St. Paul daily globe., 1895-01-08
LUMBER TROUBLES.
sLANDEROUS WAR MADE ON p.
J. mEEHAN.
Prominent Lumber Manufacture
ers of Thief River Falls
Statements Corrected.

Patrick Meehan. of the firm of P. &
J. Meehan, lumber manufacturers OF
Thief River Falls, Mimi, was in Min
meapolis yesterday. and a GLOBE re-
porter interviewed him on the subject
of the lumber troubles in MS town. MIR.
Meehan said:
There never was any serious disturb
ance at Thief River Falls. Some feel
| ing existed between our friends and
the sympathiZers of Jones, public senti-
ment being ABOUT evenly divided, but it
developed into nothing more than some
rash talk and threats on the part Of a
! few hOt-headed Jones men. UnfOr-
tunateIy for Us, the newspaper cOrre-
spoRdents sending dispatches to the
dallieS OF the large cities were interest.
! ed in the Jones enterprise, and, as Il
result, nearly everything that has been
published concerning the controversy
| has been favorable to Jones and pref
judicial TO us. SlaHdeTous, sensational
and silly articles designed to iHjuTe US
got into the city newspapers through
the efforts OF Ar. jones, and these. in
great numbers. were cut out and for
WaTded TO Washington, and by Mr.
Jones attorney placed before Secretary
Smith as evidence OF public sentim Mt.
/ The secretary was supposed to be Sit
ting i'll Judicial capacity TO decide a
pure question of law, and yet the whole
Minnesota delegation in congress. with
the possible exception OF Senator Davis.
VINO, believe. took no part in the pro-
! ceeding, used their undivided influence
| on the secretary in favor OF Jones, and
assumed 10 advise how the case should
De decided, and all because we are resi-
| dents OF sister state. The secretary
, was lea TO believe that the people of
the whole state of Minnesota de-
manded an approval of the Jones lease,
and Tor this reason | believe there is
! more politics than law in his action.
Although We nave not yet taken up our
actual residence in Minnesota. we
have quarter of million dollars in
vested in our business here, and have
done much to open and develop the
northern part Of your state. We have
in our employ from 125 to $50 men the
year round. who spend their money in
Thief River Falls. We have never
attempted TO interfere with other busl-
ness enterprises by establishing any
store OF our own to catch the trade of
our EN- mplOyeS, as most mill men do. We
are constantly enlarging and extending
CGL C0o4AlNSC- MI OJluS " uldhC IL Dd1
ultimately, which it has not done so
far, as we find 1t hard TO COM
pete with saw mills having the facilities
Tor milling that large place, like Min
neapOlS. tor Instance. affords. Ali of
the money which we have invested has
| been brought into The state by US; we
have made none here. and have taken
none out, W hen we went to Thief
River Falls there were not more than
100 persons in the place, and no rail-
road had yet been extended TO the viii
age. By agreeing with jim Hill to
establish our sawmiil there he was in
duced 10 build the Great Northern road
into Thief River Falls in the summer
| Of 1892. Now that the country is opened
up, other lumbermen want 10 enter the
field. and we gladly welcome them TO
come: the more mills and the more
business the better we will be pleased
| but we cannot see our way clear TO
| turning over part OF cur millpOnd
and shore rights to anybody, mas
! much as our so doing would practically
| ruin our business. No honest man
! would have attempted 10 deprive US OF
! the land which we leased from the In
! dian Moose Dung in good faith. as we
/ have at least a strong moral right TO it,
/ and we believe the courts will mold that
| our claim 10 the property is legal. Jones
got a second lease from Moose Dung
/ covering the same land. and sought to
get the property away from US by hav-
ing his lease approved by the secretary
| of the interior, on the theory that our
! lease was not good unless made with
! the consent OF the government. We
! built our mill and established our busi.
ness in the belief that under our lease
from Moose Dung we would have the
| right to use the short front along his
! land, and if we cannot hold the land
our business will be virtually DESTROYED.
| The charge that we are attempting tC
monopoliZe the numbering business is
! false. and has been made for no other
/ purpose than to create prejudice against
! US. T. B. Walker, A. Wright and
| others are already logging Oh the same
I river. ana the business is open to every
! body There are half dozen available
! mill sites in the vicinity of our village
/ which Jones could get where mis- operas
| tons would not interfere with ours. Ii
! has been charged also that we have
been paying only S3 per thousand for
| logs, anu that the settlers. for want of a
| better market. have been obliged TO sell
! at what we offered. We never paid less
than So per thousand for logs, even fer
! the poorest kind we ever purchased.