Books: Minnesota and Dacotah
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C.C. Andrews >> Minnesota and Dacotah
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LETTER II.
CHICAGO TO ST. PAUL.
Railroads to the Mississippi-- Securing passage on the steamboat-- The
Lady Franklin-- Scenery of the Mississippi-- Hastings-- Growth of
settlements
ST. PAUL, October, 1856.
HOW short a time it is since a railroad to the Mississippi was thought
a wonder! And now within the state of Illinois four terminate on its
banks. Of course I started on one of these roads from Chicago to get
to Dunleith. I think it is called the Galena and Chicago Union Road. A
good many people have supposed Galena to be situated on the
Mississippi river, and indeed railroad map makers have had it so
located as long as it suited their convenience-- (for they have a
remarkable facility in annihilating distance and in making crooked
ways straight)-- yet the town is some twelve miles from the great
river on a narrow but navigable stream. The extent and importance of
Rockford, Galena, and Dunleith cannot fail to make a strong impression
on the traveller. They are towns of recent growth, and well illustrate
that steam-engine sort of progress peculiar now-a-days in the west.
Approaching Galena we leave the region of level prairie and enter a
mineral country of naked bluffs or knolls, where are seen extensive
operations in the lead mines. The trip from Chicago to Dunleith at the
speed used on most other roads would be performed in six hours, but
ten hours are usually occupied, for what reason I cannot imagine.
However, the train is immense, having on board about six or seven
hundred first class passengers, and two-thirds as many of the second
class. Travelling in the cars out west is not exactly what it is
between Philadelphia and New York, or New York and Boston, in this
respect: that in the West more families are found, in the cars, and
consequently more babies and carpet bags.
It may not be proper to judge of the health of a community by the
appearance of people who are seen standing about a railroad station;
yet I have often noticed, when travelling through Illinois, that this
class had pale and sickly countenances, showing too clearly the traces
of fever and ague.
But I wish to speak about leaving the cars at Dunleith and taking the
steamboat for St. Paul. There is a tremendous rush for the boats in
order to secure state-rooms. Agents of different boats approach the
traveller, informing him all about their line of boats, and
depreciating the opposition boats. For instance, an agent, or, if you
please, a runner of a boat called Lucy-- not Long-- made the assertion
on the levee with great zeal and perfect impunity that no other boat
but the said Lucy would leave for St. Paul within twenty-four hours;
when it must have been known to him that another boat on the mail line
would start that same evening, as was actually the fact. But the
activity of the runners was needless; for each boat had more
passengers than it could well accommodate. I myself went aboard the "
Lady Franklin," one of the mail boats, and was accommodated with a
state-room. But what a scene is witnessed for the first two hours
after the passengers begin to come aboard! The cabin is almost filled,
and a dense crowd surrounds the clerk's office, just as the ticket
office of a theatre is crowded on a benefit night. Of course not more
than half can get state-rooms and the rest must sleep on the cabin
floor. Over two hundred cabin passengers came up on the Lady Franklin.
The beds which are made on the floor are tolerably comfortable, as
each boat is supplied with an extra number of single mattresses. The
Lady Franklin is an old boat, and this is said to be its last season.1
Two years ago it was one of the excursion fleet to St. Paul, and was
then in its prime. But steamboats are short lived. We had three tables
set, and those who couldn't get a seat at the first or second sat at
the third. There was a choice you may believe, for such was the havoc
made with the provisions at the first table that the second and third
were not the most inviting. It was amusing to see gentlemen seat
themselves in range of the plates as soon as they were laid, and an
hour before the table was ready. But the officers were polite-- as is
generally the case on steamboats till you get down to the second
mate-- and in the course of a day or two, when the passengers begin to
be acquainted, the time wears away pleasantly. We were nearly four
days in making the trip. The line of boats of which the Lady Franklin
is one, carries the mail at fifty dollars a trip. During the boating
season I believe the fare varies from seven to ten dollars to St.
Paul.2 This season there have been two lines of boats running to
Minnesota. All of them have made money fast; and next season many more
boats will run. The "Northern Belle" is the best boat this season, and
usually makes the trip up in two days. The advertised time is thirty
hours.
[1 Three weeks after this trip the Lady Franklin was snagged, and
became a total toss.]
[2 The following is a table of distances from Galena to St. Paul:
Dubuque,
24
Dunleith,
1
25
Potosi Landing,
14
39
Waupaton,
10
49
Buena Vista,
5
54
Cassville,
4
58
Guttenberg,
10
68
Clayton,
12
80
Wyalusing,
5
85
McGregor's,
6
91
Prairie du Chien,
4
95
Red House,
5
100
Johnson's Landing,
2
102
Lafayette,
30
132
Columbus,
2
134
Lansing,
1
135
De Soto,
6
141
Victory,
10
151
Badaxe City,
10
161
Warner's Landing,
6
167
Brownsville,
10
177
La Crosse,
12
189
Dacotah,
12
201
Richmond,
6
207
Monteville,
5
212
Homer,
10
222
Winona,
7
229
Fountain City,
12
241
Mount Vernon,
14
255
Minneiska,
4
259
Alma,
15
274
Wabashaw,
10
284
Nelson's Landing,
3
287
Reed's Landing,
2
289
Foot of Lake Pepin,
2
291
North Pepin,
6
297
Johnstown,
2
299
Lake City,
5
304
Central Point,
2
306
Florence,
3
309
Maiden Rock,
3
312
Westerville,
3
315
Wacouta,
12
327
Red Wing,
6
333
Thing's Landing,
7
340
Diamond bluff,
8
348
Prescott,
13
361
Point Douglass,
1
362
Hastings,
3
365
Grey Cloud,
12
377
Pine Bend,
4
381
Red Rock,
8
389
Kaposia,
3
392
St. Paul,
5
397
]
The scenery on the upper Mississippi is reputed to be beautiful. So it
is. Yet all river scenery is generally monotonous. One gets tired of
looking at high rocky ridges quite as quickly as at more tame and
tranquil scenery. The bluffs on either side of the Mississippi, for
most of the way between Dunleith and St. Anthony's Falls, constitute
some of the most beautiful river scenery in the world. It is seldom
that they rise over two hundred feet from the water level, and their
height is quite uniform, so that from a distant point of view their
summit resembles a huge fortification. Nor, as a general thing, do
they present a bold or rocky front. The rise from the river is
gradual. Sometimes they rise to a sharp peak, towards the top of which
crops out in half circles heavy ridges of limestone. The ravines which
seem to divide them into separate elevations, are more thickly wooded,
and appear to have been grooved out by the rolling down of deep
waters. The most attractive feature of these bluffs-- or miniature
mountains, as they might be called-- is their smooth grassy surface,
thinly covered over with shade trees of various kinds. Whoever has
seen a large orchard on a hill side can imagine how the sides of these
bluffs look. At this season of the year the variegated foliage of the
trees gives them a brilliant appearance. It is quite rare to see a
bluff which rises gradually enough to admit of its being a good town
site. Hence it is that settlements on the banks of the river will
never be very numerous. Nature has here interposed against that
civilization which adorns the lower Mississippi. It appears to me that
all the available points for town sites on the river are taken up as
far as the bluffs extend; and some of these will require a great
amount of excavation before they can grow to importance.
But there are several thrifty and pleasant villages in Minnesota, on
the river, before reaching St. Paul. The first one of importance is
Brownsville, where, for some time, was a United States land office. It
is 168 miles above Dunleith. Winona, 58 miles farther up, is a larger
town. It is said to contain 5000 population. There is a land office
there also. But the town stands on land which, in very high water,
will run too much risk of inundation. Passing by several other
landings and germs of towns, we come to Wacouta, ninety-eight miles
above; which is a successful lumber depot. Six miles further on is Red
Wing, a place which delighted me on account of its cheerful location.
It is growing quite fast, and is the seat of a large Methodist
seminary. But the town of Hastings, thirty-two miles above, eclipses
everything but St. Paul. It is finely located on rising ground, and
the river is there narrow and deep. The boat stopped here an hour, and
I had a good opportunity to look about the place. The town appears to
have considerable trade with the back country. Its streets are laid
out with regularity; its stores and buildings are spacious, durable,
and neat. I heard that over $2000 were asked for several of the
building lots. A little way into the interior of the town I saw men at
work on a stone church; and approaching the spot, I determined to make
some inquiries of a boy who was briskly planing boards. First, I asked
how much the church was going to cost? About $3000, he replied.
"Are there any other churches in the place?"
"Yes, up there, where they are building."
"What denomination is that?"
"I don't know," he responded. "I only came into the place yesterday."
I thought he was doing well to begin to build churches so soon after
his arrival. And from his countenance, I have no doubt he will do
well, and become a useful citizen of the state. Hastings has its
democratic press-- the Dakota Journal, edited by J. C. Dow, a talented
young man from New Hampshire. The population of the town is about two
thousand. It is thirty-two miles below St. Paul, on the west side of
the river. There is nothing of especial interest between the two
places.
The great panorama which time paints is but a species of dissolving
views. It is but as yesterday since the present sites of towns and
cities on the shores just referred to showed only the rude huts of
Indian tribes. To-day, the only vestige left there of the Indian are
his burying-grounds. Hereafter the rudeness of pioneer life shall be
exchanged for a more genial civilization, and the present, then the
past, will be looked back to as trivial by men still yearning for the
future.
LETTER III.
CITY OF ST. PAUL.
First settlement of St. Paul-- Population-- Appearance of the city--
Fuller House-- Visitors-- Roads-- Minneapolis-- St. Anthony--
Suspension Bridge.
FULLER HOUSE, ST. PAUL, October, 1856.
THE circumstance of finding a good spring of water first led to the
settlement of Boston. It would not be unreasonable to suppose that a
similar advantage induced the first settler of St. Paul to locate
here; for I do not suppose its pioneers for a long while dreamed of
its becoming a place even of its present importance. And here let me
mention that St. Paul is not on the west side of the Mississippi, but
on the east. Though it is rather too elevated and rough in its natural
state to have been coveted for a farm, it is yet just such a spot as a
pioneer would like to plant himself upon, that he might stand in his
door and have a broad and beautiful view towards the south and west.
And when the speculator came he saw that it was at the head of
navigation of what be thought was the Upper Mississippi, but which in
reality is only the Middle Mississippi. Then stores were put up, small
and rude, and trade began to increase with settlers and hunters of
furs. Then came the organization of the territory, and the location of
the capital here, so that St. Paul began to thrive still more from the
crumbs which fell from the government table, as also by that flood of
emigration which nothing except the Rocky Mountains has ever stayed
from entering a new territory. And now it has passed its doubtful era.
It has passed from its wooden to its brick age. Before men are certain
of the success of a town, they erect one story pine shops; but when
its success appears certain, they build high blocks of brick or
granite stores. So now it is common to see four and five story brick
or stone buildings going up in St. Paul.
I believe this city numbers at present about 10,000 population. It is
destined to increase for a few years still more rapidly than it has
heretofore. But that it will be a second Chicago is what I do not
expect. It would certainly seem that the high prices demanded for
building lots must retard the progress of the place; but I am told the
prices have always been as high in proportion to the business and
number of population. $500 and upwards is asked for a decent building
lot in remote parts of the town.
I have had an agreeable stroll down upon the bluff, south-east from
the city, and near the elegant mansion of Mr. Dayton. The first
engraving of St. Paul was made from a view taken at that point. As I
stood looking at the city, I recalled the picture in Mr. Bond's work,
and contrasted its present with the appearance it had three or four
years ago. What a change! Three or four steamers were lying at the
levee; steam and smoke were shooting forth from the chimneys of
numerous manufactories; a ferry was plying the Mississippi,
transporting teams and people; church steeples and domes and great
warehouses stood in places which were vacant as if but yesterday; busy
streets had been built and peopled; rows of splendid dwellings and
villas, adorned with delightful terraces and gardens, had been
erected. I went out on Sunday morning too, and the view was none the
less pleasant. Business was silent; but the church bells were ringing
out their sweet and solemn melody, and the mellow sunlight of autumn
glittered on the bright roofs and walls in the city. The whole scene
revealed the glorious image of that ever advancing civilization which
springs from well rewarded labor and general intelligence.
Like all new and growing places in the west, St. Paul has its whiskey
shops, its dusty and dirty streets, its up and down sidewalks, and its
never-ceasing whirl of business. Yet it has its churches, well filled;
its spacious school-houses; its daily newspapers; and well-adorned
mansions. There are many cottages and gardens situated on the most
elevated part of the city, north and west, which would not suffer by a
comparison with those cheerful and elegant residences so numerous for
six to ten miles around Boston. From the parlors of these homes one
may look down upon the city and upon the smooth bosom of the river. In
the streets, too, you see much evidence of opulence and luxury, in the
shape of handsome carriages, which are set out to advantage by a
first-rate quality of horses.
One element of the success of this city is the public spirit of its
leading business men. They have put their hands deep into their
pockets to improve and advance the place. In all their rivalry there
is an amicable feeling and boundless liberality. They help him that
tries to help himself, and help each other in a way that will help
them all together; and such kind of enterprises produces grand
results. Why, here is a new hotel (the Fuller House) at which I stop,
which is surpassed but by very few hotels in the country. It is a
first-class house, built of brick, five stories high, and of much
architectural beauty. The building itself cost upwards of $100,000,
and its furniture over $30,000. Its proprietor is Mr. Long, who has
already had good success in this sort of business. One can well
imagine the comfort of finding such a house at the end of a long and
tedious journey in a new country.
It is estimated that 28,000 people have visited and left St. Paul
during the present season. During July and August the travel
diminishes, but as soon as autumn sets in it comes on again in daily
floods. It is really a novel and interesting state of things one finds
on his arrival at the hotel. There are so many people from so many
different places! Then everybody is a stranger to almost everybody,
and therefore quite willing to get acquainted with somebody. Everybody
wants a bit of information on some point. Everybody is going to some
place where he thinks somebody has been or is going, and so a great
many new acquaintances are made without ceremony or delay; and old
acquaintances are revived. I find people who have come from all
sections of the country-- from the east and the west, and from the
south-- not adventurers merely, but men of substance and means, who
seek a healthier climate and a pleasant home. Nor can I here omit to
mention the meeting of my friend, Col. A. J. Whitney, who is one of
the pioneers of Minnesota, and with whom I had two years before
travelled over the western prairies. A. H. Marshall, Esq., of Concord,
N. H., well known as a popular speaker, is also here on a visit.
But what are the roads leading from St. Paul, and what are the
facilities of travel to places beyond? These are questions which I
suppose some would like to have answered. There is a road to
Stillwater, and a stage, which I believe runs daily. That is the route
now often taken to Lake Superior. This morning three men came in on
that stage from Superior, who have been a week on the journey. The
great highway of the territory extends as far as Crow Wing, 130 miles
north of here. It passes St. Anthony and several important towns on
the eastern bank of the Mississippi. In a day or two I intend to take
a journey as far as Crow Wing, and I can then write with more
knowledge on the subject.
A very pretty drive out of St. Paul is by the cave. This is an object
worth visiting, and is about two miles out of the city. Three or four
miles beyond are the beautiful falls of Minnehaha, or laughing water.
The drive also takes in Fort Snelling. St. Anthony is on the east side
of the Mississippi; Minneapolis is opposite, on the west side. Both
places are now large and populous. The main street of St. Anthony is
over a mile in length. One of the finest water powers in the Union is
an element of growth to both towns. The lumber which is sawed there is
immense. A company is undertaking to remove the obstructions to
navigation in the river between St. Paul and St. Anthony. $20,000 were
raised for the purpose; one-half by the Steamboat Company, and the
other half by the people of St. Anthony. The suspension bridge which
connects Minneapolis with St. Anthony is familiar to all. It is a fit
type of the enterprise of the people. I forget the exact sum I paid as
toll when I walked across the bridge-- perhaps it was a dime; at any
rate I was struck with the answer given by the young man who took the
toll, in reply to my inquiry as I returned, if my coming back wasn't
included in the toll paid going over? " No," said he, in a very
good-natured way, "we don't know anything about coming back; it's all
go ahead in this country."
LETTER IV.
THE BAR.
Character of the Minnesota bar-- Effect of connecting land business
with practice-- Courts-- Recent legislation of Congress as to the
territorial judiciary-- The code of practice-- Practice in land
cases-- Chances for lawyers in the West-- Charles O'Connor-- Requisite
qualifications of a lawyer-- The power and usefulness of a great
lawyer-- Talfourd's character of Sir William Follett-- Blending law
with politics-- Services of lawyers in deliberative assemblies
ST. PAUL, October, 1856.
I HAVE not yet been inside of a court of justice, nor seen a case
tried, since I have been in the territory. But it has been my pleasure
to meet one of the judges of the supreme court and several prominent
members of the bar. My impression is, that in point of skill and
professional ability the Minnesota bar is a little above the average
of territorial bars. Here, as in the West generally, the practice is
common for lawyers to mix with their profession considerable
miscellaneous business, such as the buying and selling of land. The
law is too jealous a mistress to permit any divided love, and
therefore it cannot be expected that really good lawyers will be found
in the ranks of general business agents and speculators. In other
words, a broker's office is not a lawyer's office. There are some
lawyers here who have attended strictly to the profession, who are
ornaments of it, and who have met with good success. The idea has been
common, and as fatal as common, that success in legal practice could
be easily attained in the West with a small amount of skill and
learning. It is true that a poor lawyer aided by some good qualities
will sometimes rise to affluence and eminence, though such cases are
exceptions. There are able layers in the West, and, though practice
may be less formal and subtle than in older communities, ability and
skill find their relative advancement and reward, while ignorance and
incapacity have their downward tendency just as they do everywhere
else. The fees for professional services are liberal, being higher
than in the East. Before an attorney can be admitted to practise he
must have an examination by, or under the direction of, one of the
judges of the supreme court. The provisions of the territorial
statutes are quite strict in their tendency to maintain upright
practice.
An act of the present congress has created a revolution in the courts
of the territory. The organic act, SS 9, provided that the territory
should be divided into three judicial districts; "and a district court
shall be held in each of said districts by one of the justices of the
supreme court, at such times and places as may be prescribed by law."
This meant, I suppose, at such times and places as the territorial
legislature should prescribe. Accordingly, as population increased and
extended, and as counties were established, the territorial
legislature increased the places in each district for holding the
district court. Either on account of the expense or for some other
cause congress has just stepped aside from the doctrine of
non-intervention (ch. 124, sec. 5), and abrogated the territorial
legislation so far as to provide that there shall be but one place in
each of the three districts for holding a district court. The act
applies to all territories. In a territory of five or six hundred
miles in extent it is of course inconvenient to have but three places
for holding courts. The Minnesotians complain that it is an
interference with popular sovereignty. It is possible the legislature
might have gone to an extreme in creating places for holding courts;
and I suppose the judges were kept on the march a good deal of the
time. It also looks as if the remedy by congress was extreme. The
people say it is a coercive measure to drive them into a state
organization.
The administration of justice is secured by a system which is now
common to all the territories, with the exception of Kansas. The
supreme court consists of the three district judges in full bench.
They hold nisi prius terms in their respective districts, which are
called district courts. The judges have a salary of $2000 each, and
are appointed for a term of four years, subject to removal by the
President. The district courts have chancery jurisdiction in matters
where there is not a plain, adequate, and complete remedy at law.
(Stat. of Min. ch. 94, sec. 1.) There are also probate courts. Each
county has two justices of the peace, who are elected by the people.
And I cannot but remark how much better the practice is to elect or
appoint a few justices of the peace rather than to allow the office to
be degraded by wholesale appointments, as a matter of compliment,
according to the usage too common in some Eastern States. The justices
of the peace have jurisdiction in civil cases where the amount in
question does not exceed $100; and when the amount at issue is over
$20 either party may demand a jury of six men to try the case. But
there would be little demand for juries if all magistrates were as
competent as our enlightened friend Judge Russell.
Special pleading never flourished much in the West. It was never "a
favorite with the court" out this way; while the regard which the
lawyers have cherished for it has been "distant and respectful." It
has been laid on the shelf about as effectually as bleeding in the
practice of medicine. The science of special pleading, as it is known
in these days-- and that in some of the older states-- exists in a
mitigated form from what it did in the days of Coke and Hale. The
opportunities to amend, and the various barriers against admitting a
multiplicity of pleas, have rendered the system so much more rational
than it once was, that it is doubtful if some of the old English
worthies could now identify it. Once a defendant could plead to an
action of assumpsit just as many defences as he chose; first, he could
deny the whole by pleading the general issue; then he could plead the
statute of limitations, infancy, accord and satisfaction, and a dozen
other pleas, by which the plaintiff would be deprived of any clue to
the real defence. I suppose it was this practice of formal lying which
has given rise to the popular error that a lawyer is in the habit of
lying, or is obliged to lie, in his arguments. Many people do not know
the difference between pleading-- which is a process in writing to
bring the parties to an issue-- and the oral arguments of counsel in
courts. It is ridiculous to suppose that it is easy or profitable for
lawyers to make false statements in their arguments. The opposing
counsel is ready to catch at anything of the kind; and if he misstates
the evidence, the jury are aware of it; while if he states what is not
law, the court generally knows it. So there is no opportunity for
lying even if a lawyer should be so disposed. The practice in civil
actions as provided by the statutes of Minnesota is similar-- if not
actually the same-- to the New York code of practice. There is but one
form of action, called an action of contract. The only pleading on the
part of the plaintiff is, 1st, the complaint; 2d, the reply. On the
part of the defendant, 1st, demurrer; or 2d, the answer. (Stats. ch.
70, sec. 58.) The complaint must contain, 1st, the title of the cause,
specifying the name of the court in which the action is brought and
the names of the parties to the action, plaintiff and defendant; 2d, a
statement of the facts constituting the cause of action in ordinary
and concise language, without repetition, and in such a manner as to
enable a person of common understanding to know what is intended; 3d,
a demand of the relief to which the plaintiff supposes himself
entitled. If the recovery of money be demanded the amount must be
stated. (Ibid. sec. 59.)
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