CHAPTER IV, 
Railroad Practicability of the Section to the base of the Mountains.—-Geographical 
Importance^ of the Bois des Sioux.—Navigability of the Missouri River. 
To present the geography, adaptation of the country to settlement, facilities of railroad con¬ 
struction, as materials, communication and physical circumstances, the route will be subdivided 
as lollows: 
1. The region from the Great lakes to the Grand Plateau of the Bois des Sioux; 
2. From the Grand Plateau of the Bois des Sioux to the valley of the Mouse river ; 
3. From Mouse river to the plateau between the Milk and Missouri rivers ; 
4. The region of the Rocky and Coeur d’Alene mountains; and, 
5. The Cascades. 
The Grand Plateau of the Bois des Sioux and the Mouse River valley are the two keys of rail¬ 
road communication from the Mississippi river westward through the Territory of Minnesota. 
The Bois des Sioux is a river believed to be navigable for steamers of light draught, flowing north¬ 
ward from Lake Traverse into the Red river of the North ; and the plateau of the Bois des Sioux 
may be considered as extending from south of Lake Traverse to the south bend of the Red river, 
and from the Rabbit river, some thirty miles east of the Bois des Sioux river, to the Dead Colt 
Plillock. This plateau separates the rivers flowing into Hudson’s bay from those flowing into 
the Mississippi river. The Mouse River valley, in the western portion of Minnesota, is from ten to 
twenty miles broad; is separated from the Missouri river by the Coteau du Missouri, some six 
hundred feet high, and it is about the same level as the parallel valley of the Missouri. 
1. The plateau of the Bois des Sioux will be a great centre of population and communication. 
It connects with the valley of the Red river of the North, navigable four hundred miles for steamers 
of three or four feet draught, with forty-five thousand square miles of arable and timber land ; 
and with the valley of the Minnesota, also navigable at all seasons, when not obstructed by ice, 
one hundred miles for steamers, and occasionally a hundred miles farther. The head of naviga¬ 
tion of the Red river of the North is within one hundred and ten miles of the navigable portion 
of the Mississippi, and is distant only forty miles from the Minnesota. Eastward from these 
valleys to the great lakes, the country on both sides of the Mississippi is rich, and much of it 
heavily timbered. The great number of streams affords extraordinary facilities for bringing sup¬ 
plies to market. Roads can be run to the several crossings of the Mississippi from Dubuque, 
which affords the most direct communication with Chicago, to Little Falls, which affords the 
most direct communication with Lake Superior. Little Falls, indeed, is the best crossing of 
the whole. It is only three hundred and twenty-five feet long, and is in two channels of one 
hundred and twenty-five and two hundred feet. The line thence to the Bois des Sioux is better 
than the other lines in crossing the heads of streams and furnishing greater supplies of timber. 
And as the country east of the Mississippi from the Little Falls furnishes extraordinary facilities 
for railroad construction, and especially an excellent connexion with St. Paul, the head of naviga¬ 
tion of the Mississippi river, the Little Falls will be adopted as the point of crossing the Missis¬ 
sippi. The route thence to Chicago can be either direct by St. Paul, or by Stillwater, on the St. 
Croix, with a branch to St. Paul. 
In the location of the road, the routes to the other good crossings should be examined. The 
most important crossings are near the Falls of St. Anthony, at the rapids near the mouth of Sauk 
