Pine County Promotional Booklet – Part 9

The following text and advertisements about Finlayson come from the 1926 promotional booklet entitled Pine County: Where Folks are Homeowners. 

Finlayson 

Finlayson is located on the Northern Pacific railroad, only 90 miles from St. Paul, and 65 miles from Duluth, in the Ten Thousand Lakes country of Minnesota. Duluth is predicted to become the greatest inland ocean port in the world; this ocean port will benefit the adjacent territory materially, and the time is not far distant when the farm lands in this vicinity will be very valuable. 

The products of this territory, consisting mainly of the milch cow, eggs, potatoes, alfalfa, clover, and minor grains, have not been subject to the great price fluctuation that was harmful in the grain country; a steady, good price has been maintained and our farmers always have, and are now receiving good prices, and are prosperous. 

Good marketing facilities for everything the farmer has to sell, by way of main line railroads and cheap water transportation from Duluth gives Finlayson easy access to the eastern markets. 

Paved and graveled highways connect Finlayson with the principal cities of the state, auto trucks and pleasure cars are driven on them after the heaviest rain without difficulty. The predominating nationalities found in this territory are people of German, Scandinavian, and Finnish descent, all of which are thrifty, hard working, honest people. 

Religious and educational advantages in Finlayson are 6 churches of different denominations, and a full four year high school. 

Finlayson has a population of 300 people, of the progressive kind, who are always interested in the new settlers and their welfare, it is an up-to-date place where the farmer can sell anything he raises for cash at all times, and buy everything and anything to supply his needs. 

Good land is still to be purchased at very reasonable prices and anyone desiring a good farm home with limited means can find it in the Finlayson territory.

Pine County Promotional Booklet – Part 8

The following text and advertisement about Duquette come from the 1926 promotional booklet entitled Pine County: Where Folks are Homeowners.

Duquette

Duquette, situated on the banks of the upper Willow river and the Great Northern railway, is the natural central point in a section where dairy farming is the main industry.

Not so very many years ago the principal source of income of the settlers, and about the only commodities shipped out, was cord wood, ties, posts, pulp wood and other forest products.

Today by far the greatest income is from butterfat, and the most valuable export is Land O' Lakes butter. Potatoes, eggs, and live stock are also being shipped out in ever increasing quantities.

Some 35 or 40 years ago, at the time the Great Northern railway, or as it was then known, the Eastern Minnesota railway, was built through this section, Frank Duquette, a French-Canadian woodsman, came here and built a small saw mill and established a small general store and saloon, and operated on a small scale for a number of years. A number of French-Canadian families settled here with him, who worked in the woods during the winter and in the saw mill during the summer. The large logging operators however soon had the valuable pine timber cut and the small operators were soon left with small lots of less valuable timber, and our old friend Duquette soon quit and the people who came with him began to drift elsewhere. In the meantime, however, some homesteaders had settled in the vicinity and some of the cut-over land was offered cheap and a number of other settlers came in.

In 1903 Frank Duquette sold his store and some of his land to Anderson & Co. who put in a stock of merchandise more suitable for a farming community and furnished a market for whatever commodities the settlers had to sell. In 1905 the firm was reorganized and incorporated under the firm name of Anderson Erickson Co., and from that time till now this firm has taken a leading part in helping to build up this section of the country. A post office was established and a townsite surveyed and named Duquette, in honor of the fine old gentleman who first started business here.

It is not so much of a town as towns go, a depot, a general store, a lumber yard, a harness and shoe repairing shop, blacksmith shop, a potato warehouse, a fine farmers' co-operative creamery, privately owned, but leased and operated by the Farmers' Co-Operative Creamery Association, and where they make Land O' Lakes butter, a modern, up-to-date school house (consolidated school), one of the finest in the state for the size of the district, and last, but not least, the community hall, built and owned by the Duquette Community Association, a co-operative stock company. The hall is a monument to the public spirit of the community and an object of pride to its people.

The Oak Lake Farmers' Co-Operative Telephone Company, another co-operative institution, furnishes telephone service among the farmers and with the rest of the world through its connection with the North Western telephone system at Moose Lake. Good roads, good water and a soil that will produce in abundance any crop suitable to this climate. Right now, when so large a section of Minnesota and other states are threatened with less than half crops, the crops here, with the exception of hay in some places, are above normal. But of all the great and valuable assets of this community, the greatest and the most valuable is the honesty, integrity, industry and public spirit of the many good men and women of the community, as fine and true a lot of people as there are to be found anywhere. Lots of room and a hearty welcome to a lot more of the same kind.

Pine County Promotional Booklet – Part 7

The following text and advertisements about Denham come from the 1926 promotional booklet entitled Pine County: Where Folks are Homeowners.

Denham

Denham is located on the Soo Line in the extreme northwest corner of Pine county, in the midst of a productive dairy and agricultural community, 55 miles from Duluth and Superior, 120 miles from the Twin Cities.

Not so many years ago this country was the home of the Red Men, who found it a veritable paradise, as the woods, lakes and streams abounded in berries, game and fish. The first settlers tell stories of adventures with these Indians, and in many places relics are still found.

The first white men to settle here literally hewed their homes out of the forest. They blazed trails and carried their supplies for many miles. Many as these hardships were, they make light of them and never forget to tell of the neighborliness of the other settlers, and all were willing to do their part for any one in need of help.

Gradually the woods were cut down, stumps removed, ground cultivated, and each succeeding year showed great progress; schools and churches were built, roads improved and general living conditions made more comfortable and pleasant.

Great progress has been made in the past few years, particularly so since the Soo Line came into operation in this locality. In 1921 a co-operative creamery association was organized, which, with capable management, has proven to meet with the best of success, and today we have ideal conditions for the carrying on of the dairy industry. This is a great inducement to those who desire a new location for establishing a permanent home. More than 300 families make up the settlement of the community, consisting principally of Scandinavians, Bohemian and Polish nationalities.

PROSPERITY FOLLOWS THE DAIRY COW

Pine County Promotional Booklet – Part 6

The following text and advertisements about Cloverton come from the 1926 promotional booklet entitled Pine County: Where Folks are Homeowners.

C.C.C.

The above initials are symbolic of the Cloverton Community Club. They are also the beginning of “Courage, Confidence, and Contentment”; “Clover, Cows, and Chickens.”

It was with courage that the Cloverton Community Club was organized. The courageous ones, like the pioneers, had confidence in the possibilities of this territory. They considered it worthy of improvement and of development, and time will tell their judgment was well founded. It is still with courage and an increased confidence that the people of this community are shoulder to shoulder, making this community the best place on earth in which to live; not for the present only, but for the future. And in living every human being looks forward to the condition in life known as contentment – contentment which consists of enough wealth to make life comfortable – fine farms and homes, a good school to educate the children, and a good church. All this with the end in view that we may live harmoniously and at peace with our fellow men. The combination of the above should result in happiness. Courage to tackle the difficult; confidence to overcome obstacles, and contentment in having reached nearer the goal.

“Clover, Cows, and Chickens.” This community is especially adapted for these, clover grows everywhere – from roadsides to meadows. Cows are grazing contentedly in green, fertile pastures abundant with forage. The farmer is satisfied that his cow should be contented, for is it not because of her that he chuckles over his large monthly cream check? Alfalfa, too, is becoming a rival of clover for the cow's contentment. And in addition, there is the busy little hen. Chickens in many instances buy the groceries for the home giving the cream check an opportunity to go into the bank. Plenty feed for the cows, larger cream checks, and a healthy flock of chickens are the stepping stones toward the goal of contentment.

In the center of this community is CLOVERTON fortunately situated on a strip of the most productive soil in the state. It is in eastern Pine county on the Soo line between the Twin Ports and the Twin Cities, both great markets. Cloverton has two stores, meat market, barber shop, two restaurants, garage, Standard Oil Co. station, a bank, two church denominations – Lutheran and Presbyterian, rural route, local and long distance telephone service, electric lights, I.O.O.F. and M.W.A. lodges, a concert band, a tri-county shipping association. It has a school, grade and high, that is the apple of the community eye. The building, being all modern, is the most beautiful in the county.

C.C.C. invites you to visit us, learn to know us, and to live with us. We want more ambitious families who want to live where life is enjoyable through the building up of a better community. In a similar manner that “Prosperity Follows the Dairy Cow”, so does contentment follow the Cs – “Clover, Cows, and Chickens.”

Thus it is easy to remember this community by the Cs – Cloverton, clover, cows, cream checks, chickens, courage, confidence, and contentment.

The above is but a part of this community. For further information write CCC.C. All inquires will be cheerfully answered.

Pine County Promotional Booklet – Part 5

The following text, picture, and advertisements about Bruno come from the 1926 promotional booklet entitled Pine County: Where Folks are Homeowners.

Bruno

The village of Bruno has a population of 300, is located in Pine county on the Great Northern main line between St. Paul and Duluth, 50 miles south of Duluth and 100 miles north of Minneapolis.

The village was incorporated in 1903 and originally was a lumbering and saw mill town. The lumberjack was gradually replaced by the pioneer farmer who converted the cut-over lands into productive farms. Today Bruno is the center of a prosperous farming community with a farmers' co-operative produce and creamery association, operating an up-to-date creamery, manufacturing the celebrated Land O' Lakes butter. In addition to this the village has one bank, two garages, three general stores, hotel, restaurant and confectionery, lumber yard, pool and barber shop, feed store and two produce warehouses, shoe shop, meat shop, and pickle plant. A modern brick school building, teaching grades, manual training, domestic science and four years of high school. Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic, and Advent churches, and what is quite important to prospective settlers, we have clear and pure water, clay loam soil, rich in vegetable and mineral elements, very fertile and productive, we have the best of roads radiating out of Bruno in all directions. This is a natural dairy section in the heart of the now famous “Big Red Clover Belt”. We welcome new settlers and there is yet much unimproved land that can be bought at a low price.

     One of Bruno's Prosperous Farms