ime it was called by some the "Beaver State." That
name seemed to have the greatest number of advocates, but it was always
met with the objection that the beaver, although quite numerous in some
of our streams, was not sufficiently so to entitle him to characterize
the territory by giving it his name. While this debate was in progress
the advocates of the beaver spoke of the territory as the beaver
territory, but it never reached a point of universal adoption. It was
well known that the gopher abounded, and his name was introduced as a
competitor with the beaver; but being a rather insignificant animal, and
his nature being destructive, and in no way useful, he was objected to
by many, as too useless and undignified to become an emblem of the
coming great state,--for we all had, at that early day, full confidence
that Minnesota was destined to be a great and prominent state. Nothing
was ever settled on this subject until after the year 1857. As I have
before stated, in that year an attempt was made to amend the
constitution by allowing the state to issue bonds in the sum of
$5,000,000 to aid in the construction of the railroads which the United
States had subsidized with land grants, and the campaign which involved
this amendment was most bitterly fought. The opponents of the measure
published a cartoon to bring the subject into ridicule, which was very
generally circulated throughout the state, but failed to check the
enthusiasm in favor of the proposition. This cartoon represented ten men
in a line, with heads bowed down with the weight of a bag of gold hung
about their necks, marked "$10,000." They were supposed to represent the
members of the legislature who had been bribed to pass the act, and were
called "Primary Directors." On their backs was a railroad track, upon
which was a train of cars drawn by nine gophers, the three gophers in
the lead proclaiming, "We have no cash, but will give you our drafts."
Attached to the rear of the train was a wheelbarrow, with a barrel on
it, marked "Gin," followed by the devil, in great glee, with his thumb
at his nose. In the train were the advocates of the bill, flying a flag
bearing these words: "Gopher train; excursion train; members of extra
session of legislature, free. We develop the resources of the country."
Over this was a smaller flag, with the words: "The $5,000,000 Loan
Bill."

In another part of the picture is a rostrum, from which a gopher is
addressing the people