158 



CITIES, AMERICAN. (LA CROSSE, LAFAYETTE, LEWISTON.) 



La Crosse, a city and the county seat of La 

 Crosse County, Wis., at the confluence of the 

 Black and La Crosse rivers with the Mississippi. 

 It is a terminal of the Chicago and Northwestern 

 Eailway, the Chicago, Burlington and Northern, 

 and Green Bay, Winona and St. Paul Railroads, 

 and of four divisions of the Chicago, Milwaukee 

 and St. Paul Railway. Its population in 1880 

 was 14,505; in 1890, 25,121. The growth of its 

 business is exhibited in the following table: 



It is connected with the Minnesota shore 

 from which it draws an extensive business 

 by a drawbridge opened for traffic in the 

 autumn of 1890. The bridge has the longest 

 span, save one, on the Mississippi, and cost 

 $200,000. In the common and high schools not 

 only the tuition but books and all the accessories 

 of e'ducation are furnished free, and the city has 

 a free library, in a handsome building containing 

 over 10.000 volumes. There are 45 churches, 6 

 public halls, and a convenient and tastefully 

 embellished opera house. There is an excellent 

 system of water works, with an efficient fire de- 

 partment. The city is lighted by gas and electric 

 lights. The good natural drainage is supplement- 

 ed by a complete system of sewers. The town is 

 traversed in all directions by street cars. There 

 is a board of trade. The streets in the residence 

 portion are all lined with shade-trees, and the 

 effect is further enhanced by the general atten- 

 tion paid to the floral and horticultural sur- 

 roundings. The dwellings are mostly owned by 

 the occupants, even the laboring classes being, 

 as a rule, freeholders. 



Lafayette, a city of Indiana, county seat of 

 Tippecanoe County, on both sides of Wabash 

 river, at the head of navigation in the western 

 part of the State, 64 miles from Indianapolis, 

 120 from Chicago, and 180 from Cincinnati. Of 

 5 railroads traversing the county, 4 pass through 

 the city, viz., the Louisville, New Albany and 

 Chicago, the Wabash, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, 

 Chicago and St. Louis (Big Four), and the Lake 

 Erie and Western. A belt railway connecting all 

 the factories with the main roads is owned by a 

 company organized in 1889 with a capital of 

 $250,000. The population in 1880 was 14,800, and 

 in 1890, 16,243, an increase of 9-31 per cent. The 

 assessed valuation of the city is $10,000,000. 

 There are about 70 miles of improved streets, 

 with an area of 3| miles, being rapidly laid with 



improved brick, and 22 miles of free gravel roads 

 connect with the surrounding country. Four 

 national, 1 private, and 1 savings bank have an 

 aggregate capital of $525,000, and deposits of 

 $3,000,000. There are 20 churches. Three daily 

 and 6 weekly newspapers are published, electric 

 lights are in use, and there are 4 miles of elec- 

 tric street railway : also a competent fire depart- 

 ment with electric alarm. The water works were 

 completed in 1876 at a cost of $350,000. The 9 

 public schools have an average attendance of 

 5,000 pupils, and there are in addition private 

 and sectarian institutions. The city is also the 

 site of Purdue University (named for John Pur- 

 due, who gave to it $150,000), which comprises 

 8 buildings, and has a United States agricultural 

 experimental station. During 1890 the attend- 

 ance of students was 550. A new union depot 

 has been completed, and a public library erected 

 at a cost of $50,000, containing 12,000 volumes. 

 Congress appropriated $80,000 for a Federal 

 building in March, 1890, and the County Court 

 House, one of the finest and most elaborate in 

 the State, cost $500,000. North of the city is the 

 famous battle-ground where the Indians under 

 Tecumseh were defeated by Gen. William Henry 

 Harrison in 1811. Natural gas is supplied in 

 from 23 wells in Tipton County, with a registered 

 pressure of 300 pounds at the wells. The indus- 

 tries include car works employing 800 men, 5 

 large boot and shoe factories, 4' large cooperage 

 establishments, iron works, foundries, 1 paper 

 and 1 horning mill, 4 breweries, pork-houses, and 

 1 distillery. In the public square is an artesian 

 well of sulphur water. The city is the largest 

 of the 24 places in the United States named in 

 honor of the French general. The surrounding 

 country is rich, and there are many beautiful 

 suburban homes. 



Lewiston, a city of Idaho, county seat of Nez 

 Perccs County, on the western line of the State, 

 at the junction of Snake and Clear water rivers. 

 The business part of the city is on a level tract 

 extending from Snake river on the west about 

 two and a half miles easterly to a picturesque 

 and lofty bluff, varying in width from 300 yards 

 to a quarter of a mile The difficulty and ex- 

 pense of getting water on the plateau to the 

 south, which has an average elevation of 80 feet 

 above the business quarter, has confined building 

 largely to this area ; but water works of the 

 Holly system, costing $100,000. under construe 

 tion in 1890-'91, will obviate this difficulty. A 

 compound duplex pump, operated by a 90-horse- 

 power steam engine, conveys water from Clear- 

 water river to a reservoir of 1,500,000 gallons' 

 capacity, at an elevation of 225 feet, from which 

 it is distributed in two mains, 8x10 inches, 

 connecting at the farther end of the city and 

 forming a complete circuit, which can be oper- 

 ated by direct pressure or gravitation, the press- 

 ure in the business portion being 97 pounds to 

 the square inch, and on the plateau to the south 

 65 pounds. A canal .17 miles long, carrying 

 water from Sweetwater river through a canon to 

 a strip of table-land a few miles in rear of the 

 city, covering 25 square miles, is another under- 

 taking of great importance. Fruit-growing and 

 grain and stock raising are the principal indus- 

 tries of the county, which contains 90,477 acres 

 of improved land. The larger part, however, is 



