The Redwood gazette., 1902-02-12
BEMIDJI AND BEYOND. !
llfITls9II - 7 " - 10 -l-l.I
enceE of TAE GAZETTE.


Correspondence of TAEs GAZETTE.
To The EDITOR: I arrived at Be.
! midi by way of the sunsalted sea-
and find that the place has had a
! most phenomenal growth. Though.
only old enough to 90 to school it
can show more neat and comfortable
homes, better streets and sidewalks
and more successful business
houses than most country towns
that have been organized for ten or
fifteen years. The situation among
the pines on the west bank of Lake
Bemidii, with its bold shore is most
picturesque. The business places
aud activity seen on the streets or
hotels give every indication of sub
stantial growth,and general pros
perity
It is border town and has been
built up for the most part by the
luilOtl duuN UuC CulSUllOuU-f
ing point for large section of the
State thatlis Just being opened up.
In speaking Of this place at home
or on the train one is pretty sure
to be reminded that it has more sa-
looms to the acre than any place in
the north hwest. a statement to which
| ] must confess had given credit but
| now find it is not true. Black Duck
claims 500 people and has II saloons,
while Bemidji with $500 population
has only Al. They reported 40 to
Judge Robinson, butone has started
up since his visit.
! 7 must, however, in justice to this
new aspirant for city honors say
that | have nowhere seen a more
orderly and aggressive town nor
one giving fairer promise OF future
growth.
The reader is aware in a general
way that nearly all the growth and.
energy displayed in these new
towns is the result of the lumber
interest but he is still unable to
realize fully the immense value of
the forests Minnesotaor how much of
they have contributed to the wealth
of the State and of The individuals
who for over half century have
been engaged in turning their prod
ucts into elements of,potential ener-
gy in the upbuilding ofthe common
wealth.
A brief resume of the operations
OF the lumbermen for the past fifty
five years may be interesting.
The reports Of the surveyor gen
erai OF logs and lumberfor the upper
! Mississippi region show that the
| production increased from 1000, 600
feet in 1948 to CTS, 900, ,000in 1899 and
assuming that the cut for 1900 and
| 1901 equals the figures for 1899 we
have a grand total of pine alone for
A years of $4,000, 100000 feet. IF
to this we add Is per cent. for other
classes of coniferous trees cut but
not reported by the surveyors we
find the total for the Mississippi re-
gion approximately fourteen billion
feet The report for the ST. Croix
aud it's tributaries by w, III. G.. Fol-
som, estimating as above, gives 16,-
500, 0O0, 900, giving a grand aggre-
gate of over thirty billion feet. AL
/ lowing So per thousand feet as the
average value of this lumber at the
saw mills it will be seen that the
average value for the State is $40,
OOO, 900, or placing the figure at 50 a
thousand on the stump I'VE find that
/ the forests have contributed ninety
million dollars in pine timber alone,
to say nothing of the hardwood used
In manufacture, ties, cordwood and
the various other ways in which
the products have been utilized.
4 | know that some of us who live
on the prairie are prone to think
our avocation o, providing bread
and meat for the people the most
/ I
eat first, but the product of the for
est is useful and necessary to our
lcivilization as we'll.
| One can hardly visit this region
so lately redeemed from the wilder
| ness without recurring to it's early
history. We are among other
things reminded forcihly of the dual
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