" from Galena to Mendota. In 1837, the "Palmyra steamed up the St. Croix with men and machinery for the saw mills then being erected. The Anthony Wayne," the 'Nominee," and the "Yankee " ascended the Minnesota in 1850, and the "Anson Northrup" was put on the Red River nine years later. Thus the steamboat took the place of the bark canoe and the keel-boat on our navigable waters. For many years steamboats on the Mississippi brought numberless passengers and vast quantities of merchandise to the river towns, to be distributed by wagons to more or less remote points in the interior. They took away the wheat and other surplus products of our farms, and were a chief agency in the early and rapid development of the state. 67. Pembina, or Red River, Carts.- In 1844, there sprang up a valuable trade between St. Paul and the Red River Settlement, and for nearly twenty years what was known as the Pembina, or Red River, cart, was the means of transportation. The cart was of rude workmanship. It was constructed of wood and leather, without a particle of iron, and would carry from 600 to 700 pounds. It was drawn by an ox, or a pony, with a harness of untanned buffalo hide. One driver managed several carts. A train left Pembina in June, when the grass was growing, and camped at night by wood and stream, and in thirty or forty days reached St. Paul, 448 miles by the nearest route. In 1844, the train consisted of but six carts; in 1851, of 102; in 1858, of 600. The number then slowly decreased until 1867, when the Northern Pacific railroad was opened to St. Cloud, and soon after to the Red River. In 1863, the fur trade alone reached $250,000, and the return trade in merchandise was much more, one house in St. Paul selling $4,000 worth of tobacco, to say nothing of liquors and other articles. The arrival of the Red River carts added much to the life and trade of the territory. Buffalo robes, marten, fisher, otter, muskrat, fox, badger, bear, wolf, wild-cat, lynx, beaver, and all other kinds of fur found in a high northern latitude, were brought to exchange for merchandise or cash. Cartloads of the handiwork of the squaws were in the train. There were moccasins, gloves, and mittens, with beads, porcupine quills, and birds' feathers worked into them in an artistic manner.—Stevens's Early History of Minnesota, p. 35. 68. The Stage Coach.- In the summer of 1849, the first stage coach was run in Minnesota. It made daily trips between St. Paul and St. Anthony, or two trips daily if travel demanded. In the autumn of the same year, a line was opened from St. Paul to Prairie du Chien, by way of Stillwater and Wisconsin towns. The first Concord coach was put on this line in 1851. From 1850 to 1860, many companies were organized, and routes were established between important points over all the settled portions of the state. The stages carried the mail, express packages, travelers, speculators, and home-seekers in great numbers. 69. Railroad Bonds. By an act of Congress, ap proved March 3, 1857, land amounting to 5,000, 00C) acres was granted to the territory for the construction of railways. Immediately certain scheming companies sought to get control of this land, and during an extra session of the legislature an act was passed giving it to them; but it was soon discovered that the companies that obtained the lands had neither money nor credit to carry on the proposed work. To further their scheme, the companies sought additional aid, and the legislature of 1858 passed an act submitting to the people an amendment to the constitution, providing for a loan of the public credit, amounting to $5,000,000, to be paid on the completion of a certain number of miles of road. Regardless of the warning of prominent citizens, the amendment was carried by an overwhelming majority. But the scheme proved an utter failure. After bonds to the amount of $2,275,000 had been issued, the state had not a mile of completed road, and only 250 miles of graded road. By foreclosure proceedings, the state acquired the 250 miles of graded road, the franchises of the companies, and nearly 5,000,000 acres of land as indemnity for its bonds. But there was a public sentiment against the payment of the principal or the interest of the bonds, without a vote of the people, and in 1860 this sentiment was embodied in an amendment to the constitution. For nearly twenty years the bonds remained unadjusted; but in 1877 state pride began to assert itself, and a proposition setting aside the proceeds of 500,000 acres of internal improvement lands in settlement was, by an act of the legislature, submitted to a vote of the people, but it was voted down by a large majority. In October, 1881, an extra session of the legislature was called, and final adjustment was authorized on a basis of 50 per cent. of the amount due, and bonds to the value of $4,282,000 were issued to those who were entitled to receive them. For the payment of these bonds, a proposition to set aside the proceeds of the 500,000 acres of internal improvement land was again submitted at the general election in 1881, and was ratified by the people. Thus the stigma of repudiation was at last removed. This result was brought about largely through the influence of John S. Pillsbury, then governor of the state. 70. Building Railroads. The legislature of 1862 infused new life into our dead railroad system by conveying the franchises obtained by foreclosure to new companies, some of which pushed the work vigorously. During the summer of 1862, the St. Paul and Pacific road laid its track between St. Paul and St. Anthony, a distance of ten miles.. This was the first completed road in the state. After the close of the Civil War, labor was more abundant, and railroad construction went on rapidly, so that in 1870 cars were running on nearly one thousand miles of track, and the work was pushed with vigor until the commercial crisis of 1873 brought all public enterprises to a stand. The period from 1880 to 1890 was one of great activity, and 2,310 miles of road were put in operation. On the 30th of June, 1894, Minnesota had 5,912.42 miles of completed railroad. Of 16, 111,001 acres of land given to our railroads, 12, 151,527 acres were given by the general government, and 3,959,474 acres by the state. Of this vast amount, 10,216,060 acres have been patented by the state to railroads within its borders. |