Minnesota Land Company Limited Records

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MS-919

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Collection, 1856-2001, of business records and legal records documenting the Minnesota Land Company, a private company that owned timber and mineral lands in northeastern Minnesota. Contents include deeds, contracts, bills of sale, affidavits, court proceedings, probate files, organizational documents (articles of incorporation, rules and regulations), shareholder lists, shareholder meeting notices and proxy forms, stock certificate copies and receipts, correspondence, financial records (checks, receipts, cash statements, accounts), tax records, maps, figures, reports on timber and mineral interests, negatives, and a corporate record book including documents and shareholder meeting minutes. The materials span the venture’s three stages as the Merritt Land Pool; the Minnesota Land Company, Limited; and the Minnesota Land Company Trust.

Series I, Merritt Land Pool, includes financial records, legal records, shareholder information, and land information. Financial records include tax records for Lake County, Cook County, and Aitkin County, MN, checks, and receipts and disbursements. Legal records include land patents, deeds and related probate documentation, contracts, court proceedings, and the trust agreement establishing the Land Pool. Shareholder information includes a shareholder list. Land information includes maps of Minnesota, land figures, and a set of six reports on mining prospects in Minnesota. The reports are addressed by mining experts to D. H. Merritt, A. Merritt (one of the seven Merritt brothers who charted and promoted the Mesabi Range in the 1890s), Longyear, and their mining companies (Mountain Iron Co., North American Iron Co.) between 1891-1910. The corporation record book refers to three additional reports from 1889.

Series II, Minnesota Land Company, Limited, contains financial records, legal records, organizational documents, governance and shareholder information, correspondence, land information, and the corporate record book. Financial records include tax records for Lake County and Cook County. Legal records include deeds and related probate, state assignment certificates, sales contracts, option agreements, tax certificates and tax titles, documentation of the company's authority to conduct business in Minnesota, documentation of the company’s withdrawal from Minneota and dissolution in Michigan, and information concerning a Native American land scrip owned by the company. Organizational documents include the company’s articles of incorporation and rules and regulations. Governance and shareholder information includes shareholder meeting notices and proxy forms, shareholder lists, and stock certificate copies and receipts. Correspondence includes several files concerning the land scrip, deeds, dissolution, and other business. The corporate record book contains copies of organizational documents, shareholder information, and annual meeting minutes. Series III, Minnesota Land Company Trust, includes financial records, legal records, shareholder information, correspondence, and land information. Financial records include tax records for Lake County and Cook County. Legal records include the declaration of trust, a quit claim deed transferring mineral rights to Michigan Tech, the transfer of trusteeship to Michigan Tech, statements of severed mineral interests, affidavits of ownership, a tax exemption application for Cook County, and information about their Torrens certificates. Shareholder information includes 1967 and 1975 shareholder lists. Correspondence included one file on the transfer of mineral rights to Michigan Tech, including Michigan Tech’s plans to use the Minnesota property for mining education; three files on Minnesota’s severed mineral interests tax; a 1974 valuation of the mineral rights; and miscellaneous correspondence.

Dates

1856-2001

Creator

Minnesota Land Company, Limited (Organization)

Language of Material

English

Conditions Governing Access

Available for use in the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections.

Conditions Governing Use

Various copying restrictions apply. Guidelines are available from Michigan Technological University Archives & Copper Country Historical Collections.

Historical Note

The Minnesota Land Company, operating out of Marquette, MI, was a private company that owned timber and mineral lands in northeastern Minnesota (primarily Lake County and Cook County).

The company’s roots lay in a private trust known informally as the Merritt Land Pool, which was organized on December 2, 1887, by Daniel H. Merritt of Marquette, MI. At its founding, the Land Pool included 11 partners from Michigan and Wisconsin and controlled 11,880 acres in Minnesota. The Land Pool either purchased land outright or negotiated for the ability to exploit parcels’ resources. The land’s timber was valued at $270,000 in 1910, while the value of its iron was unclear.

John Munro (J. M.) Longyear, also of Marquette, controlled the second largest stake in the trust at its founding, and served as co-administrator with Merritt following 1887. The Land Pool was also referred to as the Merritt & Longyear Trust. This was one of the dozens of commercial ventures that Merritt and Longyear were involved in. On July 23, 1906, Merritt conferred his stake in the trust to Longyear. On January 26, 1911, the trust registered as a private company in Michigan as the Minnesota Land Company, Limited, with 13 shareholders. It was based out of the Longyear Building in Marquette and obtained the right to operate in Minnesota. The company grew to 26 shareholders by 1958.

The Minnesota Land Company continued to operate in Michigan and Minnesota until 1962, when it filed for dissolution in both states. Afterwards, a trust, referred to as the Minnesota Land Company Trust, managed the former company’s assets. The trust sold its remaining 5,693 acres in Cook County and 2,462 acres in Lake County, MN, valued at over $17 million in 1971. The trust reserved the mineral rights to the sold land, which were appraised at $72,806 in 1974. To avoid paying Minnesota’s severed mineral interests tax, the trustees transferred the mineral rights to Michigan Tech, believed to be tax exempt, for a courtesy $1 in 1974 and appointed Michigan Tech trustee.

Michigan Tech planned to use the Minnesota property as a “laboratory for students in the minerals field” and applied for tax exemption in 1974. However, Minnesota’s Attorney General argued that Michigan Tech would be liable for the severed mineral interests tax given that exemption required a “concurrence of ownership and use” by an educational institution; intended future use did not qualify. As a result, Cook County and Lake County sought to collect the tax. In 1985, the Michigan Department of Revenue intervened, arguing that Michigan Tech should enjoy tax-exempt status in Minnesota. Lake County accepted its argument, while Cook County sought payment until 1996.

Extent

2.9 cubic feet (2 Paige boxes, 1 manuscript box, 1 flat box, and 2 oversize folders)

Additional Description

Abstract

Collection, 1856-2001, of business records and legal records documenting the Minnesota Land Company, a private company that owned timber and mineral lands in northeastern Minnesota.

Arrangement

The contents of this collection are arranged into three series: Merritt Land Pool; Minnesota Land Company, Limited; and Minnesota Land Company Trust. The series are further arranged in subseries by material type. The arrangement follows the records’ original order, which is typically chronological.