Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1907-08-09

epigrammatlc when he does talk, and
often has good natured but apt il.
1ustrations at the tip of his ton que.
More than once he has brought q pain.
full interview or stormy discussion
to pleasant termination, leaving no
sting behind.
More than once he has indicated
his deisre for a change in methods or
greater economy on the part of
euhordinates by some quaint remark
without adopting the form Of 1eproof.
In bis different way he is as good
''jollier" az Hill.
O4ce, when he was inspecting one
OF his Northern sawmills, it was
noticed that as usual his sharp black
eyes were busy but his responses
were few. The manager, of course
directed his notice to the shipshape
state of things and the high grade Of
the output. Particular attention was
drawn to the excellent lath that was
being manufactured. -
This brought out q response. The
old man had noticed that the strings
with which the lath were tied were
seven or eight inches longer than was
absolutely Necessary, leaving hanging
0@~NSS AoVOAv4A8 - "Ooto SA9S IL tA0
aggregate amounted to good many
pounds of lath yarn every day.
The lath are all right" said
Weyerhaeuser, hut do they bring any
better price on account of the taeselsI"
Wey erhaeuser landed In the United
States In 1852, when he was 10. He
located in Pennsylvania. but at 22
removed to Rock Island, Ill. on tho
bank of the Mississippi. There for
thirty i've years he devoted himself
to cutting the forests in the great
river valley, while at the same time
he took to piliug money, slowly at
first but more and moro RAPIDLY as
the pile grew ID size. By tho time
he removed to st. Paul he was pretty
sure that he had enough to keep bis
family and himself comfortable for
the rest of their lives
BY that time his Woodsmen had
denuded,r nobody knows now many
thousands Of scres Of land, large areas
OF which are now smiling farms, with
cities and towns and villages dotted
here and there, while other large
tracts. especially the, areas most Re.
Gently cut over, are waste and
Nobody appreciates more thoroughly
than Weyerhaeuser that before many
years have passed the country will be
in cad need of the timber which has
been cut SO rapidly to build DIP
Weyerhaeuser's and other Dig lumber
mems fortunes. For this reason he
has made q close study Of reforestiza.
ton, and actually has under way a
scheme to restore the forest growth to
many thousands Of acr: in the
Misslssippi valley. He cannot hope
personally to reap any financial Ie.
ward from this course, since, az he
sage, it takes eighty years in. this
country to grow tree Of prime com.
mercial value. -'
Meanwhile, the Mississippi valley
being SO nearly bare of trees, he has
secured standing timber holdings on
the Pacific coast, in the Southeast, the
South and in the regions between
Minnesota and the coast, which he is
turning over to the needs Of com.
merce'' quite fast enough to meet the
demand.
In the course of his lumberman'
life he has travelled many thousands
of miles alone in the forest and much
Of the sentiment which is his German
birthright has taken the firm of love
for its leafy solitudes. Answering q
question as to his favorite diversion
one day he said:
II like to drive-to be in the
woods adding, after q pause, Il
like to create, to construct.
This last remark is the key to much
of this mans life. He is one Of those
pushing pioneers who have become
rich but who have taken as much
delight in construction work-though
most of his work has teen destruction
of what nature was ages in building
1p-as in accommodating wealth.
Still he never has lost sight Of the
main chance, and charges have been
made agalnst him, % against most
rich men, that he has not always
kept within the law, in his eagerness
to accumulate profits. - l." -
With regard to the charge that he
acquired certain California timber
lands illegally, however, his friends
deny that he ever owned these lands
that what grabbing there may have
been done was achi01ed by Others.
They tried to get Weyerhaeuser TO
take the land OF their hsnds, but he
declined because tho title was found
imperfect. Later the title was found
perfected, it IL said, but the deal never
went. through. :ss 80 y: .s -.
The negotiations date back to 1893
and the removal Of the. Indians from q
part Of the reservation was involved
in the, prcp posed Transaction, This
Grover Cleveland, then president. re.
fused to sanction. ....--.-. fsz
Fourteen years ago. two years after
he made st. Paul his residence,
Weyerhaeuser bought home on Sum-
NIT avenue, the most : pretentious
residence street in tho city. It stands
betWeen the million. dollar home Of
James ]. Hill and tho much less costly
house Of his con, Louis W. Hill, to
whose shoulders the burden Of the
Great Northern railroads presidency
was shifted recently. From the rear
the Weyehaeuser house, like the Hill
houses, command dne view of the
Mississippi river, winding its way ct