The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-05-20
Minnesota Millionaires.

Frank A. Carpenter in Baltimore Sunday News.
Millionaires in Minnesota are thicker
than mosquitoes in New jersey, and you
cant throw stone in the streets of st.
Paul or Minnesota without hitting Croe-
sus The wonderful development Of the
country is rolling the dollars into this hop
Der of the great Northwest and there are
lumber millionaires, milling kings, real es-
tate magnates and railroad gold bugs ga
lore. This is the greatest lumber centre OF
the Union. and J. Newton Mind, editor
of the Lumberman here, tells me that
Minneapolis will sell more lumber than any
city in the country in 1893 Some of the
richest timber dealers of the world live
here, and Weyerhauser, the lumber king,
makes this his home. No man in the
world represents so much lumber as Wey
erhauser. He owns timber all over the
country and he buys by the millions.
Just the other day he paid over S2,OO0,-
900 for 5OO, 600, 900 feet of standing pine
in northern Minnesota, and the syndicate
of which he is the head will, | am told,
within four years control all the white pine
of Wisconsin and Minnesota. 1t has
capital of SCI, 1000, 900. 1t has great saw
mills. which turn out hundreds of millions
of feet of lumber annually, and whose pro-
duet is worth close to SIG, 900, 900 year.
1t buys new lumber regions right along,
and it is looking out for new fields in the
South and Northwest.
FROM BEER TO BULLION.
This syndicate includes small number
of rich men, but Frederick Weyerhauser
is the richest and the brainiest of them.
He is a German, and he began life in a
brewery. He came to this country with
out a cent, and he worked for 81 a day.
After leaving the brewery he piled slabs
in a sawmill for time at Sl.25 day, and
gradually worked his way up in lumber
until he is worth millions. He is as plain
to-day at fifty as he was when he worked
in his first sawmill, and he labors just as
hard He is wrapped up in his business,
and goes at times from lumber camp to
lumber camp, taking pot luck with his
men and having thorough knowledge of
every detail of his business. He is man
of great ability, full of common sense, and
his four sons, who are all in the lumber
business, take after him. The boys have
been well educated, and his youngest son
is now in Yale College. He gives great
deal in charity and his oldest daughter,
who lately married Dutch Reformed
preacher of Syracuse, spent year some
time before her marriage in going among
the lower classes of New York city doing
charitable work.
r. B. Walker, of Minneapolis, is an
other lumber king. He is said to be
worth S10,000,000, and his house here
contains some of the finest paintings you
will find in the United States.
SOME MINNESOTA MANSIONS.
] wish could take you into the houses
of these rich men of the Northwest. They
are as fine as those of the money kings of
New York or Boston, and many of them
will rank with the oldest houses of Europe
IN their artistic furnishings. There is to-
day more art displayed in the big business
blocks and in the fine residences of st.
Paul and Minneapolis than you will find
in those of Boston, Cleveland or Cincin-
natl, and money is shoveled out here on
architecture, art, and | might say religion
as well. The finest Young Mems Chris
tian Association building in the world is
here. The Minneapolis Club has finer
quarters than any club in Washington
city, and there are a number of million
dollar business blocks here, which have
more fine marble and Roman mosaic work
than the Cathedral of st. Marks, at We
nice. These men have made their money
quickly and they spend it freely. Their
homes are full Of beautiful things from all
over the world. Take, for instance, that
of Mr.. Thomas Lowry, the street railway
millionaire of Minneapolis. 1t is a big,
oid-fashioned mansard house of about 20
rooms, which are packed with arc treas
nres. Old Gobelin tapestries, some of
which would carpet small parlor. hang
upon the wallis Oriental rugs, which Tom
Lowry bought in Egypt, lie upon the
floor, and fine paintings of the great mod
ern painters cover the walls. Rare Sevres
vases stand on the mantels, and pieces OF
really fine Japanese art and of rare East
India workmanship are scattered here and
there about the rooms The house is, in
fact, museum Of curios, but they have
been so well selected and arranged that it
Is most comfortable home.
HOW TOM LOWRY MADE A FORTUNE.
And Just here | want TO say word
about Tom Lowry. Everyone calls him
Tom here, and he is everyones friend
He is still in his 40s, but he controls cap
ital of s12,OO0,OO0, and his income is
probably something like 100000 year.
He came here from Logan county, ILL.,, as
a young lawyer. He wanted to 60 some
place where he could be known as some
thing more than as just Father Lowry's
son. His father was friend of Abraham
Lincoln, and had Lincoln not been elected
President, Lowry would have studied law
in his Office He was poor when he came
here, but he at once jumped into BIZ
practice and he was soon engaged IN every
speculation Of the town. Along back in
the '70s the horse car street railway Of
Minneapolis was in a bad way and Ton
Lowry borrowed s75 900 Of the Security
Bank and bought it. He improved it, ex
tended the lines and so managed it that he
was soon allie to get hold Of the st. Pau
street ear lines as well, and be now prac-
tically owns the street car lines of the two
cities. He has made his system the best
il is said, in the United States, and his
credit is such that at the time Of the Bar.
ines failure he was able to raise S3,5oU,;
600 10 New York at a low rate OF interest
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