Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-08-27
STATE CAPITOL STONE.
The Commission Is now Con
siderin9 the Quality Of the
Minnesota Stones.

II oiA0u uuS SsSo NNeAssSJ ~ Wv
/ Minnesota Stones.
One Of the bidders ON the Mime
sofa state capitol made a bid for the
use of Little Falls granite In the
structure. and at the time the Tran.
scribed described the quarry as be-
ing located over ten miles east from
this city, southeast Of Fish lake. In
Agranl town. At that time but it,
tie was known OF the quarry. For
some time the owners III the stone
had been hauling blocks Ut the gran
lite to Little t'alls by team, sending
it to other places where II could be
dressed and polished. That fact
naturally showed thct the granite
possessed advantages over the gran
lite from quarries in other parts Of
the state, rs the expense Oi trans
porting it was very great. The
men who were shipping the stone
claimed that it possessed qualities
that made it superior to any other
Minnesota stone for monumental
work. 1t had better color, but the
especial advantage was In the ex-
ceedingly fine grain, which allowed
1t to be dressed to finer angles and
lines than could BE- made on any
other hard stone in the west. When
the bidforthe state capitol was made
ON this stone, there became greater
interest. The bid was much higher
than for :other Minnesota GRANTEES,
as the owners had calculated on the
basis OF team transportation over
rather poor country road.
But u comparison OF the Little
Falls granite convinced not only the
local people that 1t was superior
article. but this judgement was EN-
dorsed by many experts In building
stones. The cost M getting the
stone to the railroad was sufficient
to make it too expensive for compel.
ition with other GRANTEES for building |
purposes. In view of that the con-
tractor came to Little Falls a few |
evenings ago, and discussed with
some of the business men Ut the city |
the prospects OF getting line Of
electric or other railroad to the
quarry. The contractor did not ar.
rive until s:l5 In the evening, and re-
turned on the night train, 80 he met
but few OF the citizens OF the city.
But what impression he received Of
local ointment convinced him that
II there was a demand for large |
shipments OF granite from this place
that q means of transportation
would be provided by the cooper
alton of the local communities that
would be benefited. When he r.
turned to st, Paul he prepared mod
ifications of his bid and submitted
them to the commission. A number
Of Little Falls people, including M.
NJ. Williams, John Wetzel. G. B.
Buchanan and W. NJ. Fuller went
to st. Paul Wednesday, and on
Thursday appeared before the COM
mission and urged the use
of the superior Little Falls gran-
lite, and also explained to the
the reasons that justi-
fed the bidder in lowering his esti
ties for the use ri Little Falls
stone. and requesting them to give
the modified bid the consideration
that all the circumstances would
warrant.
The commission will probably not
be long in determining what
will be done with the bids now De-
fore them. 1t would probably have
been of great advantage to Little
Falls and Morrison county II the
origional bids could have been made
on an established freight rate fromthe
quarry to st. Paul. AS the matter
now stands, our people have an OPP
to consider the probable
future advantage ola line of rail- Il
road leading to the quarries east tOi
the city.
Justice Shaw gave his decisiOn
this morning in the case Of the Me-
Cormick Harvesting Machine Com
pany against Henry Sharon. The
holds a judgment against
Sharon and garnisheed the wages due
him for work performed for the Pine
Tree Lumber Company. Mr.. Sharon's
son Walter claimed the wages on