HANSEN EVESMITH:
An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Evesmith, Hansen, 1867-1944. | |
| Title: | Hansen Evesmith papers. | |
| Dates: | 1906-1944. | |
| Abstract: | Papers prepared by Hansen Evesmith, a Duluth (Minn.) mining engineer who was an active participant in many of the companies engaged in the discovery and development of the Mesabi Iron Range. | |
| Quantity: | 0.25 cubic feet (1 box). | |
| Location: | See Detailed Description section for shelf location. |
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Evesmith was born on December 6, 1867 in Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark, provinces which were annexed to Prussia in 1866. He immigrated with his family to the United States in 1869. Evesmith graduated from Swenberg Institute (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Begining his engineering career with the Manistee and North Eastern Railroad, which he left in 1891. He was subsequently employed by the Duluth Gas and Water Company (1892). From 1892 to 1894 he held the position of assistant treasurer of the Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway; following which he was cashier and director of the Iron Exchange Bank of Duluth (1894-1895). From 1895 to 1903 he was associated with a number of railroad, lumber, mining, and construction companies in northeastern Minnesota and the Mesabi Iron Range, and was associated with many prominent Duluth and Iron Range officials and leaders. He was also active in a number of Duluth civic organizations, including the chamber of commerce, the charter commission, and the commercial club.
He married Cecelia Wilson (1891) and died in Fargo, North Dakota (March 7, 1944). More biographical information is available in the first folder of the collection.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
The collection includes biographical information (1931-1944); Evesmith's correspondence and related papers (1906-1940); the manuscripts of two essays (1926): "A Venture in Railroad and Timber Operation, Northern Minnesota" and "Match Manufacturing in Minnesota"; and, subject files (1932) on a number of mines and mining companies on the Mesabi Range, 1890-1894.
The subject files, especially, provide substantive information on the early history of iron mining and exploration on Minnesota's Mesabi Range.
ARRANGEMENT
The collection is organized into four files: Biographical and related information, 1931-1944; Correspondence and related papers, 1906-1940; Essays, 1926; Subject files, 1932.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Hansen Evesmith Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession numbers: 2656, 2896, 3509, 3523, 3552, 3577, 3611, 4626, 4887, 4991, 5036, 5087
Processing Information:
Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, April 1997
Catalog ID number: 09-00042864
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
| Box | |||||||||||
| P2209 | 1 | Biographical and related information, 1931-1944. | |||||||||
| Biographical information consists of thumbnail sketches of Evesmith's life and career taken from Who's Who in Engineering (1931), North Dakota in the World War (1931-1932), and Who's Who in Commerce and Industry (1936); an article on his career from the Hibbing Tribune (Sept. 14, 1933); and, his obituary from Skillings Mining Review (April 1, 1944). The folder also includes copies of accessions notes from Minnesota History (1932). | |||||||||||
| Correspondence and related papers, 1906-1942. | |||||||||||
| The folder contains Evesmith's appointment (1906) as a delegate to the American Mining Convention, signed by Minnesota governor John A. Johnson; materials on state treasurer Julius H. Block, including a campaign brochure, a letter to Evesmith, newspaper clippings on his campaign for state auditor and governor of Minnesota (1914), and his obituary (1915); correspondence (1914) between Evesmith and Frank E. Higgins, a missionary ("sky pilot") to Minnesota lumberjacks; correspondence between Evesmith and the United States Weather Bureau (1932) containing extracts of the log (October 13-15, 1918) he kept while serving on the SS Bavaria in Bermuda, describing smoke and clouding conditions in the area caused by the Minnesota forest fires (1918); a manuscript (December 21, 1937) by Evesmith giving biographical information on prominent Danes in Minnesota, including Charles N. Nelson of Stillwater and Andreas M. Miller of Duluth; a brief description (June 14, 1939) of his association with the Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway; a letter (July 20, 1939) to the Saint Louis County Historical Society with his criticism of Fremont P. Wirth's The Discovery and Exploitation of the Minnesota Iron Mines, which contains information on his career and those of other developers of the Mesabi Range; and Evesmith's reminiscences (January 12, 1940) of Andrus R. Merritt. | |||||||||||
| Essays, 1926: | |||||||||||
| "A Venture in Railroad and Timber Operations, Northern Minnesota." Typed copy, [4] pp. | |||||||||||
| This essay contains details on the incorporation (1901) of the Duluth, Virginia and Rainy Lake Railway Company, with information on the incorporators and first officers. Evesmith was secretary-treasurer of the company and was engaged in its financing operations. The manuscript also describes the railroad's holding company, the Rainy Lake Company (incorporated 1903), which held half of the stock issued by the railroad. There is information on its incorporators and directors and on its absorption of a number of mines, securities, and timber enterprises. It was later named the Duluth, Rainy Lake and Winnipeg Railway. | |||||||||||
| Match Manufacturing in Minnesota. Typed copy, 5 pp. | |||||||||||
| This essay contains considerable information on the Marinette Iron Works, a manufacturer of large machinery used in pumping, sawmills, and other operations including the manufacture of machinery used in the Lakewood Pumping Station in Duluth; the company's relocation from Marinette, Wisconsin, to West Duluth (1890); the effect of the 1893 financial panic on its operations; its receivership (1895); and the conversion of the plant (1900) to the Duluth Match Company, which Evesmith served as treasurer. The company later became the Union Match Company (1903), then the Federal Match Company. Also included in the folder are a newspaper clipping from The Duluth Herald (November 23, 1926), which seems to be a version of the manuscript described above; an article from Skillings Mining Review (July 17, 1926) describing the lathe used in the construction of the Civil War vessel Monitor, which later belonged to the Marinette Iron Works; and a newspaper clipping from The Duluth Herald (November 19, 1926) containing a photograph and a brief article on the lathe. | |||||||||||
| Subject Files on mines and mining, and the Mesabi Range, 1932. 4 folders. | |||||||||||
| The 42 historical sketches (blueprint copies) contain much information on the exploration and development of the Mesabi Range from 1890 to 1894, with details on the discovery, location, corporate information, individuals associated with the mines, amounts of ore extracted, diagrams and plat maps of areas discovered, copies of letters and reports from the field, railroads in the area, and information on owners of the mines in 1932. | |||||||||||
| Included with the histories are ten small photographs (1903) of equipment, topographical features, individuals, and related matters. Most of the photographs are described in the accompanying historical sketch. Other items of interest include a certificate (April 8, 1892) for twenty-five shares of stock in the Oneota Irion Mining Company, Duluth (filed under "Evesmith Explorations"), and original report (April 27, 1903) of the exploration of the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 13, Township 58, Range 20, by the Gust Carlson Exploration Company, Hibbing. It is filed under "Syme-Evesmith Project." | |||||||||||
| Adams-Cloquet Mine. | |||||||||||
| Adriatic Mine. | |||||||||||
| Allen-Rossom Reserve. | |||||||||||
| Biwabik Mine. | |||||||||||
| Bray Mine. | |||||||||||
| Brunt Mine. | |||||||||||
| Cincinnati Mine | |||||||||||
| Clark Iron Company. | |||||||||||
| Commodore Mine. | |||||||||||
| Eaton Mine. | |||||||||||
| Evesmith Exploration. | |||||||||||
| Evesmith Prospect. | |||||||||||
| Franklin Mine. | |||||||||||
| Geggie State Lease No. A. | |||||||||||
| Hale Mine (now Hector). | |||||||||||
| Hannon Exploration. | |||||||||||
| Itasca Mine. | |||||||||||
| Kanawha Mine. | |||||||||||
| Kelly Lake Exploration. | |||||||||||
| Lake Superior Iron Company. | |||||||||||
| Lucknow Exploration. | |||||||||||
| MacEwen Prospect. | |||||||||||
| Mackenzie-Evesmith Exploration. | |||||||||||
| Madeira Mine (state lease). | |||||||||||
| Merritt Reserve (Evesmith forty). | |||||||||||
| Mesaba Station (Duluth and Iron Range Railroad). | |||||||||||
| Masabi Chief Mine. | |||||||||||
| Missabe Mountain Mine. | |||||||||||
| Moose Mine. | |||||||||||
| Mountain Iron Company. | |||||||||||
| Ohio Mine. | |||||||||||
| Pool Mine. | |||||||||||
| Race Track Exploration. | |||||||||||
| Siphon Mine. | |||||||||||
| State Leases, Section 16-58-19, Saint Louis County. | |||||||||||
| Stephens Mine. | |||||||||||
| Stone Iron Company. | |||||||||||
| Sweeny-Saint Clair. | |||||||||||
| Syme-Evesmith Prospect. | |||||||||||
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Business enterprises -- Minnesota -- Mesabi Range.
- Danish Americans -- Minnesota.
- Forest fires -- Minnesota.
- Iron mines and mining -- Minnesota -- Mesabi Range.
- Loggers -- Minnesota -- Duluth.
- Lumbering -- Minnesota.
- Match industry -- Minnesota -- Duluth.
- Mines and mineral resources -- Minnesota -- Mesabi Range.
- Missionaries -- Minnesota -- Mesabi Range.
- Railroads -- Minnesota -- Mesabi Range.
- World War, 1914-1918 -- Naval operations.
- Places:
- Duluth (Minn.) -- Industries.
- Mesabi Range (Minn.) -- Industries.
- Saint Louis County (Minn.) -- Industries.
- Persons:
- Block, Julius Herman, -- 1860-1915.
- Higgins, Frank E., -- 1865-1915.
- Merritt family -- Minnesota -- Mesabi Range.
- Merritt, Andrus R., 1853-1939.
- Merritt, Cassius Clay.
- Merritt, Leonidas, 1844-1926.
- Miller, Andreas Mitchell, 1839-1918.
- Nelson, Charles N., -1923.
- Organizations:
- Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway.
- Duluth, Rainy Lake and Winnipeg Railway.
- Duluth, Virginia and Rainy Lake Railway.
- Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway.
- Duluth Match Company (Duluth, Minn.).
- Marinette Iron Works (Duluth, Minn.).
- St. Louis County Historical Society (Saint Louis County, Minn.).
- Type of Documentation:
- Photographs.
- Occupation:
- Mining engineers -- Minnesota.
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