The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-03-07
FINDS BEDS OF SOFT
COAL IN AITKIN
COUNTY
QuOdenaW Development Com
pany, of Duluth, Discovers
Large Quantities of BIZ
luminous Coal-Disagrees
With State Auditor as to
the Amount of Royalty to
Be Paid.

The Quodenaw Development COM
pany, of Duluth, claims to have dis
covered beds of bituminous coal in
Aitkin county and the first coal min
eral contract ever issued blythe state
of Minnesota was secured from the
state auditor yesterday by representa-
tiVeS of the Duluth corporation.
The company evidently considers 1t
has a good thing in sight, for it has
had a squabble with the state auditor
over the amount of royalty to be paid
TO the state for each ton of the coal
mined. Under section I, of the iron
mining law, provision is made for the
mining of coal under the head of min
erals other than coal, and this is the
only section applicable to the case.
The section reads:
Should copper or any other valuable
mineral be discovered on land leased
as heretofore authorized the terms and
conditions on which the same may lie
mined shall be agreed upon by the
state land commissioner and the les
see, and in case they shall be unable to
agree, then each shall choose a ref
cree and the two persons shall choose
a third. The decision of said board
shall be final and binding on the par
ties Interested
When the matter of the royalty was
proposed to State Auditor Iverson,
who is also under the law state land
commissioner, he at once said that the
price to be paid the state on each ton
of the coal mined would have to he
20 cents, the same as the royalty On
iron ore.
Want Royalty Reduced.
Representatives of the company de-
INJURED to this and argued that there
was whole lot of difference between
In airai1 g
proposition was in the nature, not only
of a benefit to the people of the state,
but also home industry, the conten-
ton was that the royalty should be
much less per ton. The auditor did
not see his way clear to lowering the
figure, and the result is that a board
of arbitration will be appointed to fix
the amount to be paid for each ton
mined.
The mineral lease, which it now
turns out, was issued from the state
auditors office March 4, 1902, was talk
en- out as other leases or options on
mineral lands for one year and the
price paid for the option was $25. 1t
was not known at the time the lease
was secured that there was any possi-
biiity of striking coal bed, but the
company now asserts that coal has
been found and in immense quantities.
Consequently, when the lease expir-
ed last Wednesday, the company at
once prepared to close a contract by
which it could proceed with the min
ing on the tract and paid the state
yesterday 800 for the first years con-
tract. When the money was paid into
the state treasury then the fact leaked
out that it was not iron which was
TO be mined, but coal.
The exact location of the tract which
the company has leased and on which
the coal bed lies was not given out at
the auditors office and all that could be
learned was that the tract was in
AitlIin county.
The Quodenaw Development COM
pany, of Duluth, filed articles of in
corporation with the secretary of state
Jan. 19 last. The capital stock of the
company is 100000, the number of
shares being 1000. The incorporators
were John P. Morrow, Matthew M.
Gasser and James A. Ferguson, all cf
T)1lnth