The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1890-06-07
SUPERIOR. MS. SATURDAY. JUNE I 1880.
A FEW WORDS sRO5T SUPERIOR.

compiling some ldctS dliu stdtiSliS9
regarding our city for publication in
pamphlet form From the matter
compiled we make a few quotations,
as follows:
The City of Superior, to use the com
mon phrase of the prairie t0Wn-Site
boomers s'sits crowned Queen OF the
Northwest Her natural right to
the crown is indisputable; and by this
is not meant that She is an illegitImate
child Of nature. She is, on the CON
trary, the rightful heir to the trade of
a great zone, but has been thrust aside
for a third Of a century by the tremen
dous necessities of the " est, that
manded first their own development
and then that of their proper com
mercial sovereign One hundred and
sixty miles of intervening pine forest,
that could not compete i'll grain pro
duction with the prairies OF Minnesota
and Iowa, served for twenty-five years
to make of the head Of Lake Superior
a kind of Arctic Lands End in mems
minds, and Superior during all OF
that time lay dormant, while Chicego
and St. Paul and the 'innumerable
caravan" of lesser cities, went on
striding forward in commerce and
manufacturing and political power.
They grew, however, at the expense OF
the agricultural districts, which they
in turn maintained in burGensome de-
pendency by the astntencss Of their
business management
There came time, however, of par
amount necessity that the NorthWe.
should find relief from the burdens OF
expensive relationships to the three
great cities above named. And at
this time old-time prophecies concern
ing Superior began to he heard. EaIl-
road managers began to declare it the
cheapest route from the Northwest to
Liverpool. Men began To study anew
the geography of their country. TIE
Inter State Commerce Law was born.
Distance became an element in trans
portatlon rates. Four hundred miles
co Id no longer be traversed at the
same price as 80 or 800 miles OF rail
road Government had accepted the
tlictIIm of nature, and the financier of
Wall Street must predicate his invest
ments for Europe on correct nrlnci
pies OF rallroadng Being l25 miles
nearer Denver, on an airline, than
Chicago is, and 256 miles nearer st.
Paul by the shortest routes, Superior
has become at once as important an
element III transportation rates be
tween the East and West as Chicago
or New York. And this has all hap
pened within two years; since the
Northern Steamship Company began
running line of steel freight steam
crs from Buffalo to Superior in the
summer of 1883
1t would be idle, therefore, to dwell
upon the size of the present city of Su-
perior, its splendid buildings, and all
that. The simple truth is, those things
are not here Yet to dwell upon. Four
years does not accomplish such Won
ders, and it was only in 1856 that the
new order of things began its develop
ment at Superior. But III tranSpor
fatlon equipments the face Of the earth
does not present a spectacle more eX
Vibrating to an American than is seen
upon the shores of st. Louis bay. For
there the handling of articles of com
merce has been reduced to the ALSO
lutte science of economy.
In 1856 the Lehish Coal and Iron Co.
handled its first cargo of coal i'll SIT
nerior. In 1887 the Northwestern
Fuel Company followed 1t to the Wis
consin shore. The st Paul & Pacific
Company began business here in lSSi
In 1889 the Ohio Coal Company began
dumping coal on its new dock i'll Super
Tor, and the Silver Creek and Norris
Coal Company follows in 1890. At ST.
perior are thus found the five largest
coal companies III the West, doing all
their business for the Northwest, and
IS far south as Nebraska and Iowa
The coal receipts at this port for 1890
are expected to exceed those of 1889 by
fully 30 Per cent. The
LAKE COAL BUSINESS
of four leading Western ports for 1889
was as follows:
Milwaukee .........- -..-.. 81, 600
Superior ........... Observation-Disclosures. -2utc0
Duluth OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. $500
IN increase of 81 per cent in the
business of Superior over that of 1850
Will place this port the second on the
WESTERN end of the chain of lakes
In 1856 the Great Northern Eleva-
tor A. was built with a capacity Of
1000, 900 bushels. The grain capacity
at the head of the lakes had therefore
been about II 600, 900 bushels, all at
Duluth.
In 1887 the Sawyer system was built
at Superior, with Il capacity of .5.00a,-
wv fuSlitlN. AilptHti tltSdtbl WIFI
about l.700,0eo bushels capacity was
also built at Duluth this wear
In lSsS the Great Northern Eleva
tor N" WAS built, With capacity OF
! $50, 900 bushels
This gave Superior an elevator ca
racity Of S,5eo, 600 bushels and Duluth
about l2,10a,uuO bushels. The com
hined capacity is usually stated at IL
eco, 600 bushels. All OF the elevators
1T the head Of the lakes are bonded to
the state Of Minnesota and inspected
ty the grain inspector of that state iii
order 10 secure uniformity of grades
iii the Eastern markets. The receipts
OF grain III the entire flock, as given
by the Minnesota Grain Inspector for
1889, We're rs follows:
Superior Duluth
Wheat lu,. ;. Gtt5li7 ..-.........-. 5 iil t.0
Corn .-.. To-. nNt ...-. ....... 1 -:i.i tai1
GatS 11t, Is ..-......,-... II 10
SaFlCy 2.Nl9 --........ ..---
The lake wheat shipments of three
leading lake ports for 1889, were as
follows: