erest the visitor.
Days may be spent in examining the Falls of St. Anthony, which roar and
surge along the rapids, impressing one with an appalling sense of their
mighty power.
The suspension bridge, connecting the city with that of St. Anthony on
the east bank of the river, is an interesting object. It was erected
several years since at an expense of over half a hundred thousand
dollars, and is the only bridge of its class on the whole river.
Take the towns of St. Paul and Minneapolis, together with the
intervening country, and perhaps no portion of the Union east of the
Rocky Mountains, presents so many objects of interest as does this
particular region. St. Paul is itself a noble town, and the prospect
from its highest elevations quite entertaining; while at the latter city
the Falls of St. Anthony are "a sight to behold," and make up what the
town lacks in striking scenery.
The country between the two cities is as pleasing in general outline as
any to be found. Of course, it lacks that romantic element so
characteristic of New England, yet its general character is more rolling
than that of most of the prairie country found in the West.
A drive from either city is "the thing" for the visitor to do. From
Minneapolis one of the most charming drives in the world, for its
length, can be had. Passing over the suspension bridge to the east side
of the river, and down by it to the Silver Cascade and Bridal-veil
Falls, which charm from their exquisite beauty, then on to the junction
of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers at Fort Snelling, and across by
the rope-ferry under the tall battlements of the frowning fort, whose
edge is on a line with the towering, perpendicular bluff two hundred
feet above your head, round by the road and up to the plain above, and
into the inclosure of this old-time fortification, where, leaving your
carriage, you proceed to the round tower, or look out of the fort, and
on the very pinnacle of both cliff and battlement you may gaze out and
over a spectacle more grand and beautiful than anything we know short of
the White Hills. Away to the right stretches the valley of the Minnesota
River, while before you the "Father of Waters" receives into his
embraces the waters of the Minnesota, then, sweeping to the left, rolls
slowly and majestically from view behind the companion bluffs of the
eastern shore.
Here, from this crowning tower has floated--for more than half a
century--the "star-spa
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