February 24, 1858: George B. Sargent tell Bostonians of the “New West”

On this day in 1858, future Duluthian George B. Sargent gave a lecture in Boston about the “New West.” At the time Sargent was serving as Surveyor General of the United States. He was attempting to gather others to help him build a new community that would rival Chicago. To convince his listeners, he told them, “Seated at the mouth of the St. Louis River, at the northwestern extremity of Lake Superior, we are as near the tide waters of the Atlantic, within five and twenty miles, as we are at Chicago.” He also spoke of rich iron deposits in the region, explaining that “the undeveloped wealth of the Lake Superior region offers reward beyond calculation to those who have the energy and enterprise to secure it.” He was right, we all know now, but before Sargent and any investors had a chance to secure anything, the Civil War broke out. Sargent spent the war for Jay Cooke, selling bonds to wealthy Europeans to finance the Union Army. Cooke sent him to Duluth in 1869 to look over his investments. Sargent is credited as being the prime driving force behind Duluth’s early commercial success. He opened Duluth’s first bank on Superior Street, oversaw the construction of Duluth’s first hotels (Clark House and Bay View House), and helped finance St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the town of Duluth’s first church. Sargent travelled to Germany in 1875 for health reasons and died there. Historian Walter Van Brunt, who knew Sargent, wrote that, “George B. Sargent was a man of high attainments, a discriminating and thoughtful reader and a close observer of men and events. He was an authority on matters of finance, and held a high position in the circles in which he moved.” Read more about Sargent here.

George Sargent. (Image: Duluth Public Library)