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===Dismantling of Railway=== |
===Dismantling of Railway=== |
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Most of the timber was removed by 1909, and the mill in Scanlon was dismantled the year after. Between 1909 and 1912, the Minnesota and North Wisconsin Railroad was operated by Weyerhaeuser's Johnson-Wentworth Lumber Company for movement of logs to its mill in Cloquet. In 1911, 19.6 miles of line east of Alden Junction was abandoned, leaving only the 34.5 miles of main line to Scanlon. At that time, there were only three locomotives, 16 cars and one caboose left in operation. In 1912, the Minnesota and North Wisconsin was abandoned altogether.<ref name=King2003 /> |
Most of the timber was removed by 1909, and the mill in Scanlon was dismantled the year after. Between 1909 and 1912, the Minnesota and North Wisconsin Railroad was operated by Weyerhaeuser's Johnson-Wentworth Lumber Company for movement of logs to its mill in Cloquet. In 1911, 19.6 miles of line east of Alden Junction was abandoned, leaving only the 34.5 miles of main line to Scanlon. At that time, there were only three locomotives, 16 cars and one caboose left in operation. In 1912, the Minnesota and North Wisconsin was abandoned altogether.<ref name=King2003 /> |
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===Minnesota Power=== |
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Around 1918, Minnesota Power's predecessor companies began to establish large reservoirs in northeastern Minnesota to be used in association with hydroelectric power generation. In many cases, these reservoirs, including Alden Lake, quickly became recreation attractions for local anglers, swimmers, and boating enthusiasts. During the late 1920's and 1930's, resorts catering to the public began to be established throughout these reservoir lakes, including a small resort on located on the Cloquet River inlet directly adjacent to Alden Lake. |
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In 1961, N. Alden Lake Road was cut by Earl Stewart, a local logger, providing automobile access to most of the lake. Word of the newly accessible lake soon spread in the nearby community of Lakewood, and its residents began to request leases along the shores of Lake Alden from the power company. The lessees soon constructed small cabins along the lakeshore. At that time, leases were established on a first-come, first serve basis. The prospective leaseholder stopped into the power company office and were handed wood lathe and were told to post them in the trees of their lease lots 200 feet apart, creating roughly one-acre lots, many of which remain in the same families today, passed on from one generation to the next. |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
Revision as of 04:29, 26 August 2016
Template:New unreviewed article
Aden Lake | |
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Location | Lake County, Minnesota |
Coordinates | 47°03′40″N 92°01′58″W / 47.06111°N 92.03278°W |
Primary inflows | Cloquet River |
Primary outflows | Cloquet River |
Basin countries | United States |
Surface area | 180 acres |
Max. depth | 29 ft |
References | [1] |
Alden Lake (aka Big Alden Lake) is fresh water 180 acre lake with 159 (88%) acres of littoral area and a maximum depth of 29 feet located in northern Minnesota 14 miles northeast of Duluth off St. Louis County Highway #44. Alden does not have a developed public access along the shoreline but can be accessed by canoe through the Cloquet River. The primary fish management species is walleye, with secondary management for largemouth bass and smallmouth bass.[1]
History
Early Logging Operations
By the 1890's, lumbermen, including Frederick Weyerhaeuser, had begun timbering the vast pine forests north of Lake Superior. Initially, the massive pine logs were floated down the entire length of the often frozen and perilous Cloquet River to the City of Cloquet, Minnesota via the Saint Louis River. This means of transporting the timber was obviously less than ideal, and in 1901, M. Joseph Scanlon and Lester Brooks formed the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company and planned to improve the transport of the large timber stands they controlled along the Cloquet River by building a sorting works and rail operation at Alden Lake. .[2]
Construction of Railway and Sorting Works
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Alden_Lake_Hoist.jpg/220px-Alden_Lake_Hoist.jpg)
Cloquet lumbermen under Weyerhaeuser's direction objected to this plan, however, claiming that the Alden Lake sorting works would interfere with the floating of their logs beyond it to Cloquet. Brooks-Scanlon argued that the additional expense and extended delivery time of water transport made rail shipment imperative. In condemnation proceedings brought in 1904, the courts agreed, and Brooks-Scanlon proceeded with their plans. In partnership with the Minnesota and North Wisconsin Railroad (1898-1912), a main rail line was constructed from Brooks-Scanlon's mill in Scanlon, Minnesota to Carolon, 44.5 miles to the northeast. In 1904, a 3.5-mile branch of this line was built from Alden Junction to Alden Lake, where logs had been floated from the upper Cloquet River. A hoist was constructed at Alden Lake and logs were loaded onto rail cars. At the peak of its operation, Brooks-Scanlon employed approximately 1500 men and harvested a record-breaking amount of board feet of pine.[2] Over a century later, many pine logs from the sorting operation rest on the lake bottom or remain partially submerged.
Dismantling of Railway
Most of the timber was removed by 1909, and the mill in Scanlon was dismantled the year after. Between 1909 and 1912, the Minnesota and North Wisconsin Railroad was operated by Weyerhaeuser's Johnson-Wentworth Lumber Company for movement of logs to its mill in Cloquet. In 1911, 19.6 miles of line east of Alden Junction was abandoned, leaving only the 34.5 miles of main line to Scanlon. At that time, there were only three locomotives, 16 cars and one caboose left in operation. In 1912, the Minnesota and North Wisconsin was abandoned altogether.[2]
Minnesota Power
Around 1918, Minnesota Power's predecessor companies began to establish large reservoirs in northeastern Minnesota to be used in association with hydroelectric power generation. In many cases, these reservoirs, including Alden Lake, quickly became recreation attractions for local anglers, swimmers, and boating enthusiasts. During the late 1920's and 1930's, resorts catering to the public began to be established throughout these reservoir lakes, including a small resort on located on the Cloquet River inlet directly adjacent to Alden Lake.
In 1961, N. Alden Lake Road was cut by Earl Stewart, a local logger, providing automobile access to most of the lake. Word of the newly accessible lake soon spread in the nearby community of Lakewood, and its residents began to request leases along the shores of Lake Alden from the power company. The lessees soon constructed small cabins along the lakeshore. At that time, leases were established on a first-come, first serve basis. The prospective leaseholder stopped into the power company office and were handed wood lathe and were told to post them in the trees of their lease lots 200 feet apart, creating roughly one-acre lots, many of which remain in the same families today, passed on from one generation to the next.
See also
References
- ^ http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/showreport_printable.html?downum=69013100&printable=true
- ^ a b c King, Frank A. Minnesota Logging Railroads. The University of Minnesota Press, 2003, pp. 83-87