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The 1884 steel bridge and the EIk River Milling Company <br />flour mill, ca. 1910. Photo: SCHS. <br />Industrial Development after Ard Godfrey <br />Spurred by the agricultural economy, the northern Minnesota lumber boom, and an <br />expanding population, Elk River's small flour and lumber milling industry prospered <br />for many decades. Sawmilling was the greatest manufacturing activity, sustaining local <br />companies and employees from 1851 into the early twentieth century. Flour and starch <br />production also contributed to early industrial activity, with both active into the early <br />twentieth century. <br />llie 16YU rederal Lensus retorted six industrial concerns in talk liver: <br />Firm Name Business Capital Invested <br />Houlton and Nickerson <br />Saw Mill <br />$30,000 <br />George Crocker <br />Blacksmith <br />1,000 <br />Eddy Dickey <br />Carriages <br />600 <br />Galley and Baltzell <br />Furniture <br />1,000 <br />John G. Jameson <br />Blacksmith <br />300 <br />Mills and Gardner (?) <br />Flour Mill <br />20.000 <br />By 1880, the early mills had been enlarged or replaced. The census reported the <br />following: <br />H. Houlton <br />Mills and Houlton <br />Mills and Houlton <br />George Crocker <br />Eddy Dickey <br />Henry Galley <br />John G. Jameson <br />Featherston and Co. <br />Heebner and Co. <br />Saw Mill <br />$25,000 <br />Saw Mill <br />7,000 <br />Flour Mill <br />$50,000 <br />Blacksmith <br />100 <br />Carriages <br />600 <br />Chairs <br />1,000 <br />Blacksmith <br />300 <br />Cooper shop <br />3,000 <br />Tin and Ironware <br />1,000 <br />Elk River Historic Contexts Study Draft 412002 24 <br />