Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/629

 MINNESOTA MINNESOTA (UNIVERSITY OF) 611 in 1819. In 1837 a small tract of country be- tween the St. Croix and Mississippi was ceded by the Indians to the United States, and lumber- ing operations commenced upon the St. Croix. The territory of Minnesota was established by an act of congress passed March 3, 1849, and the government was organized in June. It embraced nearly twice the area of the present state, its western limits extending to the Mis- souri and White Earth rivers. Up to this pe- riod the country was occupied almost entirely by Indians ; but a small civilized population of whites and half-breeds had grown up around the trading posts and mission stations, amount- ing in 1849 to 4,857. In 1851 the Sioux ceded to the United States all their lands in the ter- ritory W. of the Mississippi to the Big Sioux river. The population increased so rapidly after this, that in 1857 application was made for admission into the Union. In the con- vention assembled to frame a state constitu- tion, a dispute arose among the delegates, which resulted in the secession of a portion and the formation of another convention. The two conventions, known as the republican and the democratic, held sessions at the same time in St. Paul. A compromise was effected, and the same constitution was signed by the dele- gates of both conventions and submitted sepa- rately to the people by each convention, with the names only of its officers and delegates. It was ratified by an overwhelming majority. According to the census ordered in the ena- bling act, and dated Sept. 21, 1857, the terri- tory contained 150,092 inhabitants. The act authorizing the formation of a state govern- ment passed congress Feb. 26, 1857, and the state was admitted into the Union May 11, 1858, with the boundaries above described. That portion of the state lying on the E. side of the Mississippi originally belonged to the country termed the " Territory Northwest of the Ohio," and had the ordinance of 1787 been fully complied with would have been included in the fifth state (Wisconsin) formed from that region. This section comprises an area of 22,336 square miles. The part of the country lying W. of the Mississippi, and embracing more than two thirds of its area, was originally a portion of Louisiana, and came into the pos- session of the United States in 1803 ; and be- fore it was included in Minnesota it had been a part of the territory of Missouri, and subse- quently of Iowa. There are bonds amounting to $2,275,000 outstanding against the state, the validity of which has been disputed. These bonds were issued in 1858 and lent to railroad companies, upon the authority of an amend- ment to the constitution made in that year. Soon after receiving them the companies, as is alleged, failed to comply with the condi- tions upon which the bonds were granted, and payment was refused by the state. In 1860 another amendment to the constitution was adopted " expunging " the amendment of 1858, and providing that " no law levying a tax or making other provisions for the payment of principal or interest of the bonds denominated Minnesota state railroad bonds shall take effect or be in force until such law shall have been submitted to a vote of the people of the state and adopted^ by a majority of the electors of the state voting upon the same." Before this amendment was adopted the mortgages held by the state had been purchased and the mort- gaged railroads bought by the government at nominal prices. In May, 1871, a popular vote was taken on a proposition for settlement by arbitration of these claims, when 21,499 votes were cast against and 9,293 in favor of the proposition, the total vote being less than half the average vote of the state. The total num- ber of men furnished by Minnesota to the army and navy during the civil war was 25,034, or 19,675 reduced to a three years' standard. MINNESOTA, or St. Peter's, a river of Min- nesota, having its source in a series of lakes on the Dakota border, between lat. 45 and 46 N., and pursuing a S. E. course for about 320 m. to its confluence with the Blue Earth; then turning N. E. it flows in that direction for about 120 m., falling into the Mississippi at Mendota. Its course is principally in the val- ley lying between the Coteau du Grand Bois and the Coteau des Prairies. For its whole distance from Big Stone lake it has a fall of only 220 ft. It is navigable for steamers about 40 m. to a point where at low water a ledge of rocks obstructs further progress ; but ordi- narily small boats can ascend to Patterson's rapids, 295 m. from its mouth. MINNESOTA, University of, an institution of learning in Minneapolis, Minn., beautifully sit- uated on a bluff on the E. bank of the Missis- sippi river, one mile below the falls of St. An- thony. The college grounds comprise about 30 acres. The experimental farm of the agri- cultural college is about half a mile below, near the Bridal Veil falls. The buildings comprise a main academic edifice, 180 by 90 ft. and four stories high, and an agricultural college, 150 by 54 ft.', two stories high, including a chem- ical laboratory and a plant house of glass. The total cost of these buildings was $100,000, appropriated by the state. The university had a nominal existence, under a provision of the state constitution, as early as 1857, but it was not till 1867 that a preparatory depart- ment was opened. In 1868 the university was reorganized, and to the board of regents was intrusted the income to be derived from the state's share of the lands given in 1862 by the general government for the endowment of colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts. In September, 1869, the first faculty was or- ganized, the president being William W. Fol- well, M. A., who still retains that office (1875). In 1870 the board of regents adopted a plan of university organization in some respects novel. The work of the first two years of the ordinary college course was merged with the last two years of the existing preparatory department