These boundaries will enclose an area of about 65,000 square miles of
the best agricultural and manufacturing region in the territory, and
will form a state of unrivalled advantages. That portion of the
territory set aside by the boundary line will be of little value for
many years to come. It presents features differing but little from the
region of prairie and table land west of the frontier of Missouri and
Arkansas. From this, of course, are to be excepted the western half of
the valley of the Red River and of the Big Sioux River, which are as
productive as any portion of the territory, which, with the region
enclosed between them, would contain arable land sufficient for
another state of smaller dimensions.
As you will find stated and fully explained in my report of February,
1850, the valley of the Red River of the North must find an outlet for
its productions towards the south, either through the great lakes or
by the Mississippi River. The necessity, therefore, of connecting the
head of its navigation with a harbor on Lake Superior, and a port on
the Mississippi, is sufficiently apparent.
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