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 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
On November 2, 1918, Isaac Pust, who was one of the founders of Ault, appealed against the action of the county commissioners, representing that the petition was not signed by a majority of the resident male freeholders of townships 56-12 and 56-13; also, that the separation left only eleven freeholders in the Town of Ault. His remonstrance recommended that, in order to properly remedy mat- ters, sections 13 to 36, inclusive, of town 56-12 be taken from Fair- banks and added to Ault. The matter remained undecided until August 6, 1919, when the county commissioners decided to deny the petition of Isaac Pust and others. Therefore, Fairbanks remains as originally organized.
The 1920 census shows the population of Fairbanks Township to be 324. The assessed valuation in 1919 was $132,749, and the total taxes levied in that year $8,089.39.
The township officers in 1920 were: J. Luvina (chairman), Con- rad Johnson and Matt Autes, supervisers; Jacob Wesala, clerk, and Nick Kylen, treasurer and assessor.
Part of the township is without school facilities, there being no need for such provision, but the populous part of the township is served by school district No. 60. That district has one frame school house, valued at $1,500. For the school year 1919-20 there were twen- ty-seven pupils enrolled. One female teacher was engaged at a salary of $95 a month. The school officials were John Stoeger, Fair- banks, Minnesota, clerk; W. R. Depew, treasurer, and G. S. Burham, chairman of directors.
Fayal .- The organization of the Township of Fayal in 1896 fol- lowed the beginning of important mining operations and explora- tions in congressional township 57-17, which is and since its erection always has been the boundaries of the Town of Fayal.
The important mines are the Fayal Fee, the Fayal No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4, all of which are now operated by the Oliver Iron
682
. DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Mining Company. From these mines have been shipped more than thirty millions of tons of ore.
Pioneer of Mining .- David T. Adams was responsible for the discovery of merchantable ore in Fayal. In his "Memories of the early discovery and development of the Mesaba Iron Range in St. Louis and Itasca counties, Minnesota," he states, regarding Fayal explorations : "The next deposit of ore to be discovered by me in the vicinity was on the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 5, and the north half of the northwest quarter of section 6, township 57-17, in the month of November, 1893, which is now known as the Fayal No. 1. * * The Fayal No. 1 was explored by the McInnis Mining Company, which was organized by me on the thirty-first day of January, 1894, in honor of the late Neil McInnis, who had been my purchasing agent of goods to supply the camps and paymaster during the latter part of my explorations in connec- tion with Humphreys and Atkins, on the Virginia group of mines, and who also acted in the same capacity for the Adams Mining Com- pany. The late Marvin VanBuskirk was in charge of the men, and under him the work of development was rapid, indeed. The McInnis Mining Company finally sold their lease on the Fayal No. 1 to the Chicago Minnesota Ore Company, on September 6, 1894. About two and a half years later I discovered ore on that part of section 5, township 57-17, which was known as the South Fayal."
Township Organization .- Mining operations were therefore well advanced when early in 1896 a petition was circulated among the residents of congressional township 57-17, praying the commissioners of the county to organize that township, under chapter ten of the General Statutes of Minnesota, 1878. The petition was dated Febru- ary 4, 1896, and was filed with the county auditor on the sixth day of that month, but it apparently had been circulated in the spring of 1895. The petition bore the signatures of one hundred and sixty-five voters of the township, the first to sign being L. McNiel, G. A. Burns, W. H. Shea, A. J. Shea, John Shea and. J. P. Welsh.
First Election .- On February 6, 1896, the county commissioners approved the movement and passed resolution granting the petition, and ordering election to be held at the "Carpenter Shop by the Fayal Iron Company, located on the northeast quarter of northwest quarter of section 5, township 57-17 on February 25th, 1896." Notices to that effect were posted "on the front of Jackson's Store and one on a tree near Talboy's Boarding Camp," also one on the carpenter shop which was to be the polling place. Notices were posted by W. J. Bates, deputy sheriff.
The election was duly held, and the township organization legally brought to completion.
Since that time, the township has been peopled mainly by men employed in the Fayal mines. There has been some agricultural development, but mining is the first consideration.
Population .- The population was 1,016 in 1900; in 1910 it was 1,141; and in 1920, the census takers credited Fayal Township with 1,360 inhabitants.
Valuation .- The assessed valuation of real and personal prop- erty in the township in 1896 totaled to $313,087, and the taxes in that year amounted to $7,858.18. The 1919 figures give some idea of the development during the period. The assessed valuation of Fayal Township in 1919 was $4,177,738. The tax levy in that year was
683
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
$190,504.85, the bulk of which fell upon the mining companies, real property being valued at $3,800,691 for assessment.
Schools .- Fayal has good schools, being in Independent School District No. 39 (see Eveleth). The school tax in 1919 was 21.7 mills.
Present Township Officials .- The township officers in 1920 were : A. G. Anderson (chairman), E. A. Trenholm and Arsen Corbin, super- visors; E. M. Dormer, clerk; Louis A. O. Marzer, assessor; Philip Jacobson, treasurer.
Fern .- The Town of Fern was organized at the November, 1905, session of the Board of County Commissioners, Commissioner Ryan presenting resolution to grant petition of A. H. Farr and twenty other freeholders of congressional township sixty north, range twenty west and Commissioner Patterson moving adoption.
The petition, which was undated, state that there were at that time only twenty-five legal voters in the township and the signers sought to have township powers, in accordance with the General Statutes of the State of Minnesota, said organized township to be given the name of "Fern."
The commissioners ordered election to be held for township officers on November 25, 1905. Place of election was the residence of A. H. Farr, situated in the northeast quarter of section thirty of township 60-20.
In 1905 the assessed valuation of the township was $73,611. Taxes levied were $1,545.83 for all purposes. In 1919, the assessed valuation was $58,866, and the tax levy in that year, $4,379.63.
The population in 1910 was 144 and the 1920 census records a population of only fifty-seven.
The township is not well developed, but eventually will be good agricultural land. The Sturgeon River passed through the township.
The 1920 township officials were: August Wegener (chairman), John Magnuson and August Forseland, supervisors; John R. Eins- weiler, clerk; Gust. Larson, assessor and treasurer.
Educationally, the township is served by School District No. 81. There is one frame schoolhouse, valued in 1919 at $3,000. The school board officials are: John R. Einsweiler, clerk; Gust Larsen, treas- urer ; August W. Wegener, chairman of directors. The school levy in 1919 was $1,383.35.
Field .- The Township of Field, the boundaries of which are those of congressional township sixty-two north, range nineteen west, was organized in 1906. It then included within its limits the pres- ent Township of Owens, which adjoins it on the east. On the north- east, the Town of Fields borders on the Township of Beatty, for the length of one section; on the north it adjoins Leiding Township; on the west, Linden Grove; and south of it is Alango Township. The Little Fork River runs through it and through sections 11 and 12 on the extreme northeast is laid the road of the Duluth and Winnipeg Railway, the nearest railway station being Cook, in Owens Township.
A petition, dated at Ashawa (now known as Cook), Minnesota, April 5, 1906, and signed by fifty-two freeholders resident in con- gressional townships sixty-two north, ranges eighteen and nineteen west, the first two signers being August Buboltz and James A. Field, prayed for the organization of that territory under the township laws of the State of Minnesota, and that when organized it be known by the name of "Field." The petition testified or asserted that the total number of legal voters then resident in the territory for which town- ship jurisdiction was sought did not exceed one hundred, and a rider
684
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
to said petition left to the option of the county commissioners the question of detaching the northernmost tier of sections of township 62-18 from the Township of Beatty, which the county commissioners had erected only a short while earlier, or of reducing the territory granted to the projectors of the proposed new Township of Field by that extent.
The petition was filed on April 6, 1906, and appears to had at the consideration of the county commissioners at their monthly ses- sion held on that day. And the record shows that the commis- sioners granted the petition, setting off the Township of Field as all of township 62-19 and thirty sections of township 62-18, sections one, two, three, four, five and six of that township having been included in the territory set apart as that to constitute the Township of Beatty.
The first election in the Township of Field was held at the school- house situated in the northwest quarter of section seventeen, town- ship 62-18, on Saturday, April 21, 1906.
On August 6, 1912, the Township of Owens was organized, which proceeding reduced the acreage of the Township of Field to the one congressional township 62-19. (See Owens, this chapter.) That is its present extent.
In 1906, the Township of Field (62-19 and sections 7 to 36 of 62-18) had an assessed valuation of $51,089. The tax levy was $1,410.53. The land is now in a good state of development, agricul- turally, the assessed valuation of township 62-19 (Field) being in 1919, $81,424, and of the thirty sections of township 62-18 (Owens), $102,332. The increase is represented in the settler development, Owens and Field townships having now many rich farms. The tax levy of Field, in 1919, was $5,434.98 and of Owens $7,597.11.
The township officials of Field, in 1920, were: Andrew Scott (chairman), A. B. Tonheim and Louis Swanson, supervisors; Peter Burtness, clerk; Theo. Burtness, assessor ; John F. Buboltz, treasurer.
The township of Field is, for school purposes, part of the unor- ganized school district directly supervised by the county superin- tendent. There are three schoolhouses in the township, on sections 12, 23 and 28, but whether all are in use is not known to compiler of this record. The levy for school purposes in 1919 was 37.1 mills, probably less than the cost of providing education by the county staff.
Fine Lakes .- The Township of Fine Lakes originally formed part of Prairie Lake Township, which was organized in 1906 from unorganized territory.
Upon the action of Adolf Ylen and nineteen other residents of township 50-20 in 1909 depended the erection of that congressional township into a separate organized township of the name of Fine Lakes. These twenty men petitioned the county commissioners to separate township 50-20 from Prairie Lakes, alleging that the officials of the latter township refused to make improvements in that part of it, the officials having "spent practically all the moneys of the said Town of Prairie Lake in township 50-21, with the exception of approximately $240.00 towards helping build a county road near the western boundary line of township 50-20," and that the officials "wrongfully and intentionally discriminate against the residents of township 50-20."
It seems that the petitioners originally thought to call the new township by the name of "Blackwood," but finally the name "Fine
685
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
Lakes" was written into the petition, which was filed December 15, 1909.
No action was taken by the county commissioners until the March session of 1910. They then ordered hearing of objections to the granting of petition at their board meeting at the Court House, Duluth, on Friday, May 6th. On that day, no objections to such a course having been made, they decided to grant the petition of the residents of township 50-20. Accordingly that township was detached from the Township of Prairie Lakes, which by that action was lim- ited to township 50-21, the extreme southwesterly township of St. Louis County.
The first election in the new Township of Fine Lakes was ordered to be held on the twenty-third day of May, 1910, at the Schoolhouse No. 19, situated on section thirty of township 50-20.
There are several sheets of water in Fine Lakes Township, the largest being Prairie Lake, which has an area of approximately two square miles. The township is bounded on the east by Fond du Lac Indian Reservation, on the north by the Township of Floodwood, and on the west by Prairie Lake Township. Its southern boundary is the county line between St. Louis and Carlton counties.
The assessed valuation of Fine Lakes Township in 1910 was $67,017. Tax levy in that year, $2,781.21. It was $4,607.76 in 1919, the assessed valuation then being only $62,776.
Prairie Lake Township (the two congressional townships) had a population of forty-one in 1900, in 1910, the same territory was inhabited by 199 persons. The 1920 census gives the following figures : Fine Lakes Township, 189; Prairie Lakes Township, 136.
Originally, Fine Lakes Township was served by School District No. 74. That district, however, now covers more than the one town- ship, extending into township 50-19. There are four schoolhouses in the district, the four frame buildings being in 1919 valued at $3,000. Apparently only two are used, as the district only employs two teachers (female), who are paid an average of $75 a month. The total enrollment in 1919-20 year was thirty-two. The school board officials in that year were: O. R. Bolstad, Floodwood, Minnesota, clerk; N. O. Stageberg, treasurer; Adolph Ylen, chairman of direc- tors. The school levy in 1919 was $2,421.73.
The officials of Fine Lakes Township in 1920 were: Ole H. Gjora (chairman), E. Nordness and E. S. Smith, supervisors; N. O. Stageberg, clerk, also assessor, and Hans O. Gjora, treasurer.
Floodwood. Organization .- The township of Floodwood is one of the comparatively old townships of St. Louis County. Its organization dates back to 1893, and when township organization was first projected, it was thought to endeavor to secure the sanc- tion of the county commissioners to embrace within the porposed new township eight congressional townships, extending from the county line, two townships deep, to and including fifty-three north. ranges 21 and 20 west. Petition to that effect was circulated within the territory during February of 1893. And the paper was signed by Dauvet (David) Hill and twenty-five other legal voters resident in the region. However, before the petition was presented to the county commissioners it was amended to pray for the organization of congressional township 51-20 as the Township of Floodwood under the laws of the State of Minnesota, 1878, chapter 10. The petition was filed with the county auditor on March 2nd, and sworn to on that day by George C. Blackwood, one of the signers.
Vol. 11-12
686
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
First Election .- On March 30, 1893, John McKay, another signer wrote to the county auditor acqainting him that the schoolhouse designated in the petition as the place where the first election in the proposed township could be held "is on Lot No. 8, Block 25, as shown by Plat of Floodwood," further stating that: "We have two lots for the school, viz: Lots 8 and 9, block 25, but the schoolhouse is built on Lot No. 8. This place has been platted out of south half of southeast quarter and also northeast quarter of southeast quarter of section 6, township 51, range 20."
The committee appointed by the county commissioners to con- sider the matter brought forward by the petition resolved at an April, 1893, meeting that the petition be granted, and that election be held at the designated schoolhouse on the twentieth of that month. The county commissioners therefore on April 4th made an order accordingly.
Boundaries .- The boundaries of the Township of Floodwood have since remained unchanged, although organized townships have since surrounded it, Fine Lakes on the south, Halden on the west, Van Buren on the north, and the Indian Reservation on the east. The St. Louis River passes through the township, from the north- west to the southeast, and the territory is excellent farming acreage. The prosperous farming community has developed the village of Floodwood.
Valuation .- In 1893, the assessed valuation of the Township of Floodwood was $18,595. The tax levy was $527.17. In 1919, the assessed valuation was $80,790. The taxes, for all purposes, in 1919 were $7,796.24.
Population .- The population of the township in 1900 was 310; in 1910 it was 745, and in 1920 the census stood at 722. These figures include those of the Village of Floodwood, which in 1900 had a population of 224; in 1910 a population of 481; but in 1920 only 277.
Present Township Officials .- The township officials in 1920 were: Simon Reylik (chairman), John Stenback, Sr., and Charles Nissi, supervisors; H. A. Shumaker, clerk; John H. Stenback, Jr., assessor, and M. W. Johnson, treasurer.
School History .- The Township of Floodwood is part of the area embraced in Independent School District No. 19, which centers in the Village of Floodwood and serves the three congressional town- ships 52-20, 52-21 and 51-20. The School District has three frame schoolhouses and one of brick construction, the whole property being valued at $55,000. The enrollment in 1919-20 year was 310, the main school being at Floodwood. The teaching staff consists of twelve female teachers, in addition to one male, who receives $150 a month salary. The other teachers receive an average salary of $90 monthly. The school board officials in 1920 were: Frank W. Hutchinson, clerk; A. O. Molden, treasurer; Fred Wain, James Girvan, R. W. Wilson and John Stenback, Jr., directors ; A. J. Meldahl, superintend- ent.
Floodwood Village .- A petition, dated March 18, 1899, was cir- culated among the residents of the village, seeking to secure the incorporation, under the laws approved March 10, 1885, as the Village of Floodwood, twelve hundred and eighty acres including and con- tiguous to the one hundred and twenty acres shown on Plat of Flood- wood, township 51-20.
687
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
The petition was signed by thirty-four voters, the first three to sign being Jean W. News, John McKay, and A. A. Hall. These three residents took oath to the accuracy of statements made in petition.
The county commissioners approved the petition, and ordered an election to be held "at Town Hall location," section 6, 51-20, on May 10, 1899, the commissioners appointing the same three men to act as inspectors of election.
The election was duly held and forty-one votes were cast forty being, in favor of the incorporation. Hence, the community then took corporate powers.
On November 4, 1914, an election was held "for the purpose of voting on the proposition of detaching and taking out of the incor- porated Village of Floodwood" the unplatted lands, and "separating the village from the Town of Floodwood for all purposes whatso- ever." The election showed that thirty-eight of thirty-nine votes cast were in favor of the detaching, consequently the area embraced in the incorporated village was reduced, and to an extent this explains the difference in 1910 and 1920 census returns.
The assessed valuation of the incorporated Village of Flood- wood in 1919 was $52,506; tax levy, $4,725.54. In 1899 the figures were: $46,075 valuation ; $815.53 tax. The school tax in 1919 was 42.2 mills.
The village officials in 1920, were: Garfield Blackwood, presi- dent; J. C. Arnold, Chas. Williams, A. O. Molden, councilmen ; M. R Adams, clerk; James Girvan, assessor ; J. L. Lalin, treasurer.
Floodwood Township is eminently agricultural. Some of the lower lands are peaty and the high lands are sandy, with a clay sub- soil. Grasses average from two to four tons an acre, and potatoes from 200 to 500 bushels an acre.
The Village of Floodwood is a typical agricultural community ; it has good general stores, each doing more than a $50,000, yearly business, a good banking institution, the Floodwood State Bank, which has a yearly deposit of about $45,000 and there is a strong agricultural co-operative society and a thriving creamery. It also has a newspaper, an excellent brick schoolhouse and a hotel. The Floodwood Farmers' Co-operative Society has a membership of about eighty producers, who pool their agricultural products shipped to other markets, and what they need to buy from outside markets they buy collectively, at wholesale prices, through the society. The cream- ery was organized by the farmers in May, 1911. It has about 100 stockholders and practically all the dairy farmers of the neighbor- hood use the creamery.
Fredenberg .- The Township of Fredenberg was erected in 1904 out of part of the Township of Canosia, residents in that part of the last-named township (52-15), praying the county commissioners, in petition presented on July 6, 1906, to set apart as the Township of Fredenberg congressional township fifty-two north, range fifteen west, declaring that "said Township of Canosia is so divided by lakes, rivers, marshes and other natural impediments that it is inconvenient for all the citizens * * to transact town business."
The county commissioners decided to hear objections to the peti- tion on August 4th. On that day they set apart township 52-15 as the Township of Fredenberg, and ordered the first township meeting to be held at the schoolhouse on the southeast quarter of section 24 of that township on August 23, 1904.
688
DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY
In that year the assessed valuation of Fredenberg Township was $145,818. It has since scarcely changed, being a few hundred dollars less in 1919. Taxes in 1904 totaled to $2,945.52; in 1919 the levy was $5,784.98.
Township officials in 1920: R. T. Williams (chairman), J. A. Roy and Chas. M. Johnson, supervisors; F. W. Johnson, clerk; O. H. Stuberud, assessor ; also treasurer.
Population of the township in 1910 was 115; in 1920 it stood at only eighty-seven. It is, therefore, only sparcely inhabited, yet it is a separate school district, being in School District No. 38, which covers two townships, 52-15 (Fredenberg), and 53-15 (unorganized territory). Township 53-15 had only twenty-seven inhabitants in 1910 and no population was reported to the 1920 census. There are four schoolhouses in Fredenberg Township, or there were four a few years ago, but the school report for 1919-20 school year shows that in District No. 38 there were two frame schoolhouses, valued at $5,000, but as only one teacher was employed during that year, it is presumed that only one schoolhouse was used. The enrollment was twenty-two; the teacher was paid $86.00 a month and the tax levy for that year was $4,897.64. School board officials were: R. T. Williams, clerk; F. W. Johnson, treasurer; H. P. Stuberud, chair- man of directors.
French .- On Saturday, August 26, 1905, "in that certain two- story log building known as the French House, situate on south- west quarter of southeast quarter, section twenty-three of town- ship sixty north, range twenty-one west" was held, by order of the county commissioners the first town meeting of the newly-erected Township of French, which the county commissioners were influenced to form by a petition signed by William French, and a majority of the freeholders of township 60-21.
The petition, which was presented by and sworn to by William French, stated that at the time it was circulated among the residents of the township, there were not in excess of forty voters resident in the territory for which township powers were sought, under chapter 10, of the Laws of the State of Minnesota, 1894.
The petition was considered and approved by the county com- missioners at their session of August 10, 1905.
French Township assessed valuation in 1905 was $192,774; in 1919, it was $64,676. Tax-levy in 1905 was $5,627.74; in 1919 it was $3,350.62. In 1910, the population was 167; in 1920 it was only thirty-one.
School District No. 54 embraces only French Township. There is a schoolhouse, valued at $2,400, and a female teacher is employed at a salary of $95.00 a month, notwithstanding that the enrollment for the year 1919-20 was two. The school levy in that year was $905.46, seemingly an expensive method of teaching two pupils. The school board officials in that year were: Hattie Fritcher, clerk; Sarah Por- tugue, treasurer ; W. H. French, chairman of directors.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.