From the lake back to the top of the bluff, a mile distant, the ascent is easy and regular, affording one of the loveliest sites for the foundation of a great and beautiful city.
Duluth was named for Daniel Greyson Duluth, a native of France, who was the first white man to explore the head-waters of Lake Superior. He landed here in 1679, and advanced far into the interior, westward, toward the Mississippi, cultivating friendly relations with the tribes inhabiting this portion of the country. From his time to the present little or nothing has been done toward the founding, at this point, of a place suitable to the great possibilities of trade and commerce. Thus the spell which seemed to shut from view this key-point of a vast interior country remained till the prophetic eye of capital discovered and possessed it.
That this wilderness, heretofore so wrapt in mystery, should now blossom into life, seems quite plain to the commonest observer of us all.
How faith is given us when success walks hand-in-hand with enterprise.
Though the city of Duluth is only ten years old, it boasts a population of over three thousand, with many of the conveniences of older settlements. Its streets are laid out with great regularity, and the principal one, next the lake, full a mile in length, is lined along nearly its whole extent with stores and warehouses of every kind and description. The sound of the hammer and saw may be heard on every side.
Buildings so crowd upon the forest that the woodman is hard pressed to clear the way; and thus the brave work goes on of transforming this wilderness into gardens where roses in their season bloom abundantly.
We counted not less than five handsome churches, all erected the past year, representing as many different denominations, and, in point of style and interior finish, quite up to the requirements of the most enlightened taste. Two convenient and comfortable hotels give rest and refreshment. Ample provision is being made for public schools; and the projectors of the town have, in their wisdom, set apart one entire square on which a ladies' seminary is to be erected; in short, everything is being done in a most determined and energetic manner. There is no place for idlers here. Such a wide-awake community naturally weeds itself of them; and, consequently, the society is industrious and moral, if not always elegant and pretentious.
Duluth will in time possess a completely landlocked harbor, and indeed has it already, but not at present as accessible as it will soon be made to the commerce seeking her wharves. The work of cutting a ship channel across the shoulder of the sand-bar before referred to is in progress, the distance being but a few hundred feet of loose earth, which, when completed, will open communication to an immense bay, where all the commerce of the lakes might ride at anchor in perfect safety, were some slight dredging done to increase the present depth of water. This bay is now reached by a circuit of half-dozen miles around the end of this sand-bar, known as Minnesota Point. The Bay of Duluth must eventually, we think, be the great harbor, though a breakwater is in course of construction, which, when completed and made permanent, will give ample shelter to all immediate necessities. Costly wharves have been constructed on the lake side of the Point, and there vessels load and unload almost constantly.
Since it is the established policy of the government to improve the rivers and harbors of the country, surely the small needs of this place ought not to be overlooked. While private enterprise can and does do much, yet it is a sound theory for the general government, which derives its revenues from the people, to aid them in removing or building such obstructions or guards as the merits of the case and the public interest-demand.
Already the trade and commerce of the town employs about a dozen steamships, and numerous sailing vessels are also kept in motion, transporting supplies for the great railway enterprise which has its eastern base at this point.