The region is therefore generally unattractive to the farmer, but it is inviting to the lumberman and the miner.
Hackley (1837-1905), a rich lumberman, the city has an endowment fund to the public schools of about $2,000,000; a manual training school, which has an endowment of $600,000, and is one of the few endowed public schools in the United States; a public library, with an endowment of $275,000; a public hospital with a $600,000 endowment; and a poor fund endowment of $300,000.
He is the legendary lumberman, who supposedly stood at 42 ax handles tall!
Most of the pine that formerly grew on the Archean at the northern fringe of the settlements has been cut, but the lumberman is still advancing northwards and approaching the northern limit of the famous Canadian white pine forests, beyond which spruces, tamarack (larch) and poplar are the prevalent trees.
The city is widely known for its institutions, for the most part founded or supported by James Huff Stout (1848-1910), a prominent local lumberman.