Why Duncan Came to Luck

      In the traditional accounts of how the Duncan toy company ended up making Luck the yo-yo capital of the world, a local sawmill owner suggested the move to Duncan people: If you're getting so much of your maple from us, why not just build the plant here and save transportation costs? A subtext, often unstated, in most of those accounts is that labor costs would be much cheaper in Luck than in Chicago.

        An article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on April 29, 1962, put it this way: "The spin of fate's wheel which gave Luck the most enduring toy of the century -- not excluding tops, jacks and marbles -- came in 1945 when a now-retired logger and saw miller named Einer Peterson persuaded Donald Duncan Sr. to move his Yo-yo factory from Chicago to the source of supply -- hard maple."

         Einar Pedersen -- correct spelling -- had a somewhat different account. He had two sawmills -- one in Luck, and and another in Milltown. Here's what he wrote, sometime before the plant closed down in 1965:

Einar Pedersen with wife Augusta

         "The reason for the Duncan Yo Yo factory locating here is as follows: A young man by the name of Urban Olson from west of Atlas had received an order for air dry yo yo squares to be delivered to Chicago at certain intervals.

         "He was not rigged up to take care of a large order like this, having no sawmill, and no equipment to handle it with, (the timber). He came to see me often, wanting me to help him get it out. I finally went with him to look at two pieces of maple timber which he had bought nearly a year prior to this. He had quite a few logs cut which were still in the woods where he had cut them. I found out that the leases on the timber rights had run out and the owners refused to renew without being paid in full for the timber. It was agreed that I take over the contract and as I had two sawmills going I agreed also to saw out what ever logs he had.

         "A few carloads were shipped, however payments were slow. The manager of Duncan's came up with the idea that a kiln be built in one of the towns which was handiest. I was told that I could choose the site, either Grantsburg, Luck, or Milltown. It was taken up by the Milltown Businessmen who did not seem to be interested, Grantsburg was out of the question as far as I was concerned, so it was decided that the company take over my lease on a railroad loading site I had leased in Luck.

         "Here a lumber dry kiln with a capacity of 2M (2 thousand board feet) was built. It was not long before the company decided to locate their factory by the kiln, however neighbors did not like the idea of a factory in their back yard, so a building was rented temporarily from Ray Johnson where they operated for several years.

Einar Pedersen at his Luck saw mill, probably in the 1940s. It was located west of the railroad tracks (now the Gandy Dancer Trail). All photos courtesy of Katherine Pedersen Wilson.

         "I kept them supplied with maple lumber which was in the dimension of 2 5/8"x 2 5/8" x 8 ft. for several years, however it was quite difficult as payments for the lumber were slow, and at one time the account due me was $12,000. Finally payments commenced to come, and in addition to being paid for current deliveries, I received $1,000 per month on the old account and after that everything was very satisfactory.

          "The statements by certain parties who claim credit for bringing the business to Luck are not true, as they had nothing to do with it. They later on built the present large factory which is credit to any town."

         This account was provided by Einar's granddaughter, Katherine Pedersen Wilson. She says the date of writing is uncertain, though it must have been before the plant closed in 1965 by the way the last paragraph is written. Katherine says her father, Edwin Pedersen, transcribed it at some point from Einar's handwritten notes.

Einar with his lumber. Polk County's hard maple was perfect for yo-yos.

           Katherine writes: “I found the one typewritten page in my dad's files after he died a couple years ago. I didn't remember having read it before and didn't know it's source, but I was sure it had been typed by my dad Edwin Pedersen, and that he had written the introductory sentence stating that what followed had been written by Einar Pedersen (Edwin's father). I can't tell you why my dad typed it.

            She said Edwin had learned a somewhat different version. “In dad's telling, Einar pointed out [to Duncan] that they could save some of the freight cost by drying the wood before shipping it to Chicago. Then after the kiln was built, he suggested that it would be more efficient yet to just make the yo-yos up here where the wood was.

          “In Einar's written account he doesn't claim credit and, in fact, states that building the kiln was the idea of a Duncan manager. But he is clearly irked that 'certain parties' are trying to take credit for bringing the factory to Luck. I tend to believe that there is some validity to Dad's story, but [Einar's] written account is the more authoritative (especially considering that my memory has to be factored into my dad's oral account). I think the third paragraph [quoted above] of the 1962 St. Paul Pioneer Press article lends credence to Dad's oral version.”