The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1927-02-10
Lewis Description Of
Famed Street Out Of Date
: (Continued from Page One)

Famed Street Out OF Date
{ Continued from Page One)
permits of a big turnover of mer-
chandise, that / am glad to get to
Minneapolis for an early start in
the buying for our store.
Town Grows Metropolitan
In my own buying I ann con-
centrating largely on silk goods
and on the smart dresses to be
displayed in the windows of the
arcade of our store. VIE are stock
ing heavily with fancy shoes for
the spring and with variety of
other merchandise in the women's
apparel line to appeal to both
good looks and comfort. We had
a wonderful winter in fur over
coats.
'"There is one circumstance,
which in way, saddens me,
though it is really merely a symp-
tom of the progressively changing
character of the Main street of
which Sinclair Lewis wrote. That
is the fact that whereas / formerly
could address almost everyone
met on Main street by the first
name, yet now I can hardly greet
even quarter of the people even
my their last name. And l find
that some of my chief friends in
Sank Centre are complaining that
they are experiencing just this
same difficulty. Although it is
still possible to pick out certain
characters and characteristics in
Sank Centre, as described in Lewis
novel which put world limelight on
our little town, yet we are rapidly
becoming too prosperous and met
ropolitan in character, and gener-
ally forging ahead too fast, to make
it possible any longer for every
body to be knowing every one else.
Dairy Industry Makes Wealth
"The dairy industry is what is
mostly responsible for bringing
prosperity and wealth to Sank Cen
tire. We have two large creamer-
les which are producing annually
over 100000 pounds of butter
fat. The motor car is extending
our trade radius, which is now
about 80 miles. Our three banks
are always increasing deposits, es-
pecially of savings. There is very
little installment buying here, as
most everyone makes and saves
enough to pay cash. There has
never been a bank failure in the
history of Sank Centre, and this is
one of the last places in the United
States where anything like that
could happen. We have good
church and excellent attendance,
and our local school system is one
of the best in the state. The state
government has big investment
here of over 100000 in its home
for delinquent girls and over Is
cottages now cluster about the
main buildings. We have good
modern hotel and theatre on Main
street. In the real prosperity in
evidence about our Main street
which has been due to diversified
farming with special attention to
the, dairy COW and poultry, we fee
as if our little town of 5000 peo-
pie is really atop of the whole
world, and our Main street really
the main street of the world.
Better Roads Pull Tourists
"In this connection I may men.
ton that the Improvement in the
roads from Minneapolis to Sauk
Centre and through it's Main street
on to the state park att Lake Itasca,
is making motor traffic of tourists
very popular and attractive. At a
cost of $4,000, the narrows at
Sank Lake have been bridged, and
new road to be begun this spring
and completed this summer, will
extend along the west side of the
lake, opening up all this district
adjacent to Sank Centre for sum-
mer recreation. The lake itself is
one of the most prolific in the
state for fish,.
"Mr. Bishop also owns stores in
Clarissa and Frazee. Both towns,
he says, are prospecting as re-
suit of diversified farming, dairy
ing and stock raising, but this year
a shortage of silage, made it nee
essary to import much of the feed
required, but even at that, the
farmers made good money. In
northern Minnesota" there must
be further opening up of coun-
try, so that more feed can regu-
larry be produced. Although most
of the land has had it's timber cut
off, yet there is a great deal of
scrub timber and stumpage left,
which should be cleared for crops
and dairying."'