Dearborn independent. [volume], March 06, 1920, Page 8, Image 8

About Dearborn independent. [volume] (Dearborn, Mich.) 1901-1927

Image provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

                
8
This Entire Village Is to Be Moved
By GEORGE M. FISHER
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1
Hibbing, Minnesota, is simply
picking itself up ami shifting
over a mile to make way for
the operations of a mine.
This entire street, formerly the main portion of the city. will he moved ithin three sajlllfc I JjlgF j
bSSSSl extreme upper end of the p.c.ure h.ve already heen ..ken to the New H.bhmg.
1
the
the
nil"
big
HIBBING is being moved. Located in the heart
oi the iron ore district oi Northern Minnesota.
1 1 it must make way for extensive mining opera
tions bv the United States Steel Corporation,
twenty years it has been common knowledge that
ore bodv in the east, west, and north sides of
original forty acre townsite of Hibbing extended
rlr the nrincinal business section. This ore the
mining interests want and want badly.
For the last ten years, the mott densely populated
district of Hibbing has been surrounded by open pits,
making it impossible for the village of
Hibbing to expand on its original site.
The northerly extremity extends out
thumb-shaped and somewhat like a
plateau, some of its building- being
perched on the edge of the wide gorge,
hewn deep into the earth. Since the
original townsite was laid out, the mines
have steadily encroached on it. the Sel
lers from the north and east and the
Rust Mine from the west.
The Oliver Company, subsidiary of
the United States Steel Corporation,
had already acquired the right of the
minerals under this forty acres by lease
in 1899, and two years ago began to buy
surface rights. It paid $200,000 and
today owns the majority of lot- and
buildings in an area of more than eight
city blocks.
After thee purchaes were made it
became necessary to acquire a new lo
cation for that portion of the village
that had to be transplanted. One mile
away was the Central Addition, owned
by the mining company, and hen- is to
be the "New Hibbing." The tirsl build
ings were moved from the original
townsite to the new addition in Sep
tember. 1918. All frame buildings in
good condition have been transferred
and brick buildings are to be moved
next. Structures that are in poor con
dition are to be torn down. About eighty dwellings,
twelve frame buildings and eight brick business blocks,
will be "on the go" shortly. The city hall, the finest
ir,(l largest building to be moved, and worth over $100,
!i(H), presents some difficulties to the house moving
firms at work here. In order to transfer it, it will be
cessary to set back telephone posts on one of the
main streets and remove temporarily the fence and
part of the grandstand of the tOWn'l baseball park.
The cost of moving this building will be $80,000.
When the village authorities abandon the streets,
40,000 vard ol wood paving block laid seven years ago
will be removed and laid down in the greets of the
new location. Lamp posts, electric light poles light
wires, hydrants, man-hole-rmg covers, tire-alarm boxes
and tree's on the boulevards will all go from the Old
Hibbing" to the "New." The moving pi the buildings
l9 been done bv steam log haulers ot the caterpillar
type This seems to be the most satisfactory, al
though garages and small buildings have been moved
unh tractors. The Central Addition, where all of
these buildings have been moved, is growing very rap-
The city hall of Hibbing; which is to be moved. It it built of concrete and pressed brick
of the best appearing municipal buildings in the state. To move it, a part of the ball
town and a street will have to be widened in order that it can be "transplanted."
idly. Since September, sixty-two buildings, dwellings
and three store buildings have been moved onto the site
and twenty-four new buildings have been built. The
new village power plant, including the municipal heat
ing system, i nearly completed at an estimated COSt of
$1,000,000. In order to allow the new addition to con
neel up with other residential sectors, a track fill along
the east edge ol the addition with thousands of ton
oi earth, ha- to h removed and huge Steam shovels
the largest in the world, are cutting gaps into the
earth banks. W ithin another year, the mining com
pany officials sav. there
or Southern Additions. The application for a tem
porary injunction was argued November 28th and 29th.
and was taken under adv isemcnt.
For maii yeari the Great Northern Railway Com
pany's tracks entering Hibbing have -kirted the
southerly edge of the Hull-Rust mine for a distaao
about a mile and a hall. The Great Northern held this
right ol va. subnet to mineral reservations. The
Oliver Company indicated to the company that the lo
cation ol the tracks was delaying mining operations in
the HulI-RttSt mine and preventing its extension to the
south. Accordingly, the Great North
em made an application to the Minne
sota Railroad and Warehouse lotnmis
sion lor leave to abandon the tracks of
the Duluth, Mesaba and Northern Rail
road Company, at the southerly edge ot
the Southern Addition, and nearer the
Central Addition. This ippHcatioa was
-ranted and the railroad comptn) start
ed to tear up the tracks. The Oliver
Company's stripping shovels followed
quickly along and tore up the roadbed.
The plaintiffs in the original injunction
SUil rushed back into court to
w irk, and the case is still hangitt
M a ing day for Hibbii g was :
without its reward, how .
buildings erected by the United States
Steel Corporation in the New Hibbing
are a $:50.(MH) hospital ami a 5
hotel. The ( )ld Hibbh c. .
ing town of many model
to be replaced by a moden city with
modern brick buildings streets
and in- rc up-to-date com i ces.
That this i- true is all ly m evi
dence, for a number of houses that have
t I n moved have been pla
wide street presenting a much better
appearance than in the old wn.
ill hi rrui Ditine
houses. The old ones tl are bemi
moved and the new ones vv ;,ke 'J
better buaincas section. Hibbing leels that ' 'Vl';f
put to considerable trouble to move but ,),!
lives in a better place for the trouble.
and is one
park of the
sfl rVOjl
Why it is necessary to move Hibbing. The old village itself is or. the very edge of deep ore
pits as shown in the picture. This shows the Sellers open pit iron ore mine and a part of the
village dangerously close to its banks.
will be little left of what
was the original business
section oi Hibbing.
Recently fifteen per
sons residing in tin
southern end of the busi
ness and residential dis
trict, the Pillsbury and
Southern Additions, and
in the townsite of Stuntz,
just outside of the village,
began an action against
the Oliver Company, the
Village of Hibbing and
the Mesaba Klectric Rail -raj
Company, to en j oil
the village from dispositv
of its property in the or
iginal townsite, enjotnin
the vacation of stree - ,
joining the railway com
pany from removing u
tracks and enjoining the
i Hiver Iron Mining Com
pany from doing certain
things which would per
mit the mining of the
northerly forty acres.
They suggested that
the Oliver Company pur
chasr their property but it
has no interest in the ore
underlying the PilNburv
7h is gomg to become of that proj
ect to give steamers from ChicQ
wankee, P ninth, Detroit, ToUdi -v-
land, Buffalo and other cities the
GtfOi Lakes, passage thromjh W "
Lawrenct and on to Liverpool a. ' otkif
ocean ports?
Many people are for it, but wM of
New York?
You can read about it in the 9
number of The Dearborn I
PI Mi! N l .
I here Will be also a very it,cstni!
article on koW 4 zcorkmcn m I 9
.started a co-operative store which "
vehped into a corporation busintU J
over three hundred mdlion a y '
members (jet goods at c'st and the cos
is low.
You MU fmd many other article
information m Tin: Di.AKnnKN
n mm n r