St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-11

The great advantages possessed by st.
Paul in the way of distributing facilities
have always been appreciated by the
commercial interests of the cOuntry.and
for many years no one has disputed her
claims as the commercial center of the
great Northwest. Many, however, have
an impression that the success of the
city in trade is and has been due to her
early start and the vigOr and enterprise
of her merchants. To be sure there is
some truth in this claim, but it is not
the whole truth. The fact of the mat
ter is St. Paul has grown to be the great
commercial heart of the Northwest
largely and principally by reason of her
location. Before railroads were known
in this portion of the United States st.
Paul was a lively trading center. The
whole country to the north and west
purchased and sold in this city, and.
had a railroad never tapped this section
of the country, ST. Paul must still have
grown, and at a rapid rate, solely on ac-
count of the business her situation
would have brought to her doors. She
is at the head of navigation Oh the most
important river. commercially speaking.
fact meant great deal more than ii
does at the present time.
The Importance of st. Paul in early
days served to turn every railroad com
pany's eyes toward here as fast as lines
We're planned, and. when these roads
were constructed, they all started or
ended in Minnesota's fair capital. She
became the hub. and the railroads were
spOkeS. in a wheel that has extended
and expanded until st. Paul business
houses have a field that is limited only
by their ability to reach and cultivate
1t. These facts were appreciated all
along by the commercial interests, but
for some reason manufacturers have
been rather slow in catching on. Of
course in earlier times the outside
country tributary to the city was not
sufficiently developed to warrant any
great manufacturing plants in locating
here; but now this is changed, and by
the rapid march of events in the past
few years st. Paul has become a most
desirable, advantageous and profitable
location for manufactures of all kinds.
Her distributing facilities give her the
entire Northwest in all lines of manu-
featuring. as well as of jObbing, and
her advantages in the way of cheap raw
material in some branches, if properly
worked, will enable her industries to
meet similar ones in any part of this en-
tire country. And it is OF one of the
latter class of manufactures that this
article will speak.
Between Two Forests.
st. Paul. as is we'll known. is located
near the lumber woods of two of the
greatest lumber producing states in the
Union states that are covered with
timber of all varieties useful in wood
working; not soft woods nor yet hard
woods exclusively, but of both kinds.
These great forests are tapped by no
less than eight lines Of railroads whose
terminal points are located within the
borders Of st. Paul. All of these ''lum-
Der roads, appreciate the Importance
of building up woodworking industries
in st. Paul because they see in it rich
harvest for themselves. and they ac-
cOrdingly make low rates Oh lumber to
this city. These roads have made st.
Paul great lumber market, indeed a
greater one, all grades and varieties being
taken into consideration, than her rival
up the great river, with all the latter'S
Bawmills. These advantages ought to
and are fast making st. Paul a great
center in the various lines of wood
working. but her advantages are so
great that, large as the business now is,
1t is really only in its infancy. There
are now probably 800 men engaged in
the woodworking industries, where
there should be at least 10000 to $1,000,
and in five years the latter number can
he found employed i'll these lines ii the
thing is pushed.
The lumber districts of Minnesota
and Wisconsin are to the east, north and
northwest Of st. Paul. and cover over
half of the two states. The following
diagram shows the lines Of railway that
tap these great forests: