Leaves of Knowledge/Chapter 26
ST. PAUL TO LIVINGSTON
CHAPTER XXVI.
St. Paul to Livingston.
St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota, and second city in population, is the head of navigation of the Mississippi river, and an important railroad distributing center. Trains connect from here with Duluth, at the head of Lake Superior, which is a prominent railway terminus at the head of navigation on the Great Lakes.
There is also direct railway connection with the Canadian Pacific Railway at Winnipeg, the capital, largest city and railroad center of the Province of Manitoba, Dominion of Canada.
At St. Paul is being erected the magnificent new capitol building, which when completed will give the State of Minnesota the most elaborate and sightly capitol building of any State in the Union.
The city is well supplied with large wholesale establishments, fine business blocks and beautiful homes. Near here, at Stillwater, is the State penitentiary.
And connected by street car lines, a distance of eleven miles west, is the city of Minneapolis, the largest in the state, with extensive lumber and flour mills, operated by the water power of the Falls of St. Anthony, and numerous manufacturing establishments.
After a pleasant stop in this section, I took the "North Coast Limited," on the Northern Pacific Railway, and continued west through Minnesota. At Winnipeg Junction, the Manitoba branch runs to Crookston, Minnesota, Grand Forks, Grafton and Pembina, North Dakota, and Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Fargo, the first city I reach in North Dakota, is the largest in the state, with several railway connections and is extensively engaged in the sale of agricultural implements. It is also a great wheat market.
Bismarck, the capital, is situated on the Missouri river, where our train crosses the river to Mandan, and here our time is changed to one hour earlier, making it "mountain time."
The porter awakened me at 4 a. m., stating that we were nearing Glendive, and as it is the first town we reach in my home state, I desired to walk on Montana soil after such a long intermission.
As I stepped from the Pullman, the morning air was so fresh and exhilarating. The nights were cool and clear, but the days were hotter than any I had experienced on my entire eastern trip. It is no wonder that the Montana people are so cheerful, when there is so much beautiful sunshine.
It being the Glendive annual fair week, I noticed that the people certainly know how to enjoy themselves on such occasions, with their horse-racing and ball games. As I sat on the balcony of the hotel and watched the numerous carriages, taking passengers to and fro from the fair grounds, and there were many on horseback, I thought of the places that I had visited, and it gave me more pleasure than in any town I had visited, to see the Glendive citizens celebrate, for every time I have been here, I found them all happy and having a good time. They are a bright, energetic class of people.
Again taking the Northern Pacific west, following the Yellowstone river, crossing the Big Horn river, I come in view of Pompey's Pillar, climbed and named by Captain Clarke of the Lewis and Clarke expedition in 1806. I made a brief stop at Billings, where everything was lively, the cattle and sheep were being shipped to the stockyards and packing houses of Chicago, St. Paul and Omaha. The third crop of alfalfa was being cut in the country surrounding the city of Billings, and the immense stacks of hay loomed up in the distance, to be used for the winter feeding of the stock.
I followed the Yellowstone river to Livingston, arriving near the close of the summer travel to the Yellowstone National Park.