Fifty Years In The Northwest Part 58

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 sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior and St.

Louis river, and on the sh.o.r.es 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 surpa.s.sed 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 pet.i.t 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 a.s.sessor'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 pa.s.sed. 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 a.s.sessment 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 sh.o.r.e 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 sh.o.r.e 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 ca.n.a.l 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 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 ca.n.a.l was cut across the point near the mainland, sufficiently large to admit all vessels that pa.s.s through Ste. Marie's ca.n.a.l. Since the construction of the ca.n.a.l through Minnesota Point, the old landing in front of the city has been abandoned, and elevators have been built on the sh.o.r.es of the bay.

These elevators are the best of their cla.s.s, 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 ca.n.a.l 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 ca.n.a.l 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 pa.s.sed, 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 munic.i.p.al 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 sh.o.r.es of the lake north of Duluth. It is now within the Duluth city limits.

PORTLAND,

A village on the lake sh.o.r.e 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 sh.o.r.e, 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 sh.o.r.e, was surveyed in May, 1856, by Vose Palmer; proprietor, Frederic Ottoman.