Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/706

 618 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY tures, backed by a publicity department which distributed tons of literature and souvenirs, served to open the eyes of our own people and the world at large to the magnitude and importance of our own institutions. Since the days of that triumph im- portant industries have been added, and Red Wing 's future never looked brighter than today. Prospective additions to railway facilities, already quite ample, the improvement of the Missis- sippi river which is sure to come, with resultant reduction in freight charges, the bringing into the city of thousands of horse- power of electrical energy from Wisconsin waterfalls before this book is off the press, are among the signs of future progress. Lit us not forget in passing that the prosperity brought about by successful industries has to a great extent fostered that spirit of civic pride which has made Red Wing as desirable for homes as for factories* The schools, churches and parks, the sanitary conditions, the marked municipal improvements of whatever na- ture, the protection and preservation of beautiful nature, the cleanliness and tidiness of the city as a whole — all this has been largely prompted by the same motives and the same men and the money of the men who made Red Wing an industrial center. And as belonging In those men must be included those ostensibly in other lines dl' endeavor who have invested their earnings in Red Wing industrial stocks — jobbers, merchants, professional men, the wage earners everybody has caughl the contagion of public spirit made possible by prosperous enterprises. The following sketches give some facts and figures with re- gard to tin' individual establishments, past and present. They constitute simply a terse record without attempt at embellish- ment. They will be of interest, perhaps more to the coming gener- ation than the present, particularly the future historian, although by no means without value to those who are now active in these enterprises, and to all who would read a story of industrial en- deavor. Already there is an element of history in these sketches, because in some instances the founders of these enterprises have passed away, and in nearly all important changes in ownership and management have taken place. If, in the haste of compiling the facts, omissions have been made and errors have crept in it would not be surprising, and least of all to the writer of these introductory remarks, who has simply edited the sketches as written up from information submitted with more or less care by a large number of men to the publishers of this work. It is safe to say. however, that as a whole, this is by far the most correel and withal the most comprehensive account of Red Wing's in- dustries that has appeared up to the present time. In some in- stances biographical matter, when closely interwoven with the history of the industries, has been given space in this chapter