Minneapolis City (part 42 of 80)

In 1876, the mill compain'came to the conclusion that the increase in the manu¬ facture of flour wart'anted it in using all the water belonging to the water jjower for that industry ; conse(pientl3' the saw mills oecu])ying the mill dam would have to be moved ; so the mill comi)anv took advantage of its oi)tion in the leases, and as the various leases of the six mills expired declined to renew them and bought in the property, and after leasing by the year for a few years dis¬ mantled the mills, until now all that remains of the six mills are the stone foundations.

In 1866-7, J. B. Bassett & Co. built the stone building now used as the city water works, and put in a saw mill in the lower story and a pail tub factory in the second story. In 1878 they built a wooden addition to the mill, adjoining on thenorth. The city authorities having decided to move the water works from the building now known as the Holly mill, purchased the saw luill building of Bassett & Co. in 1872, removed the top story and remodeled the building into the present city water works. Bassett & Co. moved their saw mill into the wooden part of thebuildingimmediately adjoining the water works. In 1880 the city pui'chased another piece of land of Bassett & Co. adjoining the water works, and they moved their mill to the lot adjoining on the north and built the present structure occupied as a sawmill, and operated it until 1890, when the mill was re-built and re -furnished. In 1882, Mr. Gilpatrick retired from the firm of J. B. Bassett & Co., and Mr. W.L. Bassett, the son of the remaining partner, took his place, and has since managed the business. Mr. J. B. Bassett, has, un¬ doubtedly, been engaged in the manufac¬ ture of lumber more years consecutively than any other individual manufacture in Minneapolis.

In 1862 Jos. Dean concluded to enter the lumber business. He sold the sash, door and blind factory, he had just pur¬ chased of Mr. Morey, to J. G. Smith. A few years previous to this the Messrs Harrison, consisting of W. M., T. A. and H. G. Harrison had been engaged in the milling business in Illinois, and having sold out just before the commencement of the War of the Rebellion, they moved to Minneapolis and brought consider¬ able capital with them. They became associated with Mr. Dean under the firm name of J. Dean & Co. The citizens of Minneapolis were astonished at the au¬ dacity of the firm, in purchasing an en¬ tire block of ground, on which to pile lumber, bounded by First and Second streets and First and Second avenues south. The purchase price being $500 per lot, which seemed a very extrava¬ gant price to those of the citizens of Minneapolis who had passed through the panic of 1857 and 8. The co-part¬ nership was completed in 1863, and an office was opened on the corner of First avenue south and Third street, on the ground now occupied by the Union Na¬ tional Bank. Soon after the organiza¬ tion of the firm, logs were purchased and sawed by the thousand in the St. Anth¬ ony water power Co.'s, mills on the east side of the river. The firm continued to have its logs sawed by the thousand for the next three years, and in 1866 pro¬ ceeded to build the Pacific mill at the foot of BUrst avenue north on the river bank, and at the time it was built, it was the largest and most complete saw mill in Minneapolis. This mill was run by J. Dean & Co. until 1876, when it was sold to Camp & Walker. In 1870 the firm built the Atlantic mill at the mouth of Bassett's creek, but this mill was only run for two years and burned March 29, 1872.

After J. Dean & Co. sold the Pacific mill in 1876 they decided to quit the lum¬ ber business, and immediately proceeded to close out their lumber and pine lands, and organized the Security Bank. While they were operating thej' carried on the largest business in the manufac¬ ture of lumber, at the Falls of St. An¬ thony.

William Drew Washburn. The feu¬ dal institutions of Europe have produced many families whose members have been distinguished in successive generations by qualities which have made them con¬ spicuous and often powerful. In them inherited talents, cheidshed and devel¬ oped by training and association, have been favored by exalted birth to produce characters which have impressed their age and wrought themselves into the fabric of history. In America, where from the beginning titles of nobility have been di.scarded, and aristocracy exists only by pei'sonal merit, the number of families obtainingdistinction are few, and therefore when they have appeared have attracted the greater notice and honor. Such were the Adams, who, for at least four generations, have held high posi¬ tions in the state, and maintained ex¬ alted characters. Such were the Beech¬ ers, where father, sons and daughters held a high intellectual nobilit3q b\' tal¬ ent, character and attainment. Among those families whose sons have attained to the highest civil honors, and who have exerted a most powerftd influence b}" their character, attainments and con¬ spicuous services, is the Washburn.

William D. Washburn was the young¬ est of a family of eleven children, ten of whom grew to maturity and married and had children of their own. Among them were Israel Washburn, Jr., Gover¬ nor of Maine and Member of the Na¬ tional Congress; Elihu B. Washburn, Member of Congress, Secretar\' of State, and Minister Plenipotentiary to I'rance during the Franco-German war; Cadwalader C. Washburn, Member of Con¬ gress, Governor of Wisconsin and a major-general in the war; Charles A. Washburn, United States Minister to Paragua\'; and Samuel B. Washburn, an officer in the navy of the United States during the War of the Rebellion. They were sons of Israel and Martha (Benja¬ min) Washburn, born nnd bred to man¬ hood in the town of Livennore, Andros¬ coggin Count\', Maine, where the\' shared in the simple social life of the commu¬ nity, drew vigor from the labors of the farm, and inspiration amid the hills and meadows, the lakes and flashing streams of their rural home.

" The ancestors of the Washburn fam¬ ily were of the brave old Pilgrim stock and dwelt in the quiet little English vil¬ lage of Evesham, near the Avon, Shakes¬ peare's river. When the da\'s grew evil in England John Washburn, secretary of the Ph'inouth colonv in England, sailed across the sea to Massachusetts, where he married Patience, the daughter of Fran¬ cis Cook, one of the passengers in the Mayflower. They settled at Duxbur\q one of the seashore towms of the Old Colony. In the direct line of his descend¬ ants came Israel Washburn, who was born in 1784 in the town of Rajmham, near Taunton, in Bristol Count^q Alassachusetts. In June, 1812, he manned Martha Benjamin, the daughter of Lieut. Samuel Benjamin, a brave old soldier of the Revolution, who began his campaign¬ ing at the battle of Lexington and re¬ mained in the service until after Corn¬ wallis' surrender at Yorktown, at which he was present, not being out of active dutj" for a single clajn After these many 3^ears of patriotic devotion the veteran hero returned to his native region and married Tabitha, the daughter of Na¬ thaniel Livermore, of Watertown, Alass. The newl\" wedded coiqfle settled in the hill town of Livermore, near the Andros¬ coggin river in Alaine; and soon after¬ wards Israel Washburn, after experi¬ menting at teaching and ship building on the Kennebec, came up here and founded a trading post." He subsequentlv settled iqion a farm and there in humble but respectable circumstances

HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLISraised his family. From their childhood the sons shared in the labors of the farm and learned and practiced all the drudg¬ eries and economies of rural agricultural life. The father was a sturdy, alert and industrious yeoman. He was an eager reader of current events, actively inter¬ ested in public affairs and anxious to give his children all the advantages of education which his limited resources and the school opportunities of the region could afford. "The mother was a practical housekeeper, industrious, fru¬ gal, sagacious, stimulating to the chil¬ dren's consciences, sincerely religious withal, and hence gave those under her precious charge an unalterable bent to¬ ward pure and lofty ends."

William D. was born January 14th, 1831. His early life did not essentially differ from that of sons of intelligent farmers throughout New England, ex¬ cept that the older brothers had already entered upon public and professional life, and offered to the younger brother stimulating examples and encourage¬ ment to aspire to like honors. His sum¬ mers were devoted to labor, while during the winters he was privileged to attend the district school, and later enjoyed some terms at Gorham and Farmington Academies. At the latter institution he completed his preparation for college.

Entering old Bowdoin College in the fall of 1850, he completed the full clavSsical course and received his bachelor's de¬ gree in course on graduation in 1854.

After graduation he entered the office of his brother Israel to prepare himself for the law, to which profession his taste and ambition led him. The legal studies were completed in 1857 at Bangor, in the office of Hon. John A. Peters, now chief justice of the state of Maine. Mean¬ while he secured a clerkship inthehlnited States House of Representatives, under Gen. Cullom, where he had an opportu¬ nity to observe the methods of transact¬ ing business in the nation's parliament, as well as to make the acquaintance of the public men of the period, contempo¬ raries of his three brothers, who were members of that Congress, representing the widel3^ separated states of Maine, Illinois and Wisconsin.

At the age of twenty-six, endowed with a vigorous constitution, a liberal education andalegal diploma, he sought a place to settle and enter upon his life work. The examples of brothers who had attained eminence, the one in the state of his birth, and others at the West, were before him and no doubt stimulated him to do his utmost to honor the name already famous through¬ out the country. He decided in favor of the West and determined to settle at the Falls of St. Anthony. Emigrants from Livermore were already settled there and his brothers had interests in the water power at the falls, as well as in the pine forests of the North, and a large immigration from all parts of the East was flowing towards the favored spot. It required no prophetic gift to foresee that here would grow up a prosperous community, and perchance become the " seat of Empire.'' Indeed an American poet sailing westward over the placid waters of Lake Superior, with face turned hitherward had already heard

The career of Mr. Washburn in the West divides itself into three lines, that of business, the promotion of works of public improvement, and statesmanship, in each of which he has been eminent, and any one of which would engross the labor and satisfy the ambition of almost any man. The first two occupied the first twenty 3'^ears of his residence here, while the latter is now in full tide of progress. In this sketch of his life these will naturally be noticed in order.

The ijractice of law at that period, in this part of the country, was meager. It consisted chiefly of land cases, and its forum was more in the land office than in the courts. It furnished little occupa¬ tion to satisfy an eager and ambitious temper. The Minneapolis Mill Company had been chartered the year before his arrival. The property of the corpora¬ tion consisted of the land adjacent to the falls on the west side of the Missis¬ sippi river, and was capitalized at one hundred and sixfy thousand dollars. The means necessaiw to make improvements were by the plan adopted by the cornpan}^ to be provided by assessments upon the stock. Soon after his arrival here Mr. Washburn accepted the ajipointment of secretar3^ and agent of the com¬ pany and entered into its service with all the energy' and enthusiasm of his na¬ ture. The dam was built and other im¬ provements commenced under his man¬ agement. Hon. Robert Smith, a member of Congress from the Alton, Ills., dis¬ trict, was the largest stockholder. Others were D. Morrison, the brother of Mr. Washburn, Cadwalader, Leonard Da\', Jacob S. Elliott, George E. Hu}^, M. L. Olds and two or three more non-residents of the state. The financial panic of 1857 was felt with great severity towards the close of the \'ear, and checked most and wrecked some promising enterprises. The Mill Company' was able to complete its dam and a small section of its canal, so as to admit the erection of saw mills and some other manufactories, but was left with a load of debt and many assets of unpaid stock assessments. The agent struggled with increasing embarassments, sometimes unable to pay the taxes upon the pro})crfy, and adminis¬ tered its affairs for four 3'ears, during which he sectired in addition to saw mills, the erection of the first merchant flourmill - the Cataract - built in Min¬ neapolis, the precursor of a flour milling business which has become famous throughout the world, and has lieen one of the leading industries of the cit3'. With indefatigable labor he made turns, giving orders on stores, receiving logs and lumber, and tr3dng in eveiw ingeni¬ ous wa3' to utilize the slender resources at his command. Man3' stockholders, either unable to pay assessments or dis¬ couraged with the prospect of carrying along an enterprise the profits of which were to be gained in the distant future, allowed their stock to be forfeited and sold. He realized the importance of hav¬ ing the water powers put to use, and offered liberal terms to attract binders, so that most manufacturing enterprises located upon the west side mill propert3' whilethat of the east side, held at higher prices, though in fact better sites, re¬ mained comparativeh" unimproved. Still the struggle was a hard one. Improve¬ ments outran income for man3" 3'ears. ]\Ir. Washburn persevered in his polic3', remaining a director of the company to the present time, and has had the satis¬ faction of seeing the company out of debt and pa3dng liberal dividends. Wa¬ ter jDOwers which originally rented at $75 per mill power commanding $1,000, the dam filled with saw mills and the canal lined with flour, paper, woolen and other mills, and the water ])ower made the nucleus and basis of the unex¬ ampled prosperit3' of the cit3'. In 1889 the pi'opcrt3" of the Alill Compan3', to¬ gether with that of the St. Anthoin- Falls Water Power Co. on the East side, and the most pi'ominent of the flouring mills, passed to a new compaiw com¬ posed of English and American stock¬ holders, who invested man3' million dol-

During the years preceding 1861, we find Mr. Washburn's name and active influence conneeted with whatever was undertaken by the citizens to advance the interests of the community. He was president of the Board of Trade, and corresponding secretary of the Union Commercial Association. Upon the sub¬ mission of the constitutional amend¬ ment proposing a loan of the credit of the state to railroad corporations, com¬ monly called the "Five Million Loan Bill,'' he took an active part in opposing the measure, but was overborne by the tide of popular enthusiasm raised in fa¬ vor of that unfortunate measure.

In the spring of 1859 he returned to his native state where, on the 19th of April, he was united in marriage with Miss Lizzie Muzzy, daughter of Hon. Franklin Muzzy, a prominent manufac¬ turer and politician of Bangor. Return¬ ing he built a small house in the lower part of the town, and at once began housekeeping.

In 1861, Mr. Washburn was appointed by President Lincoln Surveyor General of Minnesota. The duties of this office necessitated his removal to St. Paul, where he resided for the next four 3'ears, returning to his Minneapolis home at the expiration of his term of office. During this period many of the pine timbered lands of the northern part of the state were surveyed and brought into market. At the sales he purchased considerable tracts of timbered lands, the manage¬ ment and development of which turned his attention to the lumber business. In association with Elias Moses, Granville M. Stickney, and afterwards with Maj. W. D. Hale, as W. D. Washburn & Co., he cut large quantities of pine logs in the woods, drove them to the boom at Min¬ neapolis, erected a large saw mill at the Falls, opened lumber j-ards, and engaged largely in the lumber trade. Later, about 1872, the firm built a large and ver^' completely equipped saw mill at Anoka, where, with planing mills, dry houses, and all the equipments necessarv, they carried on the lumber business. They handled as high as twenty-five million feet of lumber per year.

Mr. Washburn also engaged largely in the manufacture of flour, associated with Rufus S. Stevens and Leonard Day. He was interested in building and oper¬ ating the Palisade flouring mill at Minne¬ apolis, built in 1873, and as W.D. Wash¬ burn & Co., built a flouring mill at Anoka, in 1880. His business interests were in 1884 incorporated as the Washburn Mill Company. The mills at Minneapolis and Anoka had a daily capacity of t wen tj' -five hundred barrels of flour. These lines of business were carried on until the year 1889, when the lumber business was closed and the flouring business with the mills was transferred to the new company that acquired the mill company under the style of Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills Company; Mr. Washburn still remains a director of the company, and with Mr. Pillsbur}" is one of the local managers of that ex¬ tensive business.

An important enterprise in which Mr. Washburn engaged in 1870 was the building of the first section of the North¬ ern Pacific railway through the State of Minnesota from the St. Louis river to the Red River of the North. The contract was let to a construction company com¬ posed largely of Minneapolis men, of whom he was one. The work was ener¬ getically pushed, amid unusual difficul¬ ties, and satisfactorily completed in 1872.

and Minneapolis and St. Louis railways is told in the chapter of this history on railroads. Suffice it to say here that W. D. Washburn, with his brother, Gov. Washburn, were among the original and most zealous advocates of that enter¬ prise. They united with other enterpsising citizens in organizing the company, contributed liberally to its funds, and entered spiritedly into the work of con¬ struction. W. D. Washburn became its president, and took the burden of its financial management, and held persist¬ ently to the project until its completion, and in surrendering it to the control of other parties provided for the protection of Minneapolis and her large commercial and manufacturing interests.

The "Soo," as the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic railway line is popularh" denominated, is in conception and realization of the "Washburn fam¬ ily." Twenty -five years ago Gov. Israel Washburn addressed the citizens of Min¬ neapolis, advocating for the facilitating of their trade, the construction of a railway line by way of the Saidt St. Marie, connecting with the Canadian system, and making the shoi'test and almost air-line to an Atlantic port, at Portland. The conception remained to fructify and take bodily shape when his brother, W. D. Washburn, took up the idea, organized a compan3^, became its president and financial manager, and pushed it to completion in an incredibly short time. The leading idea was to serve the large milling interests of Min¬ neapolis, and the producers of the North¬ west, by opening up a new and compet¬ ing line to the East, and emancipating them from the monopoly of the old lines around the south shore of Lake Michi¬ gan. The line completed, it remained to sujiplement it by a line which should extend from Minneapolis into Dakota, and bring wheat here. This Air. Wash¬ burn accomplished b}' organizing the Alinneapolis and Pacific railway compan\% and completing the line into Da¬ kota, and Iw connecting lines to a junc¬ tion with the Canadian Pacific railwa\^ at Regina, thus making part of a great trans-continental line, bringing Minne¬ apolis two hundred miles nearer the Pacific coast than Iw aiw other line.

This gigantic work successfidh" ac¬ complished, except the completion of the Pacific connection, Mr. Washburn re¬ tired from the management to devote himself more exclusively to his public duties.

It is in his political and official rela¬ tions that Mr. Washburn will be chiefly known away from the cit\" of his home. These have been varied and important, culminating in the highest official posi¬ tion below the presidency, in the nation - that of Senator of the United States.

Like all his distinguished brothers, he had a taste for politics, and like them belonged to the radical wing of the Repub¬ lican party. Strongly anti-slavery in the ante-bellum da3^s, when that was an engrossing political question, strenous for the rights of the freedmen, he yet tempered his S3unpathies by a regard to practical statesmanship. Thus he took ground against the importation of Chi¬ nese laborers ; and favored at the last session of Congress financial legislation, rather than a fruitless struggle to pass the I'orce bill. He was a protectionist in theory, and 3^et I'ecognized the need of practical views in the arrangement of schedides of duties. In short, he svd)ordinated strong S3'm pathetic impulses to practical measures in statesmanship.

As eaidv as 1858 he was elected to the House of Representatives of the Alinnesota Legislature, but the delegation chosen that 3'ear never took their seats, owing to a change of ai)portionment. In 1870 he was again elected to the same position, and served through the impor¬ tant session of 1871, giving his influenee and vote in favor of subjecting the rail¬ roads to public authority. He served upon the school board of Minneapolis for two terms commencing with 1866.

In 1878, Mr. Washburn was elected Representative in Congress, carrying the district by some three thousand majority. He was re-elected in 1880 by twelve thousand majority, and again in 1882, serving six consecutive years. He was an influential and much respected mem¬ ber, devoting especial attention to the needs of his district. Through his influ¬ ence, the national goveimment erected a fine building for the Federal courts and postoffice, in Minneapolis ; and under¬ took the system of reservoirs at the sources of the Mississippi river. His family accompanied him to Washington, where he took a fine house and enter¬ tained Minnesota friends visiting the city, and took a leading part in the social life of the capital.

The crowning honor and most serious responsibility of his life occurred in 1889, when he was chosen to represent the State in the United States Senate, for a term of six years. Having closed the larger part of his business undertakings, he is free to devote his thoughts to public duties. A vei'y important measure has been introduced by him in the Senate at the present session (1892), aiming to suppress the business of dealing in " options " and "futures " in suppositious wheat and other agriclutural products. A blow at such a gigantic system of gambling naturally has aroused power¬ ful opposition, but no one who knows the determination of the Senator and appreciates his intuitive perceptions of public duty will doubt the eventual success of the bill. For two summers he has, with his family, made excursions to Europe, visiting especially the northern

Senator Washburn has been favored through all his life with good health. He has a strong constitution, great vitality, and an easy and agreeable man¬ ner. His unfailing courtesy attracts those of highest social position, while it does not repel the humblest. His dis¬ position is genial, and his temper exhuberant. In debate he is not florid, but argumentative! and practical, preferring to convince the judgment rather than captivate the fancy. In conversation he is engaging, drawing from a store of varied experience. With all, he is a man of positive opinions, and of sufficient strength of will to hold them, until a good reason is shown for their change.

An interesting family of eight children have come to the household, of whom four sons and two daughters survive. The eldest, W. D. Washburn, Jr., lately graduated from Yale and married, has adopted the profession of journalist. Another son has artistic tastes and faculty. The younger are yet pursuing their studies.

After returning to Minneapolis from his brief residence in St. Paul, Mr. Wash¬ burn built a con venient, though not osten¬ tatious dwelling, at the corner of Seventh street and Fifth avenue, where the family lived for many years. A few years ago he erected a mansion upon a high and wooded tract of ten acres, at Third avenue and Twenty -fourth street. " Fair Oaks" is an elegant home, and a lovely spot. It is the pride of citizens and the admiration of visitors. Here is dispensed a refined and elegant hospitality, and the spacious rooms and sumptuous fur¬ nishings ai'e freely offered for meetings in premotion of art and charity.

grappled with a stupendous and wide spread public evil. From his indomaable qualities, his innate sagacit}', and his sympathies with the trials and aj)- preciation of the needs of the masses of the people, it is not doubtful that his public labors will bring honor to himself and advantage to the State. Opportu¬ nity and endowment are his. Ambi¬ tion urges him forward, while high pur¬ poses and lofty aims direct him in a course of beneficent public service.

W. D. Washburn became prominently^ identified with the lumber interests of Minneapolis by building the Lincoln mill in 1865; it was located on the Minneap¬ olis Mill Company' dam. He had previ¬ ously had logs sawed by the thousand at other mills. In 1866 Elias Moses and G. AI. Stickney^ became partners and the firm became W. D. Washburn & Co. Air. Aloses retired in 1868 and Alessi's Wash¬ burn & Co. continued the business until 1874 when Air. Stickney died and Wm. D. Hale bought the interest of the estate in the firm, and the business continried under the same firm name. They sold the Lincoln mill and had their logs cut by the thousand in Alinneapolis there¬ after. In 1875 W. D. Washburn & Co., commenced to operate at Anoka, Alinn., and built a large saw mill there. The Inmber cut of the firm at Alinneapolis and Anoka combined was for many years the largest on the upper Alississippi river. In 1884 Alessrs Washburn & Co., incorporated as The Washburn Alill Co. The entire stock of the new corporation being owned by Hon. W. D. Washburn and Alaj. W. D. Hale, and their lumber and flour business was conducted there¬ after under that head. In 1887 the com¬ pany's saw mill and lumber yard at An¬ oka wci'e destroyed by fire and the com¬ pany decided to close out its lumber bus¬ iness. The stock of lumber at Alinneap¬

Sumner W e l i. i n g t o n F a r n n a m . Ralph Farnham was an emigrant from England, who arrived at Boston in the brig James from South Hampton, April 6th, 1635. He belonged to a family that had been long settled in Surrey, where they were cultivators of the soil, though some of the name had borne a patent of nobility. Two grand-sons of Ralph set¬ tled in York, Alaine, early' in the eigh¬ teenth century, from whom all the fami¬ lies of the name in Alaine are descended. S. W. Farnham is of the eighth genera¬ tion from the first American ancestor. His father was Rufus Farnham, who re¬ sided at Calais, Alaine, where his son Sumner was born, April 2d, 1820. On his mothers side he belonged to the Dver's, who were also of English origin. Both families were participants in the old French war, as also in the Revolu¬ tion. Rufus Farnham was a surveyor of logs and lumber on the St. Croix river of his native state, and initiated his son, at an early' age, into the mysteries of the lumber business.

Air. Farnham is not only by' early training but also by' personal choice a lumberman. At the early' age of four¬ teen years he commenced work about the mills - for four years with his father, and after the age of eighteen on his own account. He went into the pineries of the St. Croix on the boundry line be¬ tween Maine and the Province of New Brunswick, where he wielded the axe, hauled logs, follow'ed the river drives and perfoi'ined all the hard work incident to the logging business. At the age of tw'enty' he bought a saw mill at Baring, near Calais, and operated it on his own ac¬ count for four y'cars. Then lor three vears he worked in the mill £ind lumber y'ard.

Thirteen ^^eats of hard work found him no richer than when he commenced with bare hands working in the saw mill. He had indeed done considerable business, and at times counted liberal profits, but attheendof the timethere re¬ mained only debts, but he had thoroughly learned the business in all its various de¬ tails, and had a capital of experience, in¬ dustrious habits and a mental endow¬ ment which was destined to lift him above the toil and druger}^ of the camp and mill into the management of an ex¬ tensive and diversified lumber business.

About the year 1847 the lumber trade had become dull and unprofitable in Maine, and its enterpidsing young men began to look for new fields of operation. Among those who had removed to the west was John McKusick, who had al¬ ready established himself and built a saw mill at Stillwater, on the St. Croix river of Wisconsin and Minnesota. From him young Farnham learned of the facilities for prosecuting lumbering in the North¬ west, and resolved to look the country over and find a new and more inviting location.

He left Calais in September, 1847, alone, and journeyed by the most exped¬ itious methods then available to Detroit, Mich. The disjointed railroad lines ter¬ minated at Buffalo, where a vessel was taken which made the voyage to Detroit, consuming about a week in the transit, and furnishing the passengers with pas¬ sage and board for $6. He determined to look over the lumbering prospects in eastern Michigan, and went to Fort Gratiot at the outlet of Lake Huron, where he found three small saw mills in operation. He then proceeded through the woods to where the city of Saginaw is now located, and found four muley saws onl}'' in operation, with no roads, and little evidences of civilization, but with a frightful record of fever and ague and malaria. Then crossing the state of Michigan over the newly built central railroad to Kalamazoo, he crossed the lake by boat to St. Joe, and thencemade his way to Chicago. Here he found a smart town claiming a population of thirteen thousand, and an annual lumber trade of 12,000,000 feet, manufactured and brought from Michigan. After a week spent in examining the attractions of Chicago he took stage, walking and riding by turns, as the depth of mud al¬ lowed, and reached Galena. Here the river began to close, and Mr. Farnham went to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and then to Franklin, among the lead mines, where he spent the winter.

In the following April he hired a team to take him to Prairie du Chien, about seventy miles, and there after waiting three days the old steamer Pearl took him on board and pursued her voyage to the North. At Lake Pepin, w^here the ice had not yet broken up, there was delay, and at Lake City the steamer ran high upon the point, but was pulled off after a delay of three days, and finally, after much tribulation made the port of St. Paul. After a stay of two hours, which, however, was quite sufficient to take in the town, he went on board the Pearl, which dropped down to the mouth of the St. Croix and thence w'ent up to Still¬ water. Here he at once entered the em¬ ployment of Mr. McKusick. Going up to the mouth of Apple river he drove a quantity of logs down to the mill, and then sawed them into lumber. In the last days of June he walked over to Fort Snelling, where he had an interview with Franklin Steele, and staid over night with Philander Prescott, whose farm and dwelling house were just above Min¬ nehaha creek. The next day he came on foot across the prairie, on which there wms at that time but a single lone tree, to the Falls of St. Anthony, and crossed the river above the falls in a canoe. Here he found a dam partly built, and the lower part of the frame of a sawmill uj). Returning the next day to Stillwater, he remained there until after the 4th of Jul^^ and attended a celebration at which M. S. Wilkinson, afterwards United States senator, was orator of the day. He im¬ mediately came back to St. Anthony and entered the employment of Ard Godfrey, working on the mill until it was finished and then running the mill through the remainder of the season until the river frose up in November. The mill had a single old fashioned sash saw, capable of sawing not moi'e than four thousand feet in twelve hours. It was run through the remainder of the season in sawing a few pine logs that had been cut on the banks of the Mississippi in the vicinity of the later built F'ort Ripley. This was the summer and autumn of 1848. This was practically the beginning of the settle¬ ment at St. Anthony. Previously to this time Pierre Bottineau, with his brothers Severre and Charles, his brotherin-law Louis Desjarlais, Joseph Reach and family, and their employees, all half breeds, were the only occupants of the place. Franklin Steele, Wm. R. and Jos¬ eph AI. Alarshall and R. P. Russell were more or less in the village, but they lived either at the Fort or at St. Paul. Be¬ sides Ard Godfre}', who had come from Maine to build the dam and mill, the permanent residents were: William A. Cheever, Calvin A. Tuttle, Luther and Edward Patch, Caleb D. Dorr, Robert W. Cummings, Charles W. Stin¬ son, John AIcDonald, Samuel Fernold, and Daniel Stanchfield. It was this year that Alinnesota Territory was organ¬ ized. In the fall an election for delegate was held, at which Air. Farnham with R.W. Cummings and Caleb D. Dorr were judges. A total of twenty-three votes were cast, which were canvassed and retured to Stillwater, the then counH' seat. In the fall Daniel Stanchfield took a con¬ tract from Franklin Steele to cut logs on Rum river for the supply of the mill. Air. Farnham was employed for the winter, and went with the part3% taking charge of one of the two crews of fifteen men that made up thepart3\ The\' proceeded to a point since known as Stanchfield brook, where thej' found the old camp, now gone into complete decaj", where the logs had been cut by the garrison for the construction of Fort Snellingin 1821. Here they built a camp, and cut and drove in the spring about 2,200,000 feet of logs. This was the first lumbering ever done on the upper Alississippi wat¬ ers. The logs safely delivered, Air. Farn¬ ham was emplo\"ed in the mill, having charge of the scaling and delivering of lumber until the month of June. Then Air. Steele desired him to explore Rum river, and estimate the cost of clearing out jams and fitting it for driving, which he did. Joseph R. Brown and others had already submitted estimates that the cost would be from $10,000 to $15,000. Air. Farnham 's estimate was less than half, yet more than Air. Steele was will¬ ing to pay. He asked him to make a proposition to cut and drive a quantity' of logs the next winter, that of 1849-50, and clear out the river at his own ex¬ pense. The price agreed on was $4 per thousand feet - a small price when the cost of supplies and the scarcity of men and teams are considered, but there was no stumpage to par', and no tree was cut ber'ond speaking distance from the brook.

Air. Farnham built three batteaux, hired a crew of thirty men, got together his supplies and hauled them to the head of the rapids of Rum river, where St. Francis now is, and in two weeks had the jams cut out and the river in faildriving condition, at a cost of about

$1,200. He then went through the woods and located meadow grounds and camps, and put up hay for the winter. The winter's cut was about 4,000,000 feet, besides about 2,000,000 cut by his brother, and the drive of 6,000,000 feet was safely brought to the P'alls. But then no sufficient provision had been made for catching and holding them, and about half the lot went over the falls and were a total loss. Enough were, however, stopped to fill the east channel from the mill to Boom island, and to stock the mill, and even to glut the lumber market.

During the previous summer Mr. Farnham had broke up forty acres near the late Maple Hill cemetery, which he now fenced and put in a crop of oats, coim and potatoes. These grew marvel¬ ously and produced the largest crop he had ever seen on an equal area of ground. He made a trip to Illinois to buy cattle and supplies for lumbering, and the next winter went into the woods on his own account, and cut and drove 2,000,000 feet of logs. To dispose of his logs he hired one of the saw mills and sawed out his stock of logs, and opened a lumber yard in St. Paul, the first one established there, which he conducted for two years. An election having been ordered for building superintendent for the territor¬ ial buildings, he undertook a journey of sevent\'- miles on foot to the camps on Rum river. The election was held, the votes secured and properly certified, and he returned in the same way on the third day. When the votes were canvassed there was a tie, and the labor was re¬ peated, but on the second trial the can¬ didate whom Mr. Farnham favored was beaten by the votes of a half dozen Indi¬ ans who had been dressed up in citizens garments and voted at Mendota.

ter, and sawing and disposing of his lumber in his yard until 1854. Mean¬ while, in 1851, he was elected a member of the Third Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Minnesota, which convened on the 7th day of January, 1852. His colleague in the House was Dr. John H. Alurphy, and in the Council, W. L. Lamed of St. Anthony and Martin Mc¬ Leod of Oak Grove. He was again elected to the same position in the Seventh Legislature, which met in St. Paul January 2d, 1856.

In 1854 Mr. Farnham having accum¬ ulated a considerable fortune in the lum¬ ber business, formed a partnership with Samuel Tracy, of Syracuse, New York, and opened a bank in St. Anthony. It was the first one at the place, and con¬ tinued for two years, when John N. Bab¬ cock, also from Syracuse, succeeded to the interest of Mr. Tracy. The business was continued until 1858, when it was closed, the depositors being fully paid, but, in the reverses of the period, with a considerable loss of the capital which had been invested.

Messrs. Rogers and Stimsonhad built a saw mill at the easterly end of the Falls on Hennepin Island. They owned the water power independently of the St. Anthony Falls Water Power Com¬ pany. This was purchased in 1860 by Air. Farnham, who associated with him¬ self James A. Lovejoy in the business, and formed the lumber firm of Farnham & Lovejoy, which was extensively en¬ gaged in the pine land, logging and lum¬ ber business for twenty-eight years, and until the death of Mr. Lovejoy. The mill was le-built, a gang being put in, and had a daily capacity of 70,000 feet. The second year of its operation the mill was burned, but was immediately re¬ built and its capacity doubled. Mr. A. C. Morrill was admitted to the firm, but retired after a few years, after which

Fariiliam & Lovejoy continued the busi¬ ness until it was closed in 1888, after the death of Mr. Lovejoy. The mill had previously been sold with its important water rights to Mr. James J. Hill, who had also purchased the entire water power of the East Side.

While Mr. Farnham was assiduously engaged in prosecuting the lumber busi¬ ness for more than thirty-five years, he bore his share in the promotion of the interests of the growing community, and shared in its honors. He was intelligent, broad-minded and liberal. As early as 1849 he was one of the incorporators of the Library Association of St. Anthony which maintained for several years courses of leetures for the instruction and entertainment of the citizens. In 1855 he served as assessor of St. Anth¬ ony and was afterwards elected city treasurer. In 1859 he was treasurer of the Union Commercial Association, and in 1861 was one of a committee ap¬ pointed to raise money for the relief of the families of soldiers who had gone into the war. He was appointed one of the board of water commissioners of the present city of Minneapolis about 1884, and served for two r-eai's with much in¬ telligent knowlege of the system.

Mr. Farnham was unmarried when he settled in St. Anthony. June, 1, 1851, he found his wife there in the person of Miss Euniee Estes, a daughter of Jonathan Estes, an immigrant from Maine. They have had six childi'en, of whom Imt two sons, Frank W. and Neal, survive. A daughter married to Theo¬ dore S. Sherman died in 1877. Another son died at the age of twenty-four in 1880. The other two ehildren died in infancy or early childhood. A grand¬ daughter, Sarah Farnham Sherman, now aged fifteen, is an inmate of the family home. Mrs. Farnham, like her husband, preserves in advanced life much of the vigor and spirit of earlier years. Their home has been a center of hospitality and cheerful domestie and social life. They have been conneeted for many years with the Chureh of the Redeemer, under the pastoral care of Dr. Tuttle. Their home continued on the East Side until some dozen years since when they removed to the West Side where they are now enjoying the reminiscences of active and usefid lives, and the satisfaction of a green old age.

Previous to the building of the Minne¬ sota Central Railroad (now called the Iowa division of the Chicago, Alilwaukee and St. Paul) the lumber manufiietured at Minneapolis was rafted and floated down the Mississippi river, and marketed at St. Louis and other points along the river. In order to make up the rafts it was necessar}^ to build sluice-ways about four feet wide and two feet deep, extending from the saw mills to the still water near the pres¬ ent Washington avenue bridge. These sluice-ways were built out of planks and were erected on trestle work, so as to make a gradual slope from the mills down to the ])lace where the lum¬ ber floated in still water. A stream of water was turned into the sluiceways sufficient to float the lumber to the raft. When the railroad reached Alinneapolis that style of shipment was mostly done away with, but some lumber was rafted as late as 1872. The sluiceways were gradually torn down, but were not en¬ tirely obliterated until 1873. The last years they were left standing, the^' were an object of curiosity to visitors and new comers to Minneapolis, and many inquires were put forth as to their xise and the purpose for which they were built.

but four of the six firms occupying the mill company's dam, in the busines, towit; Eastman, Bovey & Co., Leonard Day & Sons, Ankeny, Robinson & Pettit and Cole & Hammond. Mr. W. W. Eastman retired from the firm of East¬ man, Bovey & Co., and H. D. Eastman and H. M. DeLaittre became members of the firm, Mr. C. A. Bovey and Mr. John De Laittre remaining. The firm continued under the same name as be¬ fore, and purchased one of the mills on the east side dam and operated it until it burned in 1887, when Mr. H. D. East¬ man retired and the remaining partners incorporated as the Bovey-De Laittre Lumber Co., with John De Laittre, presi¬ dent; H. M. De Laittre, vice-president, and C. A. Bovey, secretary and treasurer. The company purchased a site near the month of Shingle creek, and bought the Camp & Walker saw mill which was lo¬ cated on the river bank at the foot of First avenue north, and moved it to the new site, remodeled and enlarged it, and are now operating the mill, doing an ex¬ tensive business. Leonard Day & Sons also continued with some changes. Mr. Leonard Day died about that time and his sons succeeded to the business under the firm name of J. W. Day & Co. They purchased a site near the west end of the Northern Pacific railroad bridge and erected a large mill, and still continue the manufacture of lumber. Dating from the establishment of the business by Leonard Day in 1855, this firm has had the longest unbroken career in the lum¬ ber business of any firm in the city of Minneapolis, with J. B. Bpssett & Co. a close second. The present members of firm are John W., Wm. H., Lerenzo D. and Leonard A. Day and David Willard.

The firm of Ankeny, Robinson & Pet¬ tit became W. P. Ankeny & Bro., and upon the death of W. P. Ankenj-^, A. T. Ankeny, his brother, and W. A Newton,

Cole & Hammond dissolved and Mr. Cole went to the east side of the river for a mill, and leased the Todd, Connor, Gaines & Co. mill on the east side dam, then owned by W. W. Eastman, and associa¬ ted with him Mr. C. W. Weeks, under the firm name of Cole & Weeks. They con¬ tinued the business until their mill burned in 1887, when they retired from the field.

Eldred & Spink built a shingle mill near the mouth of Bassett creek in 1867. The site occupied was near that formerly occupied by the saw mill of Pomeroy, Bates & Co. Mr. Spink retired from the firm in a few 3^ears and Mr. Wm. H. Eldred succeeded to the business, and continued to operate the mill until it burned down in 1878, when he retired from the business.

In 1870, after the row of saw mills sit¬ uated on the old Steele dam on the east side burned, the remains of the dam were removed and a new dam commenced 300 feet below the former site which is the present dam across the east channel ; and the lumbermen immediately commenced to build another row of mills to take the place of those burned. Four mills were built in all. Levi Butler & Co., com¬ posed of Levi Butler, T. B. Walker, O. C. Merriman, J. M. Lane and L. M. Lane, built the first or inside mill. Todd, Con¬ nor, Gaines & Co. built the second mill; Todd, Haven, Leavett & Co. the third; Levi Butler the fourth, and James Mc¬ Mullen & Co. built the fifth mill. The first mill of L. Butler & Co. was com¬ pleted during the winter of 1870 and 1871. Messrs. Butler and Walker retired in 1872 and Merriman & Lane operated the mill until W. M. and F. C. Barrows came into the firm in 1876, and the firm became Merriman, Barrows & Co., and so continued until 1887 when the mill was destroyed by fire with the others on the dam, and the Messrs. Lane retired from the firm and the remaining partners incorporated as the Merriman-Barrows Co., and since that time have had their logs sawed b}' the thousand. Todd. Connor, Gaines & Co. dissolved partner¬ ship in a few years, and Mr. Todd suc¬ ceeded to the proprietorship of the mill which was sold b\' him upon retiring from the manufacture of lumber, and it became the property of W. W. Eastman who sold it to the water power com¬ pany, who owned it when it burned in 1887. Levi Butler operated his mill, the fourth in the row, until his death in 1879, when his business was closed out and the mill sold to Eastman, Bovey & Co., who operated it until it burned in 1887.

The firm of Clough Bros., consisting of Gilbert and David M. Clough, com¬ menced the lumber business in 1871, and in 1880 the firm commenced the manu¬ facture of lumber in Minneapolis. In the fall of 1882, associated with Warren C. Stetson, the}' built the steam saw mill on Main street northeast, since sold to C. A. Smith & Co., Mr. Stetson being a partner in the saw mill only. In the spring of 1887 Mr. Stetson disposed of his interest in the mill to F. O. Kilgore. Clough Bros, continued to run the mill until July, 1891, when they sold the plant to C.A. Smith & Co. In 1889 Gilbert Clough died, but the interest of his estate has remained in the business, and the firm have their logs sawed by the thousand

In 1871 Silas Moffitt built a saw mill at the foot of Fifth avenue north on the river bank, changing the building from a sash, door and blind factory. In 1873 he sold it to Bedford, Boyce & Baker, who operated the mill and did a large lumber business. Through disagree¬ ments between the ])artners the firm made an assignment in 1875 to W. C. Baker, and he operated the mill until 1878, when he bought it of the former partners and leased it to Goodnow & Hawle}', who continued to operate the mill uutil 1883, when Mr. Hawley re¬ tired and James Goodnow operated the mill alone until 188G, when the mill burned and was not rebuilt. James Goodnow continued the business alone for one year when he retired also, and John Goodnow and C. D. Lawther suc¬ ceeded him and conducted the business until 1891, the senior partner, John Goodnow, being a son of James Good¬ now. While they were in the lumber business Messrs Goodnow & Lawther had their logs sawed by the thousand by the Hall & Ducey Lumber Company.

James McMullen. Captain Mc¬ Mullen, as he was known in his eastern home, was born in the town of Reading, Pennsylvania, on the 21st da}" of July, 1824. His father was a Scotchman, born at Greenoch. He was a sea-faring man, and early initiated his son as a sailor. From the age of ten years he followed the sea, beginning as a cabin boy on his father's ship. He filled all nautical i)ositions from common sailor to captain. On his first voyage his father was swept from the deck in a gale and perished from his sight. During fifteen years he was a merchant navigator, and visited nearly every country in Europe, doubled Cape Horn, ventured into Behring Sea, and cruised on a whaler among the Pacific islands.

The adventures of these early years, though not uncommon to those who fol¬ low the sea, were some of them full of danger and thrilling interest. At one time the ship on which he was a sailor put into the straits of Magellan. With a small party of sailors he went ashore on the south .side and wandered some miles gathering nuts, when they were surprised by a band of Terra del Fuegans with elubs, eager to recruit their larder with a fat white man. Young McMullen, unwilling to loose his bag of nuts, fell into the rear and narrowly escaped capture, the penalty" of which would have been to furnish a feast for these cannibals, of nether Patagonia.

When fifteen years old, he shipped on the bark Caledonia, for Rio Janeiro, and a market. Having discharged the ship's cargo of flour at Rio, the sailors discov¬ ered in the hold guns and arms, as well as a supply of trinkets and gaudy cloths, which made it evident that her ulterior destination was the coast of Africa and a return cargo of slaves. Unwilling to engage in such an inhuman and unlaw¬ ful enterprise, he with five companions left the ship, but they were pursued and brought back. Again, after the ship had got into the offing, they secured the long boat and succeeding in reaching the open country, when the}^ were pursued b^^ a band of Portugese soldiers and lodged in jail. Here young McMullen succeeded in sending word to Captain Decater, who had arrived in the harbor on the U. S. sloop of war, Fairfield. He visited the caxDtives, and having heard their statement, made an examination of the Caledonia, and gaining unmistakable evidence of her character as a slaver, ordered the men to be discharged with two months' pa3^ The men were given their option to stay in Rio or return on the Fairfield. McMullen chose the latter and was treated as a passenger until the sloop had left port, when he was given a uniform and jDut among the sailors. Thoughtlessly spitting on the deck he was rudely arrested by a stripling mid¬ shipman, who drew his sword and struck him with its flat side. Indignant and not reflecting upon his position or the conse¬ quences, he delivered such a vigorous kick upon the Middj^ that the latter was sent sprawling on the deck. Of course he was arrested and sentenced to receive twelve lashes on the bare back. Tied up by the thumbs the penalty was vigorouslj" laid on. But he determined to get even, and failing to hit his persecutor with a marline spike, which he dropj)ed from aloft, on arrival at Norfolk he hired a wharf lounger to soundly whip him for the low x^rice of two dollars and a half The midshipman is believed to be one Mills, who at the beginning of the Re¬ bellion, betrayed the warship Minnesota, which he then commanded, to the rebels.

When he was seventeen years old, he made a voyage to Cuba for a cargo of sugar. Returning, the ship was driven in a furious gale onto one of the Florida reefs, and went to pieces. McMullen lashed himself to a sx^ar, with a fellow sailor, who, however, was killed before reaching shore, and with extraordi¬ nary effort got through the breakers, unlashed himself, and leaving his sparto be swept back by the reflex waters, clung to a coral reef, and making a quick dash reached the land. Of a crew of twentyseven, officers and men, he was the onl}" survivor. But he found himself on an uninhabited and isolated reef, but fortu¬ nately a revenue eutter, sailing among the kex^s, took him off before he was quite famished.

On another occasion, the vessel on which he had shix^pcd careened on her side, and the ci'ew, excex^t himself and the caxDtain, were thrown through an ox^en hatehway into the vessel's hold. Going overboard to cut awaj" the mast, he lashed himself, and when the vessel righted hauled himself on board by the rope with which he had lashed himself, and a moment afterwards the mast disaxDpeared in the tumbling water drawing the rox3e with it. A moment later and

On the 11th of April, 1849, at the age of twenty-four, he was united in mar¬ riage with Miss Charlotte M. McNitte, of Rradlej^ Maine. Sometimes trivial circumstances determine one's course in life. The influence of a young wife ma\" be of that character. It is at least proof of the strongest attachment that a jyoung man shoidd change the entire habit and plan of his life to conform to the desire of his chosen partner. Such seems to have been the influence which led the young sailor to abandon the sea and locate himself on the remotest frontier, as far as possible from the seductive in¬ fluence of the blue sea. An older sister of Mrs. McMullen, who had been her foster-mother, was about to take up her abode at St. Anthony, and the young wife wished to live near her. Mr. Mc¬ Mullen thinking one place on the land as good as another, accompanied his brother-in-law, and settled in St. Anthonj' in the autumn of 1849. It was the same year that Col. Stevens arrived at Fort Snelling, at the very beginning of growth and settlement in the new town. Every thing was new and primitive. The need of the time and place was for workers, to subdue the wildness of nature, and lay the foundations and raise the first superstructui'e of civilized life. These early pioneers wrought well, and those who survive have the rare satisfaction of having seen a scattei'ed hamlet become a great, rich, and beautiful metropolis, within the short space between earh^ manhood and hdl maturity; and may and do richU' enjo}' the magnificent fruit of their early labors.

Before locating in St. Anthony, Cajjt. McMullen made a stop of a few days at Stillwater, where he was emplo^^ed to do some jobs in carpentering, to recruit his exhausted finances. He had no lands¬ man's trade, but he had worked as ship's carpenter, and had the hang of tools. Accordingh^ he devoted the first winter to making sleds for the lumbermen, and thus became entitled to the distinction of being the first manufactui'er at the Falls. He easily drifted into carpenter and joiner's work, and found abundant employment in .the urgent demand for houses to shelter the fast coming new settlers. Fortunately for the growth of the town, a saw mill was in operation at the Falls, and lumber was abundant, and not excessively dear, as it often is in a new country. He soon became a con¬ tractor and employed others to execute the jobs which he undertook and super¬ intended. In the beginning of the war, when the government I'ecpiired all the river craft that could be obtained, for transportation on the lower part of the Mississippi river, the owners of the two steamboats "Enterprise" and "St. Cloud," then plying on the river above the Falls, were desirous of transferring them to the lower river, but how to do it was a serious problem, n This, Capt. McMullen iinderstood ; and the citizens were surprised to see two huge steam¬ boats slowly making their way down Main street. The job was successfully completed, through the ingenuity and perseverance of the contractor, and in due time the boats were I'eturned to their watei'y element after a short ciiuise on dry land.

In 1857, Mr. McMullen joined with another pioneer, the late H. G. O. Mor¬ rison, in an enterpi'ise to start a town at Pine Rend, on the AIississi])pi river, above Hastings. A store was built, but the attempt was unsuccessful and was abandoned. Two \'ears later he took a saw mill at Lakeland, on the St. Croix river, which he operated for one season.

tracting to mamifacttiriiig lumber was a natui'al one and Capt. McMullen, in 1872, built a shingle mill with a single circular saw for lumber, at the lower end of Hennepin Island. After running it successfully for about five years, the lum¬ ber yard took fire, and burned his entire stock of lumber and shingles, causing a loss of $20,000 without insurance. Nothing daunted, though his loss was serious, he added a gang of saws to the saw mill - one of the row that was erected on the East Side, at the Falls. The mill had a complete arrangement for the manufacture of shingles, and for sawing lumber as well. After nine 3^ears' oi^eration,he was again doomed to suffer loss, the mill being swept away by the great fire which destroyed the row of saw mills on the East Side in 1887.

The mill was rebuilt, and in a more complete and substantial manner than before, and it is the only one which has been rebuilt upon that site up to the present time. It is one of the largest mills in the citj', having both gang and circular saws, with all the varied and intricate machinery for trimming and finishing lumber. Its capacity is 175,000 feet in ten hours, and has run with scarceH a stop since its completion in 1888 to the present time, from about the middle of May to the middle of No¬ vember each year. This fine saw mill was, burned to the ground in July, 1892, but will be rebuilt bj- the enterprising proprietor. His two sons are associated with him in the saw mill.

Captain McMidlen has had his busy hand in many of the first things in the city. He worked on the first steamboat ever built here, the Gov. Ramsey, helped build the first church and the first school house, and put up the first brick building in St. Paul.

public and official work of building and governing the town. In 1858 he was elected to the City Council, serving in that office for two j'ears, while Alvarin Allen and Orrin Curtis occupied the maj^or's chair. He was trustee of the school district in 1851-2-3, and upon the consolidation of the school districts he became a member of the school board of St. Anthony, serving in that capacity for five years. The law under which the public schools of that city were conduct¬ ed was oi'iginal and became the model for the organization of the public school system of the various cities of the state. The city was made the location of the State University, and with her fine grad¬ ed and high schools, academ3^ and Universit3', has become the educational center of the state. Great credit is due to the early members of her School Board, who laid the foundation for these great and price¬ less possessions.

As early as 1852 Mr. McMullen co¬ operated with a few others in organiz¬ ing a Territorial Temperance Societ3^, through whose influence a prohibitory law was enacted by the Legislature, but before it had demonstrated its utility or failure, it was declared unconstitutional by the courts. He has ever been a strong advocate of temperance and for many years was an active member of the order of Sons of Temperance.

He was one of the original band that formed the First Universalist Church of St. Anthon3^ and was a large contrib¬ utor to the fine stone edifice that was erected for that church near the present Exposition building. In late years he has been an attendant and supporter of All Souls church on the East Side.

He was an original member of Cata¬ ract Engine Company, which in the earl3' days of St. Anthony not only protected property but was a leader in social amusements.

When the news of the Indian massa¬ cre of 1862 reached the town, the alarm bell was sounded, and in a few hours a troop of volunteers followed the lead of the dauntless Capt. Anson Northrup to relieve the beleagui'ed settlers. Among these minute' men was Capt. McMullen, who made the campaign until relieved by the regular but more tardy military force. Though never aspiring to leader¬ ship in politics, he has been a strong Re¬ publican, and often has represented his ward in conventions. He was one who attended and organized the Republican party in Minnesota in 1856, and with cap, cape and torch marched with the Wide Awake club in the Fremont campaign.

He has a large frame, broad in the shoulders, strong of limb, with a firm tread ; and has through his long and laborious life enjoyed excellent health. His temperament is genial, though reti¬ cent in general conversation. His emo¬ tions are stirred by injustice or suffering, and responsive to charitable appeals. He has practiced that noblest benevo¬ lence, a personal interest in the welfare of those in his emplo^'ment.

The family home is a pleasant location at Fourth street and Sixth avenue south¬ east ; while the two sons, Albert Ever¬ ett and Wilber Howard, both married, have residences in the immediate vicinity.

Captain McMullen has crossed the stormy waters of life's voyage, and dropped anchor in the cpiiet harbor of competence and content. He may thank his stars that his voyage was directed by the gentle counsel of his 3'oung bride, who has been his faithful fellow vovager into so goodh" a countr3" as that sur¬ rounding St. Anthony's Falls.

the erection of small shingle mill on the east side dam, between Hennepin Island and the east bank. This was the fifth mill on the dam, I'eferred to elsewhere. The mill was completed and commenced sawing the following August. It had a capacity of 200,000 shingles and 12,000 to 15,000 feet of lumber ever3"ten hours. In March, 1875, Mr.C.W. Weeks retired from the firm, and was succeeded by A. E. McMullen, and in September, 1877, the company met with a large loss, b3' having their entire stock of shingles and lumber destroyed by fire, with no insur¬ ance. After the fire Mr. B. F. Dickey re¬ tired from the firm and was succeeded Iw Mr. W. H. McMullen, Alessrs. A. E. and W.H. McMullen being the sons of James McMullen. In the winter of 1878 and 9 the mill was entirely rebuilt and made into one of the most complete and im¬ proved saw mills in the city, having a capacity of 100,000 feet of lumber and 100,000 shingles every ten hours. In 1887 the mill was destroyed by fire. This mill was the westernmost of the row of saw mills reaching across the east branch of the Mississippi. Messrs. McMullen immediateh' bought the adjoining mill site of Eastman, Bove3' & Co., and com¬ menced the erection of a new mill greath' enlarged and improved, and had it read3' for operation in the following April, and have continued to run the mill since that time, sawing by the thousand for N. P. Clarke & Co. This mill is the onl3^ one left on the east side dam, and with one exception, that of J. B. Bassett & Co., on the west side; it is the only saw mill at the Falls of St. Anthony run 1)3' water power.

The third mill on the east side dam built by Todd, Haven, Leavitt & Co., was sold to Todd, Alartin & Co., and afterward became the pro])ert3' of the John Martin Lumber Co. Thiscompany was organized in 1875 and did a large business in lumber while it operated. Captain John Martin, whose name the company bore, being one of the oldest and best known lumber manufacturers in the city. Its yards were on the east side of the river. Captain Martin owned the mill when it burned in 1887. With the destruction of its saw mill, the John Martin Lumber Co. retired from the manufacture of lumber at Minneapolis.

Thomas Barlow Walker. Mr. Walker has been a resident of Minne¬ apolis since 1862. Since 1868 he has been engaged in the lumber trade, from year to 3^ear increasing his operations until he is to-day the largest owner of pine timbered lands in the state, and, with possibly" one exception, the largest in the Northwest, and manufactures and handles a larger cpaantit3^ of logs and lum¬ ber than any other one man in the North¬ west. His cutting of logs and sale of tim¬ ber the present year, (1891) reaches the enormous cpiantity of more than one hun¬ dred million feet of logs. His extensive lumber business on the Red river, with mills at Crookston, Minnesota, andGrand P'orks, North Dakota, in addition to his heavy logging and timber business on the Mississippi river, forms a mass of business and responsibility that is com¬ monly divided between several lumber firms, and each firm composed of two or more partners.

With the detail of planning and man¬ aging the enormous business, he may be supposed to be a very busy man ; yet he finds time to preside over the affairs of one of the largest banks of his city ; over a unique organization of business men (his own conception) to promote the material interests of the Business Mens Union ; over a gigantic Land and Im¬ provement Company in the vicinity ; and, to vary the occupation from its too ma¬ terial tendency, he iDresides as well over the Managing Board of the City Library and the Society of Fine Arts, and finds still time to devote to the Academy of Natural Science and the spiritual and benevolent work of the Church.

To a rare business capacity which has conceived, and energy which has execu¬ ted such gigantic enterprises, Mr. Walker has united scholarly attainments of a high order, and such artistic taste as has made him the possessor of some of the finest works of renowned modern paint¬ ers, among which are Napoleon in his Coronation Robes by David, Jules Breton's " Evening Call," Bouguereau's "Passing Shower," Rosa Bonheur's "Spanish Muleteers Crossing the Pyrenee," Corot's " Nymphs " and " Scenes in Old Rome," Boulanger's "Barber Shop of Licinius," Wilhelm Von Kaulbach's "Dispersion of the Nations," Poole's "Job and his Messengers," Jazet's "Bat¬ tle of Trafalgar," Vibert's "Morning News," Robert Lafevre's original por¬ traits of Napoleon, Josephine and Marie Louise, Peale's portrait of Gen. Wash¬ ington, Detaille's " En Tonkin," with fine examples by Knaus, Van Marke, Jacque, Rousseau, Francais, Gabriel Per¬ rier, Cazin, Schreyer, Inness, Moran, Lerolle, Brown, Herman, Lossow and many other equally well known artists, making in all a collection of about one hundred paintings, which are generally regarded as the most uniformily fine private collection in this country.

It is interesting to trace the influences which have led the studious and ambiti¬ ous youth from the narrow limitation of his home, step by step, to a newly devel¬ oping region with wide opportunities and have forced him to the front of the fortunate few who have achieved success.

His parents, Platt Bayless and Anstis Barlow Walker had^migrated from New York where thev were connected with many respectable and some eminent fam- ilies tracing their lineage to early New England sources to Ohio, where, at Xenia, on the 1st of February, 1840, Thomas Baidow, their third child and second son was born. The name Barlow was the maternal family name, made honorable bj" two brothers of Mrs. W. Walker bearing the judicial title, one in New York and one in Ohio.

The father embarked all his means in fitting out a train for the newly diseovered El Dorado, and before reaehing the plains was smitten with cholera and died. The train proeeeded but never yielded a dividend to the forlorn widow, who was left with her four ehildren to breast the storm of life alone and penni¬ less. E'rom the time of this sad bereave¬ ment until his sixteenth year Thomas shared the lot of many a fatherless boy in trial, struggle, and longing aspira¬ tion. Then the family removed to Berea to enjoy the advantages offered by the Baldwin University for securing to the children an edueation. The lad of six¬ teen entered the school and with many interruptions continued his studies in and out of the school for several years. He was able to attend not more than one term in each year, engaging as trjiveling representative of a prosperous citi¬ zen, Hon. Fleteher Hulet, who was a manufaeturer of the Berea grindstones. On his travels his books were his com¬ panions, and he was enabled by diligent study to keep step with the more fortu¬ nate students who remained at the Uni¬ versity. He had an aptness for mathe¬ matical studies, as well as for the scien¬ ces, particularly astronomy and chemistr\'. In these branehes he went far be¬ yond the requirements of the college cur¬ riculum, mastering the chief problems of Newton's Principia. The text books of these days of travel and of studjq marred by nnich jolting over rough roads, and defaced by drippings of midnight oil, oceupy a corner in Mr. Walker's fine lib¬ rary.

When nineteen he took a contract to furnish a railroad then under construetion with cross ties, at Paris, Ill., and or¬ ganized a large eamp and for eighteen months was engaged in the forest with his ehoppers and teams. The contract was filled and would have yielded con¬ siderable profit, but that the failure of the company deprived him of all but a few hundred dollars. The following winter was oecupied in teaching a district school, for which he was well qualified, and which occupation he so valued as to con¬ template making it the work of his life. About this time he called on a college acquaintanee, who was Professor of Math¬ ematics in the Wisconsin University, and demonstrating to his friend that hecould solve the most abstruse problems of the Principia, made application for. an assis¬ tant professorship of mathematies. While the application was under consid¬ eration he proceeded on his business travels, and at MeGregor, Iowa, met Mr. J. M. Robinson of Minneapolis, who so enthvised him with a description of the attractions and advantages of the embryo eity that he decided to visit it. Arriving at St. Paul with a eonsignment of grindstones he met an energetic, vigor¬ ous and unusually intelligent young man who was employed by the transporta¬ tion eompany as clerk and workman on the wharf. This young man sorted out and tallied the grindstones, and put in a separate pile all the "nicked and spalted'' stones, which the purchaser, Mr. I). C. Jones, of St. Paul, was permitted Iw his bill of sale of the stones to rejeet. This young man was James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railroad Compan3% and the most consincnous and wealthiest railroad man in the west.

of George B. Wright, who had a contract to survey government lands, and begun preparations to take the field. He had studied the science but had no technical knowledge of surveying, and engaged as ehainman. Mr. Wright himself manipu¬ lated the instrument. Not many days had passed in the field before the position changed. The employer carried the chain and the new man run the compass. Dur¬ ing the winter he occupied a desk in the law office of L. M. Stewart, Esq., en¬ gaged in general study, receiving from "Elder" Stewart the commendation that he had " put in the best winter's work on his books that he had ever seen a young man do." Meanwhile the pending appli¬ cation at Madison had been decided in his favor, and he had been offered a chair in the University as Assistant in Mathematics. But it was too late; a new career had opened, and the young man was to become a leader of enter¬ prise rather than a teacher of boys. The following season was spent in examining lands for the Saint Paul & Pacific Rail¬ road company".

Among his fellow students at Baldwin University was the daughter of his em¬ ployer, Miss Harriet G. Hulet. An en¬ gagement of marriage had been made. Mr. Walker returned to Ohio, and on the 19th of December, 1863, was married to Miss Hulet. They came to Minneapolis and set about the acquisition of a home. The struggle was a long one. Sharing the life of the pioneers of the day wdth cheerfulness and industry, wdth helpful¬ ness and courage, their efforts were suc¬ cessful. A humble home was secured; better ones followed. A family of eight children were raised, and to-day the ele¬ gant mansion on Hennepin avenue, wdth its treasure of art, is the happy consum¬ mation of labor and hope.

government surveys, though for a part of the time he was upon railroad engin¬ eering. This employment brought him among the pine forests of the northern part of the State, and the observations then made formed a better wmge than the surveyor's pay. His eye ranging from the tall pines acres across the treeless prairies of the West saw visions of vast possibilities of business and fortune in transforming the rugged trees into houses and improvements, into villages and cities, to arise on the broad stretches of prairie. The followdng years made what wms the vision a substantial reality. Mr. Walker became an owner of vast tracts of pine timbered land, a lumberman, a manufacturer and a seller of lumber. His first ventures in the location of pine tim¬ bered lands was in 1867. Possessing no capital of his owm, he was obliged to share with others who could furnish it, the profits of the business. He became associated wdth Dr. Levi Butler and Mr. Howmrd W. Mills, at first in locating timbered lands, and afterwards in log¬ ging and manufacturing lumber, as wHl as in selling pine stumpage. This firm continued for five years, until ill health compelled Mr. Mills to retire from the business. The firm of Butler & Walker was formed and continued the business. This continued some years, until the burning of the lumber mills on the east side of the river, the machiner3^ in two of wffiich belonged to the firm, entailing a serious and embarrassing loss.

This led to the formation of the part¬ nership of L. Butler & Co., consisting of Air. Walker, Dr. Levi Butler, O. C. Alerriman, James W. Lane and Leon Lane. This firm constructed one of the large saw mills, on the east side, at the new dam, and for several years did a large manu¬ facturing business - the largest at that time in the city. In 1871 this firm was succeeded by Butler & Walker, but wms closed up in 1872, as Mr. Walker was unwilling to eontinne business during the business depression which followed and which entailed heavy losses upon those who eontinued in business.

The times beeoming more pros])erous in 1877, the firm of Camp & Walker was formed, the partner being Major George A. Camp, who had for many years been surveyor-general of logs and lumber in the district and was an expert in the handling of logs. The Paeifie Mill, long operated by Joseph Dean & Co., was purehased and operated until the fall of 1880, when it was burned. Dui'ing the succeeding winter and spring the mill was re-built, nearly on the old site, but in so thorough a manner that it was the best mill whieh had ever been ei'ected in Minneapolis. It was operated until 1887, when the ground whieh it occupied being required for railroad purposes the mill was torn down. Owning their own pine timber, mills and lumber yards, the firm of Camp & Walker did a very large lumber business.

Air. Walker had loeated a large quantit}' of pine lands about the sources of Red Lake river, the outlet of which is by wa3^ of the Red river. To utilize this timber he oi'ganized with his eldest son, Gilbert M. Walker, the Red River Lumber eompany, and built a large saw mill at Crookston and anotherat Grand Forks, on the Red river. These mills have been in operation each 3'ear since their eonstruetion, up to the preset time, the busi¬ ness being managed mostly by Mr. Gil¬ bert Walker. During these 3^ears Air. Walker was connected with Air. H. T. Welles, Franklin Steele and others in the purchase of timber lands and in the sale of stum page and logs.

At the time of the devastation of the crops in the western part of the state b3' grasshoppers, while Gov. Pillsbur3^ was exploring the suft'ering districts and or¬ ganizing relief. Air. Walker made a i)ersonal visit to the afflicted eountr3', and perceiving that a late eroj) might be made 133' so wing turnips and buekwheat, purehased all the seed to be had in Alinneapolis and St. Pciul and telegraphed to Chieago for all that coidd be had there, and personalh^ distributed it among the farmes. The crop was a suc¬ cess and greath' relieved the suffering of families and animals.

For some years Air. Walker served as one of the managers of the State Reform Sehool, giving to the duties much thought and attention, and becoming much en¬ deared to the unfortunate inmates of that institution

Always interested in publie education, valuing books and libraries. Air. Walker was a stoekholder and liberal contribu¬ tor to the Alinneapolis Atheuceum. It was in its organization astoekeompan3q and the privileges were confined to its members. Desiring to open its doors to a wider circulation. Air. Walker gave 3'ears of labor, against the opposition of man3' stockholders, to aceomplish the cherished purpose. Buying many shares, he distributed them among deserving youngpeople, and proeured the lowering of the priee of shares and the admission of the general publie to the reading room, and by the payment of a small fee to the books also. Yet these coneessions did not meet his views of the needs of the publie. Thro ugh the agitation eaused by these ehanges, and his persistent ad¬ hesion to the idea of a free libraiw, and in pursuanee of plans suggested by him, the present free public libraiw was estab¬ lished. The ])lan was unique and com¬ prehensive.

The books and propert3' of the AthenjEum, together with the fund whieh Dr. Kirby Spencer had bequeathed to it, wei'e transferred to the City Libraiy, a large subseription 1)3' Air. Walker and other liberal citizens and an appropria¬ tion by the city were made for the erec¬ tion of the building, and a tax on the property of the city of one-half mill upon the dollar of valuation was authorized for its support. Quarters were provided in the building for the Academy of Nat¬ ural Science, and for the Society of Fine Arts, in both of which Mr. Walker had taken an especial interest.^ Mr. Walker was made President of the Library Board, and under his wise and liberal counsels the city has become possessed of this beneficial institution. Nor did his interest in the institution stop with the erection of the building. The walls of the Art Gallery are liberally spread with costly and beautiful paintings moved from his own collection, and his friend J. J. Hill was induced to add some costly specimens which he had gathered among the studios of European artists.

The Minneapolis Land & Investment Company, of which Mr. Walker is presi¬ dent and which owes its being to his inspiration, is a gigantic undertaking. Its leading idea was to benefit the city of Minneapolis by furnishing suitable sites for manufactories, although it is quite likeW to become a profitable in¬ vestment as well. Seventeen hundred acres of land were purchased just west of the city limits, and a large amount of money expended in laying out and fitting the tract for its uses. There are fast gathering various industides, and a new city is springing up at St. Louis Park. It was in the same spirit that the Busi¬ ness Men's Union was formed at Air. Walker's suggestion, and he was made its president. These efforts cost time, labor and money, but neither the one nor the other are spared to build up the substantial interests of the city o'f his home and of his love. These acts in the public interest are supplemented in the same spirit by a private benevolence as wide as the needs of the sorrowful and the suffering, of which no record exists except in the heai'ts of the grateful recip¬ ients, unless the Divine Master, whom he acknowledges and serves, has entered them on his book of remembrance.

Mr. Walker's family consists of seven children, the eldest being associated with him in the management of his lumbering business. One son in early manhood was taken from the home. Two daugh¬ ters and four younger sons are yet in the family home.

In 1876 T. B. Walker, who was the largest owner of pine lands on the upper Mississippi, associated with him Alajor Geo. A. Camp, under the firm name of Camp & Walker. They bought the steam saw mill of J. Dean & Co., known as the Pacific mill and located on the river bank at the foot of First avenue north. They immediately stocked the mill and beeame large manufacturers of lumber. In the fall of 1880 the mill burned, but was rebuilt in the winter fol¬ lowing nearly on the old site, and at that time it was the most complete saw mill in the Northwest. Messrs. Camp & Walker continued to operate the mill un¬ til 1887, when they sold it to the Bovey- DeLaittre Lumber Co., who moved it up river to Shingle creek, just north of the city limits and rebuilt it, and Camp & Walker closed out their lumber manufac¬ turing business.

In 1878 Ex-Gov. John S. Pillsbury, who had been interested in the manu¬ facture of lumber more orless since 1857, formed a partnership with C. A. Smith, under the firm name of C. A. Smith & Co. Messrs Smith & Co. had their logs sawed by different mills by the thousand, until 1891, when in July of that year they pur¬ chased the saw mill located on Main street near Fourth avenue northeast.

built b\' Clough Bros. & Kilgore, and have run it to its full capaeity during the year 1891, sawing 37,000,000 feet of lumber. At the close of the sawing sea¬ son, however, the}" sold the mill to Nel¬ son, Tenney & Co., and will have their own logs sawed by the thousand.

P. G. Lamoreaux also built a saw mill during the 3'ear of 1879 on the east side just abo\"e Plymouth avenue bridge. After operating the mill for a few years it became the property of Fletcher Bros., and has since been run for different part¬ ies sawing by the thousand. E. A. Horr & Co. operated the mill during the sea¬ son of 1890, and in 1891 they purchased the property and continued to run the mill, having thoroughly refitted it.

Benjamin Franklin Nelson. A gen¬ eration has passed since the close of the war of the Rebellion. The survivors of its contests in arms, have crossed the meridian of life. Their animosities have softened, their judgments matured, and their love for a common Union, strength¬ ened, or if once alienated, has been re¬ stored. Those who once wore the blue fraternize with those who donned the gra\", and the acrimonies which were once bitter between them, have melted into a common respect. Minneapolis entered into the struggle with enthusi¬ asm, and sent her choicest citizens to the front. But she has alwaj^s been kind and tolerant to those who were on the other side. Her cosmopolitan popidation cherish neither bigotrj" nor proscrij)- tion. Thus, she made a celebrated con¬ federate general her city engineer, and elected one who bore arms against her in Yii'ginia to her chief magistracy. With similar courtesy and forbearance she re¬ ceived Mr. Nelson, after the war was over, and has entrusted to him her dear¬ est interests, and jilaced upon him her chief honors. And no one, born within

Benjamin F. Nelson was born in Lewis County, Kentucky, on the 4th of Ma\", 1843. His parents were natives of Som¬ erset County, Maryland. His father was in infirm health, and the support of the family devolved upon the sons. The necessities of earning a living turned his earh" efforts into industrial lines, and left but fragmentary times for attendence at school. At seventeen years of age he engaged with a partner in the lumber business, which at first promis¬ ing success, was after two years broken up by the war. An attempt at farming shared the same fate. It will be remembered that the state of Kentucky was de¬ batable ground in the early part of the war. She was a slaveholdingstate, and most of her citizens sj^mpathized with the confederacy; but the state was held by the strong arm of the federal power from actual secession. Hence such of her people as chose to join the Rebellion, had not theexcuseof loyalty to the state. Nevertheless a large part of them chose to join the south in arms Among such was young Nelson, who at nineteen, with a firm conviction of doing right, and animated with the contagius spirit of his section, enlisted in 1862 in Com¬ pany C. of the second Kentucky batta¬ lion, and went immediately into active service, under the command of General Kirby Smith.

During the next two j'ears his cam¬ paigning was active and laborious, ex¬ tending into Virginia, Alabama, Tennes¬ see and Georgia. He served successively under Humphrey Marshall, Wheeler, For¬ rest and John Morgan, and participated in the battles of Chicamaugua, McMinn¬ ville, Shelbyville, Lookout Mountain, Sterling and Greenville. The marchings were rapid and exhausting, the raids spirited, and the fighting severe; but he eseaped all the perils of the mareh, the field and the eamp. In 1864 he was de¬ tached upon recruiting duty in Ken¬ tucky, and venturing within the federal lines, as far as the Ohio river, he had se¬ cured a few recruits, and returning was captured and sent to Lexington and placed in close confinement. There two of his unfortunate recruits were executed , and it was for a time uncertain but that he might be treated as a spy. He was, however, held as a prisoner of war, and sent to Camp Douglas in Chicago, where he was detained in custody until 1865, when he was sent to Richmond; and at the close of the war, in accordance with the liberal terms accorded by General Grant, upon Lee's surrender, he was pa¬ roled.

After the war he returned to Lewis County, Ky., where he remained through the summer working in a saw mill until the latter part of August, when he decid¬ ed to try his fortune in the far west. The south, with its sleepy manners and cus¬ toms was too slow for the man of am¬ bition and enterprise that young Benja¬ min now was, and on the 3d day of Sep¬ tember, 1865, he set foot in the then little town of St. Paul, Minn. Only one day did he remain there, but came on to the Falls of St. Anthony to look for work in the mills, if possible. While walking about the village of St. Anthony that day he wandered down near where the university now stands and lay down on the grass. In this position he studied the Falls of St. Anthony, which were be¬ fore him, and estimated their power, which was then going to wmste. He fully made up mind that he was -lying on the site of a city that would some day be a great one, because of the power in the falls. He estimated the power at 100,- 000 horse power, and it has since been proven that the estimate was right.

Fully resolved to make St. Anthony his home, Mr. Nelson went to work raft¬ ing lumber, to be sent down the river, as there was then no railroads into the cit}". When the season was over he took up a claim near Waverly, built a house, and staid a few nights, but again decided that he did not care about farming. That winter he chopped wood at Watertown, Minn., and when the spring opened up he came back to Minneapolis and went to work in the saw mills. Thenextwinter he contracted to haul logs at Lake Winsted. This venture was not a suc¬ cess, and so in the spring he began to work in a shingle mill, where he remained two years. He then took the contract for making the shinglesby the 1,000, and continued it lor seven years. The mill was owned by Martin & Brown at first and the firm was then changed to Butler & Mills. In this venture Mr. Nelson saved some money, and in 1872 he form¬ ed a partnership with Warren C. Stetson.

This firm started a planing mill, and as the business grew, the St. Louis mill was built. The partnership was dis¬ solved a few years later, Mr. Stetson taking the old mill, called the Pacific, and Mr. Nelson retaining the St. Louis mill. Through the planing work he en¬ tered the lumber business, taking lumber as pay for planing. The trade increased until the year 1881, when Mr. Nelson took into business with him W. M. Ten¬ ney and H. W. McNair, under the firm name of Nelson, Tenney & Co. This firm continued, H. B. Fry entering a few years later, and Mr. McNair retiring. W. F. Brooks afterwards was added to the firm, which in 1882 bought the old Fred Clarke saw mill, and began the manu¬ facturing of lumber on a small scale. Only a few millions of feet wei'e made at first, but the business grew with the city, until last year 50,000,000 feet of lumber were manufactured by the firm. The plant contains two large mills and a smaller one, together capable of cutting 100,000,000 feet if necessary. Thus it is seen how a man of ambition and energy, as B. F. Nelson, was able to work u])- ward, starting without a dollar, until now he is at the head of one of the larg¬ est lumber manufacturing enterprises in the Northwest.

Mr. Nelson is also interested in theNelson Paper compan3% being founder and president, as well as president of the Hen¬ nepin Paper compan\', at Little Falls, Minn.

While giving his attention primarih' to his large business affairs, Mr. Nelson has been called to perform important civic duties. In 1879 he was elected al¬ derman of the First Ward of the city of Minneapolis, and served as a member of the City Council until 1885. He was elected a member of the Park Board soon after the organization of that important branch of the municipal government in 188,3, and was an active participant in adopting the iDark system which has added so much to the beaut\' of the cit\'. He also served as a member of the Board of Education for seven consecutive \'ears, from 1884 to 1891, a service of little eclat before the public, but one of the most useful and responsible in the citv govern¬ ment.

Mr. Nelson has been twice married, first in 1869 to Martha Ross who died five years later, leaving two sons, Wil¬ liam E. and Guy H. His present wife was Marj' Fredingburg, who bore him one daughter, Bessie E.