. City of Minneapolis. A review of her growing industries and commercial development, historical and descriptive .. . e first to develop in a new city. Dry-goods, hardware, boots and shoes, drugs andother staple lines follow. The pioneer gro-cery houses were originally retail establish-ments. There were no railroads, and theroutine of their retail trade was occasion-ally broken by the sale of a job lot ofmerchandise to a country dealer, who would drive into market, load up his wagon or ox-cart, and makehis way back to some little settlement on the almost uninhabited prairie, or in the solitary
. City of Minneapolis. A review of her growing industries and commercial development, historical and descriptive .. . e first to develop in a new city. Dry-goods, hardware, boots and shoes, drugs andother staple lines follow. The pioneer gro-cery houses were originally retail establish-ments. There were no railroads, and theroutine of their retail trade was occasion-ally broken by the sale of a job lot ofmerchandise to a country dealer, who would drive into market, load up his wagon or ox-cart, and makehis way back to some little settlement on the almost uninhabited prairie, or in the solitary depths of thebackwoods. Naturally the territory was very limited, but with the building of the railroads and theopening up of the country incident thereto this was steadily extended. It was not long until the com-mercial traveler became a necessity, and the grocery jobbers began to send these trade scouts andskirmishers into the country. With their proverbial persistence, the gripsackers steadily pushed to thefront, not only following up the new- railroads, but pressing on in advance of them. At first the grip-. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS. 23 carrier could only go a comparatively short distance by rail, and would have to complete his circuit bystage, enduring in winter, with far less glory, hardships sometimes almost as severe as those suffered byNorth Pole seekers. Thus, in a few years, the volume of business in this line has increased from a fewthousands of dollars to millions. All of the fine wholesale grocery houses have ample capital and are ina highly prosperous condition. One firm is conceded to be the largest in this line in the are shipped in great quantities to the Manitoba hue on the north, to Montana and Washingtonon the west, and hundreds of miles towards other points of the compass. Every year shows a materialincrease in the total sales. There were no dry goods business in Minneapolis until 1874. Retail dealers now and then sold ajag of goods to a countr
Size: 1164px × 2148px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidcityofminnea, bookyear1889
