St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-07
DULUT TIL.
The Coming Metropolis of the
West.


DULUTH, Feb. 29.-There Is no possibility
to deny the fact that the head of Lake Supe-
rior is the natural outlet of the northwestern
states and territories, fact which has been
recognized by actual railroad corporations
| doing business in the states of Wisconsin
and Minnesota, and they have now finally
determined upon Duluth at the head of Lake
seperior as the place for the Grand Union de-
pot, where traffic will be ex-
changed between railroads and
also between railroads and navigation,
using the bay of the st. Louis for dockage
purposes.
1t was at one time thought that dyke
would be built across the Superior or Duluth
bay, with dockage facilities attached, and for
that purpose the franchise was secured from
the state of Minnesota about FIVE years ago,
but since that time the situation has so
changed that it is plainly visible that even
the three miles of dockage acquired by the
building of such dyke would not afford
sufficient facilities. The sugges-
ton has accordingly been made
and determined upon, that the
Duluth bay should be left unobstructed and
opened to the great marine thoroughfare,
and that similar dykes to the one contemplate
ed for the Duluth bay be built over the st.
Louis bay instead, parallel with one an
other, thereby affording one hundred miles
or more of dock fronts equally divided be-
tween railroads building the same. The
Omaha, Northern Pacific and Manitoba roads
have secured the property known as south
Duluth, adjoining the st. Louis on the south
Gi6 fnr fhn IS a
room, from whence bridge or dyke
is to be built at once, giving facilities for the
erection of large warehouses and elevators,
| especially for the immediate accommodation
of the Omaha and Manitoba roads, the
| Northern Pacific being otherwise provided
forthe present The st. Paul & Duluth, con-
trolled by the Milwaukee & St. Paul, are also
| making Improvements which will add to
their already great facilities. Thus the ques-
ton which has been agitated in the
west becomes settled, and the new
departure will provide an abundance
Of room for all railroads which
are now built or to be built to the grand COM
mercial center Of the west.
The foregoing will explain the steps taken
by the citizens of Duluth in serving the
mayor and official editor of the city with in
| functions to prevent the signing and pub
fishing of the ordinance disposing of the
| Duluth bay franchise.
| The railroad magnates are now buster
than ever in that district. The Duluth Il
Iron Range is being pushed with great vigor.
1t is expected to be ready for business about
the 1st Of September, the
company having secured large
tracts of lands at the northeast end of the
city, for the purpose of shops, depots and
yard room. The North Shore q Southwest
ern road is also said to be ready to begin
operation, having secured fifteen millions
of British capital for the purpose
of immediate construction and equip
ment. The construction of the Southwest
ern to Hinckley there to connect with the St.
Cloud branch, heading for Redwood Falls,
| Sioux City and through Iowa, Nebraska and
Kansas is also an assured fact, bonuses hay
counties through which the road
passes This road and the Omaha are espr-
cially of importance to Duluth, as they are
destined to supply the provisions and other
| supplies to be used by the immense popula-
ton necessary to work the mineral and lum-
Der resources of this section of the country.
Navigation is the grand avenue through
which Duluth has secured its enviable posi-
ton. At times during the navigable season
| the docks are lined with vessels of all sizes
and tonnage, sometimes two or three abreast.
| To see vessels carrying from 1000 to 5000
bbls. of flour, from 1000 to 1900 tons of coal,
from 500, 900 to $50, 900 bushels of wheat or
| corn, from 1900 to 1900 tons of merchan-
| disc of all kinds destined for all the larger
towns and cities in the west, employing on
the docks from 1900 to 5000 men, is a
common thing.
The jobing trade is also growing very
rapidly affording grand facilities to whole
| sale men to locate under favorable auspices
| with certainty of success, freight rates being
equal from New York or Buffalo to Duluth or
| Chicago To the milling business is partly
due Duluth's magic growth. Five years
ago the first lumber mills were
started, at which time the population was
about 2, 1000, since which the number of mills
has reached fifteen and the population between
1900 to $4,000. The elevator capacity of
Duluth this year is being increased to seven
million bushels, and there is now every in
| dication that next season will complete one,
if not two, Touring mills, after which the
| Touring mills of the state, including those at
Minneapolis, will have to be removed there
also, as the distance and freight from the
| wheat fields Of the west is about equal to
| Duluth or Minneapolis. The Duluth mills
will have the advantage of Minneapolis mills
of 30c per barrel, the cost of transporting to
the seaport, (Duluth) which makes a differ
ence in favor of Duluth of 5000 per day for a
mill of g, 900 barrels capacity and cheap fuel,
besides being in q position to dispose of their
offals to better advantage, as this class Of
goods do not admit of rail transportation.
The distance from Lake Superior to Chicago
being the same as from st. Paul and Mime
apolis, the Chicago 81 Northwestern,
Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul will
enjoy the same traffic at the
same rate on -four during the winter as they
do now from Minneapolis. 1t is then that
st. Paul and Minneapolis will enter the cloth
manufacturing business on a gigantic scale,
as the water power for that business will be
ample, and suitable buildings ready for util-
ity easily acquired. 1t is then that our
st. Paul and Minneapolis population will
find occupation the year around as is now
the case in England in similar branches.
The sheep growing industry of the west
will become of necessity greatly
increased having good market
for their mutton and wool at their door, as ii
were. It is then that the mechanic Of the
west will find, for period of a century at
least, employment at remunerative prices, as
the new departure will necessitate the con-
struction Of machinery suitable to that in
dustry. P. B.