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

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DULUTH AND ST. LOUIS COUNTY 555
recorded that the weather was so cold that the "snout" of the keg froze up
solid, and about half the fun was spoiled.
First Franchise.—The first franchise granted by the vilhige of
Hibbing was to Messrs Hibbing and Trimble, who organized the
Hibbing Light and Water Company. The ordinance under reference
is No. 8, which was adopted on February 27, 1894. When it became
known that Hibbing and Trimble would soon be laying water-mams,
the poverty-stricken and unemployed residents of the village felt that
relief was at hand, in work for the water company. But they were
doomed to disappointment. The contract for the laying of the mains
and erection of supply tank was placed with Fairbanks, Morse and
Company, which company imported men to lay the water-mains on
Pine Street and Third Avenue. As Mr. Connors described the happening,
to Mr. Atkinson
A long, gimlet-eyed, red-headed, seven-foot gasbag named Hammer, from
St. Paul, was brought in by the construction company to superintend the work.
Mr. Hammer ignored the Shackers by bringing his own crew of workmen
along with him. Hammer was up against no less than a dozen physical encounters
a day at the start, and he finally armed himself with a two-faced
ax, for protection. However, the work was completed, and was the means
of bringing some money to the famishing town.
First Bond Issue.—Arising out of the first franchise granted came
the first bond issue. Ordinance No. 10, following resolution adopted
by the village council on April 30, 1895, made provision for the issuance
of bonds to the extent of $11,400, so that the village might purchase
the water plant of the Hibbing Light and Water Company, for
$9,700, and make certain extensions to the service at an expense
of $1,700.
It was therefore not long before that valuable public utility became
municipally owned, at little expense. As a matter of fact, Frank
Hibbing had to all interests, loaned the village the sum necessary to
establish the waterworks, having apparently never intended to hold
the franchise for his personal profit.
Improvement in General Conditions.—Although the "Shackers"
were disappointed because of their failure to get work on the waterworks
contract, conditions soon began to improve, even though conditions
were "dull" throughout the whole of 1894. Mr. Atkinson
wrote
About this time (completion of the waterworks contract in 1894), Frank
Hibbing advanced $3,000 to the country, for the purpose of building a road,
from Hibbing to the Mahoning mine. That caused a decided flurry in the
financial circles and every man boasted of the wave of prosperity that had at
last struck the town. Of the construction of the Mahoning road we give the
telling to Mr. Connor, who was there at the time:
"There are not many of the old-timers who worked on that road now
(1902) with us, altliDUgh I can name a few: Thomas McMillan, J. J. Stuart,
proprietor of the Hibl)ing Hotel: Dan Murphy, and myself. Poor old Trucky,
who had a l)lacksmith shop at that time also worked on the road, and carried
in five picks daily to he sharpened at night, thus increasing his daily earnings
to $2.00, which was 50 cents more than the rest of us made. I remember
Peter IVIcHardy, the lumt)cr dealer, bemoaning his ill-luck, l)ecause he was
laid up in bed with a fever, and could not get out to make $1.50 a day, by
working on the road."
First Barber.— llibbitii; \\;is certainly improving, in general tone
and prosix'cts, and by tlir summer of 1894 a barber, A. C. Mc.\rthur,
appeared in llibliing, .md resolved to stay. He established his shop
at the s])()t where later stood the Crystal restaurant. He was follnwed
by James Van Mere. Maurice Hosteller later "opened a shop in tb.o