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 level with the bluff, giving seventy-five feet between the bridge and the river, and then falls rapidly away, supported by nine stone piers, to the low flat land on the opposite shore.  This is used as a carriage road, and connects St. Paul with all the adjacent country on the opposite side of the river.  A half-mile beyond this bridge, the companion bluff to that on which the city stands begins, rising to an equal height with it.  These bluffs, however, it should be stated, are not of such imposing appearance as are those on the river below, and concerning which we have written in a preceding chapter.  They seem to gradually lessen in height from four and five hundred feet at Lake Pepin, where the greatest altitude occurs, to about one-third of that here at St. Paul.

The city’s supply of water is fine, and at all times abundant; a lake back of the town being the natural reservoir of this supply.  What has been to many towns a great labor and burden, has here required but a trifling expense.

Hotels are usually the traveller’s thermometer by which he judges the culture, beauty, and general characteristics of the town.  It is quite singular that people remember a town either with delight or disgust, just in proportion as the entertainment furnished at their hotel is good or bad, but there is more of truth in this than any of us would care at first to acknowledge.  The good people of St. Paul have, however, nothing to fear in this respect.  There are several fine establishments, chief of which is the “Metropolitan,” and then the “Park Place,” with its cool and ample verandahs, inviting travellers to repose and rest.