Chapter 58 - Page 2

figures set down above, as the population of St. Paul
and Minneapolis, are several months old. These towns are far larger now.
In fact, I have just seen a newspaper estimate which gives the former
seventy-one thousand, and the latter seventy-eight thousand.
This book will not reach the public for six or seven months yet;
none of the figures will be worth much then.

We had a glimpse of Davenport, which is another beautiful city,
crowning a hill--a phrase which applies to all these towns; for they
are all comely, all well built, clean, orderly, pleasant to the eye,
and cheering to the spirit; and they are all situated upon hills.
Therefore we will give that phrase a rest. The Indians have a tradition
that Marquette and Joliet camped where Davenport now stands, in 1673.
The next white man who camped there, did it about a hundred and seventy
years later--in 1834. Davenport has gathered its thirty thousand
people within the past thirty years. She sends more children to her
schools now, than her whole population numbered twenty-three years ago.
She has the usual Upper River quota of factories, newspapers,
and institutions of learning; she has telephones, local telegraphs,
an electric alarm, and an admirable paid fire department,
consisting of six hook and ladder companies, four steam fire engines,
and thirty churches. Davenport is the official residence of two bishops--
Episcopal and Catholic.

Opposite Davenport is the flourishing town of Rock Island,
which lies at the foot of the Upper Rapids. A great railroad
bridge connects the two towns--one of the thirteen which fret
the Mississippi and the pilots, between St. Louis and St. Paul.

The charming island of Rock Island, three miles long and half
a mile wide, belongs to the United States, and the Government has
turned it into a wonderful park, enhancing its natural attractions
by art, and threading its fine forests with many miles of drives.
Near the center of the island one catches glimpses, through the trees,
of ten vast stone four-story buildings, each of which covers an acre
of ground. These are the Government workshops; for the Rock Island
establishment is a national armory and arsenal.

We move up the river--always through enchanting scenery,
there being no other kind on the Upper Mississippi--
and pass Moline, a center of vast manufacturing industries;
and Clinton and Lyons, great lumber centers; and presently
reach Dubuque, which is situated in a rich mineral region.
The lead mines are very productive, and of wide extent.
Dubuque has a great number of manufacturing establishments; among them
a plow factory which has for customers all Christendom in general.
At least so I was told by an agent of the concern who was on
the boat.