Duluth Township (part 15 of 15)

His grandfather. Christian Oppel, who deserves a permanent record in Duluth as one of the first settlers, came here from l^Iichigan when the country at the Head of the Lakes was wild and inhospitable, with only a few settlements here and there and without wagon roads. Most of the settlers living on the site of Duluth at that time made trips for supplies to Two Harbors, going on foot and carrying provisions on their backs. This trip required two days. Christian Oppel is said to have been proprietor of the first grocery store at Duluth. Later he took in his son Frank as a partner, and they continued a general mercantile business under the name Oppel & Son until the death of the grandfather.

Frank Oppel, father of Clififord Oppel, was born in Michigan and was a youth when he came to Duluth. He was active in the grocery business until his death, at a comparatively early age. The Oppel grocery store was first located on Superior street and Lake avenue and later at 115-117 Superior street. This firm was the first to ship goods mto Duluth over the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad.

Clififord H. Oppel was born at Duluth January 18, 1889, a son of Frank and Frances (Mannheim) Oppel, and was only twelve years of age when his father died. He acquired a public school education, and at the age of fourteen began earning his own way. For a time he was employed at surveying, and afterward followed other lines of employment. He acquired a thorough mechanical knowledge not only in mechanical lines but as an electrician, and finally set up a small business for himself repairing automobiles. After four years he became associated with George T. Hale in the firm of Hale & Oppel, and they have conducted a very flourishing business.

Mr. Oppel is affiliated with the Elks, the Duluth Gun Club, and is well known in social and public affairs. On May 9, 1912, he married Miss Gertrude Mueller. They have one daughter, Mary Frances, born June 28, 1919.

Alfred J. Lindsley is a contractor, a business he has followed for more than four decades. He has lived at Hibbing since 1908, and here has found many special and heavy demands upon his business experience and equipment as a contractor, particularly as an experienced man in the house moving business.

Mr. Lindsley was born at Neenah, Wisconsin, August 13, 1856, son of Elijah J. and Jane (Hendricks) Lindsley. His father was a building contractor by occupation. When he removed from Neenah to De Soto, Iowa, he engaged in farming. From Iowa he went to Concordia, Kansas, and then to Ashland, Wisconsin, where he and his wife spent their last years.

Alfred J. Lindsley acquired a public school education and was about sixteen years of age when he took up all responsibilities for his own destiny. Following different occupations he traveled over many of the states of the west. While at Concordia, Kansas, he married Clara E. Grimm. Soon afterward he removed to Calhoun County, Iowa, where he had his chief experience as a farmer. At Lake City in that county he also took up the work of contracting and house moving, and that has been his big business ever since.

In 1887 Mr. Lindslev moved to Ashland, Wisconsin, and from there came to Hibbing in 1908. He has handled many contracts all over this section of the northwest. During the winter seasons while living at Ashland, Wisconsin, he was in the logging camps, employing his personal facilities and organization in the logging industry.

Mr. Lindsley has been the right man to perform a highly important and essential service at Hibbing. This village, as everyone knows, is being gradually moved from its original site in order to make way for active mining operations The process of moving has been turned over almost wholesale to Mr. Lindsley and his organization. He has had 90 per cent of the contracts for moving the town in separate units. For this purpose he has provided himself with every conceivable ecjuipment, and has accomplished some remarkable results in moving large public and private buildings over rough ground and putting them on new locations, in most instances without a crack or damage to the structures. Few men have a more intimate knowledge of Hibbing's past and present than Mr. Lindsley, and he is one of the very public spirited and useful citizens of the community.

Of the three children born to him and his wife one died in infancy. Nellie, the older living daughter, is the widow of Charles Keenan, and has a daughter named Edith. Verna Belle, the other daughter, is the wife of Thorlief Johnson, and they have two children, Lorraine and Clinton Gale.

Ole C. Sovde. Twenty-eight years in business at Tower gives Ole C. Sovde a distinction as one of the pioneer merchants and citizens of that locality. His associates have found much to admire in his integrity, his industry, and in his steady progress toward the goal of independence and the pubHc spirit which has animated all his relations with the community.

Mr. Sovde was born in Norway January 14, 1869, son of a Norway farmer, Christopher Sovde. Ole C. grew up on his father's farm and his early advantages were limited to the country schools. He was twenty-two years of age when he came to America with a brother, and he never returned to his native land.

The business at Tower of which he is now proprietor was established many years ago by J. C. and C. C. Sovde, later a cousin, J. M. Sovde, being associated wath the firm. Ole C. Sovde and Andrew Talle bought the business, and in 1904 Mr. Sovde became sole proprietor. In 1918 he bought the building in which his large and well selected stock is now housed, and the improvements he has made from time to time in facilities and service give him an immense patronage in this section of the Range country.

Mr. Sovde is a former alderman of Tower. He is an enthusiastic Republican and for years was one of the staunch admirers of Theodore Roosevelt. He is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Woodmen of the World and is a member of the Episcopal Church. In 1898 he married Lottie Enquist, a native of Sweden. They have seven children. Ester, Waldemar, who was anxiously awaiting the call to service when the armistice was signed ; Elsie, Adelaide, Gertrude, Emily and Kermit R.

Peter Schaefer is a veteran editor and publisher in the Iron Range country, having established more than a quarter of a century ago the Ely Miner, of which he is still editor and proprietor.

Mr. Schaefer was born in Germany June 27, 1867, son of Nicholas and Mary (Schaf ) Schaefer. His father was a German soldier in the Franco- Prussian war in 1870-71. Military duty was extremely distasteful to him, and after that war he left Germany with his family and from New- York came west, first to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and then to Medford. While in the German military he had something to do with supplying shoes for the army, and that experience led him to engage in the shoe business at Medford, where he was a merchant for many years. He died in 1913, at the age of seventy-three, and his wife died in 1890, at the age of forty-six.

Peter Schaefer was one of four children and he was reared and educated at Medford. When only twelve years of age he went to work as a "devil" in the offices of the Taylor County Star and Neius, and while there acquired a practical training as a printer and newspaper man. He first came to the Iron Range in 1888 and was employed on the Vermillion Iron Journal at Tower for Dr. Barrett, and in 1890 came to Ely to take ^ charge of Dr. Barrett's publication interests there. He returned to the Journal at Tower in 1891, and in 1895 established the Ely Miner, one of the oldest and most influential journals in the Range district.

Mr. Schaefer in 1890 married Lillian M. Childers, of Soudan. They are the parents of three sons and one daughter. The oldest of the sons is Leroy Paul, who now has charge of the Manual Training Department at Glenwood, and during the World war was in the Ambulance Service Medical Corps. Alvin C, the second son, was trained at Camp Cody, New Mexico, with the 125th Field Artillery. The youngest son is Stuart P.

During all the years of his residence Mr. Schaefer has shown a very active interest in everything affecting the welfare of Ely and the surrounding district. He was city clerk, for nine years was postmaster under Roosevelt and Taft, and is now president of the Ely Commercial Club.

Theodore Laixe. In a brief account of the career of Theodore Laine i<- is possible to see a constant struggle and effort of self advancement and self improvement, and his active association with one of the leading real estate firms of Duluth is a sound measure of what he has accomplished since coming to this country only ten years ago.

Mr. Laine was born in Finland March 11, 1887. He acquired his education largely in the school of experience, and was about twenty-two years of age when he came to this country in 1909. The first three years he spent at hard labor in efforts to assimilate himself with America and acquire a working knowledge of the language and institutions. Those three years he spent in a logging camp at Loussbur, ^lichigan. Following that for three years he was traveling salesman for a tailoring agency, and in 1914, while on the road, located at Duluth. In 1916 he entered the real estate business, and during that year the Fairmount Sales Company was incorporated by Thomas Clark, Charles Marshall, Axel Youngstrand and Mr. Laine. The principal capital and assets of the firm comprised the energy and abilities of the partners at the beginning. They took over Norton's Fairmount Park Division, consisting of about eight hundred lots, and since then have disposed of nearly the entire division and have accumulated a growing business in the handling and selling of residence and business property all over the city. Mr. Laine is now vice president of this well known firm. He gives all his time to the business. In politics he votes independently.

G. Lee Fleming is school superintendent of Tower, which is district No. 9 in St. Louis County. He is a man of thorough university training, and has given exceptional talents besides to his profession, is an able executive, and his administrative skill has proved a great boon to the schools at Tower.

Mr. Fleming comes of a family of educators. He was born at Downsville in Dunn County, Wisconsin, June 7, 1891, son of William H. and Grace E. (Fi.sher) Fleming. He was only an infant when his mother died. Both parents had been teachers. His father, who is now living at killings, Montana, was identified with schools at various places in Wisconsin and also at Winnipeg, Canada, and was both principal and superintendent.

G. Lee Fleming's sister Sybil has won many scholastic honors, and while in the University of Minnesota won a prize amounting to $500. She was a teacher at the State University and was married June 18, 1921, to Professor Alex Graham, instructor at the University of Minne- .sota, Ph. B.

G. Lee Fleming soon after his mother's death was taken to the home of his grandmother Fisher, who lived in a log house on a farm near Downsville. As soon as he was old enough he went to school, walking three miles from her home to the schoolhouse. Me has never allowed any obstacles to interfere with his ambition to secure the best advantages and give himself the greatest possible proficiency for his chosen career. Mr. Fleming later graduated from the Dunn County Teachers Training School at Menomonie. Wisconsin. For nearly three years he taught district schools, and was one of the first graduates of the Wisconsin State Xormal at LaCrosse. Then for a year he was superintendent of schools at Downing, Wisconsin, and about that time occurred his marriage to Gertrude C.

Vander Hiden, daughter of Albert J. Vander Hiden, of Glenwood City, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Fleming have two children, Margaret Dorothy and Robert Lee.

After his marriage Mr. Fleming entered the University of Minnesota, from which he received his A. B. degree in 1914. Later, after a period of residence of study, he was given the Master of Arts degree oy the University of Chicago. From the time he left grade school he earned his two degrees with less than four and a half years of residence in normal colleges and universities.

Mr. Fleming has been superintendent of schools at Tower since 1917. He has proved not only an able executive in the routine of educational affairs, but has made a special study of financial subjects in connection with school administration, and the handsome new school building at Tower was built under his supervision. Also due to his close application and energy the school districts under his supervision have been increased from nine towmships to thirty-two.

Charles Hallock. It has been truly said that it matters but Httle where a man was born, he is a citizen of the land in which his heart dwells, and recent events have proven the truth of this statement beyond any reasonable doubt. When the United States went into the great war some of its most patriotic citizens, the ones who sacrificed the most and exerted themselves to prove their love for the land they called their own, were of foreign birth. Their action in choosing the United States for their country seemed to have awakened a love of its institutions and an appreciation of its liberty and advantages, not always shown by some who had a long line of American-born ancestors back of them. Such is the case with Charles Hallock, for twenty years a dependable merchant of Hibbing. He was born in Poland April 15, 1875, but is one of the best Americans in St. Louis County, or the state of Minnesota for that matter.

He continued to live in his native land until he was fifteen years old, but then, in 1891, came to the United States to join relatives in this country and make it his future home. He first lived at Tower, Minnesota, where he clerked in a store and went to school. Later he went to Duluth, Minnesota, and opening a store of his own conducted it for three years. In December, 1900, he came to Hibbing, and ever since that date has been connected with its mercantile history. His initial start at Hibbing was a modest one, and his advance w-as gradual but sure, and with but one or two exceptions he now has the oldest mercantile establishment in the cit}^ and is recognized as thoroughly reliable.

When he was twenty-one years old Mr. Hallock took out his naturalization papers and since then has endeavored to bear all the responsibilities of American citizenship. In 1913 he brought his parents to the United States, and they reside at Superior, Wisconsin. At present he is serving as a member of the Hibbing Board of Charities.

In 1900 Mr. Hallock was married to Etta Silk, of Duluth, Minnesota, and they have five children, namely, Badonna, Koppel, Lester, Leah Ruth and Sarah Rae. Mr. Hallock is a member of the Odd Fellows. He and his family attend the Jewish congregation. Like so many of his religious faith, he is very charitable and his benefactions are not confined to his contributions to the societies to which he belongs but are bestowed where he thinks they are needed, many of them never being known to the public. During the many years he has lived at Hibbing he has won appreciation for his excellent traits of character, and he and his family are held in high esteem by those who know them.

Duluth And St. Louis County 923

R. J. Chruden, who is senior partner in the Northwestern Trunk Company, is in a Hne of business with which his family name has been associated at Dukith for over thirty years.

His father, Joseph Chruden, came to Duluth in 1888 and engaged in a small way in the trunk business, for three years occupying a store in the old Garrick Theater Building. Subsequently he had two other locations, and for many years carried on a successful business both in the manufacture and handling of trunks and similar goods. He finally retired, and he and his wife, Mrs. Anna (Walla) Chruden, are now living at Portland, Oregon. The father was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

R. J. Chruden was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 19, 1885, and has lived in Duluth since early childhood. He acquired a common school education, being the second in a family of four children. At the age of fifteen he went to work for his father in the trunk factory and store, and was thus employed until 1910, in the meantime acquiring a thorough knowledge of every phase of the trunk business. Then for a time he left his trade and business to enter the real estate field as an associate of R. D. Montgomery for three years. He then returned to the industry with which he was most familiar, and has sincd been associated with W. F. Kempinski in the Northwestern Trunk Company. They are manufacturers of trunks, bags and cases, specializing in sample cases and trunks, and also have ample facilities for all classes of trunk repair work. Their business is at 228 West First street.

Mr. Chruden is independent in politics. He married at Duluth in 1912 Miss Claypool, whose people came from England and were settlers in Duluth during the eighties.

Fred C. Harris. Among the men who have become prominently known because of their important connections with the manufacturing interests of Duluth, one whose career has been characterized by typical American enterprise is Fred C. Harris, general superintendent of the Zenith Furnace Company. Connected with this concern since 1904, he has been the main factor in its great growth and development and established a lasting reputation as a furnace man.

Mr. Harris was born in Essex County, New York, and while living on the home farm acquired a public school education. He was but sixteen years of age when he apprenticed himself to the Crown Point Iron Company, with which concern he rose to a foremanship, and subsequently was similarly employed at Pittsburgh and Cleveland, at the latter point being foreman and assistant superintendent for the American Steel and Wire Company. He was with this concern for eight years, or until 1904, when he began his connection with the company with which he is now identified.

During pioneer days there had been ambitions to make Duluth an iron manufacturing center. In 1872 a blast furnace was built at Rice's Point, the enterprise being fathered by Joshua P). Culver, Luther Mendenhall, James D. Ray, John C. Hunter, W. W. Spalding and George K. Schoenberger, but impracticability of the enterprise at that period, combined with the panic of 1873, caused the pioneer enterprise to fail. During the boom days of West Duluth Roger S. Munger and associates, most of whom were men interested in the West Duluth Land Company, organized the West Duluth P)last Furnace Company, the plant being designed by the late John Birkenbine. a noted engineer and iron authority of Philadeljihia. Minnesota ores then were available, but coke had to be freighted up from Lake Erie ports. One million dollars were put into the enterprise and some pig iron was produced but it was an uphill pull and in 1893, when the big panic smote Duluth industries, the furnace went cold. It remained so until the advent in this field of Captain A. B. Wolvin. Captain Wolvin was neither a miner nor a furnace man, but was a vessel man of marked ability, whose active mind had noted that it took only 30 cents a ton to bring coal from Lake Erie ports to Duluth, but that it tooks 80 cents a ton to send Minnesota iron ore from Duluth to Lake Erie. Why not, then, he reasoned, bring the coal to the ore at Duluth? Other favorable conditions were noted, and despite the firmly-rooted belief at Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh that Duluth was a graveyard for ironmaking Captain Wolvin and his associates determined on giving it a trial.

In 1902 the Zenith Furnace Company was incorporated with a capitalization of $1,000,000, which has been increased since to $1,500,000, and the old West Duluth blast furnace was purchased, modernized and blown in some time in 1902. Coke was brought up from the lower lakes with indifferent results, and therefore, in 1904, a coke plant was established at the plant.

On July 1, 1904, Mr. Harris came to this plant in the capacity of foreman, and in October, 1905, was advanced to the superintendency. In the latter capacity one of his first actions was to make slight changes in the dimensions of the furnace, which caused a surprising increase in the daily production of pig iron. In 1906 Mr. Harris was made general superintendent of the plant, and as such has complete control of the operating department. The Zenith Furnace Company maintains what is termed a three-unit plant - wholesale coal trade, production of pig iron and conservation of by-products. This company has not only proved conclusively that pig iron can be produced profitably at the Head of the Lakes, but that it is being produced more cheaply per ton than by any other furnace in America turning out a similar grade of iron. Xot only is the Zenith blast furnace producing about 60 per cent more pig iron, week in and week out, than its rated capacity, but it is making a higher production in tons per day than any furnace of similar capacity in the entire country.

The site of the Zenith Furnace Company covers about eighty acres of land on Saint Louis Bay and is but several blocks from the street car line. The coal dock is 250x211 feet in area, 300 feet having been added in 1916, and has a capacity of 700,000 tons. Three grades of coal are handled and anthracite recently has been added for the commercial trade. The coking coal comes from lower lake ports in large freight boats at a rate of 30 cents a ton. A cargo of 10,000 tons can be unloaded in about fifteen hours, and the unloading and stock-piling rigs are of modern design. Screened coal goes to the trade and the fine stuff to the coke ovens, of which there are sixty-five, fifty old ones with a capacity of five tons each and fifteen new ones of six tons each, the coking plant having an annual capacity of about 150,000 tons. The coking ovens are of the Otto Hoffman type, so built as to form a solid structure, 36x250 feet in area and 40 feet high. The process practically is continuous, a movable ram punching the contents of a retort out onto a loader, after which the seething mass is quenched by a copious drenching of water. The cooled coke then is shot over a screen into cars which will take it to the furnace Coal gas, ammonia and coal tar are by-products.

General Superintendent Harris is a man thoroughly informed in ever} detail and department of this great business, and has the confidence of his associates and the esteem of his men. He is a Scottish Rite ^lason and a Shriner and belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in politics is a Republican. He comes of good old Welsh stock, and his grandfather, Charles Harris, was a pioneer lumberman of Essex County, New York, where the father of Fred C. Harris was a farmer and lumberman and died in 1910. There were six children, and Fred C, the third in order of birth, was born July 22, 1860. He was married in

1885, in Essex County, New York, to Miss Mary Liberty, and to this union there have been born the following children : Myra, the wife of Joseph Sellwood, Jr. ; Mollie, Allen Scott and George, who reside at home, and one who died in infancy.

Joseph A. Roth man. The community of Ely knows Joseph A. Rothman as a singularly enterprising and energetic business man, and as one who has had a progressive range of experience and business activity since identifying himself with the town in 1905.

Mr. Rothman was born in Chelsea, Wisconsin, October 13, 1884, son of Charles and Josephine Rothman. His parents were born and married in Germany, and soon after their marriage came to the United States, m the seventies. For several years they lived in Pittsburgh and vicinity and then took up a homestead in Taylor County of northern Wisconsin, where Charles Rothman died when about forty-five years of age.

Joseph A. Rothman spent his school and boyhood days in Chelsea. His parents had difficulty in making a living on their homestead, and as soon as he was old enough he started to make his own living and contribute to the support of others. At the age of fourteen he went into the timber, was also employed in lumber mills and mines, and his real education was largely the fruit of the school of experience and hardship.

On coming to Ely in 1905, when he was twenty-one years of age, Mr. Rothman first worked as a railroad switchman, then in the scale office v/eighing ore, and also in a livery stable. Securing a team and outfit, he did teaming and gradually began selling coal and wood and has since developed a thriving fuel business. He is also manager of the Rothman Oil Company and is local agent for Ford cars and accessories.

Mr. Rothman is assistant chief of the volunteer fire department, and one of Ely's earnest and public spirited citizens. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Mystic Workers and Modern Woodmen. In 1905, the year he came to Ely, he married Clara B. Seese. Their three children are Mildred, Joseph and Wilbur. Mrs. Rothman is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

P. H. Martin. EJy reason of his extensive experience P. H. Martin is one of the recognized authorities in the Duluth commercial district on pine, iron and mineral lands and forest products. Specializing in this work and handling general real estate, he has been in business at Duluth for upwards of thirty years, and continuously since 1894 has occupied one suite of offices in the Manhattan Building.

Mr. Martin was born in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, April 17, 1864. Plis father, James Martin, of Scotch-Irish parentage, was born in Irelaml and came to America in 1840. In New llampshire he married Alice Mc- Govern, whose people were natives of Ireland. She was an aunt of Francis E. McGovern, former governor of the state of Wisconsin and attorney of the Shipping Hoard in Washington. In 1846, when Wisconsin was still a territory, the Martin family moved to Sheboygan County, and were identified with the pioneer rural districts and activities of that county. The mother died in Wisconsin, in h'ond du Lac County, in 1890. The father left the farm in 1893 and came to Duluth, and died at West Duluth August 19, 1895, aged seventy-eight years. In the family were three sons and six daughters. ( )ne of tlie older sons, David 11. Martin, was one of the early diamond drill men in tlie mining ranges of the north, and operated on the Menominee Ranj:^e in Michigan and at I'-ly until 1888, and in 1890 came to the Mesaba Range and died at Duluth October 26, 1892. He became a well known authority on minerals.

P. H. Martin, who was sixth in his father's family of nine children, was educated in the country schools of Osceola, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, and worked and looked after the home farvn more or less continuously until he was about thirty years of age. He also had some mining experience on the Menominee Range, being assistant engineer at Stambaugh, Michigan, until that mine closed down on account of hard times in 1890. In 1892 he first came to Duluth, and was engaged in mining on the Mesaba Range, employed by Gridley & Hale at Merritt. There he set up one of the first steam boilers on the Range. In October, 1892, on account of the death of his brother, he discontinued this work and returned to Wisconsin. When he came again to Duluth in March, 1893, Mr. Martin brought with him his father and his three sisters. He and two of his sisters, Miss Alice and ]\Iiss Bridget Martin, all live together at 5517 West Sixth street at Duluth. The third sister, Mrs. J. L. Keehan, is also living in Duluth.

As noted above, Mr. Martin opened his offices in the Manhattan Building in 1894 and for several years handled real estate, including timber and mineral lands. In 1899 he also engaged in the forest products business, and was one of the first shippers of pulpwood out of this district to Wisconsin. Mr. Martin is in a position to furnish some interesting data concerning the forest products of northern Minnesota. In 1899 not more' than five hundred cords of pulpwood was sent out of this district. Since then Mr. Martin as an individual has shipped out as high as thirty thousand cords a year, and the aggregate shipment of pulpwood to the paper mills in Wisconsin \"alley has reached the imposing volume of two hundred thousand cords annually. While pulpwood slill represents a large part of Mr. Alartin's interests in forest products, he has contracted in other lines, especially in railroad ties. He says the first railroad ties he sold at 12 cents apiece were of the same quality as ties that today bring a dollar apiece.

In 1915 Mr. Martin became associated with A. F. Gross in organizing the Mangan Iron & Steel Company. They have developed two shipping m.ines at Ironton, Mangan No. 1 and Mangan No. 2. Air. Martin is vice president and treasurer of this company.

Outside of his extensive business he has found some other diverting and important interests. He is a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters, and for twenty years has been president of the state organization, which now has a membership of over fifteen thousand. He has also been long identified with the Commercial Club and is a charter member of the West Duluth Commercial Club. In politics he supports the Democratic party in national affairs and is independent in county and local elections.

Dennis F. Haley. Gosely associated with the birth and subsequent development of Hibbing, Dennis F. Haley has been and is one of the noted characters of this locality. He is one of those loveable Irishmen who win affection and appreciation wherever found. He grew up clean in mind and body, of a keen discernment and possessed of a fund of wit and humor. He has taken a very important part in the history of Hibbing from its beginnings, both civic and political, for, as is natural in one of Irish extraction, he is a born politician, so that it has been but natural for him to mix in the campaigns. He learned politics in the days when philosophy was dift'used from a dry goods box by the old timers as the shavings fell from the sticks whittled by the swift-moving knife. His homely philosophy, keen observation, his invariable good humor will be remembered when the present generation shall have been gathered to their fathers. With it all Dennis F. Haley has lived the

Duluth And St. Louis County 927

Dennis F Haley is the oldest hvmg settler of Hibbmg. He was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, January 14, 1856. Dennis Haley, his father, was a native of County Cork, Ireland, and came to the United States when he was eight years old, and located at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about 1846. The family was engaged in farming in the early days, and later helped to build the streets of ^lilwaukee. Dennis F. Haley is one of nine children, and received but a limited education. When he was thirteen years old he started out for himself as a farm hand. His early years were spent at iiard labor, and he had little time or money for pleasure. When he was nineteen years old he went to Oconto, Wisconsin, and worked in the woods and mills of that place, but in 1877 went from there to Ouinnesec, the Menominee Iron Range of Michigan, and there helped whi'p-saw the lumber used to build the first house in Ouinnesec. For eleven years he was in the employ of George M. Wakefield, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a big real estate operator in the northern country, and as such was very closely associated with much constructive work in pioneer regions. In December, 1892, Mr. Flaley came to Hibbing. At that date not a tree had been felled from the present site of the little city. For a few months after liis arrival he lived in a camp on the Seller's Mine, and he did the first testing work on this property, having come to the region for this purpose, b'or ;i time he was engaged in mine work, and then was put on the police force, and remained on it for twenty months.

The discovery of gold in Alaska attracted him to that far northern country, and he was in its wilds for about three years prospecting for gold, but he then returned to Hibbing in the fall of 1900 and worked for the Consolidated Mining Company, leaving it to go with W. C. Agnew^ at the Mahoning Mine. For nine years he worked for E. J. Longyear, and then began farming. In 1914 he was appointed street commissioner of Hibbing, and has continued to hold that office. He is a Democrat, and very active in his party. In religious faith he is a Roman Catholic. In 1888 I\Ir. Haley was united in marriage with Julia Tobin, of Kaakauna, Wisconsin. They have had four children born to them, namely, David D., Margaret Irene, Mary H. and Howard J., the last named being deceased. Mr. Haley has held a number of local offices, and could have had others had he desired to run for them, for there are few men as universally popular as he. He served in the City Council for a year, and was village treasurer for four years, being the first man to hold that office. Such men as Mr. Haley arc rare, and his type is passing. Utterly unpretentious, he has done more in his own way for his community than any other man, no matter what his advantages might be, simply because of his earnest, straightforward honesty and earnest sincerity. Men know he is honest and they trust him, and when he says a thing ought to be done there is no (|uestion about the matter. He has few enemies, his friends are numbered by legions, and his influence, which is strong and farreaching, is always exerted in behalf of clean living and decent morality, and naturally is beneficial to the rising generation.

.\rciiii5.\i.I) James McLexnan. who came to Duluth twenty years ago in the role of an educator, has given nuich of his time to the real estate business and particularly the exi^loration and development of lands on the iron ranges of northern Minnesota.

Mr. McLennan, whose home and offices arc in Duluth, was born on a farm in Campbellville, Ontario, Canada, a .son of Alexander and Catherine (Campbell) McLennan and is of Scotch ancestry on both sides, lie was well educated in Cana<la, attended grammar and high schools, and also a law school and school of business at Toronto. For four years of his early life he followed teaching in Canada, coming to Duluth July 6, 1901, and for two years served as an instructor in the Duluth Business University.

Mr. McLennan in August, 1903, became associated with George H. Crosby in the real estate and insurance business. After two years he began giving most of his time to exploration work on the Mesaba and Cuyuna iron ranges, and during following years many of the leading mines of the Cuyuna Range was explored by him. Mr. McLennan now has a large clientage and business in the real estate and insurance, with offices on the ninth floor of the Alworth Building, lie is now president and manager of the Wrenshall Brick Company, manufacturers of wire cut and sand mold brick, yards located at Wrenshall, Minnesota.

September 26, 1906, he married Miss Grace J. McLean, of Duluth. Her father, Charles E. McLean, is a well known Duluth pioneer, having settled here about thirty-five years ago. Three children were born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. McLennan, and the two now living are Charles Ewart, born December 26, 1909, and William Eldon, born April 23, 1915. Mr. McLennan is a Presbyterian and in politics a Republican.

George H. Lommen, of Biwabik, is a lawyer of broad and practical ability, thorough, determined, alert, versatile and resourceful, and active in his fight against proposed legislation which in his judgment would work hardships for those in moderate circumstances. His ability in the handling of important litigation has recommended him to the people of St. Louis County, and he has the reputation of being one of the shrewdest cross-examiners at the St. Louis bar.

The birth of George H. Lomnien occurred at Caledonia, Minnesota, September 14, 1895. His father, J. P. Lommen, is thought to be the first white child born in Minnesota, his birth taking place on the farm of his father, Peter Lommen, near Spring Grove, October 12, 1851. Peter Lommen came to the United States from Norway, settling in Minnesota, and died on his farm near Spring Grove.

J. P. Lommen conducted a department store at Caledonia for thirtyfive or forty years, and it was one of the largest of its kind in the state. During more recent years he has curtailed his mercantile ventures and turned his attention to wheat culture, and was especially active in this line during the period of the war in order to meet the demands of his country for that essential foodstuff. He personally supervises the planting and harvest. Plis wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Quarve, died in 1902, having borne him seven children, four sons and three daughters. One of the daughters, who is now attending Columbia University, doing post-graduate work, was for eight years superintendent of schools of Houston County, and then for a time was connected as an educator with the Minnesota State University.

George PL Lommen was graduated from the Caledonia High School in 1913, While a close and deep student, he possessed the practical traits necessary for every-day success, and his predilections gradually drew him into the broad and stirring domain of the law. His systematic professional education commenced before he left high school, and was comj)leted in the St. Paul Law College, from which he was graduated in 1917. Immediately following that event he began the practice of his profession at Biwabik, where he has built up connections which are very valuable. A clear, level-headed man, as well as attorney, Mr. Lommen from the start has been bitterly opposed to the proposed law to tax the tonnage on ore, and has appeared on the floor of the Legislature "to fight the passage of the measure. This tax is supposed to be used for building roads in other parts of the state, away from the Iron Range, and its levy would close many of the small mines and prove of but little benefit to the people on the Range.

Intensely patriotic, during the war Mr. Lommen endeavored to get accepted for some kind of service. After being examined thirteen times he was finally accepted for the Red Cross, but the signing of the armistice ended all his hopes of being sent overseas.

In 1917 he was married to Thelma Moe, a daughter of John Moe, of J^airbanks, Alaska. As long as the Order of Eagles maintained a local organization at Biwabik Mr. Lommen served it as secretary, and for three years was a dictator of the Loyal Order of Moose. A strong Republican, he is very active in local politics, is a member of the County Central Committee of his party, and has been sent as a delegate to the State Conventions. Enthusiastic, reliable and willing to render service whenever the occasions offers, he is one of the rising young men of his district, from whom great things are expected in the near future.

He was born near Seymour, Iowa, September 1, 1879, and as a youth chose architecture as a profession. For a number of years he was employed at the carpenter's trade and familiarized himself with every detail of the building industry. He also took the architectural course of the International Correspondence Schools at Scranton, and was awarded high honors in scholarship. His first professional connection apart from work at his trade was with the firm of Libby, Xourse & Rasmussen at Des Moines, Iowa. The head of this firm was the state architect of Iowa. Subsequently he was with W. R. Parson & Son Company, Des Moines architects. A year later they put him in charge of their branch office at Duluth, that being in 1906, and he looked after the business of the company in the northwestern territory for about three years

January 1, 1909, Mr. Allred formed a partnership with Frank L. Young as Frank L. Young & Company, and during the next four years they planned and supervised the construction of many prominent buildings in Duluth and northern Minnesota. After that period Mr. Allred became sole owner of the company and has been in practice under his own name, and there is a large volume of work including the supervision of remodeling of the Lyceum Theater to prove and exemplify his taste, his talent and special technique. He is a member of the Duluth Architects' Association, the Kiwanis Club and the Commercial Club.

Francis H. Fitzger.vld. Before coming to Duluth to practice architecture Francis H. Fitzgerald had the benefit of study and training under the greatest masters of the art in Scotland and England and also with several prominent firms in America.

Mr. Fitzgerald was born in Scotland May 28, 1880. He was liberally educated and holds diplomas and other certificates of proficiency from the Ivoyal Institute of British .\rchitects. the London Institute of Technology and the Technical Schools of South Kensington, London. He came alone to the United States in 1907, and for a time was employed as an architectural engineer at Martin's Ferry, Ohio. He was an architect's assistant to the firm of Janssen & Abbot at Pittsburgh, and similarly was engaged at Chicago with Shej)ley. Rutan (Jv Cnllidgc. and also with two foremost Chicago architects, jarvis llunt and D. II. Hurnham & Company. In 1913 he came to Duluth and a \car later opened an office for himself in the Alworth lluilding.

W. C. Agnew, and architect for P. H. Cinder, D. Holmes, Mrs. Norman McDonald, C. H. Marshall at Pike Lake, H. N. Williams, Simon Clark, etc. PI is work in commercial architecture is represented by the First National Bank at Nashwauk, the Northwestern Textile Factory, the United Display Company's Factory, the People's State Bank of Duluth, the F. A. Patrick warehouse and store, the D. & I. R. Railway office building at Two Harbors, the Duluth Edison Electric Company's sub-station of West Duluth, etc.

Mr. Fitzgerald is affiliated with Ionic Lodge of Masons, is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Duluth Engineers Club, Duluth Commercial Club, Duluth Architects Association, Kiwanis Club and attends the First Presbyterian Church.

W]i>LiAM Philip Hei.mbach is one of the oldest lumber operators in the northern district of Minnesota. He was born in Walworth County, Wisconsin, July 12, 1856. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of New York. His father was an early settler and pioneer in Walworth County, developed a farm from the wilderness, and lived a life of such indus'try, conscientious efifort and public spirit that he earned and well deserved the highest esteem of his community.

William P. Heimbach was fourth in a family of ten children. He was reared and educated in the country district of Walworth County, and at the age of twenty left the farm and served an apprenticeship at the miller's trade, which he followed afterwards for three years, receiving a yearly salary of $3,000. Too much dust in that line caused him to change to outside work, and he entered the lumber industry. In the fall of 1881 he came to Duluth and forthwith engaged in the lumber business, and has been continuously identified with the city in the role of a lumberman now for forty years. He was one of the original officials of the Oneota Lumber Company of Duluth. In 1883 he opened a lumber yard in Jamestown, North Dakota, and personally managed that for two years. Selling out, he returned to Duluth and resumed the lumber business under the firm name of the W. P. Heimbach City Lumber Yard. This was incorporated under the title of the Heimbach Lumber Company in 1896. He was also owner and operated for six years a sawmill at New Duluth. Mr. Heimbach is now president of the following lumber organizations: The Heimbach Lumber Company, the Endion Lumber Company, the Gary Lumber Company and the Hazelwood Lumber Company, and with the assistance of his sons, W. P. Heimbach, Jr., and C. M. Heimbach, who own substantial interests, and who assist in the direction of these institutions, Mr. Heimbach's burden is lighter materially. On account of his long and active business career he is well known in Duluth and has always given a sustaining participation in affairs outside of his immediate business and affecting the growth and welfare of the city and county. Politically he is independent.

Bmil S. Gustafsox. As a family the Gustafsons were identified with the pioneer wave of settlement in the agricultural district of St. Louis County, and the farm they developed from the wilderness is still owned and occupied by them. Several of the second generation have profitably engaged in business at Duluth, and Emil S. Gustafson is a member of the Gustafson-Pierson Hardware Company, one of the leading firms of the West Side of the city.

He is a son of Carl G. and Matilda Gustafson. Carl G. Gustafson, who died in 1899, was a native of Sweden, and brought his family to America in 1872. Nearly half a century ago he came into the wilderness of northern Minnesota and took up a government homestead in Herman township, St. Louis County. He contended with the difficulties of that inhospitable region, developed and subdued the land, made a good farm, and since his death his widow has continued to live on and occupy the homestead.

Emil Gustafson was the sixth in a family of eight children and was born on the farm in St. Louis County October 21, 1889. He was ten years of age when his father died, and most of his education had been acquired previously in Independent District No. 6 of Herman township. After the death of his father he lived with his mother and assisted her for three years. On leaving home he entered the employ of his brother Charles A. Gustafson in the hardware business, making himself valuable as a worker and at the same time absorbed all the knowledge he could of the hardware trade. In 1910 he became associated with his brother as the Gustafson Hardware Company, and in 1917, when Charles A. Gustafson withdrew from the business, he was succeeded by the present Gustafson-Pierson Hardware Company, the other member of the partnership being George G. Pierson. Their location is at 18 North Nineteenth avenue, West, and they have a store completely stocked with shelf and heavy hardware, stoves and furnaces, paints, oils, agricultural implements and building material, and also automobile accessories.

Mr. Gustafson is one of Duluth's younger merchants, but has achieved a place of high standing in the community. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Brotherhood of America, the Modern Woodmen of America, and is active in the Duluth Retail Merchants Association, the Commercial Club and the Alpha and Omega Club. Politically he votes independently. In 1911, at Duluth, Mr. Gustafson married Marguerite Pierson, daughter of G. W. Pierson. She was educated in the Duluth public schools. They have two children : Lucille, born May 16, 1912; and Charlotte, born December 23, 1916.

Carl H. Schuster. An attorney who has used his abilities both to establish a good reputation and business in the law and also handle capably many public interests and trusts is Carl H. Schuster, present postmaster of Biwabik.

]Mr. Schuster was born at Rochester, Minnesota, August 13, 1889. son of Henry and Wilma (Albirdie) Schuster. The father was born in Wisconsin in 1862 and the mother in Minnesota in 1872. Henry Schuster and his brother Fred are actively associated in business at Rochester. Henry being president of the Schuster Realty Company. These brothers have been prominent in politics, and the civic and material upbuilding of Rochester for many years. The children of Henry Schuster and wife are Carl Henry, Paul and Albert.

Carl Henry Schuster is a graduate of the Shattuck Military Academy at Faribault with the class of 1907. Following that he si)cnt five years in the University of Minnesota, taking both literary and law courses and graduating from law school in 1912. The following year he gained considerable familiarity with metropolitan practice at Minneapolis and then came to Biwabik. Almost from the time he came to Biwabik he has served as village and township attorney. In 1919, after passing the Civil Service examination, he was appointed postmaster. He is also attorney for the First National Bank of Biwabik. and is interested in military affairs, having been major of the I-'ighth Battalion of the Home Guards organization. He votes independently.

Jiuie 10, 1916, Mr. Schuster married Melinda Kathcrine LaX'allee, of Duluth. Their son is named Carl Henry. The first son in the Schuster family is by a custom prevailing through seven generations always given the name Henry and the first child during the seven generations has been a boy. Mr. Schuster is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon college fraternity and the Phi Delta Phi law fraternity, the Episcopal Church, has attained the thirty-second degree in Scottish Rite Masonry, and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Rebekahs and the Moose and Elks.

Edmoxd a. Bergeron. While for many years in business on the iron ranges of northern Minnesota, Edmond A. Bergeron is even more widely known and appreciated for his sterling patriotism and good citizenship. He is in the hardware business at Hibbing, and has been a prominent factor in that village for a number of years.

Mr. Bergeron was born in Stillwater, Minnesota, January 28, 1879, son of John W. and Elise (Xormand) Bergeron. His parents were of French ancestry and natives of Quebec, and came to Stillwater, Minnesota, in 1869. The first year John W. Bergeron drove a "tow team" along the Minnesota River, "toting" supplies to the trading posts of St. Peter and as high as Lake Traverse, and returning with skins. Subsequently for a period of thirty years he was superintendent of a large saw mill at Stillwater, and he and his wife still make that city their home, where they are honored old timers.

One of seven children, Edmond A. Bergeron grew up in Stillwater, acquired a public school education, also attended a business college, and at the age of eighteen was working in a saw mill. A year later, when only nineteen, he put himself in the ranks of independent business men by keeping a feed, flour, mill and elevator, which he operated two years. A year following this he was foreman in the Amreican Grass Twine Factory at St. Paul, and then for five years served as a guard and foreman in the twine plant at the State Prison in Stillwater.

He came into the iron range district in 1906, and for a year was chief clerk during the construction of the Duluth, Rainy Lake & Winnipeg Railroad, now part of the Canadian Northern. His headquarters were at Virginia on the Mesaba Range. In 1907 he sold the townsite of Ranier, on which he built a shack and established a hardware business. The new place grew, and Mr. Bergeron naturally became one of the foremost citizens and served as president of the first village board, was the first postmaster, and was also a member of the International Falls District School Board, of which Ranier was a part.

Selling out his interests in that village, Mr. Bergeron in February, 1910, came to Hibbing and bought a hardware business and for ten years has been its owner and directing head. While building up a profitable business he has taken part in all the matters affecting the welfare of the community. During the World war he was elected chairman of the Council of Defense, served as vice chairman of the St. Louis County Safety Commission, assisted in organizing the War Chest Committee and was its vice president, took the lead in organizing the Home Guards and served as sergeant of the company, and was also chairman of the Recruiting Committee.

Mr. Bergeron since 1918 has been a member of the Hibbing Library Board and is now president of that board. He was one of three local citizens that organized the Boy Scouts, and is chairman of its Honor Roll Committee. He is treasurer of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Catholic, at Hibbing, for two years served as grand knight of the local lodge of the Knights of Columbus, vice president of the Commercial Club, and a member of the Kiwanis Club. On May 22, 1909. he married Miss Maud Miller, of Stillwater. Their two children are Bertram L. and Susane.