indows, placards were posted offering
alluring inducements to capitalists. "Fifty per cent. guaranteed on
investments," was set forth on these placards, the offers coming from
parties considered perfectly sound. Fabulous sums were paid for
wild land and for lots in apocryphal towns. All was prosperity and
activity.

By-and-by came the crash, and this well-founded town passed through
a period of mourning and fasting. St. Paul saw many of its best
and heaviest houses vanish into thin air; merchants, bankers,
land-speculators, lumbermen, all suffered alike. Some disappeared
forever; others survived the shock, but never recovered their former
footing. Large amounts of property went under the auctioneer's hammer,
"to be sold without limit." Lots of land which cost two or three
hundred dollars in '56, were sold at auction in '58 for five or six
dollars each. Thousands of people lost their all in these unfortunate
land-speculations. Others who survived the crash have clung to their
acres, hoping that prosperity may return to the Northwest. At present
their wealth consists mainly of Great Expectations.

Though suffering greatly, the capital and business center of Minnesota
was by no means ruined. The speculators departed, but the farmers and
other working classes remained. Business "touched bottom" and then
slowly revived. St. Paul existed through all the calamity, and its
people soon learned the actual necessities of Minnesota. While they
mourn the departure of the "good times," many of them express a belief
that those happy days were injurious to the permanent prosperity of
the State.

St. Paul is one of the few cities of the world whose foundation
furnishes the material for their construction. The limestone rock on
which it is built is in layers of about a foot in thickness, and very
easy to quarry. The blocks require little dressing to fit them for
use. Though very soft at first, the stone soon hardens by exposure to
the air, and forms a neat and durable wall. In digging a cellar one
will obtain more than sufficient stone for the walls of his house.

At the time of my visit the Indian expedition of 1863 had just
returned, and was camped near Fort Snelling. This expedition was sent
out by General Pope, for the purpose of chastising the Sioux Indians.
It was under command of General Sibley, and accomplished a march of
nearly six hundred miles. As it lay in camp at Fort Snelling, the men
and animals presented the finest a