Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, May 11, 1910, Page 1

Dae | ‘ Vout, XVIL—N, 47. LET CONTRACTS FOR MANY ROAD GRAND Rapips, Irasca County, MInn., Wepnzspay, May 11, tgIo books of school distrcit No. 6 was also laid over tothe next meeting para renter ste was given the job and grubbing a stretch ~ sees etal mile long, running east from the northwest corner of section 16 in the tawn of Goodland, at. $1.25 per rod.The sum of $250 was appropriated to the county attorney’s Co: Co issioners Let Contracts contingent fund. The petition for a for Grading and Clearing Seven Roads. COMPETITION IN awe LWEL road on the town line between 55-23 and 55-24, which was presented at the last meeting, was favorable act- ed on and a hearing ordered. The ee of Blackberry cemetery was ap- roved. A petition for a small piece | a road south of Coleraine was grant- ed and hearing ordered. The petition for county road No. 75, on the town line between the towns of Feeley Application of Dolph Butler to Sell |27% $48° was also granted. Liquor At Pokegama Lake Laid Over to Next Meeting. The purchasing committee was in- stducted to purchase a typewriter for tthe use of the county superin- tendent of schools and license to sell intoxicating liquors was granted to J. J. McDonald, of Swan River. An unusually large grist of bills was al- At the meeting of the board of |!owed and the meeting adjourned to county commissioners held in the| Saturday, June 4. court room Saturday, the greater portion of the day was devoted to letting contracts for roads. Joseph Myers was given the con- tract for the construction of a ditch along a portion of state road No. 1, north of Deer River, at the rate of 18 cents per cubic yard, ‘the dirt re- moved from the ditch to be spread over the road. For the grading of county road No. 44, which lies in 145-25, Thos. Leslie & Company were given the contract. Their bid was as follows: 75 cents per rod for the first one and one- half miles; $1 per rod for the bal- ance of the distance; $3 per rod for corduroy and $5, each, for all neces- sary culverts. Jasper M. Pogue was awarded the contract for widening the road bed of county road No. 21, known as the Feeley-Bovey road, at the rate of 50 e@qnts per rod. This road is three and one-half miles long and is to * be twenty-four feet in width from outside to outside of ditches. For grading county road road No. 50, Melvin N. Rosholt secured the contract at the rate of 75 cents per rod. This road is one mile in length and lies in the town of Blackberry. Wm. Smith secured the contract for the construction, clearing and grading of county road No. 53 at the rate of $2.50 per rod and 22 cents per yard for ditching. This road lies im 55-27 and runs west to the Miss- issippi river. For the construction of a portion of county road No. 63 in the town of Nashwauk.George Arscott was award- ed the contract for $2.49 per rod.This road is to be cut and cleared forty feet wide, while the roadway is to be thirty-two feet wide from outside to outside of ditches. For the improvement of the Grand Rapids-Bovey road Arthur A. Mitchell secured the cantract for the lump sum of $3,345. There was some live- ly bidding, the next lowest bid being $3,500. For the grading of that part of county road No. 27, known as the Goodland-Feeley road, Melvin N. Ros holt secured the contract, his bid being $1,080. This road is to be grad- ed two rods wide and ditches must be dug on each side. It was decided to continue the menthly stipend of $25 for the relief of Mrs. Erickson and children. $200 was appropriated to be expended on the 'Trout Lake road im 58-25 un- der the supervision of Wm. Quacken- bush. A committee consisting of Com- missioners Trebilcock, Mullins and O’Brien were appointed to ascertain the repairs needed on the Hill City road in 53-23. The sum of $300 was appropriated from the road and bridge fund to each of the towns of Bearville, Carpenter and Sago, to be expended on the repair of roads and bridges. : The application of Dolph Butler to sell intoxicating liquors at Ogema hotel on Pokegama lake was laid over to the next meeting. The county sur- veyor was instructed to draw plans and specifications for the constructior of the Spring Lake road and Com- missioners McWilliams and O’Brien were appointed a committee to go over the proposed route. The county surveyor was also instucted to sur- vey a road in the town of Grattan. The county auditor was instruct- ed to advertise for bids for the re- pairing of the Trout Lake road from the Experiment farm to the Trout Lake town line, near Herman Gran’s farm. A petition received, signed by a number of taxpayers, requesting the commissioners to gravel the Co- hasset raod,was laid over to the next meeting. A petition requesting that the public examiner to go over the TOWNSHIP BUYS ROAD MACHINERY Purchased Rebuilt Traction Engine, Tender and Eight Reversable Dump Cars. At the regular meeting of the poard of supervisors of the town of Grand Rapids held Thursday after- noon, a proposition was submitted by the J. I. Case Threshing Machine company to furnish one rebuilt sixty horse power traction engine; twelve barrel steel water tank; engine tender, pump and hose mounted, with sprinkler attachment; eight Troy reversable dump cars, with capacity of three cubic yards each, for $3,548.- 43. At present the township owns a Minneapolis traction engine and they were allowed $548.43 on an exchange, making the total price of the new outfit $3,000. The Case company further agreed to send it on trial. The engine now owned by the town- ‘ship has not sufficient power to be used to good advantage in road work, and as the supervisors are contem- plating doing considerable road work jthis season it was decided to ac- cept this proposition. The dump cars are designed to run on a track and it is proposed where cuts and fills are being made to use them in connection with the traction engine for that purpose. The en- gine isa sixty horse power rebuilt Case, built especially for road work and is guaranteed to be in the best of condition. The board will give the engine a thorough test before ac- cepting it. Road Supervisor Frank Bowden,who is now at work on the Pokegama lake road, was instructed to com- mence work on the Prairie river road as soon as the present job is com- pleted and the meeting adjourned after allowing a grist of bills. STARTS WORK ON JAIL ADDITION Contractor Emil Johnson Here Fri- day to Make. Necessary Arrangements. Emil Johnson, the Minneapolis con- tractor, who was the quccessful bid- der for erecting the addition to the county jail, was in the village Friday on business connected with his con- tract and stated to a Herald-Review representative the work will be com- menced at once under the supervision of his brother, Herman Johnson. A building in which to store materialj has been erected to the east of the jail building and large quantities of cement are being stored. Mr. Johnson states about twenty men will be employed on the job and it will be completed as rapidly as pos- sible, as he has a large number of other contracts on the range and will have use for all the experienced men he can secure. Paper Mill Officials Here. Frank J. Becker and L. Lindauer, of Kaukauna, Wis., arrived here Wed- nesday to attend the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Itasca Paper company, of which Mr.. Becker is president and Mr. Lindauer, vice- president. While here the gentlemen inspected the mill properties and de- parted for their Wisconsin home Sat- urday, by the way of Coleraine. Al-|ti VILLAGE COUNCIL HOLDS BUSY MEET Petition Received for 24-inch Sew- er on Leland Avenue From Third Street South. ISSUE LICENSE TO THOMAS REILLY Grant Request of Petitioners for Sidewalk on Winnipeg Avenue Between Fourth and Sixth Streets. At the regular meeting of the Vil- lage council Monday evening, a pe- tition was received, signed by more than one-half the property owners, requesting that a sidewalk be order- ed built on Winnipeg avenue _ be- tween Fourth and Sixth streets. The petition was granted. The watter of granting the mem- bers of the Grand Rapids Volunteer Fire department $25, each, for ser- vices rendered during the past year, which was referred to a committee at the April meeting, was reported ‘on and it was decided to turn the fire department fund over to them which amounts to $777.56, providing it can legally be done and the village attorney will give an opinion on this at the next meeting. A petition was received requesting the council to order a twenty-four inch sewer pipe on Leland avenue from Third street south to the riv- er. It was referred to the committee and will be reported on at the next meeting.Another petition was present- ed by C. H. Dickinson, requesting that a portion of the alley in block 36, Kearney’s’ First division to the village of Grand Rapids be closed As Mr. Dickinson owns the lots on bath sides of the alley, and as it is inaccessable to. teams, the council decided to grant the request, provid- ing there are no objections and or- dered the village attorney to draw the proper notices. The bond of Village Treasurer John E. McMahon, in the sum of $5,000, was approved subject to the approval of the village attorney. The reports of Justice of the Peace R. H. Bailey and Treasurer McMahon were read and ordered filed. The bonds of the First National bank and the First State bank, in the sum of $15,000, each, as village depositories were approved and ac- cepted. A communciation was received from the county attorney stating it was his opinion that license to sell in- toxicating liquors should not be granted Thomas Reilly, as he had ‘been arrested during the past year for breaking the state laws relative to. saloons. Hon. C. C. McCarthy appeared before the board in behalf of Mr. Reilly and stated these ar- rests had been made at the time of the Boyey saloon crusade and that, al- though ‘Mr. Reilly had been found guilty in justice court, he had ap- pealed to the district court and later these and other cases fhad been dis- missed on motion of the county at- torney and therefore no conviction had been made. The law states in regard to issuance of liquor licenses tha* where a conviction has been se- cured during the year immediately prior to the date of making applica- tion, the council shall not grant li- cense to such applicant. The village attorney concurred in the opinion of Mr. McCarthy and the council de- cided to grant Mr.Reilly’s application, which was done. The application of Herman Bolin to sell intoxicating liquors for a term of one year, commencing May 22, was ordered published and a hearing set for May 20. At the 1907 session of the legislature a law was passed providing that each village can have only one saloon for each 500 popula- tien, provided, however, that villages having an excess of that number can continue to have the same number as was in existence when the law was passed. The license of Thomas Trainor ‘has expir- ed and, the matter being brought up, the village attorney passed his opinion. that the same number of sa- leons can be maintained, irrespec- tive of the location or ownership. At though last year was an off yéar in|the, time the law was passed Grand the paper industry, the company re-|Rapids had nineteen saloons, while ports a good volume of business. 2° present there are eighteen. TATE KNOCKS ITASCA COUNTY Minnesota Board of Immigration Is- sues 100,000 Books That Should Be Suppressed. STATISTICS ARE ELEVEN YEARS OLD George Welsh, Commissioner of the State Board of Immigration, Is Responsible for the Conglom- eration of Inaccuracies. The Herald-Review has been handed a copy of the eighth edition of a book issued at intervals by the State Board of Immigration, under the su- pervision of George Welsh, commis- sioner of the ‘board. It is a publica- tion of 200 pages and 100,000 copies have been printed. It is said that two or three girls are employed to mail these books to all sections of the country from whence land seek- ers may be secured. It is calculated to set forth the advantages that Minnesota has to offer those who are looking for homes in a new country. If (the information given regarding other counties of northern Minne- sota is as unreliable as that rela- tive to Itasca the publication will be the direct result of doing this sec- tion of the state imcalculable harm. There is absolutely no excuse for the misleading and damaging statements therein made. The people of this county, without exception, feel that a most serious and unpardonable in- justice has fheen done them and” there is no apparent redress, The wrong has been doné and the people of this county must grimly grin and in silence bear the direful results that will inevit- ably. follow. Time and demonstrated facts will eventually overcome the destroying influences of the state board’s misrepresentations. But it will take time, and no little effort to refute that which comes from an of- ficial and apparently an authentic source. In justice to Itasca county and northeastern Minnesota all copies of the book that have not been sent dut| should be carted to the dump- ing ground and there cremated. Mr. Welsh states in his introduc- tory that “The crop statistics shown by counties, in some instances, do an injustice, as they are based on the United States government census report of 1900, and were taken in 1899”. If Mr. Welsh knew that an in- justice was being done by the publi- cation of figures obtained eleven years ago, why did he venture to spend the state’s money to do cer- tain sections of the state so grave a wrong? It costs a very tidy sum to issue 100,000 books of 200 pages, 6x9 inches in size. Far less harm would have ‘been done, however, had he reproduced an edition of equal size advertising the Canadian Northwest and charged the cost thereof to the state of Minnesota. With reference to Itasca county, par- ticularly, there is absolutely no ex- cuse for the flagrant misstatements that appear in this “boost” book. For a number of years the state has maintained a sub-experiment sta- tion at Grand Rapids,from which cor- rect and official reports have regu- larly been mage each year by the su- perintendent. The lands compris- ing the state farm were originally selected because of the great variety of soils to lbe found thereon. After making a thorough search throughout northeastern Minnesota the site fin- ally selected by the able commission appointed for that purpose, was said to contain every kind of soil to be found in this section of the state. Sufficient time has elapsed to dem- onstrate more than forty census could possibly show.Why did Mr.Welsh not apply to Supt. (McGuire of the North- east Experiment station for such information as he desired? Why did he not apply to the proper county authorities for such facts as he de- sired, to incorporate in his publica- tion? He seems to have preferred the more-convenient-at-hand antique cen- sus of 1899. The description given of the soils of this county is entirely at variance with the facts. “Sand.predominates, says the “official booster’—an ex- cellent recommendation for an agri- knew whereof he spoke would have said “the soll is a rich sandy loam. with a deep clay subsoil.” Instead the “boost book” leaves the | im- pression on the reader not familiar with the actual conditons of the soil, that Itasca county’s desirable agricul- tural lands are limited, but the writ- er doesn’t like to say so. The production of the cereal crops are lqwered by a per centage that would necessarily leave a very false impresson on any stranger. Superin- tendent McGuire’s report made last summer shows the yield of crops grown: Wheat, 30 bushels per acre; oats 80; barley 40; potatoes 180; Mr. McGuire makes this statement in his report: “The averages of all these crops for ten years has been above the average of ‘the state.” In the same report it is shown that grasses, grains and all kinds of vegetables show a higher average production than the entire’ state would. show in a compilation of statistics. Contnuing Mr. McGuire says: “A 12-acre field on the Experi- ment farm that had only its nat- ural fertility, never having been ma- nured, yielded 3% tons of cured hay per acre. Two tons of hay per acre is considered a large yield.” The pub- lication by Mr. Welsh gives hay pro- duction per acre as 1.69 and po- tatoes as 126. The book credits this county with five banks and the deposts are re- ported to be $454,311.09. There are nine bans in this county, and the total deposits will average not less ‘than. $800,000, in round numbers. The county is credited with six organized villages when in fact there are twelve. The official report also cuts down the number of our public schools. It credits the county with having 49 rural schools. The correct number is 73. Two graded schools are given. There are six in the coun- ty. One high school, the book states. There are two. Five news- Papers are credited to the county. There are seven. And so we might continue through every paragraph in the “write-up” and point out similar inaccuracies— all to the detriment of Itasca coun- ty. It is high time that the immigra- tion board should take cognizance of the unreliable manner in which these publications are compelled, and see tc it that the party responsible for them gets the facts or put someone im his position, who will do justice alike to all sectons of the state. SOON COMPLETE REPAIRING HALL L. Courtermache Has Crew of Men Building Stairway On the North Side. L. Courtemanche, who secured the contract for repairing Village hall, states that he will complete the work Saturday, and the painters will then take charge. Mr. Courtemanche has finished the work of putting in new supports and sills and is now at work on the stairway on the north side of the building. The doorway is located near the stage entrance and will pro- vide an exit for those on the stage, as well as the audience in case of fire. A fire escape will be erected near the.door.at.the.rear of the stage. The bell tower, which was badly out of plumb, has been levelled and put in safe condition and when the council room is repaired, Mr. Couter- mache will have completed his con- tract. TO HAVE LARGER HIGH SCHOOL Proposition to Enlarge High School Building Carried By 13 to 7. Only twenty voters gave expression of their opinion at the special school election Tuesday evening on the prop- ositon of adding another story to the south wing of the high school build- ing. It was carried by a vote of 13 to 7. The question of whether or no the school district issue an additional tax levy of $15,000, to carry out the proposed improvements was carried with the same result. The additional story will be divided into recitations rooms, while the as- sembly room will be extended about six feet, thus making it possible to seat 165 or 170 students in the room, which at present is limited to 117. These improvements will give suffi- cient room for at least ten years and will place Grand Rapids schools on a cultural county, indeed. A writer whoj par, with any of the range. ee a Se oe OE Eb ea be De eee ea ee eee as Two Dollars a Year. COURT DISMISSED THE PHELPS CASE On Grounds that State Did Not Pre- sent Sufficient Evidence to Convict. PETIT JURY DISCHARGED TUESDAY Verdict of $3,750 In Case of Mrs Anna McVeigh vs. Minneapo- lis & Rainy River Railroad. The Phelps arson case came to an end Thursday afternoon, when Judge Wright, on motion of the attorneys for the defense, after listening to the arguments of the opposing attorneys, dismissed the case on the ground.that the state had not produced suffici- ent evidence to constitute a case. The trial occupied nine court days and in addition to the regular panel of jurors,, two special venires were secured and fifty-one jurors were eX- amined before a complete jury was secured. The state endeavored to show that the resort was fired for the purpose of collecting the insurance, basing the motive on the fact the Phelps were ordered to move their buildings from the location on or before July 1, they occupying government land. This theory, however, was exploded when it was shown the buildings and contents were valued at over $2 000, while the insurance was only $1,000. Joseph Wegge, who was burned in the fire, lived on a claim about 12 miles distant and a short time pre- vious to the fire \had a load of sup- plies hauled to-his.place.and the state attempted to prove they were sent there by the Phelps, but was unsuc- cessful. Between twenty and twenty- five witnesses were examined for the state, while the defense had 12 wit- nesses had the case proceeded. In dismissing.the.case.Judge Wright said that the state may have proven a motive on the part of E. H. Phelps, but that Phelps had had no opportun- ity to set the fire as he was away at the time. In regard to the son, Ray, the judge said he may have had the opportunity, but no motive on his part had beem shown by the state. The Phelps have a wide acquaintance in this vicinity, their stopping place having been general headquarters for hunters and fishers around Winnibi- goshish dam and the dismissal of the case will be good mews to their many friends. In the McVeigh case, in which a new trial was ordered by the supreme court, on the grounds that a verdict rendered for $5,000 in district court was tog large an amount the jury brought in a verdct of .$3,750 for Mrs. Anna McVeigh. - John McVeigh, son of Mrs. Me- Veigh was killed in a collision on the Minneapolis & Rainy River railroad in March, 1907, and the company set- tled with the father for $1,500, but, as the mother had signed no release, the court held that this did not de- prive her of the right to sue for damages and she brought action with the result that a verdct of $5,000 in her favor was returned by the jury and a new trial was ordered on the grounds stated above. Judge Wright went to Duluth Sat- urday and court was adjourned to ‘Monday. The petit jurors were dis- missed yesterday and court cases are being taken up, among which are a number of actions brought to de- termine the ownership of lands bough! at tax title sales. WATER WORKS FOR CALUMET The Thriving Village to Put in Sys- tem of Water Works—Adver- tising for Bids. As will be seen by a notice to con- tractors in today’s issue of the Her- ald-Review the village of Calumet will imstall a system of water works. The advertisement calls for bids on a water tower and tank, pump house and well, a steam pump and boiler. This move shows that the citizens of the village of Calumet are the pro- gressive spirit and have faith in the future of their town. MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. | co ace ee —|— + |