2
Business View Magazine
Duluth, Minnesota
The zenith city
Dr. Thomas Preston Foster, the founder of the city’s
first newspaper once called Duluth, Minnesota, a city
of some 86,000 souls on the southwestern tip of Lake
Superior: “The Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas.” Ze-
nith means high point, and it’s true that many times in
its long history, Duluth rose to prominence in its por-
tion of the world. But it’s equally true that there were
times when its fortunes were not so manifest. Such is
life.
But each time the city’s economy declined and its pop-
ulation decreased proportionately, it managed to re-
gain its footing by taking advantage of its natural and
human resources and change with the times. In the
earliest days of European expansion, the area was a
Mecca for French beaver trappers. When the beaver
became scarce, the next wave of settlers mined for
copper and iron ore. And when the copper ran out, the
area’s economic focus shifted to timber harvesting.
