Читать книгу The History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier - Charles E. Flandrau - Страница 22

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When the first legislature convened, the governor, on the second day of the session (Sept. 4, 1849), delivered his message. It was a well-timed document, and admirably expressed to attract attention to the new territory. After congratulating the members upon the enviable position they occupied as pioneers of a great prospective civilization, which would carry the American name and American institutions, by the force of superior intelligence, labor and energy, to untold results, he among other things said:

"I would advise you, therefore, that your legislation should be such as will guard equally the rights of labor and the rights of property, without running into ultraisms on either hand; as will recognize no social distinctions except those which merit and knowledge, religion and morals unavoidably create; as will suppress crime, encourage virtue, give free scope to enterprise and industry; as will promptly and without delay administer to and supply all the legitimate wants of the people—laws, in a word, in the proclamation of which will be kept steadily in view the truth that this territory is designed to be a great state, rivalling in population, wealth and energy her sisters of the Union, and that consequently all laws not merely local in their objects should be framed for the future as well as the present. …

"Our territory, judging from the experience of the few months since public attention was called to its many advantages, will settle rapidly. Nature has done much for us. Our productive soil and salubrious climate will bring thousands of immigrants within our borders; it is of the utmost moment that the foundation of our legislation should be healthful and solid. A knowledge of this fact will encourage tens of thousands of others to settle in our midst, and it may not be long ere we may with truth be recognized throughout the political and the moral world as indeed the "Polar Star" of the republican galaxy. …

"No portion of the earth's surface perhaps combines so many favorable features for the settler as this territory—watered by the two greatest rivers of our continent, the Missouri sweeping its entire western border, the Mississippi and Lake Superior making its eastern frontier, and whilst the States of Wisconsin and Iowa limit us on the south, the possessions of the Hudson Bay Company present the only barrier to our domain on the extreme north; in all embracing an area of 166,000 square miles, a country sufficiently extensive to admit of the erection of four states of the largest class, each enjoying in abundance most of the elements of future greatness. Its soil is of the most productive character, yet our northern latitude saves us from malaria and death, which in other climes are so often attendant on a liberal soil. Our people, under the healthful and bracing influences of this northern climate, will never sink into littleness, but continue to possess the vigor and the energy to make the most of their natural advantages."

This message, while not in the least exaggerating the actual situation, was well calculated to attract immigration to this region. It was written in a year of great activity in that line. Gold had been discovered in California, and the thoughts of the pioneer were attracted in that direction, and it needed extraordinary inducements to divert the stream to any other point. It was extensively quoted in the eastern papers, and much commented upon, and succeeded beyond all expectations in awakening interest in the Northwest. It was particularly attractive in Maine, where the people were experienced in lumbering, and many of them flocked to the Valley of the St. Croix and the Falls of St. Anthony, and inaugurated the lumbering business, which has since grown to such immense proportions. The valleys of the St. Croix, the Rum, and the Upper Mississippi rivers, with their tributaries, soon resounded with the music of the woodman's axe. Saw mills were erected, and Minnesota was recognized among the great lumber producing regions.

Although immigration continued to be quite rapid during the years 1850–54, it was not until about the year 1855 that it acquired a volume that was particularly noticeable. The reader must remember that Minnesota was on the extreme border of America, and that it represented to the immigrant only those attractions incident to a new territory possessing the general advantages of good climate, good soil and good government as far as developed. There was no gold, no silver, nor other special inducements. The only way of reaching it was by land on wheels, or by the navigable rivers. There was not a railroad west of Chicago. To give an idea of the rush that came in 1855, I quote from the "History of St. Paul," by J. Fletcher Williams, for many years secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, published in 1876. Speaking of the immigration of 1855, he says:

"Navigation opened on April 17th, the old favorite, 'War Eagle,' leading the van with 814 passengers. The papers chronicled the immigration that spring as unprecedented. Seven boats arrived in one day, each having brought to Minnesota two hundred to six hundred passengers. Most of these came through St. Paul and diverged hence to other parts of the territory. It was estimated by the packet company that they brought thirty thousand immigrants into Minnesota that season. Certainly 1855, 1856 and 1857 were the three great years of immigration in our territorial days. Nothing like it has ever been seen."

In the early fifties, the Mississippi up to, and even for a long distance above, the Falls of St. Anthony was navigable for steamboats. A fine boat, the "Ans. Northrup," once penetrated as far as the Falls of Pokegama, where she was dismantled and her machinery transported to the Red River of the North, and four or five boats regularly navigated the stream above the falls.

The Minnesota river, during all the period of our early history, and far into the sixties, was navigable for large steamers up to Mankato, and in one instance, a steamboat carrying a large cargo of Indian goods was taken by Culver and Farrington, Indian traders, as far as the Yellow Medicine river, and into that river, so that the goods were delivered at the agency, situated a few miles above its mouth. I mention this fact because a wonderful change has taken place in the watercourses and lakes of the state in the past twenty odd years, which I propose to account for on the only theory that seems to me to meet the conditions. Up to about twenty years ago, as soon as the ice went out of the Minnesota river in the spring, it would rise until it overran its banks and covered its bottoms for miles on each side of its channel, and would continue capable of carrying large steamers until late in August. Since that time it has rarely been out of its banks, and navigation of its waters has entirely ceased. The same phenomenon is observable in relation to many of our lakes. Hundreds of the smaller ones have entirely dried up, and most of the larger ones have become reduced in depth several feet. The rainfall has not been lessened, but, if anything, has increased. My explanation of the change is, that in the advance of civilization, the water sheds or basins of these rivers and lakes having been plowed up, the rainfall which formerly found its way quickly into the streams and lakes over the hard natural surface is now absorbed into the soft and receptive ground, and is returned by evaporation. This change is generally attributed to the destruction of forests, but in this case that cause has not progressed sufficiently to have produced the result, and our streams do not rise in mountains.

The trend of immigration toward Minnesota encouraged the organization of transportation companies, by boat and stage, for passengers and freight, and by 1856 it was one of the liveliest communities to be found anywhere, and, curious as it may seem, this era of prosperity was the cause of Minnesota's first great calamity.

The object of the immigrant is, always, the betterment of his condition. He leaves old communities, where competition in all branches of industry is great, in the hope of "getting in on the ground floor," as we used to say, when he arrived in a new country, and every American, and, in fact, everybody else, wants to get rich by head work instead of hand work, if he can. The bulk of the immigration that first came to Minnesota remained in the cities; there was no agriculture worthy of the name. I may say that we had nothing at all to sell, and everything we needed to buy. I can remember that as late as 1853, and even after, we imported hay in bales from Dubuque to feed the horses of St. Paul, when there were millions of tons of it growing in the Minnesota valley, within a few miles of the city.

In the progress of emigration to the West, the territories have always presented the greatest attractions. The settler expects to have a better choice of lands, and at original government prices. Society and politics are both in the formative condition, and very few emigrants omit the latter consideration from their hopes and expectations. In fact, political preferment is a leading motive with many of them.

Under the influence of this great rush of immigration it is very natural that the prevailing idea should be that lands would greatly increase in value in the near future, and everybody became a speculator. Towns and cities sprang into existence like mushrooms in a night. Scarcely anyone was to be seen without a town-site map in his hands, the advantages and beauties of which fictitious metropolis he was ready to present in the most eloquent terms. Everything useful was neglected, and speculation was rampant. There were no banks of issue, and all the money that was in the country was borrowed in the East. In order to make borrowing easy, the law placed no restrictions on the rate of interest, and the usual terms were three per cent per month, with the condition that if the principal was not paid at maturity, the interest should be increased to five per cent per month. Everybody was in debt on these ruinous terms; which, of course, could not last long before the inevitable explosion. The price of lands, and especially town lots, increased rapidly, and attained fabulous rates; in fact, some real property in St. Paul sold in 1856 for more money than it has ever since brought.

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