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 III > Part 12
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GEORGE R. BARRETT. The first noteworthy mining activities began in the Buhl district about twenty years ago, and the most substantial period in the history of that town has been during the last twelve years. Throughout this period since 1905 George R. Barrett has been located at Buhl as assistant inspector of state mines and has been otherwise officially and in business prominent in the community.
Mr. Barrett was born at Medford, Wisconsin, July 19, 1881. His
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father, Frederick Barrett, had some pioneer distinctions in northern Min- nesota. He was born at Clearfield, Pennsylvania, November 5, 1843, and in his youth qualified as a physician and practiced for some years in Pennsylvania. Later he lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and in the latter state was engaged in the newspaper business. He was one of the first men to visit the Mesaba Range, and opened the Ohio mine at Virginia. In 1873 Dr. Frederick Barrett married Caroline Redmond, who was born in New Orleans October 5, 1844.
Third among their four children, George R. Barrett acquired a com- mon school education at Tower, Minnesota, and for a year and a half was a student at Wilder, a preparatory school in Southern Minnesota. Since then he has had a busy career, largely one of progressive accom- plishment and service. For one winter he was employed as timekeeper on a railroad, the next summer was general clerk at a lumber camp at Crane, Lake Portage, then for seven or eight months was assistant to the storehouse keeper of the Minnesota Iron Company at Soudan, for one year was shipping clerk and another year underground time- keeper, and in 1900 became timekeeper at the Fayal Mine at Eveleth, and for three or four months worked as an underground miner in the same mine. The following winter he spent setting corner posts at Aurora, and during the spring, summer and fall tried selling life insurance. Mr. Barrett during the following session of the Legislature was in St. Paul as accountant for the Public Accounts and Expenditure Committees at the House of Representatives.
It was in April, 1905, that. he came to Buhl as assistant inspector of state mines, and in that capacity he has served ever since. His practical knowledge of mining and his wide business experience eminently qualify him for the duties of his office. He has also done much business in the buying and selling of land and is agent for a number of fire insurance companies.
Mr. Barrett was elected and served as a member of the Buhl School Board from 1909 to 1912 and again in 1919-20. He was president of the village in the years 1911, 1912, 1915 and 1916. Politically he is affiliated with the Republicans, is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose at Buhl and his church is the Episcopalian. August 26, 1908, he married Miss Jessie Cross, of Warren, Minnesota. She is a member of an old American family. They have four children : Frederick Cross, George R., Jr., and Bess twins, and Jessie Louise.
GUSTAVE A. WELLNER. A resident of Hibbing for twenty-three years, Gustave A. Wellner is one of the community's best known citizens and business men, and has exerted himself at all times to promote the substantial welfare of his community.
A native of Minnesota, he was born near the historic town of New Ulm in Nicollet County December 6, 1873. Simon Wellner, his father, was born in Germany, spent his regular term in the German army, but chose to rear his own family in a land of liberty free from the influences of militarism. In 1854 he came to this country, lived for two years at Freeport, Illinois, and then moved to the territory of Minnesota and was one of the pioneers in the New Ulm district. He took up a homestead and engaged in farming there and lived to the age of eighty-four. He was one of the solid and substantial men of the community and for many years served as school treasurer. At New Ulm he married Minnie Beckmann, who is still living in that vicinity, where all her children, six sons and two daughters, were born.
Gus Wellner grew up on his father's farm, acquired his education in the graded schools of New Ulm, and began his individual career in
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Joseph Beck
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his twentieth year. His first efforts were expended as a farmer, subse- quently he worked in railroading service, and for a time clerked in a grocery store at St. Peter, Minnesota. When in August, 1897, he came to Hibbing he was employed as bookkeeper for the Carlson Mercantile Company, and continued that service for this corporation nearly six years. About that time the Carlson Exploration Company was organized, and Mr. Wellner then became financially interested in that business and as secretary and office manager has been identified with the affairs of the corporation ever since. He is also a well known banker, being a director of long standing in the Merchants and Miners Bank at Hibbing, and for several years past has been president of the First National Bank at Buhl.
Mr. Wellner is a Republican, a member of the Lutheran Church and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. August 17, 1899, he married Adaline Luetjen, of New Ulm, Minnesota. Their three children are Alice S., Nevada C. and Norma A.
JOSEPH BECKS. The history of the Head of the Lakes during the past forty years is largely a matter of personal recollection to Joseph Becks, who came to the Lake Superior country a friendless lad, endured many of the trials and vicissitudes of those who had to depend upon their toil for support, but in later years has become one of the best known citizens of Duluth, both in business and in public affairs.
Mr. Becks was born in Finland, where he was reared and educated, and at the age of sixteen came alone to the United States in 1881. His first location was at Marquette, Michigan, where he found work at railroading for about seven months. In 1882 he paid his first visit to Duluth, did railroading at Bayfield during the following winter, and in the spring of 1883 went to work for Captain McDougall at Duluth,. and during the summer trimmed grain, wheat, corn, flax, and also unloaded railroad steel for the construction of the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad. From the fall of 1883 until the fall of 1884 he was working on the Canadian Pacific at Port Arthur, and returned to Duluth just in time to get into the ranks of the unemployed during the hard times era. He was unemployed for ten months, and then sought opportunities again at Port Arthur, where he remained until 1887, part of the time working on the Canadian Pacific on the surface road, then in the silver mines known as the Silver Mountain, Beaver Mine and Robin Mountain.
Again in Duluth, Mr. Becks found opportunity for his service in the work of opening up Third street, and was also employed in the Woodruff Lumber Yard. In the spring of 1888 he entered the service of Scott & Holson on Lake avenue, and when that firm was succeeded by the Scott- Graff Company in the spring of 1890 he remained with them until 1892. During 1893-94 he was employed in a saw mill piling lumber and in other duties and also did constructive work at the Ore Docks. This eventually became his chief employment, and at varying intervals he continued construction work at the ore docks and house building until 1909.
For over ten years Mr. Becks has largely devoted his time and best efforts to the responsibilities of public office. During 1909-10 he was street commissioner of Duluth, was inspector for the water and light department in 1911-12, and during the next four years was with the Minnesota Steel ,Company as foreman of construction two and a half years and one year as foreman of operation. In the fall of 1916 he was elected county commissioner of St. Louis County, and the duties of that office have absorbed his time ever since.
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Mr. Becks is affiliated with Euclid Lodge No. 198, A. F. and A. M., is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, is a member of Lodge No. 168 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also of the Encampment, and Excelsior Lodge No. 59 of the Rebekahs. He has had all the honors in the Subordinate Lodge and was representative to the Grand Lodge of Minnesota Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Tall Cedars Order, the Loyal Order of Moose No. 505, Improved Order of Red Men, Modern Samaritans, and for fourteen years was secretary of the Modern Brotherhood of America. He is also a member of the Old Settlers Association, and the West Duluth Commercial Club. Religi- ously he is affiliated with the Elim Swedish Lutheran Church. In politics he is non-partisan in local affairs, and a Republican in state and national elections.
May 24, 1890, Mr. Becks married Miss Hannah Mattson. Of the seven children born to their union only three are now living: Fred A. Becks, born at West Duluth September 15, 1892, is a shoe dealer ; Hildur E. Becks, born August 28, 1894, is a bookkeeper and stenographer ; and J. Arthur Becks, born May 19, 1899, is learning the machinist's trade with the Minnesota Steel Company.
WILLIAM L. GALLOWAY has devoted forty years or more of an active lifetime to commercial pursuits. He has been a merchant on the Iron Ranges of Minnesota for a number of years, and has the leading dry goods establishment at Chisholm.
He was born on Green River in Calhoun County, Kentucky, July 21, 1860. His father, Samuel Galloway, was a native of Floyd County, Indi- ana, and a cooper by trade, though for forty years of his career most of his time was devoted to the teaching of vocal music. The Galloways were a family of talented and natural musicians, and for many years achieved more than local fame in southern Indiana. All of them could sing. At picnics, celebrations, festivals and in political campaigns their melody was heard and applauded. William L. Galloway was one of nine children, and before he had learned to read he appeared with the rest of the family and sang alto. Music was one of the strong bonds which cemented the affections of this family. Time with its inevitable changes has broken the golden links of those associations, but they remain a golden memory to the survivors.
Samuel Galloway married Belinda Smith. They were living in Ken- tucky when the Civil war came on. His sympathies were with the north, and the Kentucky neighborhood becoming uncongenial he removed to Bloomington, Indiana, and later to Terre Haute, where he died.
William L. Galloway spent most of his boyhood in Terre Haute, at- tending graded schools, and acquired his early knowledge of business as clerk in a general store at Newport, Indiana. When his employers moved the store to Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1884 he went along with it and re- mained as clerk. Subsequently he went on the road as traveling represen- tative of a wholesale house in St. Joseph, Missouri, covering Kansas and what is now the state of Oklahoma, and for six years made his headquar- ters at Wichita. He then went back to his old home state of Indiana and took a position in a Terre Haute house as clerk at wages of $15 a week, but in a few years had been promoted to general manager.
Mr. Galloway came to Duluth in 1905. For four years he was depart- ment buyer for the firm of Panton & White. In 1909 he opened a store of his own at Hibbing, and conducted a business there for seven years. Then, in April, 1916, he moved to Chisholm, and as a merchant and citi- zen has been closely identified with that community. He bore a large share of burdens in connection with local war activities. Mr. Galloway was the
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first man to be examined and was the first charter member of the first lodge of the Knights of the Maccabees in Indiana, and he still keeps his membership in that order at Terre Haute. He is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. His first wife was Miss Carrie Glanton Cush- man. She died in 1906, the mother of two children: Harriet Fae, who became the wife of Wilfred Lewis and moved to Wisconsin and died at Menasha in that state at the age of twenty-seven; and Mae, who died when three years of age. In 1909 Mr. Galloway married Miss Ida Wethal. They have three sons: William Leonard, Jr., Richard S. and Grant Wesley.
JOHN BUTLER, secretary of Butler Brothers, contractors and mine operators, is one of the important business men of Buhl, and one of the representative citizens of St. Louis County. He was born at Waterford, Minnesota, August 20, 1861, a son of Patrick and Mary Ann (Gaffney) Butler. Patrick Butler was born in Ireland, March 17, 1823, and was a farmer by occupation. When he was twenty-one years old he came to the United States, and as soon as possible after his arrival he took out his papers of citizenship. His wife was also born in Ireland, her birth occurring in 1830. They were married in the United States in 1853, and they became the parents of nine children, of whom John Butler is the fourth in order of birth.
Although John Butler received but limited opportunities for attending school, he was well taught by his father, who was a well educated man. When only nine years old he began to make himself useful on the farm, and the lessons of industry and thrift he acquired at an early age have never been forgotten. In 1888 he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and with his brothers engaged actively in a contracting business, carrying on building and excavating, and executed some very large contracts, among which was the Minnesota state capitol building, to obtain the marble for which he spent three years at the quarry in Georgia. Another big con- tract was the railroad construction work and iron docks at Ashland, Minnesota, and a third, the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. During 1901 Mr. Butler was engaged at Minneapolis in railroad construction for his firm and in 1902 came to the Range, where he has since remained. In 1902 the firm of Butler Brothers took contracts for stripping and mining the Cypress and Leetonia Mines, completing their contract for the former in 1907 and latter in 1910. In 1908 they took contracts for stripping and mining the Sliver and La Rue properties of the M. A. Hanna Company, completing their obligations in 1913. In 1909 Butler Brothers took a contract to strip and mine the Grant Mine at Buhl, the property of the Jones-Laughlin Company, and completed this in 1914. In 1911 they took the contract to strip and mine the Long Year Mine near Hibbing, which was owned by the same company, and completed it in 1914. In 1912 they took the contract for stripping the Dean Mine at Buhl, and the Smith Mine near Hibbing, completing the contract of the Dean Mine in 1916 and of the Smith Mine in 1914. In 1913 they took a contract for partially stripping the Wakefield Mine at Wakefield, Michigan, owned by the M. A. Hanna Company, and finished this contract in 1914. Another contract taken by them in 1913, for the stripping and mining of the Morrow Mine near Eveleth, Minnesota, the property of Captain Sellwood, was completed in 1914. In 1912 they took a contract for stripping the Bennett Mine, a Great Northern property, and completed it in 1917. In 1915 they con- tracted to strip and mine the Plymouth Mine near Wakefield, Michigan, and completed the contract in 1917, and that same year, 1915, contracted to strip and mine Mace Mine Number 2, near Nashwauk, and are still working on that contract. In 1920 they took a contract for stripping the
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South Judd Mine near Holman, Minnesota, which property is owned by the Oliver Mining Company, and they are now working on it. In 1913 Butler Brothers took a lease on the Quinn Mine, and operated it as an open pit mine. This was their first lease, but since then they have ac- quired leases on the Smith, the Lambuton, the North Harrison, the Har- rison, the Patrick, the Kevin, the Ann and the Margaret, all of which are still producing, except the Ann. They are producers of direct shipping ore and ore that has to be treated, and for the latter they have two con- centrating plants and one drying plant. All of these mines are mined by the open pit method except for small tonnage boardering on the open pits.
The firm of Butler Brothers is composed of Walter Butler, the pres- ident, and John, William, Cooley and Emmett Butler. Their headquarters are at St. Paul, Minnesota. These brothers have always been progressive and among the first to adopt improved methods. John Butler claims that the remarkable success of the firm is due to the efforts of no single mem- ber, but to the concerted action of them all, each one having his special duties which he performs efficiently and with the idea of working in entire harmony with his associates. Another one of the brothers, Pierce Butler, is an eminent attorney of St. Paul, and all of them are exceptionally gifted in their several lines.
In 1892 John Butler was married to Margaret McGran, of Belleplaine, Minnesota, who is of Irish parentage. They have no children. In relig- ion he is a Catholic. During the great war Mr. Butler took part in the various drives in behalf of the Liberty Loans, and in every possible way, as always, proved his worth as a man and citizen. No history of this region would be complete without mention of the activities of this repre- sentative firm. Through the energies and dependability of the partners some of the most important mines have been stripped and operated, af- fording employment for thousands, and releasing for use in different industries ore that is so much needed in order to keep abreast of the changing times. Their operations are conducted upon a scale that is gigantic, and yet the affairs are managed with precision and accuracy which insure prompt and accurate compliance to the terms of the contract as signed. The name of Butler Brothers has therefore come to stand for all that is reliable and efficient in the field in which this firm has held so commanding a position for many years, and when an agreement is entered into with them the other party to it knows that he need take no further thought relative to the work, for he realizes that it will be well performed within the stated period.
BERT M. CONKLIN. Educated as a mining engineer, Bert M. Conklin came to the Minnesota Iron Ranges sixteen years ago, and as technical man and operating executive has filled many posts over the district. He is now chief engineer of the Arthur Iron Mining Company. This com- pany is the operating organization for handling the Great Northern iron ore properties on the Mesaba Range.
Mr. Conklin was born at Wichita, Kansas, November 10, 1881, a son of Charles W. and Cornelia ( Morse) Conklin. His father served as a first lieutenant in the Union army during the Civil war, and for a time was on the staff of General Thomas. For many years he lived at Wichita, Kansas, and finally went to East Troy, Wisconsin, where he died in 1915.
Of a family of seven children only three sons are now living, including Bert M., who grew to manhood in Wisconsin and attended public schools and graduated from the East Division High School of Milwaukee. In 1901 he entered the University of Wisconsin, and for three years special- ized as a student in metallurgy and mining. On leaving the university he came to Minnesota in 1904 and his first employment was as a rod man
Frank Magie
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with the Oliver Iron Mining Company at Hibbing. Successively for about a year he was engineer in charge of the Burt-Poole Mine, was engineer in charge of the Burt-Poole, Sellers and Morris Mines for some twelve months, then became night foreman of the Morris Pit, for about eighteen months was night foreman at the Hull-Rust Mine, was day foreman of the Rust Pit, and in the spring of 1911 first became identified with the Great Northern Iron Ore properties as chief inspector of the Western District. In 1913 these iron ore properties were constituted as an inde- pendent industry, and at that stage Mr. Conklin was made district super- intendent. In 1917 he was made district superintendent of the Interstate Iron Company in charge of the Hill Annex and Mississippi Mines, but in November, 1917, took charge of the interests of the Great Northern Iron Ore properties as chief engineer for the Arthur Iron Mining Company.
Mr. Conklin is widely known among the mining engineers of northern Minnesota, is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the Engineers Club of Northern Minnesota. He belongs to the Algonquin and Kiwanis Clubs of Hibbing, and is a Scottish Rite Mason. September 22, 1906, he married Miss Frances Mae Alees, of Milwaukee. Their three children are John Bert, Charles Lewis and Elen Elizabeth.
CLARK FISK COREY is a practical all around business man, has been a resident of Hibbing nearly twenty years, and while his interests have not been primarily associated with the great mining industry he has entered actively Into the commercial affairs of the village in the real estate and general insurance business, which he still carries on.
Mr. Corey was born at Montpelier, Vermont, March 17, 1872, son of Russell A. and Lavinia (Fisk) Corey. His father was a Vermont farmer until 1888, when he moved with his family to Nebraska and was engaged in milling and later in the lumber business at Elwood, where he died in 1892. His widow has survived him nearly thirty years and is now living in Vermont.
One of a family of four sons, all of whom are still living, Clark Fisk Corey grew up in Montpelier, Vermont, graduated from the high school there in 1888 and then accompanied his parents to Nebraska. He gradu- ated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1894 with the A. B. degree, and as a young college man found his first opportunities in the banking business at LaCygne, Kansas, where for six years he was asso- ciated with an uncle. Later he was chief clerk in the National Bank of Commerce at Kansas City, Missouri, but in 1900 moved to Superior, Wisconsin, where he had an interest with his three brothers in the retail lumber business. In order to view the industries of the Range country he came to northern Minnesota in 1901 and in the same fall located at Hib- bing. Here for a time he was employed in looking after the business interests of Mr. A. M. Chisholm, and this business association led to his meeting in the same fall Miss Winnifred Cummings, sister of Mr. Chis- holm. On November 10, 1902, they were married. Mr. Corey has been a resident of Hibbing since 1901. During 1902 he was general office man for the local branch of Pickands, Mather & Company, but in 1903 engaged in the real estate and insurance business, and still continues in that line, with offices in the First National Bank of Hibbing. Mr. Corey is a member of the Algonquin, Commercial and Kiwanis Clubs, is a charter member and a past master of Mesaba Lodge No. 255, A. F. and A. M., and has attained eighteen degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry. Mr. and Mrs. Corey have one son, Clark Fisk, Jr.
FRANK L. MAGIE. During his service as sheriff of St. Louis County Frank L. Magie has handled many important and arduous responsibilities
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in a manner creditable to himself and justifying the confidence of that majority of citizens who chose him for this position.
Mr. Magie, who has long been well known in public and business affairs at Duluth, was born at Chicago, Illinois, December 23, 1864, a son of William and Eunice Magie. His father, a native of New Jersey, went to Illinois early in life, for a time was a farmer, and then removed to Chicago, where he was in the wholesale broom corn business. He spent his last years at Pittsburg, Kansas, and served as a member of the Kan- sas Legislature. He was a man of broad information and always enjoyed the confidence of the community in which he lived.
Youngest of eight children, Frank L. Magie acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools of Illinois and Kansas, and also attended school at New Jersey. While in Kansas he had some experience in the cattle and livestock business, and soon after coming to Duluth was appointed deputy sheriff, an office he filled for twenty years and thus exercised many of the responsibilities which he has today. He first became a candidate for sheriff in 1914, being defeated by a small margin. The following four years he looked after some varied interests and in 1918 again became a candidate and was elected. He has a large circle of friends all over the county, though his home for many years has been in the city of Duluth.
Mr. Magie is a Republican in politics and is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and an Elk. He married Miss Gaskill, and of the four children born to their marriage two sons and one daughter are still living.
HENRY FUGERE. Of the qualities of constructive citizenship and busi- ness energy Henry Fugere has supplied a large share to the community of Chisholm practically from the beginning of that village, and has been a well known resident of the Range country of northern Minnesota for the past twenty-three years.
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