566 



MINNESOTA. 



bonds were issued in 1858, and lent to railroad 

 companies upon the authority of an amend- 

 ment to the constitution made in that year. 

 Soon after receiving them the companies, as is 

 alleged, failed to comply with the conditions 

 upon which the bonds were granted, and pay- 

 ment was refused by the State. In 1860 an- 

 other amendment to the constitution was 

 adopted " expunging " the amendment of 1858, 

 and providing that "no law levying a tax or 

 making other provisions for the payment of 

 principal or interest of the bonds denominated 

 Minnesota State railroad bonds shall take effect 

 or be in force until such law shall have been 

 submitted to a vote of the people of the State 

 and adopted by a majority of the electors of 

 the State voting upon the same." Before this 

 amendment was adopted the mortgages held 

 by the State had been purchased and the 

 mortgaged railroads bought by the government 

 at nominal prices. In May, 1871, a popular 

 vote was taken on a proposition for settlement 

 by arbitration of these claims, when 21,499 

 votes were cast against and 9,293 in favor of 

 the proposition, the total vote being less than 

 half the average vote of the State. 



The effect of the operation of the new tax 

 law requiring property to be assessed at its 

 cost value, has been to increase the total value 

 of assessed taxable property from $112,035,561 

 in 1873 to $217,427,211 in 1874. In the for- 

 mer year 13,277,823 acres of land, exclusive 

 of town and city lots, were valued with build- 

 ings at $57,211,460; town and city real estate, 

 $30,285,861; personal property, $24,538,240. 

 In 1874 the assessed property included lands 

 and buildings valued at $113,410,620; real 

 estate in cities and towns, $58,994,793; per- 

 sonal property, $45,021,798. The total tax 

 levied in 1873 amounted to five mills, but a 

 levy of 2 T 8 ff 3 7 mills on the valuation of 1874 will 

 be sufficient to raise a revenue to meet the cur- 

 rent expenses of the State. 



As yet Minnesota does not hold a high rank 

 as a manufacturing State, the people being 

 more extensively engaged in agriculture. It 

 has, however, a most important element for 

 great industrial prosperity in the abundant 

 water-power afforded by its numerous streams. 

 It has been estimated that about 100,000 horse- 

 power could be utilized during the daytime 

 throughout nearly the entire year, at the Falls 

 of St. Anthony in the Mississippi near Minne- 

 apolis, while the St. Oroix Falls, in the St. Croix 

 Eiver, are only second to St. Anthony Falls in 

 hydraulic power. The total number of manu- 

 facturing establishments reported by the cen- 

 sus of 1870 was 2,270, having 246 steam-en- 

 -gines of 7,085 horse-power, and 434 water- 

 wheels of 13,054 horse-power, and employing 

 11,290 hands, of whom 10,892 were males above 

 sixteen, 259 females above fifteen, and 139 youth. 

 The capital invested amounted to $11,993,729; 

 wages,. $4,052,837; materials, $13,842,902; 

 products, $23,110,700. The most important in- 

 dustries are given in the following statement: 



The vast pine-forests of Minnesota constitute 

 an important source of wealth. It is estimated 

 that about one-third of the State is lumbered 

 land. On the head-waters of the various trib- 

 utaries of the extreme Upper Mississippi and 

 St. Croix Rivers is an extensive " pine-region " 

 comprising an estimated area of 21,000 square 

 miles. Vast forests are also found on the shore 

 of Lake Superior, and on the Red River and its 

 tributaries. The annual cutting and sawing 

 of logs affords extensive employment for men 

 and capital; 164,743,150 feet of logs were re- 

 ported to have been scaled in the North Missis- 

 sippi district in 1873, including 161,880,670 

 feet at Minneapolis, while 33,000,000 feet were 

 estimated to have been sawed but not scaled. 

 The total number of feet scaled in the St. Oroix 

 district was 147,618,147 ; sawed and not scaled, 

 8,338,976; sawed and scaled, 94,229. In the 

 Duluth district the number of feet scaled 

 amounted 6,147,988. In the St. Oroix district 

 the manufactured lumber was reported at 74,- 

 063,976 feet, besides 19,200,000 shingles, and 

 19,477,850 lath. Minnesota has unusual com- 

 mercial advantages, having within its limits 

 three great navigable water systems, which 

 are connected with the railroad system of the 

 State, and afford continuous channels of com- 

 munication with Hudson Bay, the Atlantic 

 Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico. The Missis- 

 sippi is navigable to St. Paul about 225 days in 

 the year. The completion of the Northern 

 Pacific Railroad, which has its eastern ter- 

 minus at Duluth, on Lake Superior, and is 

 now (1875) in operation to Bismarck, in Dako- 

 ta, 450 miles, will give the State direct com- 

 munication with the Pacific. This road, which 

 joins the lake and the Red River water sys- 

 tems, is to be connected with the other rail- 

 roads of Minnesota and the Mississippi River 

 by three lines of railroad at the eastern, cen- 

 tral, and western portions of the State. The 

 Lake Superior and Mississipi Railroad joins St. 

 Paul at the head of navigation on the Missis- 

 sippi River, and Duluth, at the head of Lake 



