The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-04-04
Minnesota Lumber King, ,Succumbs
in Los Angeles to Ten
Days Illness
WORKED HIS WAY TO WEALTH
Lived Unpretentious Life, Never
Displayed His Great Riches
and Stunned Publicity

Pasadena, Calf, April 4.-Frederic
Wcyerhaeuser the millionaire lumbe"
man, died today.
Weyerhaeuser was seventy
ANA a resident of Minnesota. He wa
stricken ten days ago with bad cold
and several times was near death, bu
ill today he was thought to be rally
ing
The body was put on a limited train
bound for Rock Island, Illinois, Weyer
hueuser's old home. He caught cold
week ago Sunday while at church. A
the point Of death several days ago h'
rallied by the use of oxygen. but early
today a final sinking spell ended i'm hi.
death. His sons, John, Frederick, Ru'
dOlph and Charles. and daushters Mrs
Margaret Jewett. Mrs. w h. Hill au1
Mrs. :. :. Davis, were at his death bed
Weyerhaeuser was the head of th'
so-calle1 lumber trust and wa, reput.
ed the wealthiest man in the Unitel
States. He was born at Nicder- Saul
helm, a hamlet OF southern Germany
November 81. 1884. His parents were
POOR and he had to make his living as
a farm iaborcr and help 20 support hi,
mother and sisters while he was still
a boy. His educational advantages
We're extremely limited and did no,
extend beyond the most rudimentary
instruction in reading, writing and
arithmetic,
Frederick Weyerhaeuser was al
ambitious boy and the dreay existence
Of farmland did not satisfy him. lie
had heard of the great opportunities
offered to immigrants by the vast and
still undevelopcd natural resources of
the United states and the plan TO avail
himsel iof these opportunities rapidly
iipened in him. In 1867, accompanied
by his mother and his sisters, he came
10 America. Settling first in Erie, Pa.
he found work in brewery, but neith-
or the nature of the occupation nor his
wages satisfied his ambition. After
four years, Weyerhauser went west
and settled in Rock Island. H.,
where I've obtained employment i'm q
saw mill, piling up slabs at 81 a day.
Six months later he was manager Of
the plant, and in another year part
ucr in the concern which owned tho
mill.
Bought Up Standing Timber.
In a fellow worker at the mill, f.
c. \. Dcnckman, Weyhauscr found Il
fellow cotntryman, destined in after
-, hn al, all, -, nj -
schemes and enterprises. Together, in
1860, they bought the other men GU.
of business. and soon found them
selves free from debt and with enough
capital To enable them To strike out
with boldness and confidence
WeNerhauser, who was the travelling
partner. had visited Wisconsin and
Minnesota and there had found enor-
nous tracts of land, rich in timber
that could he purchased foT a few
cents an acre. The firm began to buy,
first i'm Il small way. but soon on "a
larger scale. Additional mills wer"
constructed, and money began to roll
I'm fast. Gradually the firm EXTENDED
It's operations to other. states and cor
tinucd To be the most powerful factor
in the trade, the head Of the lumber
trust. The Mississippi River Boom 4
Logging company of which Wcyer-
Eauscr was elected president i'm tho
carly eighties, worked more openly
and became the base of his known
transactions.
rho luf,nhnr Limo NJ &
q silent man, and maintained the most
profound secrcy concerning his plans
and operations in all business matters
Although his wealth increased at
tremendous rate and his gigantic oper-
ations extended over the whole United
states, but little was known about the
syndicate or the controlling spirit of
II. Weyerhauser always summed pub
icity, i'm business matters as well as
IN his private life and thus il hap
pened that the general public was
practically unaware OF the very exist
enee of this man, the peer i'm wealth
ana power To Rockefeller and Carne-
gle
Never Displayed Wealth.
While he was working i'm the saw
mlII at Rock Island. H.. Weyerhauser
married Elizabeth Blcdcl who also
came from Nieder Sauiheim and whom
ne had known in his boyhood days.
She bore him four sens and three
uauShtors, all of whom are living.
IheN lived in modest little house in
ROCK Island Ill, rrugally and without
.he least ostentation for many years.
ne 'hl'dren We're given a good edu-
o'eion. hut the sons had Ia work i'm
we lumber camps and mills just rs
,"''r father had done before and tho
"'ughtors were given u thorough do
"'ostIC tIainlng by their active and in