You will remember that this country was suffering from the great financial collapse of 1857, and any possible change for the better was hailed with the earnestness of drowning men. In addition to this good hope for the future came the discovery of gold on Fraser and Thompson rivers in British Columbia, which made our people wild. Congratulations were exchanged between our citizens as they met on the street and in their business offices; our papers, at once, took hold of the matter and began to discuss the question, how to avail ourselves of this good fortune, which had come to relieve us of our calamity; public meetings were called; resolutions were passed; each one who had any information that would help to elucidate and make plain the way of how to get there was pressed into service. Among others who were called upon, I was advised that the business public hoped that I would visit the Red river and report whether it was navigable or not, Mr. John R. Irvine volunteering to accompany me.

In October I got ready for this voyage of discovery and with Mr. Irvine left Saint Paul, by way of St. Peter's, Fort Ridgely, Yellow Medicine, Lac qui Parle, and the Kittson trail, to Fort Abercrombie, where we found Capt. Nelson H. Davis and Lieutenant P. Hawkins, with their company of the Second Infantry, and Jesse M. Stone, the sutler of the fort. The fort had been hastily built and consisted mostly of log cabins on the bottomland of the river.

After enjoying the welcome hospitality of the officer of the post for several days, we resumed our journey, by crossing at the ford at Graham's point, about three miles south of the fort, to the east side, and passed down the banks of the river, camping on its bottomlands and viewing the stream as opportunity occurred. After passing two or three claim locations for the head of navigation on the river, among which I remember Sintominie and Burlington, we arrived at the claim of Mr. Irvine, which he had named Lafayette, oposite the mouth of the Sheyenne-Oju, about three miles above Georgetown, where we stayed until our horses were rested for our return trip by way of Old Crossing, Lightning lake, White Bear lake, and Richmond, to St. Cloud, and thence by the stage road to St. Paul. On this return we met Mr. Albert Evans, the mail-carrier between St. Cloud and Fort Aber

crombie, on foot, with his mail upon his back, near the Old Crossing.

My report to the Chamber of Commerce was, that there should be three or four months of navigation and there ought to be a boat built next year. The Chamber immediately offered a bonus of $1,000 to any one who would build a boat ready to run next season. This bid came to the knowledge of Mr. Anson Northup, who proposed to build a boat, ready for navigation next year, for $2,000, which offer was accepted. Northup had bought the "North Star" in Minneapolis, and had taken her up over Sauk Rapids and Little Falls to run on the upper river, to carry the lumbermen's supplies. She passed Sauk Rapids June 7th, and soon after made a pleasure trip to Grand Rapids, at the present town of this name, about three miles below Pokegama falls. Capt. J. B. Young was master, and among the passengers on the excursion were Anson Northup, Baldwin Olmsted, O. B. Day, Lewis Stone, Jeff Perkins, David Gilman, and their wives, besides many others. They were about two weeks making the trip. In the fall the boat was laid up, in the mouth of Crow Wing river.

The machinery of the "North Star" had originally been brought to Minneapolis from Bangor, Maine, and was put on the "Gov. Ramsey," built in 1851 by Capt. John Rollins. After Northup made the contract to build the boat, he went to Crow Wing river, sawed the lumber, and probably framed the timbers for the hull. He loaded the machinery, cabin and furniture, and lumber to build the boat, on thirty-four teams, and with sixty men started for Lafayette on the Red river. Among the men who made this winter trip were Baldwin Olmsted, Mr. Morse, master builder Lewis Stone, J. B. Young, and A. R. Young, most resolute and reliable men for such work. The distance, probably one hundred and fifty miles, was in a country unknown, without roads; and the winter was the coldest on record.

About six weeks after they arrived, they had built the boat, which received the name of the builder, "Anson Northup," had run her up to Abercrombie, and started for Fort Garry on May 17, arriving there June 5. Soon afterward, this boat took a large number of passengers to lake Winnipeg on an excursion. She returned to Fort Abercrombie with twenty

MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
VOL. VIII. PLATE II.

FORT ABERCROMBIE, DAKOTA: LOOKING EASTWARD, ACROSS THE RED RIVER, INTO MINNESOTA.

passengers on her up trip, where the boat was tied up. Northup and the crew started for St. Paul, taking their pas sengers, with the teams that had been kept since the winter.

The great interest had, during the summer and fall of 1858, gathered strength daily. The contract with Northup for the boat proved to be a great card in starting the ball. The Chamber of Commerce had to raise the money to pay the bonus for building the boat. Some preparation to open the road to the gold fields in British Columbia had to be made. Foremost among the workers on these absorbing questions were Messrs. James W. Taylor, Joseph A. Wheelock, Col. W. H. Nobles, Martin McLeod, and Henry McKentey. The writings of the two first named gentlemen would fill a volume, and I may say that the speeches of Mr. Taylor would fill two. The earnestness with which he advocated the opening up of these different routes, to Garry and the Pacific, cannot be realized by those who did not have the good fortune to hear him. I remember the closing sentence of an appeal he made, while engaged in raising the money for the bonus; after having presented all the inducements that he could think of, he said, "When the whistle shall sound the advent of this boat in Garry, Archbishop Taché, who has prayed so earnestly and waited so long, will spring instantly to his feet and, raising his hands reverently above his head, exclaim, 'In the name of God, let the bells of St. Boniface ring, for civilization has come!" He was more especially the friend of the water route, by way of the Red and Saskatchewan rivers to the gold fields, and advocated this route so constantly that he was in later times known as "Saskatchewan" Taylor.

On the 7th of December, 1858, the Common Council of the city of St. Paul, of which C. L. Emerson was president, asked Mr. Taylor to prepare a report upon the settlement of the area northwest of Minnesota and the extension of steamer, railroad, and telegraph communication west from the navigable waters of the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, with the relations of Minnesota to the American and Asiatic coasts of the Pacific ocean. He prepared a large map of the territory to the west and northwest, which was hung on the wall of the Council Chamber to illustrate the matter of his report. They appointed a meeting on an evening to listen to the reading of