Cass County
MNGenWeb
Please share your Family Group Sheet information, Descendents Chart, Photos, etc. of a Cass county ancestor. Simply email your contribution to the County Coordinator.
In the rapid development of the
Northwest new words have been added to the English language and old
words have been given a new meaning, making them practically new. As a
rule they express tersely characteristics, conditions, and results
peculiar to the region, and have become current among the people because
the ideas could not be expressed so forcibly by any other terms. At
first these words were regarded as "slang." Common use, however,
compelled their recognition as something necessary, and they gradually
lost the opprobrium of "slang" and gained a foothold in the dictionary
as "colloquial." Some have finally been admitted into the society of
respectable words without being tagged in any doubtful manner, and they
will remain to do a service which no other term could perform. One of
these words is "hustler," meaning a person of intense energy, enterprise
and industry. The Northwest needed just such men, and ''hustler" was
needed to describe them, for there was no other word which combined the
characteristics peculiar to the class. Hustlers are venturesome,
sometimes to rashness; hopeful to a degree bordering on the visionary,
and courageous to the point of foolhardiness, at times, but without them
the progressive, bustling, thriving Northwest could not have been. All
honor to the "hustlers." If there were more of them the world would be
better.
The subject of this sketch, P. H. McGarry, of Walker,
Cass county, Minn., is fairly typical of this western ozone of energy.
He was born at Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1860. He received an academic
education and developed literary and even poetic gifts which might have
made their mark in the field of letters, had not almost abnormal
activity given a trend in other directions. Instead of going through the
tentative process, common to young men searching for a business, be
leaped at once, by one bound, as it were, into active business life, for
at eighteen years of age he took charge of a hotel at Stanton, Mich.
That he was successful is evident from the fact that he was appointed
postmaster of the town in 1884, although only twenty-four years old. He
also built two hotels in Stanton. One, the "Grand Central," was of
brick, with the woodwork finished in hard wood. It cost $20,000. He
finally resigned his position as postmaster and moved to Chicago. It
seemed as if that city was too nearly finished to suit him, for he moved
to Rhinelander, Wis., and again back to Michigan and settled in the new
town of Ewen, where he erected a number of substantial buildings which
are even yet the pride of the town. From Ewen he went to Ironwood,
Mich., and there built four brick stores. He next went to Grand Rapids,
Minn., where he erected a brick block and managed the old hotel
Pokegama. When the wonderful iron ore banks of the Mesaba range were
discovered and public interest rose to a high pitch, Mr. McGarry was
attracted thither. He went to the town of Merritt, and with his usual
dash he built the Merritt hotel. Then he went to the town of Virginia,
and in thirty-one days put up the Virginia hotel, a hostelry large
enough to accommodate one hundred and fifty guests. From there he went
to Biwabik and built the Edna hotel. Returning to Virginia, he erected a
large business block, which, however, was destroyed by the great forest
fire which raged so furiously there a few years ago. The hotel was also
swept away. His indomitable spirit is shown by the fact that before the
ashes were fairly cooled he had a force at work on a new structure.
Nothing seems to discourage or daunt him; no obstacle can thwart him;
his dictionary does not contain the word "fail." In fact it seems to
have but one word, and that is "Hustle."
While conducting the
Virginia hotel he visited Minneapolis, and formed what is now the Leech
Lake Land company. Mr. McGarry was appointed general manager, and went
to Walker, where he still resides, to take charge of the enterprise.
When the village was organized the people elected Mr. McGarry president.
He has been at work with his characteristic "push," to use one of the
new western words. He erected a handsome brick block, which is now used
as the court house, for the town was made the county seat. He also built
a fine hotel, the "Pameda," which is a model of convenience and one of
the best appointed houses in the northern part of the state. When the
organization of Cass county was pending in the legislature the bill was
defeated in the senate. Mr. McGarry "snatched it from oblivion," it may
be said, and finally succeeded in having it made a law. Mr. McGarry's
migrations, so numerous that the record reads almost like an itinerary,
were not due to mere inane restlessness. There were in them purpose and
method which brought forth such substantial results that the towns
favored by his operations will long have cause to rejoice in the visit
of the "hustler," P. H. McGarry, whose name must ever be identified with
their growth and prosperity, and whose architectural mementoes will long
continue to be an inspiration to the faint-hearted.
Contributed 26 Jul 2022 by Norma Hass, extracted from History of the Great Northwest and Its Men of Progress, published in 1901, pages 105-106.
Copyright © 1996- The USGenWeb® Project, MNGenWeb, Cass County
This page was last updated
03/27/2025