Soo Line Map of Minnesota

Captivating broadsheet and map advertising “a home for everybody” in “the land of opportunity.”

The Soo Line (named for the phonetic pronunciation of Sault) was the commonly used name for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad. Though I can’t determine definitively if the Soo was the direct recipient of state grants, numerous other contemporary rail lines received a certain amount of land from the government of Minnesota for each mile of track that was built. This land was then sold to speculators, settlers, and real estate agents.

Broadsheets such as this would have been used to advertise available land, though the impossible promises such as “no crop failures” and “best social surroundings” make this particular example stand out. The Soo Line is highlighted in bright red within the map and can be seen serving primarily agricultural markets throughout the state. An inset in the center right shows the environs of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The verso features a large table of statistics showing the growth of counties throughout Minnesota and several blocks of text which celebrate The Great Northwest, Minneapolis, and Duluth-Superior Harbor. “Only about one-fifth of the land in Northern Minnesota is improved, though practically every acre can be used for grazing and agricultural purposes. It is hard to think what the figures for those regions will be when the country is thoroughly settled and improved, and the mines are worked to their full capacity.”