Prehistoric and Euroamerican Archaeology of Elk River, Minnesota: Current Knowlege and Probability Modeling

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Star News office, the post office, Herman Greupner's shoe store, M.A. Wheaton's general store, C.S. Wheaton's law office, as well as several other businesses. The only fire fighting equipment Elk River had at the time was a hose and the water tank owned by the Great Northern Railroad. When this fire broke out there was no steam to operate the pump and nobody knew where the hose was until it was too late to save any of the buildings.21 Following this fire, the business owners rebuilt on the south side of the railroad tracks and in doing so shifted Elk River's downtown area to where it is today. The next major fire occurred in January 1903 and destroyed many of the buildings along Jackson Avenue and Main Street that had been built following the 1898 fire. Elk River still had no fire equipment at this time.22 By the time the next major fire hit in 1911, the city had a fire engine but was not used because the fire was already too far along. The 1911 fire destroyed what was known as the Post Office block along the south side of Main Street and west of Jackson Avenue.23 The last major fire during this period occurred in April 1915 and destroyed the main business buildings along Jackson Avenue and Main Street. The city's fire engine was used this time but was insufficient to handle this fire. The fire caused a loss of over $100,000 for the business owners who again rebuilt their buildings in the same location along Jackson and Main.2a Sawmills were operated in Elk River from 1852 until William H. Houlton sold his sawmill in 1903. The machinery from that mill was sold to other mills. Along with the flour milling, sawmilling was one of Elk River's major industries throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. Like so many other businesses, the greatest detriment to Elk River's saw and planing mills was fire. Five different mills burned down from 1887 to 1923, though only three were in operation at the time of the fire. The lumber business seemed to be more reliable than the flour business during the second -half of the nineteenth century as there was almost always a ready supply of timber and a heavy demand for building supplies. The lumber industry began to decline in Minnesota after the turn of the twentieth century. Lumber companies first moved to northern Minnesota after the timber supply in central Minnesota was depleted but later had to continue on to the Pacific Northwest for the same reason. Elk River of this period is illustrates in the 1894 Sanborn Map (Map 2) and the 1898 Mississippi River Survey Map (Map 3). 15