Minnesota; Its Character and Climate | Page 2

OF CONSUMPTION.
Prevention better than cure.--Local causes of disease.--Our school
system objectionable.--Dr. Bowditch's opinion.--Location of our homes
important.--Damp soils prolific of lung troubles.--Bad
ventilation.--Value of sunshine.--City girls and city life.--Fashionable
society.--Tight lacing fatal to sound health.--Modern living.--The iron
hand of fashion.



CHAPTER IX.
HINTS TO INVALIDS AND OTHERS.
Indiscretions.--Care of themselves.--Singular effect of consumption on
mind.--How to dress.--Absurdities of dress.--Diet.--Habits of
people.--How English people eat.--What consumptives should
eat.--Things to be remembered.--The vanity of the race.--Pork an

objectionable article of diet.--Characteristics of the South.--Regularity
in eating.--The use of ardent spirits by invalids.--The necessity of
exercise.--The country the best place to train children.--Examples in
high quarters.--Sleep the best physician.--Ventilation.--Damp
rooms.--How to bathe.



CHAPTER X.
WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO SEE AND EXPECT.
The best localities for invalids and others.--The city of
Minneapolis.--Its drives and objects of interest.--Cascade and Bridal
Falls.--Fort Snelling.--Minnehaha Falls.--The city and Falls of St.
Anthony.--Anoka and St. Cloud.--Fishing and hunting.--Wilmar and
Litchfield.--Lake Minnetonka.--Experience in fishing.--Some "big
fish."--White Bear Lake.--The Minnesota Valley.--Le Sueur--St. Peters
and Mankato.--Minneopa Falls.--Southwestern Minnesota.--Its
agricultural wealth and capabilities.--Northern Pacific Railroad and its
branches--The Red River country.--Trade with Manitoba.--Western life
and habits.



CHAPTER XI.
DULUTH.
Its location and rapid growth.--Who named for.--Enterprise of its

people.--Its fine harbor.--Duluth Bay.--The steamship connection with
eastern cities.--Pleasure travel up the lakes.--The Lake Superior and
Mississippi Railroad.--The shortest route East for grain.--Public
improvements.--The fishing, lumber, and mining interests.



CHAPTER XII.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
The Northwest.--Its great extent and character.--J. Cooke, Esq.--The
Northern Pacific Railroad and its advantages.--The general line of the
road.--The shortest route to Asia.--The Red River valley.--Puget
Sound.--The future of our country.



CHAPTER XIII.
OTHER CLIMATES THAN MINNESOTA.
Sketches of other climates and localities favorable to
invalids.--California.--Mortuary statistics of San Francisco.--The wet
and dry seasons.--San Diego the best place.--Florida and its
reputation.--Nassau as a resort.--Fayal and its climate.--English and
American visitors.--Means of access.

MINNESOTA.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
LEADING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STATE.
The water system of the Stare.--Its pure atmosphere.--Violations of
hygienic laws.--A mixed population.--General features of the
country.--Intelligence of the population.--The bountiful
harvests.--Geographical advantages.
The interest attaching to the State of Minnesota, as compared with
other of the Western States, is two-fold. While all are well known for
their great fertility and prosperity, Minnesota alone lays special claim
to prominence in the superiority of her climate. How much this may be
due to her peculiar geographical position is not wholly evident, but its
influence must be great; and it is important to observe that the position
of the State is central, being, in fact, the very heart of the continent.
It is likewise remarkable for the vast water systems which have their
origin within its boundaries, and their outlet through three of the great
interior valleys, namely, the Red River, northward to Hudson's Bay; the
St. Lawrence, eastward through the lakes; the Mississippi River,
southward, and all having one grand terminus where, through the
powerful agency of the great river of the ocean, the "Gulf Stream,"
their reunited waters are borne away to the tropics, again to be returned,
in gentle rains, to this central and elevated plateau known as the State
of Minnesota.
Since the first settlement of the State it has become gradually known as
possessing an extremely salubrious climate. There was no scientific or
official board of weatherwise people to proclaim the advantages of this
young State, either in this or any other particular; but, by a continued
succession of extremely favorable reports from the early settlers
immigrating from adjoining districts, and from unhealthful and
malarious localities in the older and more eastern States, her reputation
steadily increased until the sanitary fame of this "far northwest" is now
coextensive with its civil history.
The chief characteristics of a healthful climate are pure atmosphere and
pure water. These are seldom found in conjunction, except in the
temperate latitudes; though there are a few localities in the sub-tropical
regions where these conditions may be found, such as Fayal, off the
coast of Spain; the high altitudes of some of the Bahama and Philippine

islands; also at San Diego in California; and likewise at St. Augustine,
on the east coast of Florida. There are others which do not as readily
occur to us at this writing. These two elements are always absolutely
necessary to insure a good degree of health, but they do not secure it;
quite far from it, as is well known, since the most careless observer
must have noticed the varying sanitary degrees of localities in
temperate latitudes, that are even contiguous to each other; the one,
perhaps, being highly malarious, while the other is measurably
healthful. And, again, great districts, occupying a half of a State, are so
detrimental to sound health that half their population are whelmed with
fevers--bilious, intermittent, and