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Minnesota briefs: Century-old matchstick factory in Cloquet to close

A small factory in northern Minnesota — possibly one of the last in America that still manufactures wooden matches — will close later this year, throwing 85 people out of work.

May 7, 2017 at 3:02AM

A small factory in northern Minnesota — possibly one of the last in America that still manufactures wooden matches — will close later this year, throwing 85 people out of work.

The Cloquet factory has been milling Diamond-brand toothpicks and matchsticks since 1905. The company will no longer retain the Diamond brand, and the factory will shut down as New Jersey-based Newell Brands sells its wood-based product lines to Royal Oak Enterprises of Georgia.

"It's a lot to digest. … They opened in 1905, we became a city in 1904. They've been here the entire time," said Holly Hansen, Cloquet's community development director. "Matches, paper, it's part of our history. We're a city of wood industries."

Cloquet is still a city of wood industries, with other, larger, factories and paper mills. But the loss of 85 jobs is a big deal in a city of 12,000 people.

The city also took pride in the claim that it was the nation's primary source of wooden matchsticks. A Newell spokesman could not confirm the claim.

The factory is expected to close within the next six months.

Jennifer Brooks

Sartell

City Council rejects plan to allow beekeepers in city

The Sartell City Council recently voted against an ordinance that would have permitted beekeeping in the city.

The city's Planning/Zoning Department and its Planning Commission had recommended approving ordinance language that would allow for beekeeping in residential areas subject to conditions such as ensuring convenient water supplies and posting signs identifying the hive enclosures. But the City Council voted against adopting the proposal.

The measure would have allowed residents to keep honeybees with a limited number of colonies if they secured approval from neighbors and obtained an annual permit.

Mark Brunswick

Duluth

Lake Superior level rises 8 inches above normal

Lake Superior's water level at the beginning of this month is more than 8 inches above normal for this time of year, according to information released last week by the International Lake Superior Board of Control. The water level rose about 6 inches last month, while typically it rises just 3 inches in April.

The great lake experienced a long stretch of drought-induced low water levels from the late 1990s until just a few years ago — including record lows in 2007 — said Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of the Watershed Hydrology Branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District. By December 2014, thanks to a couple of wet years, the level had risen by an amount unequaled in any other 24-month stretch.

Officials expect the lake's water level will remain 5 to 8 inches above average over the next six months, Kompoltowicz said.

Pam Louwagie