1 6 A Recent Visit to America. 



of the Northern Pacific in Montreal, for their attention and fore- 

 thought, which enabled the party to accomplish the journey 

 without a single hitch. After giving some account of the 

 journey through the older parts of the United States, he said that 

 at Rock Island they crossed the Mississippi, which, even at that 

 distance from New Orleans, is a broad navigable river. There 

 they saw the Government arsenal and armoury, which, as well 

 as many private factories, are worked by water-power, derived 

 from a great dam at Molines. St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota, 

 is one of the most thriving towns in America, containing 100,000 

 inhabitants. Minneapolis, another town of almost equal impor- 

 tance, is only eight miles distant, and, though some jealousy 

 exists, they are no doubt fated to become one town. St. 

 Anthony's Fall is the overflow from what was said to be 

 the greatest waterfiow in America. It drives a large number 

 of flour mills, one of which they examined carefully. It was said 

 to turn out more flour than any other place in the world, 

 and that they could well believe. What surprised them most 

 was that the country appeared richer than that to the east of 

 Chicago. There were rich corn crops on either side of the 

 railway, interspersed with small towns devoted to various manu- 

 factures. He was shown a factory where one thousand ploughs 

 were turned out every day. 



From St. Paul they entered upon the vast tract of prairie 

 land now so actively developing by the Northern Pacific Rail- 

 way, through their commissioner, Mr. Lamborn, of St. Paul, 

 who gave him the maps now on the table. Travelling day and 

 night through the territories of Minnesota, Dakota, and Mon- 

 tana, they stopped at Amnabar, the nearest station to Yellow- 

 stone Park, which lies principally in the territory of Wyoming. 

 The prairie was not so flat as he expected ; every here and there 

 are hillocks, with occasional groups of small trees. The 

 Missouri River is navigable for steamers up to the town of 

 Bismarck, and there is a fine suspension bridge across the 

 Missouri, connecting Bismarck with Mandan. At Dickenson 

 they parted with a fellow-traveller, who was president of several 

 large cattle ranches, and the groups of head ranchemen and 



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