The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1915-01-23
.BEMlDJI MILLS
TO 0PERATEF FOR
Il MORE YEARS
Lumber Manufacturing Establish
ments of This City Will Be Among
Last of State to Stop Saving.
ENORMOUS OUTPUT SINCE 1870
1899 1j 9 Was " Banner Year-Prosperous
Farms Now in Vicinity Once
Thought Valuable for Trees Only

Minnesota's great pine forests
have supplied logs scaling 34,8O0.-
100000 feet since 1870, according
to statement prepared by c. E. Sin
clair, state surveyor general of logs
and lumber for the second, or Min
neapolis district Mr.. Sinclair's es-
innate is based on the records of his
office from 1870 to 1914, covering
the upper Mississippi valley and all
logs cut and scaled as far down a.
the st. Paul boom. 90. .se.r
While it has been understood here
that the Shevlin interests would con-
tlnue to operate their two large mills
here at least twelve years, the figures
OF Sinclair practically assure that
such will be the case,~ the company
having sufficient timber holdings.
Still Good Timber Left.
In spite of this tremendous drain
on the states timber resources, there
is still virgin timber in this north
ern district to keep big mills run
ming up here for II to Is years, Mr..
Sinclair said. While actual saving
at Minneapolis is small now and soo1
will be wound up completely, that
city is the headquarters for the lum-
Der industry of the whole northwest.
and it's wholesale concerns handle
more lumber now than when the
clty's mills were saving at their ton
capacity in the season of 1899.
Three Concerns in Control.
Pine left in Minnesota is largely
in the hands of three big interests.
The Shevlin-C Carpenter Clarke con-
Germs, which have their headouar-
ters in Minneapolis, have mills in
this city and Frazee which will oper-
ate. IL to Is years longer. Their
mill at Cass Lake will shut down this
coming season. So will the T. B.
Walker mill at. .Akeley, which will
end the Walker activity in Minnesota.
Can Run Is Years Longer.
The International Lumber com
pany, the Backus-Brooks interests.
have big mills at International Falls
and Spooner, which will operate Is
years or more. The Weyerhaeuser
mills at Virginia and Cloquet will
run about Is years, the one at Little
Falls five or six years and two mills
at Minneapolis will run two or three
years on logs in the river. Then
they will begin clearing the river of
sunken logs which almost floor it
from Minneapolis to Brainerd, and
saving those logs.
$4,000, 100000 From One District,
Including logs RATED at St. Paul
for mills down the river as far as
Hannibal, Mo-, the Minneapolis dis
trict since 1870 has an output of 49,
go 100000 feet.
Beginning in 1870, the first decade
shows an annual log output for the
district averaging 160,00O,000 feet.
In the ten years from 1880 to 1890,
it rose to 3OO,OOO,OOO feet a year, and
then came the apex of Minnesota's
pine production, from 1890 to 1904.
Averaged 100000 a Year.
In those IA years the Minneapolis
district averaged 600,OOO,OO0 feet
year, 1899 being the banner year,
with 770,000,00O feet. For the six
years following, to 1910, it dropped
to 4OO,0O0,000 feet a year, and since
1910 it has averaged 3OO,OOO,0O0
feet and is decreasing each year.
In that 44-year period, Mr.. Sinclair
estimates the Duluth and the Still
water districts together cut about the
same total as Minneapolis. es"e2
Duluth Still Heavy Producer.
Duluth district, with big mills at
Cloquet and Virginia, is still heavy
producer, but the Saltwater district
is about through. The Crookston
district has been abolished since the
mills at Crookston, Ada, st. Hilaire,
East Grand Forks and Thief River
Falls shut down. This district, it is
estimated, produced in all 100000
feet of logs. 80
Last Cutting for Minneapolis.
The last logs to be cut in the woods
for Minneapolis are being felled this
winter and will go into the upper
reach of the Mississippi this next
summer and fall. The local cut last
year was 6S,O00.0O0 feet.
The last big timber tract to go on
the market. is in the Red Lake Indian
reservation, where it is estimated
2OO, 100000 feet Of pine is yet to he
sold and logged out.
Now Prosperous Farms.
The timber area of Minnesota once
Extended to the very doors OF Min
neapolis. The Rum river country
was big producer. Vast tracts cut
lover 20 to 80 years ago are now pros
porous farming country, including
CONTINUED on last pags).