The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-01-18
made Rltb$trlke$
Lumbermen Whose Purchases
of Pine Lands Have Made
Them Milljonaires

ue1k1 lH1lll]O4ld1I<S
IN MESABA MINERAL HOLDINGS.
The American Lumberman con-
tains an interesting article on the
under ground wealth of timber lands
citing how Minnesota's iron mines
have enriched many fortunate lum-
ber1nen who bought timber lands
and later profited by the develop
men, of mineral wealth underlying.
These men bought the land for the
pine standing thereon, without
thought or suspicion that the wealth
below was fabulou@-enought to sur
pass an hundredfold what they saw
in the trees They do no mining and
have none of the cares of business,
except to see that the count of tolls
returned to them is correct. They
care nothing whether the iron mar
ket goes up or down; whether ore
sells at $3.50 per ton as year ago,
or at s. per ton as during the past
Season.
Most Of these fortunate individu-
ais have their home in Michigan
in Grand Rapids, Saginaw or De-
troll. They acquired their Mesaba
range pine holding during the re-
Crudescence of the timber industry
in northern Minnesota, in the early
8Vs. 1t was along abou> 1892 that
stlW-milling at the head of Lake Su-
perior woke out of the sleep that
had followed the panic, and the
Michigan lumbermen began to
come in and invest their money.
Among them were such men as
Ammi w. Wright and associates,
Simon J. Murphy, Temple E: Dorr,
+. NJ. Robinson, Henry Boeing, W.
C. Yawkey, NJ. B. Hull, Wellington
K. Burt. Ezra Rust, E. H. Finn, Sih-
ley & Bearinger, and many others.
From Chicago came E. NJ. Fowler,
John NJ. Williams and few more.
These men held their pine lands
tst'nti@ the discovery OF eiroea,-1 9syears
later. Some then sold outright for
large sums. Others retained their
proprietary rights to from Is to 40
cents per ton on the ore mined. A
careful estimate of the money paid
to these lumbermen the past year
for ore mined on their lands is $2,-
OOO,OOO-perhaps rather more than
less. This annual income is likely
to increase steadily for many years.
Elbridge NJ. Fowler, of Detroit
and Chicago, last year received an
income of about $150,OO0 from royal,
ties from his share in the Fayal
mine, and Murphy & Dorr and Rob
inson & Finn get lesser slices. From
the adjoining Adams these men in
1860 received $2}OOOO, besides one
tenth interest in the profits of the
lease, if any. The Fayal is an enor
nous mine operated by the Mime
sofa Iron Co., and is worked very
heavily. 1t perhaps deserves to be
called the most famous iron mine
in the world. The first shovel O.
dirt was moved at the Fayal mine
in the winter of 1S94-5. Since ther
it has shipped 100000 tons, and has
been developed ahead so that it car
continue at this rate for a genera
ton. Mr.. Fowler and his associate:
will draw their income of Is cents :
ton right along. They bought tn,
land for pine.
Sibley & Bearinger, of Saginaw
, and H. NJ. Bradley, of Duluth. owr
eleven-twelfths of the fee of tn,
Chandler mine. They get 80 cent:
a ton the saginaw men the most O
it, Mr.. Bradley the rest. During tn,
past two years the mine has paid il
royalties $4,000. The owners pur
chased the 80 acres for what Din,
there was thereon, and paid only :
few dollars.
John NJ. Williams, a Chicago tim
Der holder, owns the fee of the Bi
wabik. He bought it long ago fo1
pine land. The upturning of a pin,
tree by the wind exposed the iro1
ore at its roots. There has beer
more than million dollars expend
ed in developing this mine, but MI
Williams did not have to expend it
He has received a fortune ever,
year while the process has been 90
ing on, and in 1900 received S1s5O,
tor allowing other men to do tn,
work.
w. c. Yawkey, of Detroit, own:
many Mesaba range tracts. Here h