1921 Duluth & St Louis County MN, Van Brunt.pdf - Garon.us

DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 699
increased to 892. The establishment of the Village of Cusson is
probably the principal reason for the increase.
Cusson (village) was platted in 1909, and so named in honor of
S. J. Cusson, who at that time was the general manager of the
lumber and logging company. The village has always remained a
"company town," all the real estate and buildings belonging to the
Virginia and Rainy Lake Lumber Company. Cusson is the administrative
headquarters of the company's logging operations, which are
of magnitude. It is a self-contained community, having good water,
electric lighting plant, movie, school, and other community conveniences.
Everybody living in the village is in the employ of the.
logging company. There are an average of 125 skilled workmen
resident in Cusson, chiefly belonging to the railroad and machine
shops of the company, which owns and operates 130 miles of railway
to their many logging camps. At Cusson there are boarding houses
for single men, and twenty-five dwellings for married men, who are
able to rent a six-room house, with electric light and steam heat for
about $10 a month, with free light and water. Cusson, in reality is
a pretty village, certainly not a place such as one is apt to imagine
a community identified with the logging camps would be. It is well
administered, F. H. Gillmor, who laid out the place in 1909, and
who has been general superintendent of logging operations for the
company for many years, makes his home in it, and he, together
with his assistant, Mr. Erickson, looks well after the comfort and
well being of the people in general and sees to it that the village is
held to a sane standard of orderliness. Mr. Gillmor is one of the
pioneers of the northern part of St. Louis County. He has been
directly responsible for the clearing of timber from at least 200.000
acres of the northern part of St. Louis County, and has been in charge
of the logging operations of the two principal lumber companies that
have operated in that region, the Weyerhauser interests and the \'irginia
and Rainy Lake Company. He was with the former for eight
years, and with the latter for twelve years, all spent in St. Louis
County, north of Virginia. For nineteen years he has been superintendent
of logging, and has caused to be cleared from the land of
Northern St. Louis County from one and one-half to two billions of
feet of timber. That in itself, in the turning of standing timber into
cash was an appreciable service to the county, which of course
directly benefitted in taxation ; but when it is realized that the clearing
of timber means that the way is clear for the permanent settler,
the part Mr. Gillmor has had in the pioneer work of the county has
certainly been substantial, and worthy of record. Some of the cutover
land north of Virginia has proved to be as good agricultural
land as there is in the county.
The Village of Orr was laid out by William Orr when the
railway was built through the township. He owns a store which is
stated to have done a business of more than $50,000 a year. He does
much trading with the Indians of the Boise Fort Indian Reservation,
bordering Pelican Lake. At Orr is a state bank, of which \Vm. Orr
is president.
Township Officials.—The townshij) officials of Lciding in 1920
were: Nils Johnson, chairman; John Gahrielson and j. .A. Fisher,
supervisors; George Marette, clerk; G. IT. W'irkkula. assessor; Frank
Wardas, treasurer.
School System.—Part of Lciding Township is served by School
District No. 66, and the remainder cared for, educationally, by the