Duluth
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Duluth. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a city of Minnesota. It is situated at the western extremity of Lake Superior at the mouth of the St. Louis River. The name is derived from that of Daniel Greysolon Du Lhut (1645-1709), a French pioneer-trader who is supposed to have camped here at an early date. Duluth is called the Zenith City. In size it is the third city of Minnesota. It occupies sixty-nine square miles and has a water frontage of twenty-four. The site is long and narrow and rises rapidly from the water to bluffs from 400 to 800 feet high. A fine driveway along the bluffs commands a superb view of the city, the harbor, and the shipping. A narrow tongue of land several miles in length, cast up between the outflowing current of the river and the inbursting waves of Superior, is known as Minnesota Point. It affords natural harborage of great extent. A government canal guarded by lighthouses has been cut through the Point near the shore. An overhead ferry like that of Rouen, France, crosses the canal. The harbor is lined for miles with huge grain elevators, lumber piles and coal docks. West Superior, on the Wisconsin side of the St. Louis, seems a part of the same city. Palatial lake steamers, whalebacks laden with grain, boats piled high with lumber, and darting tugs, with the attendant whistling and turning of bridges, give the harbor a maritime air which a stranger is hardly prepared to expect in the interior of North America . Of public buildings the most noticeable is the Central High School . It is an imposing four-story edifice of red stone. It occupies a commanding position. A Carnegie library, a state normal school , large hotels, and huge wholesale blocks may be mentioned. The manufactures of the city are chiefly lumber and wooden products, and foundry and machine work. A project to lead the waters of the upper St. Louis to a point within the corporate limits promises water power of importance. Duluth is already a port of enormous shipments. Thirty million tons of iron ore are shipped from the vicinity annually. The elevators handle 25,000,000 bushels of wheat and upward each year. In 1902 280,000,000 feet of lumber went eastward over the lake. The coal docks have a capacity of 1,000,000 tons. Duluth is the natural place to handle westward bound salt, sugar, coal, and all other bulky, heavy commodities. It is the terminus of the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes waterway. Denver and San Francisco are nearer Duluth than they are to any other lake port. Duluth is the natural lake port for an enormous region now known as the Northwest. Eight railways, including two transcontinental lines, radiate from Duluth. Hardware and groceries are the specialties of the wholesale trade. The Indian title to the town site of Duluth was extinguished in 1854. The city was incorporated in 1857. In 1870 the first railway, the St. Paul and Duluth, was built. The Northern Pacific followed soon after. The rapid growth of the population is indicated by the United States Census returns,--in 1880, 3,470; in 1890, 33,187; and in 1900, 52,969. There are present indications that the 100,000 border line has been approached. See Ferry ; Minnesota ; Superior
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city, port of entry, and county-seat of St. Louis co., Minn.; at the head of Lake Superior and the mouth of the St. Louis river. It is the terminus of several important railway systems, including the Northern Pacific, the Chicago and Northwestern, and the Great Northern. It has a splendid harbor on St. Louis bay, extending nine miles into the lake and inclosed by natural breakwaters. The public buildings are noticeable for their beauty and costliness. The Federal buildings are among the finest in the West. Other notable structures are the High School, City Hall, Chamber of Commerce, Lyceum Theater, Public Library, State Normal School, U. S. Fisheries buildings. Besides these there are over 60 churches, many of which are very ornate in construction and equipment. The port is connected by steamer lines with all important points on the Great Lakes, and has a very large commerce in coal, iron, grain, and lumber. Trade is greatly facilitated by the Sault Ste. Marie canal, whose traffic now exceeds that of the Suez canal. The imports in the fiscal year 1920 amounted to $17,- 082,468 and the exports to $34,360,373. Although pre-eminently a commercial city, Duluth has important manufactures, manuf The principal articles of manufacture were lumber, iron and steel. Other important industrial plants were blast furnaces, stove factories, and railroad car shops. There are valuable quarries of granite, trap, slate, and sandstone near by, and the fisheries of the vicinity are quite im important. In 1919 Duluth had 4 National banks with a capital of $500,000, and several State and private banks, besides a considerable number of loan and trust companies, and building and loan associations. History. In May, 1869, the site of the city was a forest; the old Duluth, at that time situated on Minnesota Point, consisted of a few cabins. The place is named after Captain Du Lhut, a French traveler, who visited it and built a hut in 1670. It was chartered as a city in 1869, and was later enlarged by the annexation of the suburbs, Lake Side and West Duluth. Pop. (1910) 78,466; (1920) 98,917.