cross the shoulder of the sand-bar before referred to is in progress,
the distance being but a few hundred feet of loose earth, which, when
completed, will open communication to an immense bay, where all the
commerce of the lakes might ride at anchor in perfect safety, were some
slight dredging done to increase the present depth of water. This bay is
now reached by a circuit of half-dozen miles around the end of this
sand-bar, known as Minnesota Point. The Bay of Duluth must eventually,
we think, be the great harbor, though a breakwater is in course of
construction, which, when completed and made permanent, will give ample
shelter to all immediate necessities. Costly wharves have been
constructed on the lake side of the Point, and there vessels load and
unload almost constantly.

Since it is the established policy of the government to improve the
rivers and harbors of the country, surely the small needs of this place
ought not to be overlooked. While private enterprise can and does do
much, yet it is a sound theory for the general government, which derives
its revenues from the people, to aid them in removing or building such
obstructions or guards as the merits of the case and the public
interest-demand.

Already the trade and commerce of the town employs about a dozen
steamships, and numerous sailing vessels are also kept in motion,
transporting supplies for the great railway enterprise which has its
eastern base at this point.

There are three lines of propellers plying between this port and
Buffalo, Cleveland, and Detroit, each employing three ships, while there
is an additional line to and from Chicago. They together average four
arrivals weekly. The trip from Buffalo is performed in little less than
a week, that being the most distant of the respective places. These
steamers have accommodations for over half a hundred cabin passengers,
as a rule, and both invalids and pleasure travellers will find this, in
every respect, the most interesting and comfortable means of access to
Minnesota during the summer season. Formerly many availed themselves of
such facilities as there then was to make, during the summer, the grand
tour of the lakes, but were obliged to return by the route they came.
Now, however, the tourist is not compelled to turn back from the head of
Lake Superior, as in former days, since the completion of the railway
from Duluth to St. Paul, connecting the head of the great lakes with the
navigable hea