The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1918-08-10

iron ore in Minnesota make a ro-
mantle and thrilling story. Two men
played vital parts therein and, some
day, Minnesota will recognize the i'm
poitance of their work by at least
erecting monuments to their men,
cries. The credit and. glory of dis
covery belong to George R. Stunt,
a pioneer surveyor and explorer. The
credit and glory Of financing devel-
opment belong to George c. Stone,
pioneer business man in Duluth.
Both have gone to their reward but
their great service to the state and
posterity become more apparent each
year.
In the fall of 1865, George R..
Stuntz, a pioneer Of pioneers in ST..
Louis County, canoed up the St..
Louis River, portrayed into Pike
River and came out into Lake Yer
million. On the southerly side of
that body of water, he sought, found
and located lands that showed out
crops of clean iron ore and IRON
bearing formations. He and his COM
panion, said by some to have been
a Capt. Pratt, brought back to Du-
luth fifty pounds if iron ore and
secured tests that proved the COM
mercial value of what later was
called the Lee and -Breitung mines,
now commonly referred to as the
Soudan mines.
Eventually, through the twists of
time and human events, George R.
Stuntz interested George c. Stone
in the iron lands located on Yer
Millions shore. One authority has it
that Mr.. Stones original interest was
in half a section, 800 acres. Mr..
Stone was a pio1ieer In the City of
Destiny, as the ''fish-eaters" and
boomers previous to the Panic of
'73 called it. He was a banker until
his bank played out and then turned
his attention to real estate. OF a
venturesome turn of mind, he natur-
ally was ready for anything that
promised to fatten his pocket book.
The Panic Of '73 knocked Duluth
pretty flat, but few sturdy spirits
held on through it all. After 1880,
however, some of the Drawer spirits
weakened and sought other fields.
threw up the sponge and went to
st. Paul, George C. Stone stood by
his guns but, just the same, he began
to look around for some particular
thing through which he could better
his fortunes and, at the same time,
stick to Duluth. He finally picked
on his Vermilion lands, bought from
Mr.. StuntZ in 1875.
At that time, Charlemagne Tower,
ST., of Philadelphia, was very veal
thy and Influential man. He owned
precious metal smines in Montana,
then prosperous and prominent be-
cause of the high price of silver.
Mr.. Stone had heard of this veal
thy man Tower and he decided to
offer him chance at the Vermilion
iron lands. Scraping together what
little cash he could, he packed up
his maps, title deeds and ore samples,
and started for the City of Brother
ly Love to beard the capitalist in
his inner office, just as the pro-
moters from Spokane, Los Angeles,
Bisbee and Mexico do now to the
capitalists in Duluth.
Mr.. Stone reached Philadelphia
safely but he found Mr.. Tower a
hard man to reach. He was refused
an audience, day after day, for many
weeks, but persistence finally won it's
reward and an interview was~ grant
ed. The proposition was turned down
before Mr.. Stone could go into de-
tails. A second interview was &C.
companied by the same result.
The Duluth pioneer and promoter
went back to his hotel badly discour-
aged. A longer sojourn in Philadel-