The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-19

Ammi w. Wright and associates, s. J.
 Murphy, Temple E. Dorr, E. M. Robin
 son, H. Boenig, w. H. Yawkey, Well
 lington R. Burt, F. H. Film, Burrows,
 Rust x Goff and many others. From
 Chicago there were J. M. Williams, E.
 M. Fowler, and few more. Prominent
 among the Minnesota men who became
 interested in the region were Gov. J. g..
 Pillsbury, Petit & Robinson, R. M.
 Bennett and others of Minneapolis, c.
 N. Nelson of St. Paul, William Sauntry
 of Saltwater and others, and some
 from Duluth. These men held their pine
 lands till the discovery of iron, ten
 years later. Some of them sold out right for large sums, others retained their proprietary interests and leased
 their mineral rights at from 25 to 40 cents ton on the ore mined. These latter are the flee holders" referred to
 by the mining captain, and the money
 the skip brings up is their royalty. or
 lease, the skip, be it understood, being
 the wheeled car that runs up and
 down from the depths of the mine
 through the long shaft sunk to open to
 the light the riches ther hid. A careful
 estimate of the money paid to these lumbermen this year for ore mined puts It at S2,250000, rather more than less. This is an annual income and is likely
 to increase steadily for many years.
 The Saginaw firm Of Wright & Day. Is, including besides those men Messrs. Wells, Stone, Kelley and others some 20 years ago bought very large tracts of timber land in the western part of St. Louis county. There were some 13, 900 acres in the tracts After time, when the pine had appreciated suffi-
 cAently in value. they sold 1t to the Weyerhauser interests, who organized the Pine Tree Lumber company, built large mills and made a contract with Wright &, Davis to log the timber and get it to the mill To do this the lat ter organized the Swan River Logging company. built the Duluth, Mississippi River and Northern road from the Swan river to what Is now the town of Hibbing and went to numbering on a magnificent scale. Soon after iron was found near Hlbbing eastern furnaces Interests secured options on 5000 acres of these lands for the purpose of ex- ploring for iron ore and found thereon the immense Mahoning mine, probably | the largest ore body on the American | Continent, if not in the world. This | mine shipped it's ore to Duluth over the | Duluth, Mississippi River and Northern and the Duluth and Winnipeg, and paid | a royalty of 25 cents a ton on all ore | shipped. Ore was found on other lands | of the original purchase and it looked as If the tracts were immensely val uable. But MT. Wright was growing old, Wells and Stone both died and the firm decided to close out. President J. J. Hill of the Great Northern railway paid $400O,00O cash for the railway, lands, mine, logging contracts and en- tire holdings, and organized several to carry on the business. l This year the Mahoning mine will re- turn to him in freight alone $700, 0,000 be- sides $200000 more in royalties On another part of these lands the Steven son mine has been opened and it this year will turn in $100,000 in royalties md, directly and indirectly about $1,- )00o0O more in freights. There are no ,ne knows what other mines of iron on these lands.
 W. H. Yawkey, a Michigan lumber nan, owns many tracts along the range lis Commodore mine is closed down Or the year, but last season it paid jim A7000. John s. Pillsbury of Min : leapolis sold one 160-acre tract two or hree years ago for $200,00o He knows nore now and is not selling his lands. . He has recently made leases that will let him fortune every year. A group if Saginaw and other men holding : ands near Hibbingi not long ago com 'leted negotiations they had under way with John D. Rockefeller for four ears They extended the leases for 50 : ears, reduced the royalties to 25 cents
 ton, and increased the annual mini 1l,yp fOr 1ubtrh tho laccaa ,,,,e+ no,,