15° 23'. Thirty-one days the mercury was at or above freezing, and thirty-seven days below zero. The coldest day, (January 30,) it was 20° below; and the mildest, (February 25,) 36° 6' above zero. Winds, north-north-west, 50 days; south-east to east-north-east 20 days; variable, 20 days. The amount of rainy days this winter is stated as unusually large, from which the dryness of the atmosphere may be inferred. The earliest closing of the navigation by ice, between 1844 and 1850, was November 8; the latest, December 8. The earliest opening in the same period was March 31; the latest, April 19. The climate of Minnesota, in some parts, is too severe for Indian corn, but the dryness and steadiness of the cold favor wheat and other winter grains.

LAKES AND RIVERS.-Minnesota is, perhaps, even more deserving than Michigan of the appellation of the "Lake State," as it abounds in lacustrine waters of every size, from lakes of forty miles in extent to small ponds of less than a mile in circuit. These beautiful sheets of water give origin to rivers flowing north, south, and east, some finding their way to the Atlantic through the mighty Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico; others through the great lakes, Niagara, and the St. Lawrence; and others, again, pass off to the north, and seek the ocean through Hudson's Bay and Straits. The largest of these lakes, with the exception of Lake Superior, are the Lake of the Woods, Rainy Lake, Red, Leech, and Mille Lac, or Spirit Lake. These generally have clear, pebbly bottoms, and are well stocked with fish, among which are whitefish, pike, pickerel, maskelonge, sucker, perch, and trout. Wild rice grows on the borders of many of them, especially at the north. Red Lake, on the 48th parallel, east of Red River, with which it communicates, is divided into two portions, united by a strait of two miles in width, and covers about 600 square miles. Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake (the former a larger sheet of water, perhaps 100 miles in circuit,) are both on the north-east boundary of the State. Lake Pepin, a beautiful sheet of water, is a mere expansion of the Mississippi in the south-east of this State. The rivers and large streams of Minnesota are almost as numerous as its lakes. The far-famed Mississippi takes its humble origin from Itasca Lake, from whose pellucid waters it issues a rivulet of but a few feet in width, and first meandering in a northeast direction through a number of small lakes, to receive their tribute, it turns to the south, and pursues its lordly way to its far distant exit in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving in its course the shores of nine States. About 800 miles of its length are included within Minnesota, of which 600 are navigable for steamboats, 200 below the Falls of St. Anthony, and 400 above, with two interruptions, however, at Sauk Rapids and Little Falls. The Rum and St. Croix, tributaries of the Mississippi, drain the south-east portion of the State, and the Red River the northern, passing off into Hudson's Bay. It is the outlet of Traverse, Ottertail, Red, and several smaller lakes. It has a course of about 500 miles within Minnesota, though it does not flow directly north more than 200 miles in that distance. The Lake Superior slope is principally drained by the St. Louis and its branches, and by the outlets of that series of small lakes that form the north-east boundary of Minnesota. The great

valley formed by the slopes of Coteau des Prairies and the Coteau du Bois, is drained by the St. Peter's, or Minnesota, and its tributaries This river runs first in a south-east and then in a north-east course, with a total length of from 400 to 500 miles, and is navigable for steamers Its principal branch is the Blue Earth or Mankato River. The St Peter's, with the Crow Wing and Crow Rivers, are the principal tributaries of the Mississippi from the west. The rivers of Minnesota abound in small falls and rapids, which, while they interrupt navigation, furnish extensive water-power. The St. Croix is navigable to Stillwater for large boats, and for small ones to the falls; the Minnesota to Traverse des Sioux, and at high water 100 miles further; the St. Louis twenty miles for large vessels, and the Red River in nearly all parts for either Durham boats or steamboats. The Blue Earth, Rum, Elk, and others are navigable from 50 to 100 miles for steamboats of light draught and flat boats.

The navigable waters within the State have a total shore line of 2,746 miles, and a water line of 1,532 miles. Along the banks of the Mississippi and of some other rivers are high bluffs, forming one of the most interesting and characteristic features of the scenery.

OBJECTS OF INTEREST.-Many natural objects of interest are found throughout Minnesota. The traveler enters her territory ascending the Mississippi, amid beautiful islands, (one of which, Mountain Island, is 428 feet high,) and between cliffs of sandstone and magnesian limestone rising to an elevation of three hundred to five hundred feet. Soon he passes into that beautiful expansion of the river called Lake Pepin, on the east branch of which rises Maiden's Rock, celebrated in Indian tradition, about four hundred feet high; and near the northern extremity of the lake, La Grange Mountain, a headland about 330 feet above the lake, 180 of which, at the base, is sandstone, capped with magnesian limestone. As he proceeds, continuing his ascending voyage, the traveler arrives at the famed St. Anthony's Falls, less celebrated on account of their perpendicular pitch (only 16 feet) than for their accompaniments of wild scenery and their geological interest. The falls are divided by an island, as at Niagara, the greater portion of the water passing on the western side, which is 310 yards wide. The entire descent, including the rapids, is 58 feet in 260 rods. St. Anthony's Falls will no doubt one day become a Western Lowell; indeed, its capabilities as a manufacturing site far transcend those of the town named, when the wants of the country shall call them into requisition. Fountain Cave, two or three miles above St. Paul, is an excavation in the white sandstone, which opens by an arched entrance 25 feet wide and 20 high, into a chamber 150 feet long and 20 wide, along the center of which glides a rivulet, which may be heard from its inner and hidden recesses dashing down in small cascades. The passage becomes very narrow as you proceed up the channel, occasionally opening into small chambers. Mr. Seymour advanced nearly 1,000 feet within the cave without reaching its termination. Brown's Falls are in a narrow stream, the outlet of several small lakes on the west side of the Mississippi. They have a perpendicular descent of 50 feet, and including

smaller falls and rapids, 100 feet. Pilot Knob, near the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Peter's, is an elevation of 262 feet, which commands a fine view of the surrounding country and the two rivers near whose junction it stands. The St. Croix Falls, or Rapids, about 30 miles from its mouth, have a descent of nearly 50 feet in 300 yards; but the most interesting portion of the scene consists in the perpendicular walls of trap-rock through which the river has forced its way, about half a mile below the rapids, and through which it rushes with great velocity, forming eddies and whirlpools. At this place, 40 or 50 feet above the river, port-holes, 20 to 25 feet in diameter, and 15 to 20 deep, have been worn by the action of the water. This pass is called the Dalles of the St. Croix. The Sioux River "breaks through a remarkable formation of massive quartz, which crosses it perpendicu Tarly," at the Great Bend, in about 43° 30′ north latitude, and forms a series of falls and rapids, one of which is 21 feet, another 18, and a third 10 feet in perpendicular pitch. The entire descent in 400 yards is 100 feet. Minnesota shares with Wisconsin in the falls and rapids of the St. Louis River, another picturesque and romantic display of nature's works. The rivers of Minnesota are filled with picturesque rapids and small falls, and often bordered with perpendicular bluffs of lime and sandstone, or gently sloping hills that gracefully recede from the water. This region is the paradise of a hunter: its prairies and forests are the home of many wild animals, and in its rivers and lakes swim great varieties of fish.

A few miles beyond St. Anthony's Falls, between Minneapolis and Fort Snelling, are the Minnehaha Falls, a romantic and beautiful cascade with a perpendicular pitch of 45 feet, flowing over a projecting rock, which permits a passage underneath.

FOREST TREES.-Parts of Minnesota are densely timbered with pine forests, and the ridges of the drift districts with small pine, birch, aspen, maple, ash, elm, hemlock, firs, poplar, and basswood. In the swamps between the ridges the tamarack, cedar, and cypress are found; while the river bottoms furnish a good growth of oak, aspen, soft maple, basswood, ash, birch, white walnut, linden, and elm. Much of this timber on the poorer ridges, and in some of the marshes, is of rather a dwarf character. On the Rum, St. Croix, and Pine Rivers, there are extensive forests of pine. According to Professor Owen, "a belt of forest crosses Minnesota in latitude 44° 30', which is remarkable for its unusual body of timber, in a country otherwise but scantily timbered." Bond says "there are 80 miles of solid pine timber on the shores of the Mississippi, below Pokegamin Falls." Taken as a whole, Minnesota can scarcely be called a well-wooded country. But here, as in other parts of the West, when the prairies are protected from fire, a growth of young timber soon springs up.

ANIMALS.-Minnesota has always been a favorite hunting-ground of the Indians, and vast herds of buffalo, elk, deer, antelope, and other game still roam over the plains west of the Coteau des Prairies and the Red River. Deer, black bear, antelope, wolverine, otter, muskrat, mink, martin, wolf, and raccoon abound, and the moose and grizzly bear ars

occasionally met with. The prairies are frequented by grouse, pheasants, and partridges, and the streams by wild ducks and geese. The other birds are hawks, buzzards, harriers, owls, quails, plovers, larks, and a great variety of small birds. Among the water-fowl are the pelican, tern, hooded sheldrake, bustard, broadbill, ruffle-headed duck, wood duck, teal, wild goose, and loon. Both the golden and bald eagles are occasionally met with. The rivers and lakes abound in fine fish, among which are the bass, cap, sunfish, pickerel, pike, catfish, whitefish, sucker, maskelonge, and trout.

SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS.-The soil of Minnesota varies greatly. In the valleys of the rivers it is mostly excellent, especially in those of the St. Peter's, and of the Mississippi and its tributaries in the southeast part of the State. Above the Falls of St. Anthony, with the exception of the river alluvions and some prairie land, the country is generally covered with drift, interspersed with marshes, too wet for cultivation; but the elevated portion is often much of it of tolerable fertility, though inferior to the calcareous lands of the river-bottoms, and not unfrequently covered with dwarf timber. Professor Owen remarks that "the general agricultural character of the Red River country is excellent. The principal drawbacks are occasional protracted droughts during the midsummer months, and during the spring freshets, which from time to time overflow large tracts of low prairie, especially near the Great Bend." According to Governor Ramsay, wherever the test has been made, Minnesota produces corn, wheat, oats, and potatoes equal in quality to that produced in any State in the Union, and in quantity such as to astonish those who have been familiar even with the rich bottom-lands of Indiana and Illinois. The nutritious wild rice, strawberries, currants, plums, cranberries, grapes, and crab-apples are indigenous.

According to the national census of 1850, there were only 5,035 acres of land under cultivation; but the census of 1860 increased this number to 554,297. The latter census showed an annual product of 2,195,812 bushels of wheat, 124,259 of rye, 2,987,570 of Indian corn, 2,202,050 of oats, 18,802 of peas and beans, 2,027,945 of Irish potatoes, 781 of sweet potatoes, 125,130 of barley, 27,677 of buckwheat, 274,952 tons of hay, 22,740 pounds of wool, 2,961,591 of butter, 99 of maple sugar, 34,923 of beeswax and honey, 14,974 gallons of sorghum molasses, and 21,829 of maple molasses. The yield of wheat in Minnesota in 1865 was ten million bushels, at an average of 25 bushels per acre. It is estimated that 700,000 bushels of this crop were exported at remunerative prices. The value of live stock in 1860 was $3,655,366; of homemade manufactures, $8,057; and of animals slaughtered, $732,418.

MANUFACTURES.-According to the census of 1860, there were then in Minnesota 565 manufacturing establishments, in which a capital of $2,400,000 was invested, and which employed 2,230 hands-2,215 males and 15 females. The quantity of raw material consumed was valued at $2,060,000 and the value of the annual products was estimated at $3,600,000. By the census of 1850, Minnesota had five manufacturing establishments, with a capital of $94,000, employing 63 males and no

female hands, consuming yearly $24,300 worth of raw material, and manufacturing products valued at $58,300.

COMMERCE.-A large trade is carried on by steamers on the Mississippi, and a regular communication maintained with the East via Milwaukee and Chicago, and with the Gulf States by way of St. Louis, etc. The arrivals of steamboats at St. Paul, in 1844, were 41; 1845, 48; 1846, 24; 1847, 47; and in 1848, 63. To this period the sole occupation of these was in the fur and Indian trade. In 1849, and subsequent years, the arrivals were as follows:

In this table are included arrivals from ports within as well as without the State. The principal points of connection in the river trade without the State are La Crosse, Prairie du Chien, Dunleith, and St. Louis, from which came five-eighths of the arrivals in 1859; the remainder came chiefly from the Minnesota River, on which a smaller class of boats were employed. About 1860 an important trade sprang up between St. Paul and the Selkirk settlement on the Red River of the North, then a community of ten thousand persons, consisting of farmers, hunters, and traders, connected with the Hudson Bay Company. Until 1859 this trade, which was constantly increasing, was carried on by means of carts overland, of which four hundred to five hundred arrived annually at St. Paul. In that year, however, a small steamboat was placed on the Red River, and with the improved means of conveyance the Hudson Bay Company chose that route for the transportation of their annual supplies, in preference to the old canoe route to Hudson's Bay.

In 1859 there were engaged in the commerce of Lake Superior nine steamers and twenty sailing vessels, with a total burden of 16,200 tons. The chief commercial products of the country are wheat and oats, in the yield and quality of which Minnesota excels most other States; corn, of which it is less productive; potatoes, turnips, and other field roots; dairy products, wool, cattle, hides, furs from the north-west, pine lumber and cranberries from the north-east, and ginseng from the central forests.

EDUCATION.-Ample provision has been made for public education in Minnesota. There is a grant by Congress of two sections of every township of land, or 2,888,000 acres in all, and a tax of one-fourth of one per cent. on all taxable property, amounting in 1854 to $89,000, for