Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-05-22
LIFE IN DULUTH.
WHAT FRANK WILKESON SAW ON
THE MAIN BUSINESS STREET.
A City Without Observation-Disclosures and
Hundreds OF Busy NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
and 1Ierrymakers After NightfaIi-Few
Gray Haired People.

Hundreds OF Busy NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
and 1Ierrymakers After NightfaIi-Few
Gray Haired People.
Here is Duluth, as it was last October,
without statistics. To the east lies the dark,
cold water OF Lake Superior. Westward for
200 miles are succession OF swamps, auak-
ing boys, forests, rolling ridges and acres of
FIRE blackened sturns. Beyond the 200 mile
line lie the mo hard wheat fields, rolling
prairie, bad lands, irrigated valleys and the
pine clad foothills of the Rocky mountains.
Directly north of the original location of
Duluth, which was on comparatively level
strip of land adjacent to the lake, is a bluff
ike hill, the ianks of which are pierced and
ribbed by crags and ridges of solid granite.
Beyond the summit OF the bluff are more
bluffs and swamps and forests, and gravel
covered ridges that carry seams of valuable
iron ore, and these bluffs and swamps and
ridges extend from Duluth far into Canada
The region which lies north of Duluth is q
dismal one and wholly unattractive except
ing TO miners and lulnbermen. A long, low
gravel bar juts southwark from the eastern
extremity Of the old town far out into the
the lake. This bar forms natural break
water to protect the harbor which lies be-
hind it. The natural channel to Duluth's
harbor, into which the st. Louis river flows,
is around the southern extremity of the out
jutting bar and leads directly to Superior
City. An artificial channel has been dug
through the bar to admit vessels to Duluth's
harbor, which is surrounded by elevators and
wharvcs, as the harbors of al the lake cities
are.
Duluth's main street, business street I
mean, is lined by buildings, some of which
are handsome, and costly blocks built of iron
and dressed stone and pressed brick, but
the larger number are cheap buildings Of
wood or rough brick. On some of the va
can't lots on Superior street tents have been
pitched or car like booths built. These are
occupied by candy, fruit and tobacco ped
dlers who, almost without exception, make a
good living in their little shops There are a
few large dry goods stores and many hotels,
and scores of saloons and real estate offices on
the street. From : a M. till 6 p M. the main
street and the cross streets which lead from
it to the lower town, which stands on the
bar and along the edge of the harbor, were
filed with heavily laden trucks and wagons.
Handsome carriages and brightly painted
oranibuses ceaselessly rolled to and fro be-
tween the hotels and railroad stations and
wharves. Gangs Of men dressed stone. Other
gangs dug cellars Hundreds of men wero
engaged in digging sewers and laying pipes.
Other hundreds dug and blasted streets
through hills of earth and solid granite And
a thousand men sawed boards and tinbers
and drove nails for ten hours every day.
The wharves and elevators were crowded
with men who worked to load and discharge
vessels. Tugboats pulled and whist]ed in the
harbor and towed great schooners to and
fro. Enormous propellers, each towing three
or four consorts, arrived loaded with coal or
iron, and presently departed loaded with
wheat, or steamed, dragging their consorts
after them, to Two Harbors to get cargoes of
iron ore that had been mined at the Tower
mines near VerInilon lake. The loud, boom
ing whistles of propellers, the shrill whistles
of tugs, the piercing whistles of many loco
motives, and the ceaseiess murnlur of thou
sands Cf strong voices caused the air TO
treulble. At o'clock all the whistles sounded.
Work ceased. Columns Of grimy, toll
stained men, who carried tin dinner buckets,
marched up from the wharves. Swarn1s of
men clambered up from cellars and pits in
which foundation stones were being dressed.
and down from unfinished houses, end walked
home in pipe smoking groups. By o'clock
the main street began to fill with sightseeri
and 1nerrynakers Groups of young women,
gayly dressed and chattering like blackbirds,
walked slowly up and down the street
Workmer, well dressed and smoking cigars,
walked IN groups and made eyes at the young
women.
i'll t,af
it was necessary to walk slowly. Electric
lights blazed overhead and in nearly all the
stores and saloons. Strains of music fioated
out from dozens of saloons, and occasionally
men, whose faces were flushed and whose
eyes shone with the peculiarly evil glare pro
duced by heavy doses of alcohol, staggered
out Of the drinking rooms and endeavored
to walk with firm steps on the sidewalk,
which generally proved to be too narrow for
these jewellers. and they lurched heavily into
the street, where they spent unhappy minutes
in lodging bobtail cars and finally staggered
around corners and disappeared BY II
o'clock the crowd was perceptibly thinned
By ~ O'Clock the streets were deserted. And
by 5 o'clock the following morning they
were again astir with life. Vegetable
wagons, some Of which were driven by
Indians, who raised the produce, rolled into
the town from tho country. The night
workers on the wharves were going home
smoking and talking as they walked. AT
o'clock whistles sounded, bells rang, and the
sounds produced by steel hammers striking
against granite and lumber, the clarg OF
steel bars on the distant wharves, the click
of the bricklayers' trowels, the hum of the
buzz saws in the sawInills, and the roar Of a
busy commerce caused TIE air to culver and
forbade sleep.
Duluth now contains about 81 coo people.
1t is easy to pcUphesy its future. Northeast
of the town. and distant seventy miles lies the
largest and most valuable deposit Of iron in
America if not in the world. Westward OF
Duluth lies a land as yet hardly furrowed by
blows that is fully capable Of producing 600
OOO. 600 bushels of mo. l hard wheat annu
ally. Standing in the forests which are tribu'
tarv to Duluth are billions of feet of lumber
Eastward stretch the great lakes which, II
connection with the Erie canal, connect the
heart of the republic with the export port OF
New York. At Duluth the Goals mined In
Pennsylvania and Ohio, the up cargo OF
which is the life Of the lake commerce, VII
meet the iron ores of Minnesota end the gold
! and silver ores from Montana, and think II
is certain that great and profitable IRON and
steel, and ore smelling industries VIII be Is
tablished at Duluth As the wheat produc-
| ing country becomes more thickiy settled and
the mining region in northeastern Minnesota
is developed, the demand for fuel VIII stead
| ilv increase This fuel will be supplied by
| the soft coal mines of Ohio and Pennsylvania
I 1t will be screened at Duluth TO separate tbs
| lump coal from the slack. and the humps VII
I be shipped westward and northward for sa4e
and the slack will be cooked and Used in Srnelt
| ing ores at Duluth No man can accura,eIJ