Towards The South It Is Characterized
By Bold Undulations.
The valley of the Missouri is narrow; and the
bluffs which border upon it are abrupt and high.
The country is
adapted to agricultural pursuits, and though inferior as a general
thing to much of Minnesota, affords promise of thrift and properity in
its future. It is blessed with a salubrious climate. Dr. Suckley, who
accompanied the expedition of Gov. Stevens through that part of the
West, as far as Puget Sound, says in his official report: "On
reviewing the whole route, the unequalled and unparalleled good health
of the command during a march of over eighteen hundred miles appears
remarkable; especially when we consider the hardships and exposures
necessarily incident to such a trip. Not a case of ague or fever
occurred. Such a state of health could only be accounted for by the
great salubrity of the countries passed through, and their freedom
from malarious or other endemic disease."
Governor Stevens has some comprehensive remarks concerning that part
of the country in his report. "The Grand Plateau of the Bois des Sioux
and the Mouse River valley are the two keys of railroad communication
from the Mississippi River westward through the territory of
Minnesota. The Bois des Sioux is a river believed to be navigable for
steamers of light draught, flowing northward from Lake Traverse into
the Red River of the North, and the plateau of the Bois des Sioux may
be considered as extending from south of Lake Traverse to the south
bend of the Red River, and from the Rabbit River, some thirty miles
east of the Bois des Sioux River, to the Dead Colt hillock.
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