St. Paul daily globe., 1893-01-29
MILLIONS IN A DEAL.
A Two -Million-DolIar Pine
Lumber Deal Made Last
Evening.
The st. Anthony Lumber Com.
pany Sells to the Weyer-
hauser Syndicate.
Five Hundred Million Feet OF
Pine and a Railroad
Transferred.
Probability That the Lumber
Will Be Manufactured in
st. Paul.

Five hundred million feet of Mime
sofa pine timber was sold last evening
for little over S2,O0J,0O0.
Shortly before IL o'clock last evening
the papers were signed in a deal trans
ferring about 500,0OO,0O0 feet of stand
ing pine around Leech Lake in this
state, from the st. Anhony Lum.
ber company to syndicate of lumber.
men headed by Frederick WeyerhauseI
of this city. The consideration was
slightly above S2,OO0,0OO, and with the
timber is transferred the Cross Lake
Logging railway with all It's equipment
and franchises. This railroad runs
from Cross lake to near Leech lake, and
is twenty-three miles in length. Dur.
ing the past few years the annual cut
of the st. Anthony Logging company
has been about 40,000.000 feet and there
is timber enough in this deal to keep
the plant IN operation for ten years.
For the past two years the Weyer,
hauser syndicate has been gathering up
all the standing pine timberin Northern
Minnesota that could be bought at rea.
Sonable prices. The Northern Pacific
lands were first secured, and since that
time everything in sight has been
picked up. BY these heavy purchases
the standing pine around the head
waters of lhe Mississippi has been
doubled in value, and today, with the
possible exception of Il. b. Walker and
his associates in Minneapolis, the
Weyerhauser syndicate
Own More Standing Pine
than any other body or corporation In
the state. If the possessions of this
company in Wisconsin are added to
what they own in this state, the total
will be larger than owned by any other
lumber company i'll the world.
For some time the watchful eyes
of Mr.. Weyerhauser and his
trusted agents have been fixed
on the property of the st.
Anthony Lumber company, and,
as this company owned and operated no
mills, and were satisfied to go out of
business with fall profit on property
every bit of which could be used by the
Weyerhauser syndicate, it did not take
long to bring the parties together. Two
weeks ago i'm Chicago the first meeting
was held, but this was unsuccessful,
and the parties separated about a half
million dollars apart. Later the negotia-
tions were resumed, and meeting ar
ranged for this city yesterday.
The Merchants was selected as
the rendezvous, and early In
the afternoon was made the time for the
meeting, but it was not until nearly
9 O'Clock last evening that Mr.. Weyer-
hauser reached the city. and he was
few minutes ahead of ex-senator r. l..
Mccormick, of Hayward, Wis, without
whom the veteran lumberman seldom
talks about deal. When all were gath
cred together at the Merchants an ad-
JOurnment to room i'll the EndicOtt
was taken, and for three hours the de-
tails were discussed. Each side yielded
from the position taken at Chicago, and
the papers were finally signed.
The price of the standing pine varies
according to its location, but averages
about 81 per thousand feet, while the
railroad goes in at cost, making the
total consideration
Something Over S2,OOO,OOO.
The members of the st. Anthony
Lumber company present we're: G.. E.
Whitney of Minneapolis; Arthur Hill,
of Saginaw, and j. ID. Fowler, of Chi
cago. On the other side were: Frede-
rick WeyerhauSer, representing the
firm of Weyerhauser & Denkmann, OF
Rock Island, Ill.,; II. l.. Mccormick, of
Hayward, Wis; Matthew Norton, of
the firm of Laird IL Norton, of Winona;
w. j. Young, of w. j. Young 6 Co.. of
Clinton, To-, and Lamb IL Sons, of the
same city.
This transfer places the Weyerhauser
syndicate in new section, and means
great deal in more ways than one. From
this time on Il. B. Walker will have
powerful rivals in the Leech Lake
country, and pine timber there will
command fancy prices. The equip,
ment of the Cross Lake railroad is per.
feet and capable of doing twice
the business, or handling an an
nual cut of 1O0,G00,OOO feet. But
more than this, this change means new
industry Cor st. Paul. AS has been
known to great many for some time
past the Weyerhauser syndicate are
preparing to build a saw mill of large
capacity in this city, and the prObabilI-
ties are that the timber just purchased
will be manufactured here.