Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1891-10-16
[From The Northwestern Magazine.
LITTLE FALLS, MINI. j.

A Growing Town With q Newly De
veloped Water PoWer and with S
Important, New 1anhfac.
turing Industries. ss
Lay string across q map Of Minnesota from
tho northeast corlsr to the southwest corner and
another string from the northwest corner to the
Il southeast corner and you will ind that the
Hpoint where the two strings crossis about twenty
miles east Of Little Falls Now try another ex.
II pertinent in measuring by drawing line length.
II wise OF the state from north to south through
II Little Falls and you will ind that this town Il
h almost exactly midway on the line. A like
I measurement from east to west produces like
result LttCle Falls has therefore good right
il to claim the honor of being the central town oi
Minnesota, It's claims to this posttion being dis
Iputed only by its northern neighbor, Brainerd.
q Yet most Minnesotians will speak of both places
as being away up In the northern part Of the
u state, for the reason that the greaterSpart Of
The tssritorJ north Ct thegIh stin undevelopsd.
N61t Why Il ths sxaet lolStton loe ~Littls Falls
LOT special taterest,fhs reader may ask. Be-
cause the place has recently undergone great
change in its character and is on the eve Of still
greater change 1t used to be q modest village
4 of some twelve hundred souls. with q few one
i story wooden stores and shops little wooden
i conrt house and a moderate amount Of retail
i trade3with the farmers round about. The Mis-
sissippi river tumbled over q rocky ledge at the
front door OF the village but had never been put
| into harness. although everybody in the place
| knew that here was q waterpower running to
| waste almost as great as that at st. Anthony g
| Falls. which created the city Of Minneapolis.
Four or five years ago an enterprissg citizen. NJ.
NJ. Williams, who had long advocated the merits
| OF the waterpower as basis for milling and gen.
eral manufacturfngssand for the building up OF q
large toEn, succeed in interesting combination
of Louisville capitalists. at the head OF which
| was DR.. VIM. L.. Breyfogle, the weii-known rail-
| road man OF that city. In a very short time q
capital was raised, the county Of Morrison con.
tributed its bonds to the extent OF $lOO OOO able
engineers were set to work and In a few months
| one Of the strongest dams in the world was
thrown across the river, anchored firmly to abut-
! ting slate rocks on both sides and resting mid
! way on the head OF q rock-ribbed island. With g.
floor Of stone not possible to be undermined by
the current with side walls OF stone furnished by
nature and with huge natural buttress sup
porting the structure at it's center, this dam is
| the admiration OF all experts In waterpower en-
cheering. Hardly less admirable is the canal
| blasted out Of the solid rock, eighty feet wide
thirteen feet deep and 1000 feet long, with head
gates in a handsome power house. The height
| OF the fall created by the dam is sixteenf feet
| which is increased to twenty by fashboards. and
the power developed, measured by the usual for
RI mill at
| low stages Of water and to about thirty more
| at high stages.
The waterpower works were completed in the
! summer OF 1883 and were inaugurated by an ex-
cursion party from Louisville filling up an entire
| train OF Pullman cars. Our Minnesota governor
aud a number OF other noted public men took
part in the celebration. The Little Falls Water
Power company put in these costly works in the
faith that when completed they would attract
mills and. factories. Three years have elapsed
since then and the town has doubled in popula-
ton. having 24oO people according to the census
Of last July. Steady progress has been made in
the utilization OF the power. First, q Touring
mill was built; then q second mill: then a sash
factory and later q pulp mill which is now
| being enlarged by Minneapolis company into a
complete paper mill. A handsome hotel was
Ebuilt and good brick blocks began to replace the
fcheap wooden structures I'M the busfness streets.
The city fathers put up siehtly structure for q
home for the municipal government end the
county erected a stately courthouse, tho tall
yellow, red-roofed tower OF which lords it over
the place aud commands the landscape. So in
three years Little Falls hos undergone great
change 1t is no longer the slow going, due
village OF former days. It has become q smart
manufacturing town, ambitious and progressive
The waterpower Of Little Falls was the theme
OF an illustrated article published In this maga-
zine at the time the works were in progress OF
construction. The motive OF the present article
s to take note Of the recent progress OF the town
and to study little the new conditions and pros
poets that arise from the establishment OF a
new and very important industry which Is sure
to made an almost immediate increase in the
population OF almost one hundred per cent, and
which has far reaching possibilities OF further
benefit. The Pine Tree Lumber company gen.
orally known as the Weyerhauser syndicate, at
the head Of which is Frederick Weyerhauser,
formerly OF Rock Island and now Of st. Paul-the
'lumber king of the northwest, the news
papers call him-lately bought Of the Northern
Pacific Railroad company all Of its pine lands in
Minnesota, agreeing to establish its lumber
manufacturing plants at some point on the lines
Of that road. A year was spent by Mr.. Weyer-
hauser and his associates in determining the
important question Of WHARF the mills cnuld best
be located. Last spring the decision was made
in favor Of Little Falls, almost as much to the
surprise as to the delight OF the people Of that
town, who with few exceptions did not know
that the lumber magnates were giving their
place much serious consideration. Two things
- - Tho ~ 1,,on nIonn
pany to place their big plant at Little Falls
first the remarkable solidity and stability OF the
dam, and second the large and convenient boom
age afforded by the backwater. Sawmills do not
use waterpower, because the refuse they make
gives them fuel witout cost to run steam boilers.
but ample water expanse for the storage and
handling Of logs is Of the first Importance to
their operations. A slow-moving current. that
will tighten the labor Of working the logs into
the storage booms and out OF the booms to the
mills, is also highly desirable, and there must
be ample shore frontage and q big. level site for
yards, drying houses, sorting grounds, side
tracks, shipping platforms, etc. All OF these fac
ilties, the Weyerhauser syndicate found combined
at Little Falls. They first purchased the old
Clark mill the east side OF the river just north
OF town, with It's boomage privileges. Then
they bought forty acres on the west side Of the
river from the Water Power company and leased
forty more and ON this land they are now ereet-
ing the largest sawmill to be found in the entire
northwest This mill is OF solidity OF construct
tfcn almost unknown in similar structures.
Granite and brick are freely used In the founda-
| tions and the supports for the machinery and all
OF the tmbers selected after rigid inspection.
The whole plant is model one IN every respect.
Its owners evidently intend that there shall be
no better mill In the world. When in operation
| this big lumber manufacturing plant will cut
from 60 OOO 900 to 10000 900 feet Of lumber year
and will employ not less than 500 men. These
men, with their families and with the people en-
gagged in supplying their wants Will form new
population OF about 1,500 souls to be added to
| Little Falls next spring as soon as the winters
crop of logs begins to come down the Mississippi,
This one industry, when fully developed, will In
| two or three years add fully another thousand
| to the census Of the place. That 1t will attract
| other industrjes manufacturing lumber. or using
lumber as the raw material for other manufac-'
| lures. cannot be doubted. The lumber situation
in the northwes est has been carefully. studied by
the ablest men In the business and their conclu-
sion that Little Falls s the best point for hand.
ling and saving the pine log product Of the en-
tire Upper Mississippi region win be accepted ~
| final by others who have neither the means nor
the time to 80 Into such an elaborate investiga-
tion as that made BY the Weyerhauser syndicate.
Smaller enterprises will follow in the wake Of
the big one. 5sE- s.s.z s.sf- -
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