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3a^j*zz r*?*$s3tz-Lzr: -nr.v-.K: -so r^.u^awpj-rs?'
WASHING to.\-, July. 17, 1858
lidkers of the Fionesr^ Democrat:
Hh% Postmaster General lias this day direct
ed that a contract for carrying the mail frbin
St. Cloud via Breckinridge, to Fort Abercrow
bie b* made with Messers Allen and Chase—
a proposition having been made by them which
van deemed reasonable. I
Respectfully. H. M. Rice.
Homestead Excmp ion.
We give our readers to day the Home
stead exemption Bill of Minnesota. There
is, as we observe, quite a diversity of sen
timent as to its justice and propriety. We
entertain the opinion that a* rascal will
•xheat yon exemption or no exemption and
.his law may shield honest debtors from
the severity of unfeeling creditors, until
such time as they can accumulate a suffi
ciency to pay their entire indebtedness.—
At all events we can give it a fair trial
nd if it disappoints the expectations of its
:ads it can bo repealed.
AN ACT FOII A HOMESTEAI» EXEMPTION.
xU it enacted by the Legislature of the
ISlateof Minnesota
Ssc. 1. That a homestead consisting of
amy quantity of land, not exceeding eighty
acres, and the dwelling house thereon and
its appurtenances, to be selected by the
owner thereof, and not included in any in
corporated town plat, or city or villa »Q.—
Or, instead thereof at the option \f the
owner, a quantity of land not excer-dingin
amount one lot being within an incorpora
ted town, city or village, and the dwelling
house thereon and itsappurtenances, own
ed and occupied by any resident of this
•Stite, shall not be subject to attachment,
Jevy or sale upon execution, or any other
process issuing out of any Douri within
this State. This section shall be deemed
and construed to exempt su.ch homestead
in the manner aforesaid, during the time
it shall be occupied by the widow, or mi
nor, child or children of any deceased
person who was when livingeiuitled to the
benefits of t^is Act
SEC. 2. 6ueh exemption shall not ex
tend to any mortgage, therefn lawfuilyob
tained, but such mortgage, or other alien
ation, of such land by the '.wner thereof, it
a married man, shall not
le
valid without
the signature of the wife to the same, un
less such mortgage ahall be given to se
cure the payment of the, purchase money
or some portion thereof.
SEC. 3. Whenever a levy shall be made
upon the lands or tenements of a house
holder, whose homestead has not been se
iected and set apart, by metes and bounds,
*such householder i^ay notify the officer at
Uhe time of making
Buch
levy, of what he
•regards as his homestead, wita a descrip
tion thereof, wit inn the limits above pre
^tribed, and the remainder alone 6ha!l be
"subject to sale under such levy.
SEC. 4. L4!' the plaintiff in execution
thall be dissatisfied with the quantity of
i»nd setectci and get apart as aforesaid,
tho o£eer halting the levy shall cause the
samet-o. bej surveyed, beginning at a point
to be tfes^goated by the owner, and set off
in a ©,ii .pact form, including the dwelling
housf. ad its appurtenances, the amount
sj?ee.fi' in the first section of this Act,
«**.»} t? ie expense of such survey shall be
«'-w--jreable on the execution and collected
.ei eupon.
JEC. 5. After the survey shall have
"bf en made, the officer making the. levy
i-iay sell the property levied upon and not
included in the set-off, in the same manner
as provided in other cases for the sale of
real estate on execution, and in giving a
deed of the same, he may describe it ac
cording to his original levy, excepting
therefrom by metes and bounds, according
jo the certificate of the survey, the quant?
ty set-off as aforesaid.
SEC. 6- Any person owning and occu
pying any house or land not his own, and
claiming said house as a homestead, shall
be entitled to the exemption aforesaid.
SEC. 7. Nothing in this act shall be
considered as exempting any real estate
"om taxation or sale for taxes.
SEC. 8. No property hereinafter mention
ed or represented shall be liable to attach
aent, execution or sale, or any final process
•*sucd from any court in this* State:
First. The family bible.
Second. Family pictures, school books
'r library, and musical instruments for use
of family.
Third. A seat or pew in any house or
"^lace of public worship.
Fourth. A lot in any burial ground.
Fifth. All wearing apparel of the deb
tor and his family, all beds, bedsteads, and
bedding, kept and used by the debtor and
his family all stoyes and appendages put
up or kept for the use of the debtor and
his family all cooking utensils, and all oth
er houshold furniture not herein enumer
ated., not exceeding
4Sve
hundred dollars
value.
Sixth. Three cows, ten swine, une yoke
oxen and one horse or in lieu of one
voke of oxen and a horse, a span of horses
or mul twenty sheep and the wool from
the same, either in the raw material or
manufactured into yarn or cloth the nec
cssary food for all the stock mentioned in
this section for one year's support, either
provided or growing, or both, as the debtor
nay choose also, one wagon, cart or dray,
me sleigh, two plows, one drag, and other
arming utensils, including tackle for teams,
notexceeding threehundreddollarsin value.
Seventh. Provisions for the debtor and
his family necessary for one years support,
either provided or growing, or both, and
fuel necessary for one year.
Eighth. The tools and instruments ot
any mechanic, miner or other person, used
and kept for the purpose of carrying on
hi* trade or business, and in addition there
to stock in trade not exceedind four hun
dred dollars in value the library and imple
ments of any professional man all of which
articles he: sinbefore intended to be exempt,
shall be chosen by the debtor, his agent'
clerk, or legal representative, as the case
may be
S 9. Nothlug ia tfeia
nnstrued as to exempt §ny
his State from execution, or attachment,
for clerks, laborers or mechanics' wages.
Sec. 11). All laws, inconsistent with
revisions of this Act are hereby repealed.
Sec. 11. This act shall take effect from
after its passage.
GEO. BRAPLEY, Speaker of the II. of R.
WM, HOLCOMBE, Pres't Senate.
Approved August 12th, 1858.
A. H. SiULEY^Governer.
THE PRE-EMPTION LAW
1. The settler must never before have had
the benefit of pre-emption under the act.
2. He must not, at the time of making the
pre-emption, be the owner of 320 acres of
land in any State or Territory of the United
States.
3. He must settle on and improve the land,
in good faith, for his own exclusive use andcities.
benefit, and not with the intention of selling
it on speculation and must not make, directly
or indirectly, any contract or agreement, in
any way or manner, with any person or per
sqr*s, by which the title which he may acquire
of The United States should enure, in whole
or in part, to the benefit of any person except
himself.
4. He must be twenty-one years of age and
a citizen of the United States or if a for
eigner, he must Lave declared his intention
to become a citizen, before the proper author
ity, and receive a certificate to that effect.
5. lie must build a house on the land, live
in it, nnd make it his exclusive home and
must be an inhaH'ftti ay same at the time
of making applications for pre-emption. (Un
til lately a single man might board with his
nearest neighbor, but the same is now required
of a single as a married man, except that if
the settler is married, his family must also
live in the house.)
6. The law requires that more or less im
provement be made on the laud, such as break
ing, fencing, &c but pre-e mptiona are gran
ted where a half-acre is broken and enclosed.
7. It is necessary that no other person, en
titled to pre-emption, reside upon the land
at the same time.
0. No one is permitted to remove from his
own land, and make pree-mption in the same
state or territory.
9. The Settler is required to bring with him
to the Land Office a written or printed appli
cation, setting forth the facts to his case of the
1st, 2d and 3d requirements here mentioned,
with a certificate appended, to be signedl
the register and receiver, and make affidavit
to the same.
10. He is also required to bring with him
respectable witness of his acquaintance, who
is knowing to the fact of his settlement, th
make affidavit to the 4th, 5th, Gth, 7tm and 8te
acquirements here mentioned, with the same
set forth on paper, with a corresponding blank
certificate attached, to be signed by the land
officers.
11. The pre-emptor, if a foreigner, must
bring with him to the land office, duplicates
of his naturalization papers, duly signed by
the official from whom they were received.
A minor who is the head of a family, or a
widow, may also pre-empt, their families being
required to live on the land.
The settler is required to file a written de
claratory statement of the intention to pre
empt, before he can proceed with his pre-emp
tion.
FEES—1st. The fee required by the regis
ter, for filling a declaratory statement, is one
dollar.
2d. For granting a pre-emption the register
and receiver can receive fifty cents.
Thaddoiis,Stephens.
This gentleman who has been elected to
the next Congress, from Pennsylvania,was
a member in 1850 and on the 20th of
February of that year, delivered a speech
of which we give an extract below.
will be apt to add greatly to Mr. Buchan
an's felicity during the last years of his
reisjn.
I am opposed to despotism throughout the
world. Inmy judgement, not*only the Slave
States, but the General Government recogniz
ing as it does, slavery, is a despotism.
Despotism does not depend upon the number of
rulers. It may have one ruler or many. Home
was a despotism under Nero: so she was under
the Trumvirate. Athens was a despotism un
der her Thirty Tyrants under her Four Hun
dred Tyrants under her Three Hundred Ty
rants. In this government, the free
white citizens are the rulers—the sovereigns
•s we delight to be called. All others are sub
jects.
'The rulers and the ruled are of all colors,
from the clear white of the Caucassian tribes to
the swarthy Ethiopian. The former bj court
esy, are called white, the latter black. In
this government the subject has no rigi its, so
cial, personal and political. He has no voice
in the laws which govern him. He can hold
no property. His very wife and children are
not his. His labor is another's. He and
allmay
that appertain to him are the absolute property
of bis rulers. He is governed, bought, sold,
punished, executed, by laws to which he never
gave his assent, and by rulers he never chose.
He is not a serf, merely, with half the rights of
men, like the subjects of despotic Russia but
a naked slave, stripped of every right vhich
God and nature give him, and which the high
spirit of our revolution declared inalienable—
which he himself could not surrender, and
which man could hot take from him. la he
not,.then, the subject of a despotic rule.
"The slaves of Athens|and Home were iree
in comparison. They had some rights—could
acquire some property could choose their own
masters, and purchase their own frcedom.and,
when free could rise in social and political
life. The slaves of America, then, lie undor
the most absolute and grinding depotism, that
the world ever saw. But who are the despots?
The rulers of the country—the sovereign peo
ple! Not merely the slaveholder who cracks
the lash. He is but the instrument in thu
hands of despotism. That despotism is the
government of the Slave States, and the tJnitecl
States, consisting of all its rulers, all the fret'
citizens. Do not look upon this as a paradox,
because you and I and the sixteen millions ol*
rulers are free. Nicholas of Russia is free.—
The grand Sultan of Turkey is free. The
butcher of Austria is free. Augustus, An
thony and Lepidus were free while they
drenched Rome in blood. The thirty Tyrants,
the Four hundred Tyrants, the Three Thous
and Tyrants, were free while they bound their
countrymen in chains. You, and I, and the
sixteen millions, are free, while we fasten iron
chains, and rivet manacles on four millions of
our fellow men tear their wives and children
from them seperate them sell them and doom
them to perpetual, eternal bondage. Are woinestate
not then despots—despots such as history will
brand and God abhor.
NOTICE.
The copartnership heretofore existing Tinder
the style of "Whitney & Co.," is this day dis
solved by mutual consent.
Kingston Minn. A. P. WHITNEY,
August 25 1858. A. NOURSE.
nov 11.
pn
TKiilX8iGSk&SbtJggS.f.
mum bo so
projjerty in
NEW YORK TRIBUNE-
1S58—59.
rpHE successful Uying of the trans-jUlantio
Telegraph Cable marks anew era in
thoarteries
history of Human Progress. Henceforth Eu
rope, Western Asia, and Northern Africa lie
within an hour's distance from our shores, and
the battle which decides the fate of a kingdom,
the capture of a Vienna or Gibralter, the fall
of a dynasty, the triumph of a usurpation, the
birth of an heir to royality, the death of a Nic
holas or Wellington, in any country which
touches the Mediterranean, the Eusine, the
Black Sea or the German Ocean, will bo pub
lished in New York the next morning, if not
on the very day of its occurrence. In a mo
ment, as it were, we have been thrown into the
immediate intellectual neighborhood of the
wholo civilized and a large portion of the semi
barbarous world. The rise and fall of stocks
in London or Paris will henceforth be reported
from day to day in thcjournalsof our seaboard
The boldest operators in Wall Street
will refuse to buy or sell until they have read
the quotations of that day's business in the
Royal Exchange and at the Boarse, whose
transactions will have closed an hour or so be
fore ours can begin. A revolution in Paris, an
important vote in Parliment, an insurrection
in Italy, afire in Constantinople, will be dis
cussed around the breakfast tables of New York
a few hourB after its occurrence. A mighty
though silent transformation in the conditions
of human existence has just been effected by
the little wire stretching across the ocean's bed
from the coast of Ireland to that of British
America and one inevitable result of this must
be an unexampled community of feeling and
interest among the nations of Christendom, and
a consequent desire for a more intimate ac
quaintance with each others doings throngh
the medium of the Newspaper Press. It seems
hardly possible that thousands should not
henceforth read their own journals, who have
hitherto been content with an occasional glance
at those taken by their neighbors while many
who have hitherto been content with a Weekly
issue will now require a Semi-Weekly or
Daily. In short, Intelligence, always a vital
element of growth, in wisdom, success in busi
ness, or enjoyment in life, has now become
indespensiblo to all.
E N E W O I N E now
more than seventeen years oid, which was the
first journal in the world that appeared regu
larly on an imperial eight sheet at so low a
price as two cents, and which has attained the
unparrelleled aggregate of more than 200,000
subscriptions, respectfully solicits its share of
the new patronage which the Metropolitan
Press is henceforth constrained, at 'a heavy
weekly cost, to deserve. It asks especially the
patronage and active favor the Rcpublicans-of
those who hate all forms of oppresion, and
desire that every rational being shall be free to
employ his faculties in such innocent manner
as he shall deem best—of those who would ex
tend Liberty and limit Slavery—but it further
appeals likewise to all who look and labor for
the return of National thrift, plenty, prosperi
ty, through the Prosperity of American Indus
try by wisely discriminating duties on Imports
—all who favor National Progress through in
ternal developcmcnt and melioration rather
than by external aggresion and extension—all
who would rather have the National resources
devoted to the construction of a railroad to
the Picific than to the purchase or conquest
of Mexico, Nicaraugua or Cuba—all who would
retrench radically our present inordinate Fe
deral expenditures by abolishing or immense
ly reducing the Army and Navy, and expend
ing the money thus saved on works of benefi
cence which will endure to bless our children
all who profoundly realize that "Righteousness
exalteth a nation," and that no real advantage
can ever accrue to any person or community
from acquisitions or successes achieved by
means which contravene the laws of Eternal
Right. The free allotment of limited portions
of the Public Lands to Actual Settlers thereon,
and every hopeful plan intended to diminish
the sum of human misery from dearth of em
ployment or inadequate recompense—every
scheme especially that seeks to help the
unfortunate by enabling them and teaching
them to help themselves—must command our
earnest sympathy and cooperation.
Within the present year, E I N E
has provided itself with anew and faster Press
at a cost of §30,000, merely that some of our
subscribers may receive their papers mail
earlier than they otherwise might do. With
correspondents at the most important points
throughout the civilized world, and a staff of
writers chosen from among the best in the
country, we believe that even those who dis
like the politics of our sheet concede toit frank
ness in avowing its couvictions and ability in
maintaining them. We appeal, then, to those
who believe that an increased circulation of
The Tribune would conduce to the political,
intellectual and moral well being of the Repub
lic, to aid us in effecting such increase. As
we employ no traveling solicitors of subscrip
tions, we ask our present patrons in every lo
cality to speak to their neighbors and friends,
in our behalf we shall gladly receive from any
friend lists of those who would receive and.
read a specimen copy of one of our editions,
and shall be particularly grateful to those who
send us such names from post offices at.
which we have now no subscribers- Whatever
additions may thus be made to our circulation,
shall be paralleled by increased efforts and.
expenditures to make our issues more valuable
and useful than they have hitherto been
E I N E is printed on a large im
perial sheet folded in quarto form, and mailed
to subscribers on the following
TERMS:
DAILY TRIBUNE, per annum §6,00
SEMI-WEEKLY TIUBTJNE.
1 copy 1 year, §3 I copies 1 year, $11, 25
2 copies 5 O to 1 addrcss,20,00
WEEKLY TRIBUNE.
1 copy,1 year, §2 I copies 1 year, 58
3 copies 5 I O
0
,^.yt^y^?»aCT«^a»^,rr7r..T|.7 --..y
12
2 0 copies, to one address, and any
larger number at the rate of $1
per annum. £20
2 0 copies, address of each subscriber
and any larger number, at the
rate of $1,20 each. $24
Any person sending us a club of 20 or tore
will bs entitled to an extra copy.
Subscriptions may commence at.any tim D.—
Terms always cash in advance. All letters: t©
be addressed to
HORACE GREELY & CO.
Tribune Buildings,
No. 154 Nassau street, New Yoirk.
NOTICE.
A PPLICATION HAVING BEEN MADE
J.JL TO ME by Maria Ann Rausch for let
ters of administration on the estate of Joseph
Rausch late deceased of said County wh.o died
it is therefore ordered that Saturday
the 11th day of December A. D. 1858 at ten
o'clock in the forenoon of said day at my office
at St. Cloud be the time and place appointed
by"me for hearing and determining said, appli
cation. And all persons interested in said
estate are notified to appear and show cause
at that time why said application' should not
be granted.
DAVID SINCLAIR,
Judge of Probate, Stearns x, Min.
nov25.
v^^riBS*fta.
SAZINTT O
St. Cloud is tho point at which tho Red Riv
er trains cross the Mississippi on their way to
St. Paul, which proves it to be the natural
junction of land travel between these two great
of tjiulc. It is at the present head of
steam navigation on tho Mississippi. Boats
run regularly, during the Spring and early
Summer mouths, from St. Anthony to this
place.
The map gives its position correctly with
reference to all the most important points in
the territory, but the peculiar beauty of its
location, and fertility of the surrounding coun
try cannot be transcribed. Within fifteen
miles of St. Cloud, on opposite sides of the
river, and at different points of the compass
are e^ght lakes, varying in size from 1 mile to
5 miles in circumference, all, save one, beau
tiful, exceedingly, three of them at least, deep
enough to fioat a man-of-war. Wooded banks,
clean pebbly shores plentifully mixed with
cornelian and waters abundantly supplied
with fish.
When Gov. Stevens made his survey of a
northern railroad route to the pacific, in '53,
he camped "on the western side of the Mis
sissippi, btdow Sauk Rapids." The place was
nameless—the present site of St. Cloud but it
is here his route leaves the river. In the sum
mer of '65 a claim cabin was built on the spot
where we now write, a good saw mill, the
frame of a large Hotel and eight other dwell
ings were put up that summer. This last fall
there wero three hundred and thirty-two votes
polled in the precinct. Not the votes of Indi
ans or Ha If Breeds, for there are none here.
A majority of the inhabitants of the county
are hardy Germans, with sturdy wives and
children, cultivating the soil and working at
mechanical employments.
The su bsoil is sand and although the soil is
from one to three feet deep, a rich black loam
supporting a rank vegetation, the drainage is
so perfect and the air so pure, that breathing
is a perpetual pleasure. As yet, our physi
cians have discovered no diseases peculiar to
the climate, no indigenious complaint except
the "Minnesota Appetite" which requires one
fourth move treatment than a modest Pennsyl
vania or Ohio attack of a corresponding dis
ease.
Any "body who wants to drink whiskey in
peace had better not come here, for the treaty
by which the land was acquired from the Sioux,
forbids its introduction and the Legislature
has paused a law enforcing that provision but
people of moderate means and industrious hab
its whr have children to educate, willfindfew
places where the opportunity for correct moral
training, healthy development of muscle, and
the means of pecuniary independence are bet
ter coi nbincd.
The:re are immense tracts of pine lying above,
from which the mills at St. Paul, St. Anthony
and the Minnesota Valley are supplied. These
employ a lai-ge and ever-increasing force of
men, horses and oxen, who are to be supplied
with provisions clothing and feed. The soil is
waiting for an opportunity to produce unlimit
ed quantities of food, without troubling the far
mer crushing clods while the Mississippi from
St. Paul to Little Falls can afford to turn a mill
at almost any point and has water power
enough to do the manufacturing for a Conti
nent.
Our natural meadows produce a grass from
four to six feet high, and the beef killed off our
praiiries is quite equal to any stall fed we have
ever eaten. Our venison is fine at ten cents
per pound, rabbits, prairie hens, partridges,
ducks, &c, plenty. Thousands of bushels ot
acorns for the hogs that are not here to eat
them. Fuel for the labor of cutting and haul
ing off the ground and there is no likelihood
of the supply running out soon, as the "Big
Woods" extend from this place some twenty
miles or more, down this side of tlic river, and
from eight to twelve miles back. Our prairies
are all dotted with strips of wood land, "Oak
Openings" which just look like old orchards,
dense thickets of plum trees bearing delicious
fruit, grape vines, doing likewise, thousands ot
acres of hazel bushes and strawberry vines, en
gaged in the same business while some hun
dred acres arc in the cranberry trade and turn
out an article, which for quantity and quality
cannot be excelled. The blackberries, red rasp
berries and hops tack up their shingles in the
woods and seldom disappoint the most san
guine expectations of their customers. There
is still land ten or fifteen miles back which set
tlers can get, at government price, by building
a cabin and living on it until it comes into
market. Actual settlers can buy lots here at
from one to five hundred dollars, and specula
tors can have the same lots at from five to fif
teen hundred.
In some of the river towns back, places that
will be pleasant villages, lots can be had gratis
by those who will build and live on them.—
This, in places where a house can be built for
fifty dollars, that would be a palace compared
to the dens rented in large cities for 4 and 5
dollars per month, while the lot, with only the
aid of a grubbing hoe and a few days labor,
would bring vegetables to feed a family, and
every township has 600 acres appropriated to
the support of schools.
Seventy thousand acres are appropriated to
a State university. A fine building has already
been erected for the use of that institution. It
is situated at St. Anthony, built of stone on an
eminence commanding a view of the falls, and
no State in the Union has abetter foundation
for a good system of popular education. No
other prairie State is so well timbered as Min
nesota and no State more abundantly supplied
with clear water. In the country surrounding
St. Cloud and as far North and West as we have
any reliable account, settlers find no difficulty
in locating land on a running stream or trans
parent lake with plenty of timber at hand for
building, fencing and fuel, and as the land on
the West side of the Upper Mississipi is only
open to pre-emption, there is little opportunity
for speculators, and settlers have assurance of
neighbors and that rapid increase in the value
of their lands and in social advantages which
arise from the system of land in limited quan
tities to actual settlers.
The country around St. Cloud, west of the
Mississippi wa3 purchased of the Indians in a
treaty made with them by Hon. Alexander
Ramsey and Luke Lea in 1852 and ratified by
the senate the same year. The Sioux had
owned the land from 1827 but had not occupied
it, and it was used as a hunting ground by the
Winnebagoes whose land reached within four
miles north of St. Cloud. Their country was
ceded to the United States by a treaty began
with Commissioner Manypeny and concluded
at Washington in Feb. 1855 and ratified by the
Senate March 3d of the same year. In May
following they removed to their reservation on
the Blue Earth river and only since that time
has Stearns county claimed kindred with civili
zation. The first house within the corporated
limits of St. Cloud was built by James Hitch
ens, forGeneral Lowry. James Hitchens being
•the first white man who slept in a house here
is entitled to the distinction of being the "old
est inhabitant." The site of Lower St. Cloud
was taken up as a claim by Martin Woolly, a
Norwegian, who sold his right to George F.
Brett who surveyed and platted it in the spring
of '55. About the'same time John L. Wilson
surveyed and platted what is now called middle
town, vhich adjoins and lies higher up the riv
er, whiie General Lowry surveyed and platted
upper town} called Lowry's Addition, the win
ter following. It was Mr Wilson who gave
thne tow the nam of St. Cloud by this name
ii """1'iri
it was incorporated in tne winter of ?55 '•%.—
The Land Office was removed in April '58, from
.Sauk Rapids to Upper town. The jost oiiics
is in Middle Town, which is inhabited by in
dustrious and weii-to-do German Catholics.—
The Catholic chapel is here, and the bell be
longing to it, is the first church going bell in
Stearns county and has also the distinction of
being the first audible in Sherburne and Benton
counties which corner on the opposite side of
the river. There too is a school kept by a com
pany of Benedictine Nuns where music, draw
inn, needlework and German are well taught
by ladies of polished manners and unusual
proficiency.
Lower Town has two protcstant churches, in
process of erection one, about completed. We
have a public school in the Everett School
house, and a handsome Library dedicated by
Hon. Edward Everett. The engines of an ex
cellent saw mill and plaining mill, sash facto
ry and of a good flouring mill are this mo
ment puffing away within half a dozen rods of
our office. We have from five to six steam boat
arrivals here weekly and the smallest propor
tion of drones we have ever seen in any hive.
In the fall of '56 Grasshoppers came in a
cloud and settled down in this and adjoining
counties, destroying the greater portion of the
crops- They deposited their larvae and died.
Early in the spring of '57 the young brood
came out and made such havoc that serious
fears of famine were entertained by a large
portion of the people but they left in July, and
so many of the late crops survived, that with
the full crops of particular places, where they
did not appear, there was a large amount of
food. In autumn it became a question whether
there was enough for winter consumption with
what the people had the means of purchasing
from below. The German settlers were gener
ally of the opinion that there was not, and the
Priests sent commissioners to Dubuque to ask
contributions. When this became known in
Lower St. Cloud Indignation meetings were
held, and strong resolutions passed condemn
ing the measure as altogether unnecessary, and
one calculated to do the country great injury
by preventing emigration in the spring. The
Corectness of this view of the case is now prov
en. The third week of May is here, potatoes
sell at 25 cts. per bushel, corn §1,00, wheat
$1,25, oats 80 cts. and we have heard of no in
stance in which any have suffered for want of
food while a very large proportion of the em
igrants who had last year designed emigrating
to this point have been deterred by this bug
bear cry of famine, and have gone elsewhere.
The time is now past at which the Grasshoppers
appeared last spring, and the minds of the
people are set on rest as the question of wheth
er they left lavae, last year, before they emi
grated. It is evident that they went to other
localities as they came here to eat, deposit
their eggs and die. There is no sign that they
have left any deposits here, and as everybody
is putting in a crop of something good to eat
we expect next fall to be encumbered with a
surplus of the good things of this life, and to
inundate St. Anthony, Minneappolis and St.
Paul, with vegetables and grain after supply
ing the Pine regions and the laborers on the
Rail Road.
zBZR,ECic:E:rnR,iDa-:E.
npHIS town is situated on the Sioux
J_ Wood river, and is the Western termi
nus of the Minnesota and Pacific railroad
the point laid down by Capt. Pope on histhe
map as the head of steam navigation on the
Red river the Valley of the Red river is
about twenty miles wide on cither side of the
stream, and about five hundred miles long
the surface is level and drained by numerous
streams which are skirted with elm, ash, bass
wood, white wood and pine of the largest
growth, the remainder of the valley is prairie,
composed of rich, black loam free from sand
barrens or swamps. Red river is a deep, slow
stream, has no islands, sand bars or snags to
obstruct navigation the banks are about 25
feet high, and not subject to overflow many
of the tributaries of the Red river are strong
ly impregnated with salt, and indications of
iron and coal are numerous in the vicinity.
The farmers of the valley of the Red river
gave to Major Wood as the average of their
crops wheat 30 to 40 barley 40 to 80 oats
40 50 and potatoes 200 to 300 bushels to the
acre. At Pembina, [200 miles north of Breck
enridge,] ex-Gov. Ramsey says, on the 2d
October, 1851, water melons and cantclopes
were served to us for dessert, and the first frost
that occured was on the night of that day,"
[see address before the Minnesota Agricultu
ral Society, Oct, 10th, 1856.] Two large set
tlements have long existed on Red river—
Pembina and Selkirk, both of which yearly
raise a large surplus of the products of the
farm the whole valley of the Red river is
rapidly filling up with an energetic and intel
ligent population the country being exceed
ingly healthy, and should the indications of
iron and coal lead to the discovery of those
minerals as large as is anticipated, this valley
will soon be swarming with a population en
gaged in agriculture, mining and manufactur
ing, supplying eastern Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Iowa and Missouri with the products of their
labor and skill the Minnesota and Pacific
railroad will be placed immediately under
contract as by the terms of its charter it must
be finished from Stillwater to St Anthony with
in two years, and completed to Breckenridge
within ten years from the 3d of March, 1857,
or forfeit its franchise as weU as the lands do
nated to it.
Breckenridge is also at the point where Gov
ogteven's survey of a route for the Pacific raij
road crosses the Sioux Wood river, an exami
nation of the Western States, and a reference
the writings of Gov. Stevens, ex-Gov. Ram-*
say or the Congressional documents containing
the reports of Maj. Long and Capt. Pope, can
not fail to convince that such is the geograph
ical position of Breckenridge that all that
portion of the Territory of the United States
which lays west of the Mississippi and north
of the head waters of the Minnesota rivers
must forever be tributary to that city, and
that Breckenridge is to be not only the com
mercial centre for the north-west, but will
forever be the gate city on the great north-west
highway of nations.
Breckenridge is now being improved by the
Proprietors, who are erecting dwellings for
themselves, a hotel, grist mill, saw mill, a
shingle and lath machine, &c.
Eor further particukvrsfcenquire of
HENRY T. WELLS. Minneapolis,
R. CHUTE. St. Anthony,
CHAS. N. M'KUBBIN. St. Paul,.
Executive Committee,
Or to GEO. F. BROTT, Beeckinridge.
May 10, 1858. tf
The Democrat.
Our Prospectus will be found on our
third page, and we ask the friends
of the freedom of the press and of the
principles there laid down, to aid us in
maintaining them. We feel that in our
advocacy of them in St. Cloud we have
been milder and more conservative than we
have ever before been in our character ot
writer for the Press. We feci, that except
our large share of human weakness, our
life has been such as to give no justcause
of offence to any.
May be wear a fanatic but nt* cenvie
tion ouid be stronger in our mind, than
the feeling that the Lord has prepared tfc
by along course of discipline, to stand pub
licly as the advocate of the opprctmed
our own sex, as a representative of woman's
right, under God, to choose her own sphere
of action. We nave chosen ours with di
rect reference to the final account, and
those who make it the subject of sarcasm,
ridicule, or coarse pergonal abuse, may oa)
culate to meet all that is terrible in eat
nestness of purpose.
We are so certain the lord on our
side, that it is quite impossible for us to
fear any force on earth. Dying is net dif
ficult, yielding impossible. We have net
sought the control of a press here, but
when it was offered us we looked upon it
as a command from the Great Master to go
to work in His vineyard. Our conscience:
acquits us of having used it otherwise thatt
in the service of God and man. It is thus
we still hope to use it, and not to gratify
any feeling of revenge against those who
have sought our injury with such singular
pertinacity and despe-ration.
We shall make no personal war upon
any, but those who attack us, had better
calculate the cost of supplying territory
and munitions for thewar that will surely
ensue. 'We fight all our battles on tho
enemy's ground, and always use his wea
pons, so that he who makes personal war
upon us had better be sure of his defen
sive armor. Let him make our private do
mestic relations the objeet of his publie
sneers, and he may calculate to defend his
own.
We look upon all politicians, whether in
office or out, as fair subjects of editorial
comment in alltheir political relations.—
We do not recognize any man's right to
privacy in any attempt to govern the peo
ple. We never kept a political secret and
think we never will. The people are the
proper source of political power, and have
a right- to know all the purposes and
plans of those who dispense power and
patronage. Whenever we can trace a po
litical wire up to the handle, we shall di
rect public attention to that point, no mat
ter where ?t is, or what is likely to be the
consequence. We believe this is a duty
which every editor owes the public, and
we shall have to get in a new supply of
cowardice before we shrink from it
To those who feel that these, our purpo
ses, are right, we appeal for aid in carrying
them out. The difficulties with which wo
have to contend are very great. A largo
majority of the people of St. Cloud show
the best disposition to aid and sustain us,
but in addition to the general commercial
crash, this county has had to contend with
loss of die greater portion of two crops
by the devastation of grasshoppers.
Our enemies have shown themselves un
scrupulous and active. Their written,
threats, of more serious violence, stand un
cancelled, while their private-efforts to in
jure our reputation, to cover bur nam*
with most odious epithets, and gross crime*,
are still actively pursued. We are without
prisons, or regularly organized judiciary,
and those who take the responsibility ot
these attacks are totally irresponsible,
well as artful and unscrupulous. They
have already deprived us of a hope to
which we had long looked forward, a quiet,
humble, little home of our own. The
preparation we had made for building, is
now. as money lost, ibr it is not thought
safe for us to attempt living alone. Our
office must be so situated, that with our
debility it is impossible for us to have
proper supervision of it, for the press must
be placed where it can be guarded, with
out hiring men for that purpose.
We are not wont to make pitiful appeals
for help, but we should berecreant to duty
now, not to state the facts, that those who
love the American principles of freedom ot
speech and freedom of the press, may
know that here, in this nominally free
State, it is in danger of being crushed.—
The Democrat is no longer a local organ,
although we shall make it a prominent ob
ject to make known the resources of north
ern Minnesota but the great object of its
life is to vindicate the freedom of the press.
For this, men here, of both parties, have
contributed to purchase the material and
incurred a large expenditure in publishing
it. Men of comparatively small interests
are active and efficient as any, and we are
anxious thatthe responsibility thus sssumed
may not fall too heavily upon them. Our
terms of subscription axe as lew as we can
make them, and to alt who favor us with
subscriptions, we shaU
ttry
:l
to give the
worth of their money.' The people ol
St. Cloud have acted nobly their part in
this matter, and to the friends of troth and
justice abroad, wenow appeal to aid us m.
our struggle for the right.
OFFICE OF IKRICM BMft NOTE COIPAIT
J. J. O'SHANESST, ENGRAVER,
COFFXS PLATS AND LITHOCBAPHIO PaixTaa,
Corner of Randolph and DearbornStreets,
CHICAGO, ILl.
Wedding'and Visiting Cards, Door Plate*,
Notary Public's Dies ana Presses, DrafU, Invoi
ces, and Labels of every kind promptly execut
ed and sent by Express. WST A pack of the
very best glaxed or Bristol Cards witk name far
two Dollars bv a new and beautiful process
without cost of Plate equal to the very choices*
Engraving sampies when required en reeiept a
Post Stamps.
J.J«.
ATTEITTIQ^.
TT THOLE interests in tho flourishing town*of
ST. CLOUD & K4S? ST. CLOUD.
Lots, single or in quantities, to suit purcha
sers, at reasonable rates.
A rare chance'for safe investments.
All communications to bo addressed to
O, J. H. TAYLOR, St. Cloud, M.T.