Julius H. Barnes papers

Julius Howland Barnes, Duluth, Minnesota industiralist, had a long record pf public and private service. As an industrialist, he was President of the Barnes-Duluth Shipbuilding Company and the McDougall-Duluth Company, Chairman of the Duluth Klearflax Linen Looms, and, as Chairman of the Erie and Saint Lawrence Corporation at New York, operated a fleet of freighters along the Great Lakes-Erie Canal and Atlantic Coast.

His public service record shows him as head of the Food Administration Grain Corporation in 1917 under Herbert Hoover and as U.S. Wheat Director by special appointment of President Woodrow Wilson in 1919. He was also President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1921-1924 and Chariman of the same organization from 1929-1931. His capacity in these functions is shown by the awards and decorations received throughout his career. He was decorated by six European nations, awarded honorary degress from five universities including Harvard, and was given a testimonial dinner by the National Businessmen in 1920 at Washington D.C. Perhaps his most enduring memorial is the Saint Lawrence Seaway for which he was an ardent and perhaps the primary supporter and activist for nearly half a century. He was president of the National St. Lawrence Association from 1944-1949 and honorary chairman of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Association.

Barnes was born February 2, 1873 in Little Rock, Arkansas to Julia Matilda Hill and Lucien Jerome Barnes. The family moved to MIchigan in 1874 and later went to Washington D.C. where they stayed until the early 1880s when they moved to Duluth, Minnesota. Lucien died when Julius was 16, following which the youth went to work for Ward Ames, a grain buyer in Duluth. Six years later he was in business for himself, and by the time World War I began, he had what was probably the largest grain exporting business in the nation.

Barnes had a long-time interest in alternative uses for agricultural products, and after 25 years of experimentation, developed a process whereby flax straw from seed flax could be turned into a yarn suitable for making rugs. From this, Klearflax Linen Looms resulted which survived until the advent of nylon rugs in the early 1950s.

Barnes had business interests in many diverse fields and was for many years a symbol of the poor boy making good under the free enterprise system. He was a recognized public speaker, and was the author of many pamphlets trumpeting the benefits of the American system. Perhaps the best known was "Which Way: Americanism or Communism." He was a member of the Republican Party, but as a social-minded person, his views were often considered "liberal."

He was especially symphathetic with young people and showed it in his interest in the YMCA, the Duluth Boat Club, and other philanthropies. His relations with his own children, however, were often sour, resulting in the disinheritance of his daughter.

Barnes was extremely active well into his later years. He suffered some quite severe business reverses in the early 1950s. He died April 17, 1959 at the age of 86, one week before the St. Lawrence Seaway officially opened.



Julius Howland Barnes was a Duluth MN, industrialist and supporter of the St. Lawrence Seaway project. He headed many corporations, including the Barnes- Duluth Shipping Co., Klearflax Linen Looms, McDougall- Duluth Co., and the Erie and St. Lawrence Corp. His public service includes head of the U.S. Food Administration Grain Corporation under Herbert Hoover in 1917, U.S. Wheat Director in 1919, and President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. An Advocate of the St. Lawrence Seaway, Barnes was President of the National St. Lawrence Association in 1944. Barnes was also involved in Duluth civic affairs and was an important backer of the local YMCA and Duluth Boat Club.