lled to its many advantages, will
settle rapidly. Nature has done much for us. Our productive soil
and salubrious climate will bring thousands of immigrants within
our borders; it is of the utmost moment that the foundation of
our legislation should be healthful and solid. A knowledge of
this fact will encourage tens of thousands of others to settle
in our midst, and it may not be long ere we may with truth be
recognized throughout the political and the moral world as
indeed the "Polar Star" of the republican galaxy....

"No portion of the earth's surface perhaps combines so many
favorable features for the settler as this territory,--watered
by the two greatest rivers of our continent, the Missouri
sweeping its entire western border, the Mississippi and Lake
Superior making its eastern frontier, and whilst the States of
Wisconsin and Iowa limit us on the south, the possessions of the
Hudson Bay Company present the only barrier to our domain on the
extreme north; in all embracing an area of 166,000 square miles,
a country sufficiently extensive to admit of the erection of
four states of the largest class, each enjoying in abundance
most of the elements of future greatness. Its soil is of the
most productive character, yet our northern latitude saves us
from malaria and death, which in other climes are so often
attendant on a liberal soil. Our people, under the healthful and
bracing influences of this northern climate, will never sink
into littleness, but continue to possess the vigor and the
energy to make the most of their natural advantages."

This message, while not in the least exaggerating the actual situation,
was well calculated to attract immigration to this region. It was
written in a year of great activity in that line. Gold had been
discovered in California, and the thoughts of the pioneer were attracted
in that direction, and it needed extraordinary inducements to divert the
stream to any other point. It was extensively quoted in the eastern
papers, and much commented upon, and succeeded beyond all expectations
in awakening interest in the Northwest. It was particularly attractive
in Maine, where the people were experienced in lumbering, and many of
them flocked to the Valley of the St. Croix and the Falls of St.
Anthony, and inaugurated the lumbering business, which has since grown
to such immense proportion