Fifty Years In The Northwest
water about seven miles long by one mile in width, almost entirely
shut off from the lake by a narrow strip of land known as Minnesota
Point. The original entrance to this bay was through a channel on the
southeast of the Point, separating it from Wisconsin Point, a similar
tongue of land in the same line of direction. As this entrance was
inconvenient and difficult, a canal was cut across the point near the
mainland, sufficiently large to admit all vessels that pass through
Ste. Marie's canal. Since the construction of the canal through
Minnesota Point, the old landing in front of the city has been
abandoned, and elevators have been built on the shores of the bay.
These elevators are the best of their class, and have a total capacity
of 20,000,000 bushels. They were ten in number, exclusive of several
warehouses; two, however, have been destroyed by fire. The walls of
the canal have been extended in the form of piers 1,000 feet into the
lake. One of these piers is supplied with a lighthouse and a fog horn.
The canal is 700 feet long and 250 feet in width. The arrivals and
clearances for the port of Duluth in 1886 were 2,180.
The fish trade is no inconsiderable part of the industries of Duluth.
Two large firms have their headquarters here and the amount of capital
invested in the business amounts to $165,000. During 1886 1,200,000
pounds of fish were shipped to Duluth for reshipment to other places,
from the various fisheries of these companies. The United States fish
commissioners, realizing the value of Lake Superior as a reservoir
for food fish, have projected the largest fish hatchery on the lakes,
to be located at Lester's Park. It is to be under government and state
control and will supply the lakes of Superior and Michigan with about
500,000,000 eggs yearly.
Duluth was organized and laid out as a village under the town site law
of 1844; Richard Ralf, surveyor; Geo. E. Nettleton, J. B. Culver, O.
W. Rice, Wm. Nettleton, and Robt. E. Jefferson, proprietors. The date
of this organization is not known. We have a statement from Hon. W. G.
Le Duc, of Hastings, to the effect, that in the winter of 1852-53, A.
Ramsey, H. M. Rice, Maj. Watrous and himself, with two others whose
names he can not recall, organized as a company and projected a town
site at the west end of the lake, on the present site of Duluth. Maj.
Watrous, the Indian agent, was instructed to take necessary measures
to secure the land. Watrous failed to secure the property and the
scheme failed. Mr. Le Duc projected and introduced a charter in the
territorial legislature, which was passed, for a railroad to Duluth.
In 1870 the city of Duluth was first incorporated, and five years
later a portion of the same territory was incorporated as the village
of Duluth, and the two municipal corporations were still in existence
Feb. 25, 1887, when the act imposing certain political obligations
upon the then existing city of Duluth became a law. The second day of
March another law went into effect incorporating both the city and
village of Duluth as the present city.
FOND DU LAC,
Located at the head of navigation on St. Louis river, and at the foot
of the rapids, is a point of considerable historical interest, it
having long been in use as a trading post. It has been a place of
outfit and departure for trading expeditions for two hundred years.
The old stone trading house of the Astor Fur Company still remains. It
is surrounded by about twenty buildings of more recent date. It is now
better known as a station on the Northern Pacific railroad. It was
surveyed in 1856 by Richard Ralf and platted into village lots. The
plats were signed by James A. Markland, attorney for the proprietors.
Fond du Lac is now a village of some magnitude.
ONEOTA
Was settled some time in the '40s, by Edmund F. Ely and others, and
became a village of some note, containing a post office, church and
other evidences of prosperity. It was platted as a village in 1856; H.
W. Wheeler, surveyor; Marcus W. McCracken, Bion W. Bacon, Edmund F.
Ely, proprietors. The first recorded deed in St. Louis county is a
quitclaim deed from B. H. Baer to E. F. Ely, of the town site of Ely;
consideration, $1,500. The deed bears date of April 20, 1856. Oneota
is now included in the plat of Duluth.
CLIFTON.
This village was platted in 1858, by John S. Watrous, on the shores of
the lake north of Duluth. It is now within the Duluth city limits.
PORTLAND,
A village on the lake shore above Duluth, was platted in 1856. The
proprietors were Aaron B. Robbins, James D. Ray, C. Marshall and J. J.
Post. It is now within the Duluth city limits.
ENDION,
Located on the north shore, was surveyed Dec. 15, 1856, by Chas.
Martin; M. 7P. Niel and others, proprietors. It is now within the
Duluth city limits.
MIDDLETON,
Located on Minnesota Point, was surveyed Aug. 1, 1856; proprietors,
Robert Reed, T. A. Markland.
MONTEZUMA,
Located on the north shore, was surveyed in May, 1856, by Vose Palmer;
proprietor, Frederic Ottoman.
BUCHANAN,
Located on the north shore, was surveyed in October, 1856; proprietor,
W. G. Cowell.
ST. LOUIS FALLS
Was surveyed in 1857, by C. E. Clark; Thos. H. Hogan, attorney for
proprietors.
FREMONT ISLAND.
A peculiar feature of St. Louis bay has been the formation of floating
islands, possibly the result of the collection of driftwood and other
debris at the mouth of St. Louis river. The rafts thus formed in time
became consolidated by the deposition of earthy materials, leaves,
twigs and vegetable matter, and are covered with a rank growth of
vegetation, at first shrubby, but at last arboreous. The roots of the
shrubs and trees interlace, and hold the material of the raft more
tightly together. These island rafts are sometimes loosened and float
into the bay, and are driven about by the winds from one side of the
bay to the other.
One of these islands, supposed to be stationary, known as Fremont
island, was surveyed and platted in 1856, by C. P. Heustis and Chas.
A. Post. On the completion of the canal it broke loose from its
moorings, floated away and disappeared, in all probability going to
pieces in the rough waters of the lake.
TOWER,
Located on the southern shore of Vermillion lake, was surveyed Aug. 4,
1884. The proprietors are the Minnesota Iron Company, of which
Charlemagne Tower is president. The iron mines located in this
vicinity are amongst the richest on the continent. Attention was first
called to the Vermillion by the reported discovery of gold. Machinery
for crushing and smelting was transported thither, but the thousands
who rushed to the reputed gold field expecting to become suddenly
rich, returned disappointed and disheartened. Attention had long
before been called to the fact that there were rich iron mines in the
district, but the circumstances were unfavorable for their
development. They were in a remote position and accessible only by a
journey of several days through woods and swamps. These mines could be
reached and developed only by state aid, which was given in the shape
of a grant of swamp lands, to be applied to building a railway from
the lake to the mines. This grant having been obtained, Mr. Tower and
other capitalists at once invested their millions in the mines,
purchasing some 8,000 acres of land, covering the larger portion of
the iron deposits in the district, embracing the present site of the
village of Tower. A railroad sixty-eight miles in length was
constructed from Tower to Two Harbors, a point twenty-seven miles
north of Duluth. This road was completed in the spring of 1884, and
the first shipment was made July 3d of that year, the total shipments
for the year being 62,124 tons. The shipments for 1885 were 225,484
tons, and for 1886, 304,000 tons. Over $3,000,000 was paid to laborers
in the Tower mines in 1887.
COL. GEORGE E. STONE, of Duluth, is deserving of praise for his
foresight and energy in opening the Tower mines. Mr. Stone labored
with untiring zeal after the land grant to aid in building the road
was given until the road was built and the mines opened.
GEORGE R. STUNTZ is well known as the government surveyor of the Lake
Superior region, whose work covers thousands of miles of North
Wisconsin lands, lying along the southern shore of the lake, and who
has accurately mapped the meanderings of the influent streams, the
bays and shaggy projecting shores of the great "Unsalted Sea." There
is no better topographical authority than Mr. Stuntz, and no one
better posted as to the location and value of the Northern Wisconsin
areas and the Vermillion mines.
Having early made Superior City and Duluth his home, and for nearly
forty years having been identified with the interests of the West
Superior country, he is an oft-quoted authority. Many of his published
articles contain most valuable information concerning the feasibility
of connecting St. Croix and Superior waters. His assertions concerning
the mineral wealth of the lake country, made before the development of
the mines, have since been verified. Mr. Stuntz is a typical, sensible
frontiersman, of American birth, aged about seventy years.
CHARLES HINMAN GRAVES, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, born in
1839, received a liberal education, and in 1861 enlisted as a private
in the Fortieth Massachusetts Volunteers, but was promoted step by
step to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was severely wounded at the
battle of Gettysburg. In 1865 he was commissioned as a colonel in the
regular army, but resigned in 1870, and located at Duluth. From 1873
to 1876 he was a member of the state senate. He has held several
public positions in Duluth, and stands deservedly high as a citizen.
He has labored zealously and efficiently for the prosperity of Duluth.
OZRO P. STEARNS was born Jan. 13, 1831, at De Kalb, Lawrence county,
New York. In his youth he was dependent upon his own resources. He
graduated at Michigan University in 1858, after which he visited
California, tried mining for a short time, and returning graduated in
the law department of Michigan University. In 1860 he came to
Rochester, Minnesota, and opened a law office. In 1862 he enlisted in
Company F, Ninth Minnesota Volunteers, of which he was commissioned
first lieutenant, but in 1864 was promoted to the colonelcy of the
Thirty-ninth United States Infantry (colored). He served through many
battles and campaigns, and was mustered out at the close of the war.
In January, 1866, he returned to Rochester; in 1867 was appointed
register in bankruptcy for Southern Minnesota; in January, 1871, he
was elected to the United States senate for a short term to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of D. S. Norton. In 1872 he removed to
Duluth, and in 1874 was appointed judge of the Eleventh Judicial
district, to which office he was elected in the fall of the same year,
which position, by re-election, he still holds. Judge Stearns was
married in February, 1863, to Sarah Burger, of Detroit, Michigan.
LAKE COUNTY.
This county lies on the north shore of Lake Superior, between the
counties of Cook and St. Louis, extending northward to the British
line. The whole region is abrupt, broken into hills and valleys, and
rich in silver, iron and other metals.
The great Vermillion iron mines of St. Louis county find an outlet
through this county by the Duluth & Iron Range railroad, which finds a
lake station at Two Harbors. The road was built from Two Harbors to
Vermillion lake in 1885, from Two Harbors to Duluth in 1887. The
entire road and extensive mines were sold in June, 1887, for
$8,000,000, to Porter and others, who are now extending the road from
Vermillion lake eastward to Thunder Bay and Port Arthur. It is already