The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1914-02-27

poraf1on was formed, Capt. SeltWQOd
left the employ of the American Steel
& Wire company, in order to pick up
the Mesaba range properties for him
self and the independent interests with
which he was associated, including
Pickards, Mather & Co., the Cherry
Valley Iron company, the Wheeling
Steel & Iron company, and the Salem
Iron g Steel company. Beside q num-
Der Of unnamed forties Of land to
which he acquired title for himself
Ior8one Of the above companies, he OBJ
tanned control Of the sLongyear, Lee
tonia, Croxton, LaRue, Cyprus, Adria-
tic, Pearce, Morrow and Cass mines.
Of these, the Longyear and .Leetonia
were taken over by the Interstate Iron
company, the mining organization of
the Jones & Laughlin Steel company,
the Croxton and LaRue went to the
Cherry Valley Iron company, and
later to the Pittsburgh Iron Ore COM
pany, and Pearce was obtained by
the Meriden Iron company, an indie
pendent mining company of which O.
B. Warren was the mining manager.
Equal interests were held by Pick
ands, Mather g., Co. and Capt. Sell
wood in the Cyprus and Adriatic.
Though quite content at this time
to add no further responsibilities to
those he already had Capt. Sellwood
was prevailed upon to take charge OF
the mines of the International Har-
vester company at Hawkins and Ag-
NEW on the Mesaba range, and the
Illinois in Wisconsin. He reserved.
however, the right to look after his
own interests to whatever extent they
might require, and something Of the
character of the man is shown in this
frank understanding regarding the
division of his interests. For years
he visited these properties regularly,
going about the range in all weather,
frequently driving seventeen miles
from Hibbing to the Hawkins mine
and back and accepting the somewhat
limited comforts of a nights stay on
the range with the same matter-of-
fact naturalness that characterized
him in everything.
His Banking Interests.
The business interests of Mr.. Sell
wood aside from mining, became a
large part of his daily responsibilities.
He inaugurated the City National
Bank of Duluth in 1908 and was made
the president in 1905, remaining in
that position until his death. He was
the owner of the First National Bank
of Ely, Mimi, and the First National
bank of Two Harbors, Mimi, and was
also the controlling factor in the First
National bank of Bessemer, Mich. A
few years ago he erected the magnifi-
cent Sellwood building on the corned
of Superior street and Second avenue
west, in which the City National bank
occupies one of the most modern bank
ing quarters in the United States. He
was also a heavy investor in the ore
carrying lake trade. He built the
steamer Joe S. Morrow, naming it
after his young grandson, and in his
own honor, the steamer Joseph Sell
wood of the fleet of Mitchell & Co.
was named.
For many years Mr.. Sellwood took
active part in politics. This was in
the days of the Minnesota Iron COM
pany, of which Mr.. Sellwood was the
political representative in addition to
his other duties. The Minnesota Iron
company was the dictator of the Re-
publican party in St. Louis county,
and Mr.. Sellwood made and unmade
legislative representatives and coun-
| ty officers. When the Minnesota
company was absorbed by the Federal
Steel company and later became part
of the United States Steel corporation,
the political side of the organization
disappeared. Mr.. Sellwood, however,
did not lose his interest in politics, al
though he ceased to be active per-
sonally. He was Republican.
Mr.. Sellwood was twice married.
His first wife, who died a number. OF
years ago, was Ophelia Mathews of
Ontonagon, Mich, whom he married
in 1867. They had six children, of