Fifty Years In The Northwest
to southwest. The same range crops out at Little Falls, Morrison
county.
THOMSON.
The village of Thomson, the county seat of Carlton county, is located
on the St. Louis river. The Northern Pacific railroad crosses at this
point. A. M. Miller erected a steam saw mill here in 1873. The mill
has a capacity of 100,000 feet per day, and has been a profitable
enterprise. A. K. Lovejoy operates a saw mill six miles northwest,
which has a capacity of 35,000 feet. The village of Thomson has a good
graded school with two departments.
CLOQUET,
Located on the St. Louis river, was surveyed and platted in 1871. In
1878 Charles D. Harwood erected a steam saw mill at this point with a
capacity of 50,000 feet. This was the beginning of a thriving
manufacturing village. In 1883 the Knife Falls Lumber Company rebuilt
the Harwood mill, increasing its capacity to 180,000 feet per day. In
1884 the property was transferred to Renwick, Crossett & Co. James
Paine, McNair and others built a water power saw mill in 1880, with a
capacity of 100,000 feet per day. The C. N. Nelson Company, in 1880,
built two steam saw mills with a capacity of 350,000 feet per day. A
post office was established in 1879; C. D. Harwood, postmaster. The
village was platted and incorporated in 1882; William P. Allen was the
first president of the council. It has two newspapers, the _Pine Knot
Journal_, established by Ed. Gottry and J. H. Page in 1884, and the
_Industrial Vidette_, established in 1887. It contains three church
organizations with good buildings, the Catholic, Methodist and
Presbyterian.
MOOSE LAKE STATION,
On the St. Paul & Duluth railroad, is surrounded by a good farming
country, and is a pretty, prosperous village. It has a post office,
about sixty dwellings and a saw mill.
BARNUM STATION,
On the line of the same road, contains a post office, a saw mill with
a capacity of about 50,000 feet daily, a few fine residences, with
fine farms adjoining.
MAHTOWA STATION,
On the same road, has a saw mill and about twenty dwellings. An
extensive stock farm is located here.
NORTH PACIFIC JUNCTION
Is situated on the St. Louis river, at the junction of the St. Paul &
Duluth and Northern Pacific railroads. There are about one hundred
buildings here including a large saw mill built by Paine & Co., having
a capacity of 10,000,000 feet per annum; one school house, one church,
and hotels, stores, shops and dwellings. The village was organized in
1881; Cephas Bradley, president.
FRANCIS ASBURY WATKINS is a native of the state of New Hampshire. He
was born in 1853; came to Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1866, to North
Pacific Junction in 1881; was married to Anna Wicks, of Pine City,
Minnesota, in 1882, and was admitted to practice law in 1883. He is a
graduate of Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. He has served as
auditor of Carlton county four years.
ST. LOUIS COUNTY.
St. Louis county takes its name from St. Louis river, the river itself
having been named by some of the early French travelers or Jesuit
missionaries, possibly by Duluth or Buade.
The county is bounded on the north by Rainy lake and the British
boundary, on the east by Lake county, on the south by Lake Superior,
St. Louis river and Carlton, and on the west by Aitkin county. The
surface is variegated, much of it being broken with deep ravines. It
is well watered by streams tributary to Rainy lake and Superior, and
by innumerable small lakes. Portions of it are heavily timbered with
pines and hardwoods, and the northern portion is traversed by a rich
mineral belt extending through the Vermillion Lake region. The
settlements are chiefly along the shores of Lake Superior and St.
Louis river, and on the shores of Vermillion lake. The falls and
rapids of St. Louis river are noted for their wildness and grandeur.
The scenery on its northern boundary, including the Dalles of the
Rainy Lake waters, is not surpassed or even equaled at any point east
of the Rocky mountains. The geological formation consists largely of
primitive or igneous rocks, trappean, basaltic and granite, and the
scenery has a peculiarly grand and sombre appearance. Notwithstanding
the igneous character of the formation there is much excellent farming
land on plains and intervales, while the more abrupt and rocky
portions are rich in iron and the precious metals. The region about
Vermillion lake has become a centre of mining operations. The region
is rich in iron ores. Gold has also been discovered. A mineral region
abounding in gold, silver and iron extends from Vermillion lake to
Thunder Bay. St. Louis county was organized in 1856. The territorial
governor appointed the following officers: Clerk of district court, J.
B. Culver; sheriff, J. B. Ellis; register of deeds, R. H. Barrett;
auditor, J. E. Brown.
The first board of county commissioners elected were C. E. Martin,
Vose Palmer and Z. J. Brown. The first meeting was held at Portland,
Jan. 4, 1858. At an adjourned meeting held Jan. 20, 1858, the
commissioners drew a grand and petit jury. The meetings were held
sometimes at Portland and sometimes at Duluth. At a meeting held April
5, 1858, the county was divided into four towns--Duluth, Martin, Carp
River and Carlton. At an adjourned meeting three assessor's districts,
six school districts and four road districts were formed. The records
do not show any previous division into districts or precincts, nor
does the name of any clerk appear until the meeting of September 14th,
when A. B. Robbins attests as clerk. At a meeting held Sept. 23, 1858,
the village of Oneota was established. November 1st E. H. Brown was
appointed clerk in place of A. B. Robbins. November 14th a bill
allowing R. H. Barrett compensation for services as clerk prior to
September 1st was passed. His name does not appear prior to this
entry.
The records show that a court was held in 1859, S. J. R. McMillan
officiating as judge. Also that a road was made from Oneota to
Buchanan and the mouth of Knife river, through Fremont, Portland and
Endion, following a trail to Lester's river and across French river to
Montezuma, and another from Oneota to Fond du Lac. The town of Milford
is mentioned as accepting the report. The assessment for St. Louis
county for 1859 amounted to $96,836.76. At a special meeting of the
county commissioners held Jan. 10, 1866, a resolution was adopted
asking the legislature to grant authority to St. Louis county to issue
$150,000 to aid in building the Lake Superior & Mississippi railroad.
The legislature granted the request and twenty year bonds were issued.
We append a list of county commissioners to the year 1863: E. C.
Martin, Vose Palmer, Zach T. Brown, 1858; E. C. Martin, Vose Palmer,
W. E. Wright, 1859; W. E. Wright, S. A. Forbes, Sidney Luce, 1860; E.
F. Ely, Joseph B. Culver (first meeting), 1861; E. F. Ely, Harvey
Fargo, Levi B. Coffrey (second meeting), 1861; E. F. Ely, R. B.
Carlton, H. Fargo, 1862; H. Fargo, R. B. Carlton, E. G. Swanstrom,
1863.
Names of villages that appear in the old records of the board have
entirely disappeared. Those villages nearest to Duluth have been
absorbed by that vigorous young city. We find a record, bearing date
1859, authorizing an election to decide upon the question of the
removal of the county seat from Duluth to Port Byron. There is no
record of the result of the election, nor is Port Byron found in a
recent map.
DULUTH.
The site of Duluth was visited as long ago as 1659, by two adventurous
Frenchmen, Grosselier and Redission. This was twenty-one years prior
to the coming of Greyson Duluth, in whose honor the city of Duluth was
named two hundred years later. Capt. Duluth visited the western end of
the lake in 1680. Three or four years later Jean Duluth, a brother of
the captain, established two trading posts, one at the mouth of Pigeon
river, the other on Minnesota Point. Le Sueur followed in 1683,
accompanied by a French surveyor, Franquelin, who made a fairly
correct map of the region. The attraction to the early voyageurs was
the rich furs to be obtained in the wild regions adjacent. The great
American Fur Company early established posts along the northern shore
of Lake Superior, and later the Astor Fur Company made its
northwestern headquarters at Fond du Lac, a few miles above the
present site of Duluth. Nothing was done toward permanent settlement
until about the year 1854, when the tide of immigration set in toward
the head of the lake, and it became evident that here was to rise
cities of no mean importance, one upon the western shore of the lake,
rising from the base of Minnesota Point, and the other Superior City,
across the gleaming waters of St. Louis bay.
For several years the growth of Duluth was slow, and sometimes its
fortunes seemed on the wane, but the construction of a railroad to St.
Paul, completed in 1870, and a sudden influx of capital consequent
upon this new outlet of trade, and more than all this, the proposed
construction of the great Northern Pacific railroad, gave a new
impetus to the growth of the city. The three years succeeding were
years of great activity and progress. The population increased from
3,000 to 5,000, and many of the finer older buildings of the city were
constructed. The canal was cut through Minnesota Point, thus giving to
Duluth the most magnificent harbor on the lake, if not in the world.
In 1873 the failure of Jay Cooke, who had largely contributed the
means for the construction of the Northern Pacific railroad, caused a
financial depression similar in its effects to that of 1857. Banks
failed, merchants became bankrupt, and the population of the city was
reduced to 1,300 souls. The "hard times" lasted until some time in
1878, when the opening up of the great wheat fields in the Red River
valley, and the completion of the Northern Pacific railroad, again
brought prosperity to the more than half deserted city. The population
increased in 1878 from 1,300 to 2,200 souls. Two years later the
census showed 3,470; and a year later, 7,800. In 1882 the population
had increased to 12,000; in 1883 to 14,000; in 1884 to 16,690; in 1885
to 18,036, and in 1886 to 26,000 souls.
Duluth has now a well organized board of trade, produce exchange and
chamber of commerce. It has four banks, the American Exchange, Duluth
National, Merchants National, and Bell & Eyster's. These banks had, in
1886, an aggregate capital of $300,000, with deposits of $2,034,281,
amounts greatly increased during the year 1887. The taxable valuation
of property in Duluth for the year 1886 was $11,773,720. The taxes
paid in 1887 amount to $261,376.
Duluth has one immense flour mill, with a capacity of 250 barrels per
day. It is five stories in height, and favorably situated; having the
lake upon one side and the railroads upon the other, so that loading
and unloading can be carried on at once from vessels and cars.
Duluth has also two large flour warehouses with a capacity of 200,000
barrels each. Large warehouses are also being built by the Northern
Pacific and Omaha Railroad companies. The annual shipment of flour
from Duluth has ranged from 164,000 barrels in 1871 to 1,500,000 in
1886, making an aggregate of 8,285,000 barrels in that time.
The lumber industry of Duluth is no small factor in the prosperity of
the city. The cut of the Duluth district for the past season amounts
to 160,000,000 feet of lumber, 43,000,000 shingles, and 22,600,000
lath, of which the city mills have manufactured one-third. Much of
this lumber has been shipped to Chicago and the East, and a new
district, the Tower mining region, has lately been opened for
shipment.
We have alluded to the harbor of Duluth as one of the best on the
lake. It consists of what is known as the Bay of Superior, a body of