The Wild Rice, Which Exists In These Lakes In The Most Lavish Profusion, Constitutes A Most Necessary Article Of Food With The Indians, And Is Gathered In Large Quantities In The Months Of September And October.

To the east the banks of the lake are fringed with heavy oak and elm timber to the width of one mile.

The whole region of country for fifty miles in all directions around this lake is among the most beautiful and fertile in the world. The fine scenery of lakes and open groves of oak timber, of winding streams connecting them, and beautifully rolling country on all sides, renders this portion of Minnesota the garden spot of the north-west. It is impossible in a report of this character to describe the feeling of admiration and astonishment with which we first beheld the charming country in the vicinity of this lake; and were I to give expression to my own feelings and opinions in reference to it, I fear they would be considered the ravings of a visionary or an enthusiast."[1] But let me say to the speculator that he need not covet any of these broad acres. There is little chance for him. Before that land can be bought at public sale or by mere purchasers at private sale, it will, I feel sure, be entirely occupied by actual settlers. And so it ought to be. The good of the territory is promoted by that beneficent policy of our public land laws which gives the actual settler the first and best chance to acquire a title by preemption.

[1 To illustrate the rapid progress which is going on constantly, I would remark that in less than a month after leaving Crow Wing, I received a letter from there informing me that Messrs. Crittenden, Cathcart, and others had been to Otter Tail Lake and laid out a town which they call Otter Tail City. The standing and means of the men engaged in the enterprise, are a sure guaranty of its success.]

Speculators have located a great many land warrants in Minnesota. Some have been located on lakes, some on swamps, some on excellent land. Of course the owner, who, as a general thing, is a nonresident, leaves his land idle for something to "turn up" to make it profitable. There it stands doing no good, but on the contrary is an encumbrance to the settler, who has to travel over and beyond it without meeting the face of a neighbor in its vicinity. The policy of new states is to tax non-resident landholders at a high rate. When the territory becomes a state, and is obliged to raise a revenue, some of these fellows outside, who, to use a phrase common up here, have plastered the country over with land warrants, will have to keep a lookout for the tax-gatherer. Now I do not mean to discourage moneyed men from investing in Minnesota lands. I do not wish to raise any bugbears, but simply to let them know that hoarding up large tracts of land without making improvements, and leaving it to increase in value by the toil and energy of the pioneer, is a way of doing things which is not popular with the actual settler.

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