Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, March 27, 1909, Page 17

BEMIDJI, BELTRAMI COUNTY ANI) NORTHERN MINNESOTA. A HUNTING AND FISHING CAMP NORTH OF BEMIDJI. THEY LIKE BEMID]I. VIEWS OF A BANKER. To illustrate the attention that Be- midji is impelling throughout the coun- try the following Iletter, published ver batim, is somewhat impressive. This let- ter mas indited by the vice-president of The First National Bank of Petersburg, Indiana, the recipient thereof being our esteemed mayor, J. P. Pogue. The letter was mailed from Petersburg, Ind., as the date shows. If this letter does not tend to show the universal interest being manifested in the possibilities of Bemidji, and the esti- mation of our citizenship, we miss our guess. Here it is: “Petersburg, Indiana, Jan. 1, 1909. “Hon. J. P. Pogue, Bemidji, Minn. “Dear Sir.—After having spent some time in your city a few days since, I ar- rived at home safely, and-I write now to thank you for your corteous treatment while in Bemidji. While my pleasant recollections ~wander back to Minnesota, and more especially your surroundings, and the beautiful little city of Bemidji, I am most favorably impressed with the opinio nthat Bemidji is destined to be one of the metropolises of the Northwest, as all your citizens seem to have joined hands with but one object in view, viz: to build a city without a doubt. It was an interesting sight to see the opening up of your streets and boulevards, the build- ing operations in progress and the radi- cal changes that are being made in the appearance of things. ‘““The great number of people coming to your c¢ity all the while, swelling its population and adding to its wealth at such a rapid rate was a source of won- der and admiration to me. Yur large lumber mills, shingle mills and hard wood handle factories together with your various other manufacturing industries, as well as being located in your city, is ‘in the very heart of a rich producing agricultural section, which to my surprise, I find is the home of all kinds of mead- ows such as clover, timothy hay and all kinds of sweet grasses; and small grains such as wheat, barley, rye, oats and speltz which grow to perfection and yield abun- dant crops, such as potatoes by the hun- dreds of bushels per acre, all of those things 'were a most pleasant surprise to me, but my greatest surprise was to find vour land so cheap. I was shown hun- dreds of acres of perfect lying land—rich producing black sandy loam soil, that I was told could be bought at from $8 to $15 per acre only a short distance from your city, which is so fortunately blessed with a good market for all products pro- duced for many miles around. ‘“With your four railroads and a bright prospect to secure the fifth, with your pine and hard wood forests, with your location amid the beautiful lakes, and your city located along the lake shore, all of which goes to make up a marvelous scenery of wonderful beauty. With prop- er energy and push it is easy to forecast the future of your little city. “Thanking you again for past favors, I am , ‘“Yours very truly, ‘“‘H. R. SNYDER, ‘“Vice President, ‘“First National Bank.” ONE FROM MINNEAPOLIS. This letter is also clincher, and goes to show that persons from this state, as well as from other portions of the coun- try, appreciate the unusual resources of Bemidji and Beltrami County: ‘““Minneapolis, Minn., Dec. 25, 1908. “My Dear Pogue:—I write to thank you for the courtesies shown me and my friends during our recent visit to your beautiful little city. ‘“Your people are justly proud of their city-——I know of no place that can show a more rapid and substantial growth. Your public buildings, business blocks and private residences are splendid and would do credit to a much older and larger city. ‘“The growth and prosperity of Be- midji read like a fairy story—in less than a dozen years a forest has been converted into a -magnificent <city of 8,000 prosperous, happy people, but when we stop to look for the reason, it is not hard to find. You are surrounded by great forests of pine, and hard wood, which is being manufactured into building material, poles, posts and eordwood, and shipped all over the country, thereby giv- ing employment to thousands of people. “Then, too, your soil is very rich and will produce in abundance all kinds of crops and where the iorests give way, farms are appearing and in the near fu- ture Bemidji will be surrounded by one of the most prosperous agricultural sec- tions in the state. “Then you have good railroad facilities, and you are a distributing point for a large section, so taking every thing into consideration there is no reason why you should not have made a great growth, nor any reason why you should not .continue to grow. ‘“Yours very truly, “MART FLEENER.”