USA > Minnesota > St Louis County > Duluth > Duluth and St. Louis County, Minnesota; their story and people; an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development, Volume II > Part 20
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The construction of the present plant, the first mill unit, was begun early in August, 1920, and within a fortnight the steel super- structure was being erected upon the concrete foundations. The mill is 1,350 feet long, by 130 feet wide, and the plant is in five sections, planned so as to give continuous process. The process, in brief, is to mine, crush, pulverize the substance mined, and then separate ore from rock by magnetic attraction, the concentrate then being formed into a clinker of high-grade ore. The process, if commercially successful, will bring within marketable possibility billions of tons of low-grade Mesabi ore. The treatment of low-grade ore of the Eastern Mesabi is by no means a new endeavor. David T. Adams, who made several exploring trips along the Mesabi range between 1883 and 1890, when ore was discovered at Mountain Iron by the Merritts, writes :
In, or about, the fall of 1888 I gathered about 500 pounds of banded magnetic ore and slates from croppings in township 50-14, in the interest of Judge Ensign, Colonel Gagy, Major Hoover, and a Mr. Peatry, and I took the ore to New Jersey (the name of the place I have forgotten) and had a concentrating test made, on a magnetic concentrator invented by one George Finney-possibly the first of its kind in existence. The separation was suc- cessful. The ore after treatment analysed well over 60 per cent in metal, but on account of the high cost of treating the ore at the time, and the low prices of ore, nothing further was done by us in trying to commercialize the mag- netic ores of the eastern Mesaba. In the winter of 1888 and 1889, I did some work, in section 11-59-14, on the magnetic formation, with no success.
However, the experiments made by the Jackling interests have satisfied them that their process is financially possible, and in view of the reputation of the projector, the average person expects that success will attend the operations at Babbitt, thus giving St. Louis County, literally, a new industry. The immense deposits of the Eastern Mesabi are so placed that it is possible, in most places, to mine the ore without much difficulty, there being no deep overburden -in some places not any, and at the deepest point in the Babbitt neighborhood not more than nine feet. Quarrying, therefore, is
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possible without heavy initial outlay for striping. It is planned to load the ore by steam shovels, although of course the quarrying will be done with explosives. From the crushers, the ore will pass, by conveyor belt, to the roll plant, thence to the ball mill plant, thence to the magnetic separating plant. It reaches the sintering plant comminuted to 100 mesh, and there takes the form of a clinker of high-grade ore with so little phosphorus as to be negligible and with- out moisture, a radical conversion certainly, from the original low- grade state of only 27 to 30 per cent iron. There is also a by-product of crushed rock, which the company hopes to market, believing it to be well suited for the making of concrete.
If successful, the Mesabi Iron Company certainly has an im- mense field in which to operate. Drilling has discovered magnetic ore to a depth of 500 feet, in places.
The three congressional townships that constitute the Township of Argo were recorded as having no inhabitants in 1900. The 1910 census discovered a population of 102, and the 1920 federal census, showed that ninety-eight persons were then living in the three townships, 59-13, 60-13, and 60-12. The present population of Argo is probably about 500.
Ault .- Residents in congressional townships 55 north, ranges 12 and 13 west, and townships 56 north and ranges 12 and 13 west, sought; in 1906, to obtain the consent of the county commissioners to the organization of that territory into one township, to be known by the name of Ault. The man most active in circulating the petition was George L. Ault. His name heads the petition, and when same was filed with the county auditor on August 31, 1906, George L. Ault swore to the accuracy of the statements made in said petition.
At the September, 1906, session, the County Board of Commis- sioners granted the petition, and ordered election to be held at the schoolhouse situated on section 4 of township 55-12. Election was held on September 22d, and the township organization then com- pleted, in accordance with chapter 143, Laws of 1905.
The population of Ault Township when organized in 1906 was stated to have been not in excess of fifty. In 1900, according to Federal Census Bureau statistics the population was 76; in '1910 it was 474; and in 1920, owing to the detaching of the two northern townships; the population was found to be only 111.
Townships 56-12 and 56-13 were detached from Ault in 1918, to form the Township of Fairbanks (see Fairbanks, this chapter).
Ault has only one schoolhouse, a frame building, valued at $5,000, situated at Brimson, in township 55-12. It is classified as School District No. 51, the officers of which are: Minnie Bodey, Brimson, clerk; Charles Swanson, treasurer; Mrs. B. M. Highland, chairman of directors. Enrollment in 1919-20 was 22, one male teacher conducting the school at a salary of $100 monthly.
Before the erection of the Township of Fairbanks, there were three school districts in the Township of Ault, numbers 51, 60, and 61. School District No. 61 has been abandoned.
The township officers in 1920 were: Casper Soderlund, chair- man ; Albin Hassel and George Berry, supervisors; F. C. Highland, clerk ; T. C. Peterson, treasurer ; W. B. Bodey, assessor.
Balkan .- The Township of Balkan, as now constituted, includes all of township 59 north, range 20 west, and all of township 58 north, range 20 west, excepting one tier of sections on the south. Within its borders is the important mining district centering in Chisholm.
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Organization .- It was not until 1912 that Balkan was erected, the county commissioners on March 6, 1912, acting upon the prayer of William Cooper and other signers of a petition circulated on or about March 2, 1912, among the inhabitants of township 59-20, said petition praying for the organization of that congressional township into a township to be known as "Balkan." At that time there were not more than seventy-five legal freeholders resident within the territory concerned.
First Town Meeting .- The first election and town meeting was held in the schoolhouse situated in the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 33, on Saturday, March 30, 1912.
Annexation of Chisholm and Part of Stuntz .- In May of the next year, a petition was presented to the county officials, asking that the bounds of the Township of Balkan be altered and changed so as to include within said town all of sections 1 to 30, inclusive, of township 58-20, then part of the Township of Stuntz, thus bring- ing into the township jurisdiction all of the then Village of Chisholm, stated to be in sections 21, 22, and 28, the south one-half of northwest quarter of section 23, the southwest quarter of northwest quarter of section 27, and the eastern half of the southeast quarter of sec- tion 29, of that township. The petition asked that the township be henceforward known as "New Balkan."
The petition met with the approval of the county commissioners on August 6, 1913, and notice of their action was given to the town- ships of Balkan and Stuntz, and Village of Hibbing. Apparently, however, the name was not changed, and the township is still officially designated "Balkan."
Population .- The population of township 59-20 in 1910 was found to be 48; in 1920, Balkan Township, as now constituted, had a popu- lation of 670, exclusive of the population of the Village of Chisholm, which in 1920 was 9,039.
Valuation .- Balkan Township in 1912, when first organized, had an assessed valuation of $83,287. The tax levy in that year was $2,207.11. The assessed valuation of real and personal property within the enlarged township in 1919, including the Village of Chis- holm, totalled to $35,092,197, and the taxes levied in that year $1,786,089.76, more than one-half of which revenue came from the Village of Chisholm.
Township Officials .- The township officials in 1920 were: W. E. Bates, chairman; W. A. Wright and John Thomas Holmes, super- visors ; Victor Beck, clerk; Jacob Hakala, assessor; and John Perry, treasurer.
School System .- Balkan Township is served by two school dis- tricts, by Independent School Districts 27 and 40. Review of the history of School District No. 27 will be found in the chapter de- voted to Hibbing and school history of district No. 40 is given in. Chisholm chapter.
Bassett .- The Township of Bassett now embraces four con- gressional townships, 58 north, range 12 and 13, and 57 north, range 12 and 13.
Organization .- The township was erected in May, 1913, follow- ing petition of Victor, Beck and twenty-four other residents of town- ships 57-12, 57-13, and 58-12, in which three townships it was then stated that not, more than thirty male freeholders lived. Said peti- tion which bore date of April 14, 1913, sought the granting of township jurisdiction over these three congressional townships.
First Election .- At session of May, 1913, the county commis-
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sioners approved petition, and ordered election to be held at the resi- dence of the Rev. A. J. Lehner, in section 28 of township 57-12, on May 24, 1913.
Annexation of St. Louis Township .- A movement was started in August, 1917, to attach to the Township of Bassett, as an integral part of it, the adjoining Township of St. Louis, 58-13. Petition signed by a sufficient number of the freeholders of that territory was pre- sented to the county commissioners on August 31, 1917, J. M. Palinsky taking oath to its accuracy and legality. Only five signatures were appended to the petition, signers being G. E. Wolfe, Berndt Peterson, R. E. Jefferson, J. M. Palinsky and Adolph G. Peterson, but a foot- note certified that these five men constituted "all the legal voters and freeholders in the Township of St. Louis." Petitioners stated, as a reason for consolidation with Bassett: "That the territory may be better developed by the construction of roads." On December 7, 1917, the county commissioners agreed to the consolidation, and on December 20th the clerks and treasurers of both townships were requested to deliver to the new township of Bassett the records and funds of the old organizations.
Valuation .- Real and personal property in the Township of Bassett, when organized in 1913, was assessed at $198,348, and taxes levied in the amount of $4,530.12. The addition of St. Louis Town- ship to its boundaries has not materially increased its value, which in 1919 was assessed at $223,150, for the four congressional town- ships of Bassett. Tax levy in that year was $16,556.74.
Population .- The population of Bassett Township in 1910 was 314, but in 1920 only 235. St. Louis Township, according to federal census report, had a population of 218 in 1910.
Township Officers .- The township officers of Bassett in 1920 were : John A. Beckman, chairman ; Alex Nisula and Thomas Holmes, supervisors; Victor Beck, clerk; Jacob Hakala, assessor ;. and John Perry, treasurer.
School System .- The township is in two school districts, Nos. 36 and 70. School District No. 36 covers townships 57 and 58 north, range 13 west. There is only one schoolhouse, a frame one, valued at $3,600, and situated at Skibo. The enrollment in the 1919-20 school year was only five. The teacher was paid $100 a month, for a school year of nine months. The school tax, in 1919, was $2,008.50, for a school to which went only five pupils. The school board officials of that district, in 1920, were: Mrs. Albert Erickson, chair- man of directors; Charles Monstroth, Skibo, Minn., clerk; Mrs. Frank Gravelle, treasurer.
School District No. 70 covers townships 57 and 58, of range 12. There is only one schoolhouse, a frame one, valued at $5,000. The enrollment in 1919-20 year was forty-eight. There were four female teachers, who received an average salary of $72.50 a month. The school levy, in 1919, was $4,448.80. School board officials: John Gustafson, chairman of directors ; William Ahola, Toimi, Minn., clerk ; Mrs. Catherine Martin, treasurer.
Beatty .- The Township of Beatty takes the name of one of the pioneer mining men of the Mesabi Range. Noble A. Beatty was the first signer of a petition, dated at Tower, February 20, 1906, praying for the organization of a township under chapter 143, of the General Laws of the State of Minnesota, 1905, said township to have juris-
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diction over sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of congressional township 62-18, and the whole of townships 63-18 and 64-18, the erected town- ship to take the name of "Vermilion."
The petition met the approval of the commissioners, at session of April, 1906, and election was ordered to be held at the schoolhouse situated in the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 34, township 63-18, on April 21st.
On May 8, 1906, at the request of the state auditor, the county commissioners changed the name of the new town to Beatty, with the sanction of the petitioners, there being another township of the name of "Vermilion" in the state.
The boundaries of Beatty Township have remained unchanged since organization. In 1906, the assessed valuation was $69,207, and the taxes levied $2,020.84. The valuation in 1919 was $68,567, and the tax levy $5,725.34 for all purposes.
The township at one time was in School District No. 41, but that district has apparently been abandoned, it perhaps being more economical to let the township be served by what is known as the unorganized school district, which comes directly under the super- vision of the county superintendent. The tax levy, for school pur- poses in Beatty Township, for the school year 1919-20 was 47.1 mills.
Beatty had a population of twelve, in 1900; in 1910, it claimed 53 residents; and in 1920 the census-taking showed that 139 persons lived in the township.
The township is in process of development, much of it now being cut-over land.
Township officials, 1920: Thos. Wikely, chairman; Chas. Lappi and Albert Larson, supervisors ; J. G. Larson, clerk ; A. L. Whiteside, assessor ; Robert Beatty, treasurer.
Biwabik .- The township of Biwabik, which is limited to the congressional township 58 north, range 16 west, and includes the villages of Biwabik, Mckinley and Merritt, and is the center of a rich mining field, was organized in 1892. Petition to organize was circulated in April, 1892, and was signed by thirty-four men resident in the area for which township powers, under the provisions of chapter 10, General Statutes of 1878. were sought. The first signa- ture put on the petition was that of John B. Weimer. The petition was presented to the county officials, and sworn to by A. P. Dodge, on April 28, 1892.
First Election .- At the May, 1892, meeting of the county com- missioners, the petition was granted, and election ordered to be held in the store of A. P. Dodge, that being situated in the northeast quarter of section three, township 58-16. Election was accordingly held on May 25, 1892, the following men casting votes: Thomas Seadden, J. R. Beringer, Colin McIver, C. W. Leninger, L. Lewis, John Goldsworthy, John Critzer, George Klobutcher, Thomas Mur- ray, Martin Moiren, J. G. Cohoe. W. A. Housel, John Sullivan, Archie McComb, Dudley W. Freeman, W. P. Johnson, Pat Carney, T. Antin, J. G. Hansen, Mike Tanner, William Quist, John Pogorde, Nick Bodovintz, Martin Thomas, Steven Brosnitz, Edward G. Linquist, and Carrol Corson.
First Township Officials .- The voting brought the following named men into office as township officers: J. G. Cohoe, A. P. Dodge, and H. Duggan, supervisors; W. A. Housel, clerk; D. W. Freeman, treasurer; A. J. Carlon and Harry Spence, assessors;
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Robert Fausett and Carrol Corson, justices; Archie McComb and L. Lewis, constables.
Population .- The boundaries of the township have remained the same since the first organization. The census statistics do not credit congressional township 58-16 with any population in 1890. In 1900, Biwabik Township had a population of 574; in 1910 it had 778; and in the 1920 census-taking shows only 304 in the township, exclusive of the population of the villages of Biwabik and Mckinley. Biwabik village had 1,299 residents in 1900, 1,690 in 1910, and 2.024 in the present year, 1920. The figures for Mckinley are: 1900, 262; 1910, 411; 1920, 395.
Valuation .- The assessed valuation of Biwabik Township, ex- clusive of the villages of Biwabik and Mckinley, for the year 1919, was $3,057,081, and the taxes collected in that year $191,937.43. There are two school districts, independent district No. 18 and dis- trict No. 24.
Present Officials .- The township officers for 1920 are K. S. John- son, chairman; Edward Kinney and Grover Helsel, supervisors ; Wm. J. Lundgren, clerk; Wm. Dopp, assessor; Oscar Strom, treasurer.
Breitung .- The Township of Breitung was the first of the central townships of St. Louis County to come into prominence. It has historic interest, in that it is the center of the mining on the Ver- milion Range, the first iron range to be discovered in Northern Minnesota.
The "Proceedings of the Lake Superior Mining Institute," for 1895, in which year its meetings were held on the Vermilion and Mesabi ranges, gives the following summary of mining conditions on the Vermilion Range :
"On the Vermilion Range is quite a different set of conditions than those on the Mesabi. Instead of nearly flat deposits of ore we find them nearly vertical. Instead of a layer of ore of limited thickness all over a 40-acre tract, with no hanging wall to work under, we find steeply inclined lenses of ore confined between walls of schist and extending in a series downward to an indefinite depth. In the place of ore so fine and powdery that it is objected to by the furnace operators, we have here ore so solid and massive that it must be artificially crushed by powerful machines before it can be sold (at the Chandler mine, the ore has been crushed by nature). In the place of covered deposits, which must be sought for by drill holes and test pits, there were originally bold bare knobs of hard jasper and hematite projecting in polished peaks and domes a hundred feet above the surrounding, more easily eroded, schist. It must be ad- mitted, however, that there is more regularity in the occurrence of the Mesabi ore beds than those of the Vermilion; and more can be told of the probable occurrence of ore in a given locality by a study of the surrounding geology and typography than can be predicted in any way on the Vermilion."
A historical review of mining on the Vermilion Range will have place in the chapter regarding Tower and Soudan, which places, chartered city and unincorporated village respectively, owe their existence to the mining operations begun on the Vermilion in the early '80s.
The Township of Breitung was organized in 1883, to have juris- diction over unorganized townships 62 north, ranges 14 and 15 west. It takes its name from that of one of the pioneers of mining on the
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Vermilion. Vermilion Lake covers more than half of township 62-15, and apart from the ceaseless mining operations at Soudan, there is very little activity in the township. Or at least there was until quite recently when negotiations were completed to work valuable beds of peat in the township, which in places is very marshy.
The roads of the township are moderately good, and the dis- trict is well served by the Duluth and Iron Range Railway, which passes through to Ely. Breitung Township is famed for most beau- tiful lake and most majestic mountain scenery. In parts the town- ship is absolutely in the wild state.
In 1883 the Township of Breitung had an assessed valuation of $20,133; in 1919 its assessment was on $543,069. The total taxes in 1883 were $251.62; in 1919 the total was $46,944.67, exclusive of Tower, which city had a tax-levy of $18,109.78 in that year.
SOUDAN SHAFT AND POWERHOUSE
Breitung Township is in School District No. 9, which centres in Tower. A review of the school history will be part of the Tower chapter, and therefore school matters need not be further referred to here.
The present township officials are: Walter Wellander, chair- man; Nels Bodine and Matt Karvala, supervisors; J. Nyberg, clerk ; Ben P. Johnson, assessor ; John Helstrom, treasurer.
The population of Breitung Township has shown a decline since the opening of this century, although the decline has not been pro- portionate with the decline in mining operations, which thirty years ago totalled to 500,000 tons a year, and now is not much more than one-fifth of that yearly output. The population of the township in 1900 was 2,034; in 1910 it was 1,214; and in 1920 it was 1,227. The population of the City of Tower is now only 706; in 1900 it was 1,366.
Canosia .- The township of Canosia was organized in 1888, and formerly was part of Rice Lake Township. Its organization was the outcome of a petition of Leonard Reamer and thirty-six other freeholders of that part of Rice Lake Township, the petitioners pray- ing that congressional townships 51 and 52 north, ranges 15 and 16. four townships in all, be set apart from Rice Lake Township, and
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organized as a separate township, which it was originally proposed be named "Camasia," that name having been first written into the petition, but eventually ruled out, and the name "Canosia" written above it on the instrument.
The petition came before the county commissioners at their board meeting of December 6, 1887, and they then took exception to the granting of it. The matter was referred by them to a committee, which, on February 3, 1888, reported favorably, and "recommended that the prayer of the petitioners be granted."
Therefore, the board of commissioners set apart the township on that day, and ordered the first town meeting to be held at the schoolhouse in School District No. 10, in the Township of Canosia, on Thursday, February 23, 1888.
The four congressional townships which constituted the town- ship of Canosia had an assessed value of $225,274 in 1888, and the taxes levied for all purposes in that year totalled to $4,353.65.
Three other townships have since been created (see townships of Dinham, Grand Lake and Fredenburg, this chapter) out of terri- tory originally in Canosia, and the boundaries of the last named township now embrace only the congressional township 51 north, range 15 west. The assessed valuation of that reduced area of Canosia in 1919 was $144,437 ; and the tax levy, $7,726.92.
Population of Canosia Township in 1900 was 221; in 1910, it was 287; and in the last census, 1920, the population was found to be 311.
Township officers in 1920 were: Peter E. Michels, chairman ; Chas. A. Sundell and J. Kolodzeski, supervisors; John W. Johnson, clerk ; W. C. McCummon, assessor ; E. B. Emgren, treasurer.
Canosia township is served by two school districts, Nos. 10 and 55. There are three schoolhouses in the township, one each in sec- tions 12, 30 and 35. In School District No. 10 which covers part of township 51-15, there is one frame schoolhouse, to which went twenty- three scholars for the school year 1919-20. Its one teacher (female) received a salary of $90.00 monthly. The school board officials were : Jacob C. Clark, clerk; Joe Kolodzeski, treasurer; John W. Johnson, chairman of directors. Its school levy, in 1919, was $1,883.18. School District No. 55 embraced part of townships 51-15 (Canosia) and 51-14 (Rice Lake). Its two frame schoolhouses were valued at $2,000 in 1919, when the enrollment was 37. One school was conducted by a male teacher, and the other by a female. The average salary was $77.50 a month. School levy, in 1919, was $1,809.89, Canosia paying a school tax of 25.3 mills. Officials of School District No. 55, in 1920, were: P. E. Michele, R. F. D. 4, Box 66, Duluth, Minn., clerk : Chas. Sundell, treasurer ; P. A. Paulson, chairman of directors.
Cedar Valley .- A petition, signed by Mike Snyder and twenty- five others, dated October 22, 1908, was duly presented at the St. Louis County Court House. The instrument sought to secure the organization as a township, under section 451, chapter 7, Revised Laws of Minnesota, 1905, to be known by the name of "Rosemount," all of congressional township 53 north, range 21 west.
At the February, 1909, session of the Board of County Commis- sioners, the petition was approved, and the first town meeting or- dered to be held at School House No. 2, on Saturday, February 26, 1910. After the election, the county commissioners were advised by the state auditor that there was another township in the state named "Rosemount." They therefore resolved that the name of the newly
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