try their home. That although mail routes in sparsely settled communities may not pay in a pecuniary sense, yet the government may be doubly paid by the more speedy settlement and advancement of the country. And your memorialists would more especially call the attention of your honorable body to the fact that, at present, there is no mail connection between Minnesota and Southern Dakota; and that it is of the greatest importance to the future growth and development of south-western Minnesota, the Big Sioux valley, and the Missouri river country, that direct communications by mail be established, connecting the two sections.
And they would further represent, that a large portion of the country lying between Mankato and the settlements on the Missouri, in Dakota Territory, is within convenient acceptable mail facilities, and that thereby the settlers of those regions have not the means of communication with the East; and that the settlement and advancement of that country is impaired and retarded. It is further believed that, were postal facilities established, connecting these two sections by way of the proposed route, that it would have great inducement and attractions, and great advantages over any other route leading into the territory; and in view of the prospect of the rapid settlement of the rich agricultural lands in south-western Minnesota and Southern Dakota, and of the prospective rush of immigration, at a very early period, to the mineral region of the latter, just west of the Missouri, known as the Black hills; and in view of the fact that Fort Randall is gaining importance as a distributing and outfit[ting] post for those vast regions up the Missouri, the Black hills, the Pacific, via South pass, and the Niobrara or Running Water river; and that it is to be a starting-point for a Pacific mail route (as by schedule for the next mail letting); and in view of the fact that a large portion of the emigration which has already gone into the territory, has gone by this route, the evidence is conclusive that it is the natural thoroughfare.
Therefore, your memorialists, the legislature of the Territory of Dakota, would most urgently ask for the immediate establishment of a daily connection by mail, to be carried by first class conveyances, connecting Wort Randall, on the Missouri, with the nearest navigable waters in Minnesota, at Mankato; or the continuation, in fact, of route number thir-