in 1870, and by the establishment of a 

 line of vessels from Erie to Lake Superior, in 

 competition with the New York roads and 

 canals for the carrying trade of the Upper 

 Lakes, Governor Marshall anticipates that the 

 transportation of one bushel of wheat from St. 

 Paul to New York or Philadelphia will not cost 

 then as much as it now does to Milwaukee or 

 Chicago. This difference, he says, would make 

 an increase " of three million dollars in the 

 value of our wheat crop of 1868." With still 

 greater earnestness does he speak of the con- 

 struction of the Northern Pacific Railroad from 

 Lake Superior to Puget's Sound, which " awaits 

 the action of Congress on bills now before it, 

 giving aid to the road similar to that given to 

 the Union Pacific Road." The Governor rec- 

 ommends that the Minnesota Legislature 

 "should urge upon Congress, by resolution 

 and memorial, the claims of the Northern 

 road for the necessary aid." Besides being of 

 vast general importance, because it affords 

 easier grades and shortens the distance to San 

 Francisco by 525 miles from New York, and 

 by 673 miles from Chicago, the working of the 

 Northern Pacific Railway would prove of in- 

 estimable benefit to Minnesota in particular, as 

 it would traverse in its course the northern 

 half of the State, " giving such local advan- 

 tages and development to that less favored por- 

 tion of the State as no other agency will afford." 

 Above all, it could not fail to occasion the con- 

 struction of lateral lines, which would develop 

 the vast region north and west of the Minne- 

 sota, both within the United States and Brit- 

 ish America; while the communication and 

 intercourse of that State with all around being 

 thus immensely augmented, her commerce and 

 manufactures, her population and wealth, would 

 also necessarily be increased in the same pro- 

 portions. 



Governor Marshall also recommended a 

 memorial to Congress to aid the work of 

 clearing the obstacles existing in the waters 

 between the Upper Mississippi and Lake Michi- 

 gan, and thus opening a thorough navigation 

 from one to the other. It is ascertained that 

 the cost of transportation, which is now paid 

 to railroads at the rate of 18 mills per ton per 

 mile, would be then by water no higher than 

 4 or 6 mills. 



Early in the session of 1868 a bill was intro- 

 duced in the Senate, purporting " to amend the 

 State constitution by striking the word white 

 out of it," the proposition to be submitted to 

 the people "on the same ballot with the gen- 

 eral ticket " at the presidential election in No- 

 vember. The Republican members of both 

 Houses had also a meeting among themselves, 

 on February llth, in which they resolved, 

 " That it is the sense of this caucus that the 



