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A NEW EL DORADO: Guides to Minnesota. i8sos-i88os

Carlton C. Qualey

THE MINNESOTA Historical Society has an impres­ can Historical Association's ill-fated Bibliography of sive collection of narratives of travel in the United American Travel, 1750-1830, project which was begun States and of guidebooks, especially to Minnesota. Al­ in 1911 and carried on intermittently into the 1930s. though this essay is primarily concerned with Minne­ Regrettably, the massive bibliography was never com­ sota guidebooks, the collection includes narratives of pleted, for lack of funds. travel to all parts of the United States and Canada. Epitomizing much of what was published in the Classified under "Travel and Description'' in the so­ guides to Minnesota is an 1850 account. Rural Sketches ciety's library, the collection compares favorably with of Minnesota, the El Dorado of the Northwest, by those of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the Henry W. Hamilton, a visitor from Milan, Ohio. He New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, and was ecstatic about the frontier territory: several university and private depositories. "Yes, I am in Minnesota. It seems like a dream, The holdings of the Minnesota Historical Society almost; and yet I am in the very midst of a world reflect in part the interest of Solon J. Buck, its superin­ of deeply interesting realities. . . . Bright skies tendent from 1914 to 1931, who also directed the Ameri- are above me; glorious scenery is around me; 'the Father of Waters,' mighty and majestic as when Time was young, is roaring and sweeping on be­ Mr. Qualey was formerly chairman of the history depart­ low me; the images of a beautiful land, a new El ment at Carleton College and now is a research fellow for the Minnesota Historical Society. He is the author of Dorado, are seen on every side; the impulses of a Norwegian Settlement in the United States and other works. young empire, mighty while young . . . are

Summer 1971 215 thrilling every heart and quickening every pulse, doubt this image lured many people to Minnesota from with their great vibrations. . . And no where other states of the union. The sheer quanrity of all are good farmers making money faster or easier these types of guides indicates that there must have than in Minnesota." been a profitable market for them. He continued to warm to his theme; For the most part, general guides to the United "I wish I had language to describe to you the States were complimentary to Minnesota. One of the agreeable sensarion which inhaling this pure, most widely distributed and frequently reprinted was bracing air has upon my spirffs and feelings. . . . Joseph H. Cokon's The Western Tourist, and Emi­ Oh how delightful it is bathing in the cool spray grant's Guide (New York), of which the first edirion of St. Anthony by moonlight! I have enjoyed it (1852) contained five pages on Minnesota, as did the with the rapture of a nymph in the surf of [the] almost idenrical 1853 edirion and the 1857 revision by fairy sea." Richard S. Fisher which corrected the first edition's He then came down to earth by commenting: misspeffing of the territory's name. It first appeared as "Most kinds of business are in a prosperous and "Minesota." Colton emphasized that "every portion of flourishing condition here now, and the prospects Minesota may be reached by inland navigarion," and of Minnesota are certainly good. That it will one that "the white inhabitants are from almost every por­ day become an influential, important, and popu­ tion of the world: the Canadian, the sons of New Eng­ lous State, is as certain as it is inevitable. land and the Middle States, with English, French, and "The professions, are afi greatly overstocked, as Germans, are all intermingled." His general description is generally the case in new countries. It is no of the Minnesota country is reminiscent of Hamilton's: place for large or small 'dandies', and "gentlemen "Beautiful lakes of transparent water, well stocked of leisure,' of every description, wifi find hard with fish, and varying in size from ponds to in­ sledding and poor pay. For working heads and land seas, are profusely scattered over the ter­ working hands, the field is good and a broad one. ritory. Forests of pine and other evergreens, It will have forests to fell; prairies to break; acres orchards of sugar-maple, groves of hard and soft to till; houses to build; mouths to feed; bodies to woods of various species, wild rice and cranber­ clothe; minds to educate; laws to make, rights to ries, and various species of wild fruit, copious defend and wrongs to redress, as long as its skies springs of pure water, a fertile soil, and water- are blue, and cataracts roar. Those who do not power, easily improved and abundantly distrib­ live by toil and honest industry, in other places, uted, render this region peculiarly adapted to the wouldn't find their chances bettered any by com­ wants of man. Add to these a salubrious climate, ing to Minnesota."' and Minesota appears to enjoy eminent capacities Guides to Minnesota may be classified as follows: for becoming a thriving and populous state." ^ those about the United States in general but containing Similar to Colton's guide was Western Portraiture, chapters devoted to Minnesota; those primarily con­ and Emigrant's Guide, by Daniel S. Curtiss, also pub­ cerned with Minnesota; those directed to a particular lished in New York in 1852. It contains a short section ethnic group; publications of the Minnesota State on Minnesota and includes the observation that "not­ Board of Health and Vital Statistics and the State Board withstanding its northern position and rigorous cli­ of Immigration; railroad promotional guides; and mate, emigration, from New England, with some guides to counties and cities. Travel literature is not included here unless it contains specific information on the state and could be used as a guide. ' Rural Sketches of Minnesota, 5, 12, 21 (first and sec­ ond quotes), 24-25 (third quote), (Mfian, Ohio, 1850). Guides were written for a variety of readerships. " The mythology of this image took a long time to wear European and American readers were necessarily of off. See Philip D. Jordan, The People's Health: A History the literate classes, but illiterates frequently had knowl­ of Public Health in Minnesota to 1948, 1-8 (St. Paul, edge of the guide's message through an obliging priest, 1953); Helen Clapesattle, "When Minnesota was Florida's minister, or friend who could read or abstract the con­ Rival," in Minnesota History, 35:214-222 (March, 1957); Ralph H. Brown, "Fact and Fancy in Early Accounts of tents. American readers resided chiefiy in the North­ Minnesota's Cfimate," in Minnesota History, 17:243-261 east and the states of the Old Northwest. Most of the (September, 1936); J. Arthur Myers, Invited and Con­ guides were directed to young, sturdy, married yeo­ quered: Historical Sketch of Tuberculosis in Minnesota, men who were accustomed to manual labor, and who, 15-33 (St. Paul, 1949). it was hoped, would settle in Minnesota. There was a "Colton, Western Tourist, 50 (first quote), 51 (second remarkable period, too, when Minnesota was promoted quote), (first edition). The Fisher edition is entitled Col­ ton's Traveler and Tourist's Guide Book Through the West­ as a health resort, especially for consumptives.- No ern States and Territories (New York, 1857).

216 Minnesota History foreigners, is pouring into the territor)' in such num­ Of the scenery he wrote with fervor: bers, that it must soon be asking for a place in the "When clothed in the sylvan garments of summer, Union as a State." * decked with the floral gems of a thousand fra­ In 1857, John Disturnell began his long career as a grant prairies, and lighted by the gorgeous tints writer of guides, especially for the Great Lakes region.-'' of its sunshine, or mellowed and softened by the Although his efforts did not deal directly with Minne­ dreamy haze of the 'Indian summer' of the au­ sota to any extent, travelers and immigrants would tumn months, nothing could surpass the scener)' have found them useful for journeys to Minnesota. In of Minnesota, diversified as it is with rock-ribbed his Prairie Farming in America (New York, 1859), Sir hills and slumbering valleys, woodland and prai­ James Caird devoted a chapter to Minnesota, but there rie, lofty and rugged bluffs, ravines, gorges, cata­ is little about prairies in it. racts, cascades, eternal springs of limpid purity, and leaping streams which never dry." ^ AN INTERRUPTION in the pubfication of guides How could anyone resist such a hard sell? The because of the Civil War and the Sioux Uprising came guide concludes with four letters, written in July and to an end with the appearance in 1868 of Charles H. August, 1868, by settlers who praised their good for­ Sweetser's Tourists' and Invalids' Guide to the North­ tune in coming to Minnesota. west (New York), which was actually a bit more than A 50-cent pamphlet compiled by B. F. Brown of the title would seem to indicate. Sweetser described Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, entitled Homes in die West; a "Home for Emigrants" in St. Paul that served as and How to Obtain Them (Pittsburgh, 1870), bor­ a temporary shelter for newly-arrived immigrants, rowed heavily from the Minnesota state guides without mainly Germans and Scandinavians. Another 1868 pub­ acknowledgment, but it did contain a great deal of lication in New York vi'as Chauncey N. Brainerd's ver­ sion of a visit to Martin County, Minnesota. It records a city-bred newcomer's amazement at seeing the vast J. H. COLTON'S early general guidebook, according prairies and experiencing, "especially about sunset," to the title page, contained a "concise" (five-page) de­ the ferocity of the mosquitoes." Brainerd's account of scription of "Minesota'' Territory. the beauty of the prairies, the fertilit)' of the soil, the ease of land acquisition, and the accessibility of the area should have influenced his readers. THE A twenty-page section of Frederick B. Goddard's WESTERN TOURIST Where to Emigrate, and Wliy (New York, 1869) might have been useful to a prospective Minnesotan. Some of the material is borrowed from Girart Hewitt's pam­ phlet which will be referred to later. Goddard utifized EMIGRANT'S GUIDE the popular unearned-increment argument: THROUGH TUB STATES Of "A man with a small, but high-priced farm in the OHIO, MICHIG-AW, INDIAWA, ILLINOIS, MISSOUBI, old States can dispose of it for sufficient to set IOWA, AND WISCONSIW, himseff up well in Minnesota, and procure a farm AND THK TERRITORIES OF for each of his children besides; and these farms, MTXESOTA, MISSOURI, AND NEBRASKA:

in a few years, will be as valuable as the one in BEING AN ACCUIIATE AND CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF the old State is now. The fortunes made by farm­ EACH STATE AND TERRITORY; ers here within a few years, would scarcely be credited in the older States." AND CONTAININO TFIE ROUTES AND DISTANCES ON

TIIE WREAT lilNES OF TUAVEIi. ' Curtiss, Western Portraiture, 123. " A Trip Through the Lakes of North America (New ACCOMrANIED WITH York, 1857); The Great Lakes as Inland Seas of America A L.vm.i; AND MINL'TE MAP, EXIUDITING THE TO'WNSHIP LINKS OF Tin: INTT:'I> STATUS' SURVEYS, THE BOUNDARIES OK COUN- (New York, 1863, 1865, 1868, 1871); Tourist's Guide to TIKS, AND TlIK POSITION OF CITIES, VILLAGES AND the Upper Mississippi River (New York, 1866); Lake Su­ SETTLEMENTS, ETC., ETC. perior Guide (Phfiadelphia, 1872, 1874); and others. ° Brainerd, My Diary: or Three Weeks on the Wing. A Peep at the Great West (New York, 1868). The rare pam­ NEW YORK: phlet is reproduced in Mmnesoto Hwfori/, 12:43-64 (March, rUELISlIKD BY J. H. COLTOH", 1931), edited by Bertha L. HeObron. NO. 86 CEDAR-STEEET, 'Goddard, Where to Emigrate, 235 (first quote), 237 1852 (second quote).

Summer 1971 217 useful information about Minnesota. After giving a nesota, although the description of the journey from general description, reciting the usual arguments re­ St. Louis to St. Paul and St. Anthony might have en­ garding the healthfulness of the climate, and describing couraged some. A final general guide that merits men­ available public and railroad lands. Brown included tion. The Golden Northwest (Chicago, 1878), was what he claimed to be authentic examples of successful written by Goldsmith B. West. In the third chapter is farming by a capitalist, a poor Swede, "a shrewd, cau­ a fairly extensive "Sketch of Minnesota." tious emigrant from an Eastern State," and "an ambi­ Of the Minnesota guides, mention has already been tious farmer from Maine." He concluded: made of Henry W. Hamilton's rhapsodic description "The State needs an actual settler upon each of 1850. In the same year Henry Hastings Sibley, quarter section of her millions of unoccupied Minnesota's territorial delegate to Congress, prepared lands, to give beneficent action to the idle rich­ a report on Minnesota for Senator Henry S. Foote of ness slumbering in the black soil." '' Mississippi which was published in the 1850 Annals Except for the famous name, the two volumes edited of the Minnesota Historical Society under the title, by poet William Cullen Bryant, entitled Picturesque "Description of Minnesota." It is a highly literate ac­ America: or, the Land We Live In (New York, 1874), count of the physical characteristics of Minnesota, its probably were of little interest to immigrants to Min- soils, forest cover, climate, current settlement, and accessibihty. Sibley reported the Indians as "kindly disposed," and remarked in conclusion that "the people IDYLLIC SCENES such as those pictured on the front of our Territory are distinguished for intelhgence and paper of Frederick Goddard's guide created an image hightoned morality." " of Minnesota that was of questionable accuracy. Subsequent to the Hamilton and Sibley reports, a full-Hedged guide to Minnesota entitled Rise and Prog­ ress of Minnesota Territory (1855) was pubhshed at the Minnesota Democrat newspaper office in St. Paul by Charles L. Emerson. After making general com­ ments on the territory, Emerson wrote: "The soil of this favored region is admirably adapted to the cultivation of cereals and roots. The prairies are natural fields, already prepared for the plow; and the liberal earth returns the husbandman reward for his labor an hundred fold. The culture of several kinds of fruit trees has been fully tested; and the apple, pear, quince and cherry are found to thrive beyond the most sanguine expectation." In the same vein, Emerson continued: "Garden vegetables grow to a size which appears almost fabulous; wild grasses supply nutritious pasturage for stock; and orchards of sugar maples, wild rice, and wild fruits of various species, in connection with fish and wild game, present means of subsistence to the different aboriginal tribes. . . In spring no late frosts occur; the whole country is clothed as if by magic, in robes of the greenest verdure, and a thousand varieties of \vild flowers enamel the hill sides and prai­ ries. . . Autumn in Minnesota is the most charming season of the year. A soft haze rests on every object, mellowing the distant landscape, dreamy in the lingering sunshine of the dying year."

" Brown, Homes in the West, 57, 60. "Minnesota Historical Society, Annals, 1:31. 218 Minnesota History In deahng with settled areas, Emerson mentioned Bond's Minnesota and Its Resources (New York, 1853). the new suspension bridge of St. Anthony and included Despite its dense rhetoric, one could learn much about the following references: St. Paul — "Our city has Minnesota from it. Among places for farmers to settle. risen from the wilderness as if by magic"; Washington Bond recommended the Minnesota and St. Croix val­ County — a "rich and flourishing district"; Minneapo­ leys, the Crow Wing area, and the lands west of Lake hs — "beautifully situated"; the Minnesota Valley — Minnetonka. He asserted that there was need for arti­ "the unrivalled beauty of the landscape diversified with sans and workers, but not for confirmed bachelors. compact villages and highly cultivated farms." The "The territory must be peopled. . . Don't waste time, pamphlet was obviously financed by the many adver­ either, by going east for a wife. You want a whole- tisements in it.i" souled, strong, wholesome Minnesota woman." In 1855 also, a rival newspaper in St. Paul put out About the climate. Bond wrote: "From a residence a guide entitled The Minnesota Messenger, Containing of over six years in Minnesota, I can safely say that the Sketches of tiie Rise and Progress of Minnesota, "circu­ atmosphere is more pure, pleasant, and healthful, than lated gratuitously." It, too, had frequent advertise­ that of any other I have ever breathed on the con­ ments. The guide presented a political history of the tinent of North or South America." Of St. Paul, he territory, praised territorial delegate Henry M. Bice boasted: "The town has sprung up, like Minerva full for getting appropriations for roads, claimed that "Edu­ armed from the head of Jupiter, and now contains ten cation in the Territory is approaching a perfect system," thousand inhabitants; its whole history of seven years described the rapid growth of cities and communities, forming an instance of western enterprise, and deter­ explained how Minneapolis got its name, and gave par­ mined energy and resolution, hitherto unsurpassed in ticular information on the Minnesota and St. Croix the history of any frontier settlement." river valleys.^^ He also was concerned about Minnesota getting a The next year a very useful handbook, called The superior type of mankind: "We want here a race of Immigrant's Guide to Minnesota in 1856, By an Old men of higher physical and mental powers, of more Resident, was published by W. W. Wales in St. An­ meat and muscle, of more force and energy." And thony. The guide offered a general description of finally: Minnesota, told how to get to it, and suggested that "Emigration to the West has heretofore been the Minnesota and St. Croix valleys were the best bets nauseously associated with the idea of low lati­ for settlement. The book then gave practical advice on tudes, the miasms of flat lands, and consequent such matters as what to plaut in the first years and disease and heart-sickening disappointments. It how to make a pre-emption claim (do not depart from has, too, been associated with backwoods institu­ it after you make it, the book warned). It gave figures tions — lynch law, the bowie-knife, uncertain on wages being paid (lumber workers, $25-$30 per means of education, and a gospel ministry on month; farm hands, $20-$25 per month; housemaids, horseback. Minnesota presents another picture, $l-$3 per week, with good chance of marriage); dates and is truly a phenomenon in the eyes of the of seasonal closing of navigation on the Mississippi migrating world. It occupies a high latitude, has River; possibilities of farming and farm land specula­ a quickly-drained surface, and is the inviting tion; and the names of churches and schools compara­ home of intelligence, enterprise, good laws, ble to those in New England. schools, and churches." One of the first and most influential state guides (it Bond concluded with an account of a camping trip to went through at least ten editions) was J. Wesley Pembina and the Red River of the North. ^-

'"Emerson, Rise and Progress, 1 (lone quote), 4, 26, ONE OF THE heroines of early Minnesota historv was 33, 34. Harriet E. Bishop, St. Paul's first schoolteacher. She " The Minnesota Messenger, Containing Sketches, 13. traveled from her native Vermont to Minnesota in 1847 In the account of the naming, credit was given to George D. under the auspices of the newly-organized Board of Bowman, editor of the St. Anthony Express, who also con­ sidered such names as "All Saints" and "Albion." However, National Popular Education to teach a mixed ethnic in Warren Upham, Minnesota Geographic Names, 223 group of children in primitive conditions where Chris­ (Minnesota Historical Society, 1969 reprint), Charles Hoag, tian education was not available. ^-^ After her return to the publisher of the Express, shares the credit. the East, she wrote of her experiences in a highly ro­ ''Bond, Minnesota (Chicago, 1856 edition), 59, 64, mantic account entitled Floral Home; or. First Years in 109, 161, 228 (quotes). The book has 412 pages, with a map in the hack cover. Minnesota (New York, 1857). Her engraved picture " Zylpha S. Morton, "Harriet Bishop, Frontier Teacher," appeared as the frontispiece, the book was dedicated in Minnesota History, 28:132-141 (June, 1947). to Governor Alexander Ramsey, and there was a sur-

Summer 1971 219 prising amount of concrete and seemingly reliable in­ be a "novel" entitled Dakota Land or the Beauty of formation about the territory. To the present-day reader St. Paul.^^ Mixed in with some appalling rhetoric were the rhetoric is cloying, but the book was eagerly read some seemingly authentic descriptions. The author was by many people and references to it appear in other sufficiently proud of the book to have his picture grace guides. the frontispiece. A series of letters originally pubhshed in the Boston A much-quoted guide, which was translated into Post in 1856 was collected in 1857 in a volume called German and Dutch and went through six editions in Minnesota and Dacotah (Washington, D.C, 1857). English between 1867 and 1869, was Girart Hewitt's Written by Christopher C. Andrews, who was desig­ Minnesota: Its Advantages to Settlers (St. Paul). nated "Counsellor at Law, Editor of the Official Opin­ Hewitt was an attorney and real estate dealer in St. ions of the Attorneys General of the United States," its Paul. His forty-one-page pamphlet is succinct and fourteen chapters and appendixes gave a comprehen­ practical, giving concrete information but also adding sive report for the first time on the Upper Mississippi the inevitable boast about the healthful climate of the region, especially the Crow Wing area, as a favorable state. place for settlement. Andrews also commented on the state of the practice of law in Minnesota, and said it HEALTH GUIDES were a particularly popular form was "a little above the average of territorial bars." i* of promotional literature. Frequently quoted was a Readers were probably interested in his encounters with pamphlet issued by the State Board of Immigration in Chippewa Indians near Crow Wing and his visit 1865, and the quotation one encounters most often, with Chief Hole-in-the-Day. Andrews also recorded in­ usuaUy without acknowledgment, is as follows: terviews with Red River oxcart drivers and estimated "The dryness of the air, the character of the soU, prospects for business investment in addition to de­ which retains no stagnant pools to send forth voting a whole letter to advice for prospective farmers poisonous exhalations, the universal purity of its who might settle in the Crow Wing area. water, the beauty of its scenery, and the almost [J.Q.A.?] Ward and Young's The Emigrant's Guide total absence of fog or mist; the briUiancy of its to Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota (St. Paul) was sunlight, the pleasing succession of the seasons, brought out in 1857 from the Minnesotian newspaper all conspire to give Minnesota a climate of un­ office. The book included an account of sixty-one towns rivaled salubrity, and to make this the home of of the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries. In the a joyous, healthy, prosperous people, strong in same year, A Guide for Emigrants to Minnesota By a physical, intellectual, and moral capabilities. And Tourist (St. Paul, 1857) promoted the St. Croix and while the chilly, damp winds from the Atlantic Rum River areas. It contained a copy of the pre­ are sowmg broadcast the seeds of that terrible emption law and gave directions on how to secure disease, pulmonary consumption; while the ma­ land under the law. larious exhalations from the undrained soil of As with similar works, there was an interruption in Indiana, Illinois, and other States of the Southem pubhcation of Minnesota guides during the first years Mississippi Valley, yield an amiual harvest of of the 1860s, but it ceased in 1868 with the appearance fevers, Minnesota enjoys an almost entire immu­ of one of the most influential of the genre — J. Wesley nity from both. If fever and ague occur, the germ McClung's Minnesota As It Is (St. Paul). It was re­ was imported; if consumption claim [s] its victim, printed several times, the 1870 edition being com­ the cause is to be sought elsewhere than in the pletely rewritten and greatly enlarged. Oddly enough, climate of Minnesota." i^ the frontispiece of the first edition was a drawing of "the lunatic asylum" in St. Peter. Aside from this dis­ quieting item, one could find detailed information " Andrews, Minnesota and Dacotah, 41. about Mirmesota, especially in the 1870 version. ''The enlarged edition, pubfished in 1869, included McClung described each county, told about soils, cfi­ a map of Hennepin and Ramsey counties. mate, resources, and opportunities, and quoted exten­ "The book is subtitled, "An original, illustrated, his­ sively from travelers' accounts. An attached map added toric and romantic work, presenting a combination of mar­ greatly to the usefulness of the guide. velous dreams and wandering fancies, singular events and strange fatafities, all interwoven with graphic descriptions In 1868 John Fletcher Wilfiams produced The Guide of the beautiful scenery and wonderful enchantment of to Minnesota (St. Paul), describing features along the Minnesota. To which is added 'A Round of Pleasure,' with rights of way of railroads then operating in Minnesota. ^^ interesting notes of travel, maps, etc., and forming a com­ The year 1868 also saw the pubfication of what the prehensive guide to the Great North-West." " [Mary J. Golbum], Minnesota As a Home for Emi­ author and publisher. Colonel C. Hankins, claimed to grants, 24. 220 Minnesota History The two most influential books on the subject of the well above "miasms" and has a climate of "natural superior healthfulness of Minnesota, however, were healthfulness." Disclaiming any paradise image, he Ledyard Bill's Minnesota: Its Character and Climate nevertheless suggested that residence in Minnesota for (New York, 1871) and Dr. Brewer Mattocks' Minne­ at least twelve months might help, the climate being sota As a Home for Invalids (St. Paul, 1871). Bill's tonic, if not remedial. Air in Minnesota, he said, is volume offered an enthusiastic description of the pure good for anything that cold water is good for. As proof air and the progress of the state: "It might be entirely he reported a session of the Minnesota State Medical safe to assume that the people of Minnesota, as a Association at Winona in June, 1870, at which the ef­ whole, are distinguished by a more aesthetic character fect of Minnesota's climate was discussed. Specifically, than their neighbors living in the nearly dead level Dr. J[ohn?] H. Murphy of St. Paul testified that when country below them." '^ He spent some time on the he arrived in Minnesota twenty-two years before he treatment of consumption, cited the celebrated case of had "decided symptoms of pulmonary disease," but the Reverend Horace Bushnell, whose right lung healed that now there was not a "healthier man in the State." after a July-to-May sojourn in Minnesota, and devoted Dr. Murphy was rigorously cross-examined by Dr. a chapter, "Hints to Invalids and Others," to proper William W. Mayo, but Murphy stoutly maintained clothing, diet, and exercise. his assertions. (As Helen Clapesattle has recorded in Mattocks, president of St. Paul's Board of Health her history of the Mayo family. Dr. Mayo himself came and physician at St. Joseph's Hospital, carried more to Minnesota for his health.) weight. After exploring known cures for consumption, However, said Mattocks, "Climate is of little avail none satisfactory, he embarked on a series of chapters without . . . other advantages," especially a happy on the peculiarly curative character of Minnesota's home and success. He wrote disparagingly of Florida climate and living conditions. The state, he wrote, is as a health resort because of its heat and humidity and added: "Another advantage that we possess over the " Bill, Minnesota, 16. old health resorts is a tonic moral infiuence that per­ '" The Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal, vades everything in our new State. ... In Minnesota 1:71-72 (July, 1870) published a full account of the medi­ it is hard to die." '^^ The doctor informed his readers cal interchange. Mattocks, Minnesota as a Home, 112 about land, soil fertility, timber, game, markets, In­ (Murphy quote), 121 (second quote), 128 (third quote). dians (not dangerous any more), wages, schools, and ^ See John T. Flanagan, "Thoreau in Minnesota," in Minnesota History, 16:35-46 (March, 1935). churches and concluded with advice to invalids about what they should do on arrival and how long they should stay (preferably permanently). As late as 1879, Dr. Talbot Jones of St. Paul, in his A Plea for cold climates in tlie Treatment of Pulmonary Consumption. Minnesota As a Health Resort (New York), made essentially the same claims for Minne­ sota's climate. His pamphlet was a reprint of a paper published in the New York Medical Journal for Sep­

BY tember, 1879. The health gambit survived a surpris­ ingly long time — from early territorial days until late in the century. Perhaps it has never really ended. There were outstanding failures, as in the case of noted au­ thor Henry D. Thoreau, who visited the state for his health in 1861, a year before his death.^'^ However, he did not stay long enough by Dr. Mattocks' standards, and there was still the Reverend Horace BushnelFs sensational cure. In general, people probably were not harmed by coming to Minnesota. Apart from state agency guides that were translated

J. W. BOND'S guide contained an amazing array of hard facts, wild generalizations, and literary allusions certainly intended to stir the venturous spirit of the would-be immigrant.

Summer 1971 221 REDFIELD no & !12 NASSAU STRfLr NEWYQRK. into foreign languages, a number of guides to Minne­ a first lieutenant in the Norwegian army, devoted sota were directed to the Germans and Scandinavians twenty-six pages to Minnesota. Boyesen, however, and, to a lesser degree, to the Irish. In 1859 Karl drew heavily on the Hans Mattson guide of the Minne­ Andrec published a 404-page volume, entitled Geogra- sota Board of Immigration. More useful, though phische Wanderungen, in Dresden, Germany. It con­ briefer, was Soren Listoe's Staten Minnesota i Nord­ tained a lengthy chapter on "Der Staat Minnesota am amerika (Minneapolis, 1869). Written by the editor oberu Mississippi," giving the location of the state on of Nordisk Folkeblad of Minneapolis, the guide treated the North American continent, the nature of the cli­ of Minnesota's brief history, its geographical location, mate, the population as of 1857, opportunities for agri­ climate, resources, government, political subdivisions, culture, suitability for northern European crops, the taxes, surveys of land, population composition, schools, location of milfions of acres of available lands, pro­ land laws, farming potentialities, wages, products, rail­ jected raihoads, lumbering operations, and business roads, towns, and how to get to places in the state. potentialities. He reported (translation): "Even now, Listoe reported that no immigrants were more wel­ in the second half of 1858, Minnesota has become im­ come in Minnesota than Scandinavians. portant, and it is on the main road to the goldfields A curious pamphlet was Trapperens Veileder of British Columbia." ^^ (Trappers Guide) by K. Hasberg, published in 1871 Published in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1858, was an­ at the office of Faedrelandet og Emigranten in La other German volume, G. Briickner's Amerikas wich- Crosse, Wisconsin. Like many other guides, it gave tigste Cliaracteristik nach Land und Leuten (America's agricultural information, but it also told of hunting and Principal Characteristics as to Land and People). It trapping possibilities in Minnesota. Finally, there was included a few pages of information about Minnesota. the 1872 Gunnestad & Company's Haandbog for Emi- Meanwhile, European publications such as Thomas granter til de Forenede Stater (Christiania, Norway), Rawlings' Die Auswanderung mit besonderer Bezie- a translation of an English language guidebook which hung auf Minnesota und British Columbia (The Emi­ is not named. After warning sternly that emigration gration with Special Reference to Minnesota and was a serious and virtually irreversible matter, the British Columbia), published in Hamburg, Germany, guide answered questions as to who should go, when in 1866, gave a brief but very favorable report on the to depart, how to travel, what to do on arrival at Castle advantages of Minnesota for immigrants. Eduard Pelz, Garden (the disembarkation point for immigrants in in Minnesota das Central-Gebiet Nord-Amerikas (Min­ New York), and where to go from there. The only ones nesota the Central State of North America), published encouraged to emigrate were the young and vigorous in Leipzig, Germany, in 1868, acknowledged that for and those of farming or handicraft background. The many years Minnesota was regarded as America's Si­ guide assessed Minnesota favorably, with emphasis on beria, but he attempted to correct this image with the huge acreage awaiting settlers. evidence of Minnesota's capabilities for agriculture. Guides directed to the Irish of the eastern states as Particularly enamored of the climate, he claimed (trans­ well as of the homeland came from the Minnesota lation ): "The climate of Minnesota is the healthiest in Irish Immigration Society and from Bishop John Ire­ the United States." 22 land's Catholic Colonization Bureau, both of St. Paul.^' Examples of these guides are the society's Circular . . . OF THE MANY GUIDES for Scandinavians, only a for 1867 and Emigration Pamphlet (1870) and the few were concerned specifically with Minnesota. Al­ bureau's An Invitation to the Land (1877). The immi­ though Fredrika Bremer's The Homes of the New gration society's reports, both probably written by its World; Impressions of America (New York, 1853) was secretary, Dillon O'Brien, were aimed primarily at the a travel narrative, one section told of her visit to Min­ Irish in America's eastern cities. The main thrust of the nesota in 1850, and included the famous quotation, 1867 pamphlet seems to have been to dissuade anyone "What a glorious new Scandinavia might not Minne­ who was not prepared to farm: "We invite none but sota become!" ~^ She visited with Governor Ramsey, persons anxious to go upon [the] land, who have capi- called at the home of John Wesley North on Nicollet Island, visited Sioux Indians, and wrote enthusias­ -•^ Andrea, Geographische Wanderungen, 242. tically about the new territory.^^ Her travelogue was - Pelz, Minnesota das Central-Gebiet, 29. published in 1853 and was widely read. '•^ Bremer, Homes, 2:56. More properly in the category of guides was ''See Carlton G. Qualey, "John Wesley North.and the Adolph T. Boyesen's Udvandrerens Veileder og Raacl- Minnesota Frontier," in Minnesota History, 35:101-116 (September, 1956). giver (The Emigrant's Guide and Adviser), published "° See James P. Shannon, Catholic Colonization on the in Christiania (Oslo), Norway, in 1868. The author, Western Frontier (New Haven, 1957). 222 Minnesota History tal (at least as much as will support them for a whole tion based on the census of 1860. A more extensive year) to do so, who anticipate for the first few years, report, prepared by Commissioner E. Page Davis, came trials to hardships and are bravely resolved, with the from the same agency in 1870. Entitled Minnesota: Its help of God, by industry, sobriety and perseverance to Resources and Progress, it quoted copiously from visi­ overcome them." 2" Information of all kinds was given tors' accounts, reprinted the letter of Reverend Bush­ in the more extensive 1870 edition. nell concerning his cured consumption, added a similar The Catholic Colonization Bureau's publication of testimonial from Reverend Henry A. Boardman of 1877 was really a sales-promotion pamphlet for lands Philadelphia, and offered some material from the along the lines of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad in McClung guidebook. The pamphlet gave 1870 statis­ Swift County and the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad tics on population and church membership. Like other in Nobles County. The pamphlet, probably written by guides, it fumished information on land laws and in­ Bishop Ireland, argued the advantages of the land over structions about transportation and equipment. Only the city, especially for children, the greater freedom the young were urged to travel to the state. and independence to be gained there, and the greater opportunities to be found in Minnesota. COMPLEMENTARY to the 1865 pamphlet of the Min­ The Minnesota State Board of Health and Vital nesota Board of Immigration containing the much- Statistics preceded the Board of Immigration in pro­ quoted essay by Mary J. Colburn, a series of pamphlets moting immigration to the state. In 1860 it issued a in English, German, and the Scandinavian languages pamphlet, written by Commissioner Joseph A. Whee­ was issued in 1870 by the board under the general title, lock, entitled Minnesota, Its Place Among the States Minnesota As a Home for Immigrants.^'' Thousands of (Hartford, Connecticut), which was mainly a descrip- copies of the Minnesota pamphlet were distributed abroad, at eastern seaports, and in other states.^* " Minnesota Irish Immigration Society, Circular, 4. Certainly the Scandinavian editions of the pam­ ~ See, for example, Minnesota als eine Heimath fiir phlet and perhaps others were written by Colonel Hans Einwanderer (St. Paul, 1870); Minnesota og dets Fordele Mattson, Civil War hero and member of the Board of for Indvandrerer (La Grosse, 1870). Immigration. He toured Scandinavia and successfully ^ See Theodore G. Blegen, "Minnesota's Campaign for Immigrants," in Swedish Historical Society of America, recruited settlers for the Northern Pacific and Lake Yearbook, 11:3-26 (Chicago, 1926). Superior and Mississippi railroads. The pamphlet was

HEALTH GUIDES including this one by Ledyard Bill fea­ tured engravings of natural beauty spots such as Minne­ MINNESOTA: haha Falls. Clearly the reader was to associate unspoiled nature with unblemished physical health.

CHAEAOTEE AKD OLIMATE.

SKETCHES OF OTHER RESORTS FAVORABLE TO INVAI.IDS; TOGETHER WITH OOPtOVS NOTES OS HEAITH ;

news TO TOURISTS AND EMIGRANT.?.

BY LEDTAKD BILL, AaOar tif "4 ITutter in rioHda," rfc, ttc

SEW YOEK; PUBLISHED BY WOOD & HOLBHOOK, IB LAIQHT STREET. 1871.

Summer 1971 223 distributed without charge and contained useful and Chapman called Southwestern Minnesota. The Best probably exaggerated information about the state's Farming Section in the World (1882), and J. H. agriculture, history, geography, government, cities, Drake's pamphlet for the St. Paul and Sioux City Rail­ schools, population, climate, natural resources, and way Company entitled The Land of Plenty, As It Is products. Mattson also wrote about the homestead (1884). law, pioneer life, railroads, labor opportunities, wages, These guides had a certain sameness of content and welfare, churches, major Scandinavian settlements, character, except perhaps the publication by Hans land offices, and exemption from attachments. The lat­ Mattson which added the author's personal assurances ter feature was mentioned in several other guides, no that he had investigated the lands of Chisago County doubt reflecting past painful experiences of settlers and urged immigrants to write or call at his office at whose improved land had been "attached," or seized Third and Jackson streets in St. Paul. All the pamphlets for failure to meet mortgage or lien payments. The described the scenery, the transportation accessibility, Homestead Act of 1862 forbade attachment for debts the fertility of the lands, the need to come soon be­ incurred before acquisition of the homestead land.'" cause of rapid settlement, the possibilities of off-season It may be recalled that the first railroad promotion or pre-farming labor, and, of course, the fine climate. to Minnesota was the Rock Island excursion of 1854 Finally, there are the guides to cities and counties celebrating the linkage by railroad of the Atlantic which are too numerous to mention. One of the earliest Ocean and the Mississippi River. At that time a thou­ was published by D. Sinclair & Company for Winona sand people traveled by rail to Rock Island, Illinois, (1858), but other counties and cities quickly produced and then upriver by steamboat to view the Falls of St. local booster literature. A virtual flood of county and Anthony. The major effort of the railroads, however, city histories and guides was produced. came in the 1870s and after. There are many railroad The effect of this guide literature on actual immi­ guides in the collections of the Minnesota Historical gration to and settlement in Minnesota is difficult to Society, and only a few will be mentioned here. assess. Certain publications, such as that by Mattson, Perhaps the earliest was the St. Paul and Pacific had influence that was direct and effective. The num­ Railroad's Guide to the Lands of the First Division ber of editions and probable extensive circulation of (1870), followed by the Lake Superior and Mississippi others suggest influence and would seem to indicate a Railroad's Lands for Emigrants (1871), Hans Mattson's large market for them. Whatever the rationale or sig­ Land for Emigranter (1871), the Northern Pacific's nificance of the guides, they reflect an optimism, an Guide to the Lands of the Northern Pacific in Minne­ infectious enthusiasm, and a boom spirit that form an sota (1872), John Brennan's St. Paul

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