der 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.

The public buildings and works of the city are worthy of note in any
sketch; and we would first call attention to the Capitol, which stands
obscured from the river, and back of the centre of business, on the
table between the front and rear bluffs. It is a plain structure of
brick, in the form of a cross, with wings of equal length. This must
eventually give room to a more suitable and dignified structure, yet for
all present needs, and during the infancy of the State, it is not at all
inappropriate.

The most costly building, when finished, will be the Custom-House of
the General Government. It is being built of granite, brought from St.
Cloud, and is estimated to cost the handsome sum of three hundred
thousand dollars.

The interests of education are well looked after in the half-dozen
public school buildings; and the religious element has abundant
spiritual food dispensed from the full score of costly and well-ordered
church edifices, some of which contribute much to the architectural
grace and ornament of the town.

A notable feature in the landscape, as the city is approached by either
railroad or river, is the wooden bridge spanning the river just at the
steamboat landing. It is over a fourth of a mile in length, and built
upon an _inclined plane_, at a cost of one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. The first abutment on the side of the city starts on a le