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Letters Concerning St. Anthony Falls Water Power Co., Dated

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Historical Memorabilia Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 600.00 USD
Letters Concerning St. Anthony Falls Water Power Co., Dated

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Auction Date:2009 Jun 24 @ 10:00 (UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT)
Location:6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45232, United States
lot of 10 items, nine documents and a St. Anthony Falls Water Power Co. $1000 Mortgage Bond; 13" x 16" (sight), framed to 20.5 x 23.5"; coupons for 1860-1864, all cancelled. The documents are all dated 1856 and are primarily mortgages, indentures, and deeds for land and titles to St. Anthony Falls property. Signatories include Franklin Steele, Thomas E. Davis, Frederick C. Gebhard, Richard Chute.

Water was the primary thoroughfare for much of the 18th and early 19th centuries, and most major cities developed around major rivers and bays. The falls of St. Anthony is the only major waterfall on the Mississippi River, so in addition to transportation, the falls supplied power to what would become an important milling complex. In 1837, a treaty with the Ojibway opened the east bank for settlement. Franklin Steele made the first private land claim in 1838. He and the sutler at Fort Snelling secured the land on the east side of the falls and corresponding water rights. Steele platted the town of St. Anthony in 1849 and built a mill and dam along the river. By 1855 the population had grown from 300 to 3000.

The west bank was part of Fort Snelling until 1852, when the land was opened for settlement. In 1853, Robert Smith purchased the land with the same intentions as Steele, and the town of Minneapolis developed as rapidly as St. Anthony had. In 1856 both Smith and Steele formed joint stock companies to develop the waterpower of their shorelines. The east group became the St. Anthony Falls Water Power Company, the west group the Minneapolis Mill Company. The "newcomer" grew more rapidly than its established competitor across the river, and in 1873 the towns merged.

In the 1860s, flour mills replaced sawmills and by the 1880s Minneapolis was the largest flour producer in the nation, a title held for half a century. At the same time, the "newfangled" phenomenon of electricity was becoming popular, and by 1882 powered the lights in the business district. It took three-quarters of a century for all the mills to convert to electric, however.

An interesting lot relating to the formation of the St. Anthony Falls Water Power Company, one of the foundations upon which Minneapolis was built. [see Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/hpc/landmarks/St_Anthony_Falls.asp] 

Condition: As expected or slightly better.