The common impression in relation to all towns in the new States, and with reason, too, is, that they are of such rapid growth, under speculative influences, as to often possess no solid elements of prosperity, and that, after the first wave of excitement dies out, they collapse; but if they have real advantages of position and enterprise combined, the prize is as surely theirs.  The critical period for St. Paul has passed, like that in the life of its great namesake, and the visitor, as he walks along the streets of the town, finds evidences of its substantial and permanent growth on every hand.

Probably no place of the same population in the entire valley, from New Orleans up, can boast of as many substantial and costly stores, or as many elegant and tasteful houses, as can St. Paul.  The fine prospect to be had from every portion of the town is likewise a noted feature peculiar to itself, and is what neither wealth nor art can create.  Back, on the edge of the bluff, which surrounds the city in a semi-circular form, runs Summit Avenue, already a fashionable quarter, but which, ere long, must be famed as commanding one of the most interesting landscapes in a country abounding in many natural beauties.

From Dayton’s Bluff, on the left, likewise an attractive point in itself, the best view of the city can be had.  Under this bluff is a cave, which was used as the council-chamber of the red men, and has been the witness of many a notable event.  It is a subterraneous cavern formed by the running water wearing away the soft, white, calcareous sand, which, everywhere in this section, underlies the strata of blue limestone next to the surface.  There are several of these caves near the town, but of no great interest beyond serving to while away an idle hour, or to give some additional zest to a morning’s ramble.

St. Paul received its name from Pere Louis Hennepin, a European, belonging to the Order of Franciscans, who landed on the present site of the city while on a voyage of exploration and discovery up the Mississippi River, in April, 1680.  He was an extensive traveller and prolific writer; but of all things done by him, that of giving the name of the famous Apostle to this locality, and now city, was by far the best.  The next hundred and fifty years passed by and still all a blank, and not till 1850, the year following the territorial organization of Minnesota, can it be said to have assumed the appearance of a permanent settlement, with a population of perhaps a thousand adventurous souls.

The present enumeration of St. Paul, as given by the census of 1870, just completed, shows a trifle over twenty thousand.  This is not as high a figure as the people had hoped for and counted upon; but yet this shows an increase of about seventy-five per cent. for the last five years.  No one can walk the city and not believe that this recent and rapid growth has substantial foundation in the enlarging business and increasing importance of the town itself.