The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1917-08-04
WHEN THE MERRITTS CAME
TO THE HEAD OF THE LAKES
Thrilling Story Sixty Ago Superior Was Young and
Babes i'm the
Municipal Cradle.

lO 1ullcS. Ills lluc was Cohh
pleted in 1892.
In 1893, we built into Duluth
because the Duluth & Winnipeg
R. R. did not furnish the number
of ore cars agreed upon when
we made the traffic contract
with it. In the winter Of 1891
90, our road, the Duluth, Mis-
sabe & Northern, built total
Of $50 cars. We built $50 more
the next year. The Duluth &
Winnipeg did not build any. In
1893, st. Louis county, Mimi, Of
fered us $250,000 worth of bonds
if we would build inc Duluth,
which we did, bringing ore in
our own cars, over our own line,
to our own dock in the fall Of
1898. We also built a line into
Hibbing from Wolfe station On
our main line.
After the D. M. g. N. line was
finished to Duluth, l was presi-
dent of the road and received
the bonds from st. Louis county.
At the time, I made a verbal
agreement with the county COM
missioners and the county audi
tor to the effect that if the
county would let the d. NJ. &
N. have said county bonds with
out giving up an equal amount
Of the company's stock, the rail-
road company would pay taxes
to the county the same as an in
dividual. This would have re-
turned to the county the amount
of the bonds and interest in less
than 20 years.
February 4, 1894, 1 had the
board of directors and stock
holders Of the D. M. & N. rail-
way pass resolution, ratifying
and confirming all Of my con-
tracts, both verbal and written.
The intent at the time was to
cover the oral contract | had
made with the commissioners OF
st. Louis county at the time the
bonds were delivered to us and,
also, any other oral contracts
that I had made in my capacity
as president of the company.
Our loyalty to Duluth was the
main reason for building into the
city. 1t proved to be a poor
move for us. We got the money
from John D. Rockefeller and,
in the end, we lost our interest
in the railroad and the mines.
I, myself, owned an one-tenth. in
terest in the D. M. & N. railway,
and, besides, $120,0OO in bonds,
together with my interests in
the mines. It all went.
My interest in the Lake Supc-
rior Consolidated Iron Mines
Company, which controlled the
railroad and the different mining
companies, was turned into the
U. S. Steel Corporation at
81, 100000. The dividends on
my share in the railroad stock,
alone, has been over 100000 for
several different years.
One asked how Rockefeller did
it. 1t simply was a case of hav-
ing confidence in him. We were
working away for the interests
Of the company, getting traffic
contracts, fully trusting him. We
woke up too late.
The loss Of my interest in the
great enterprises was not what
stunned me, however. 1t was
the loss Of my brother, Cassius
Clay Merritt. He was treasurer
Of the Duluth, Mesaba & North
ern R. R. during the panic year
Of 1898. The trouble and worry
in getting money from the East,
which had been promised us,
broke his heart and he died
early in the spring Of 1894, loved
and respected by everyone at the
Head of the Lakes, as well as
over the entire state. I often
think that the entire Mesaba
range was not worth the price.