The mill was constructed for the Chateau Estate and later came under the management of John S. Prince. He then built a Saw Mill at "Pig's Eye" with Mr. Davis as a partner, in 1857. This venture apparently was a failure, and he returned to St. Paul.

In 1858 he married an Irish girl, Hannah Dullea, whom he met sometime after her arrival in St. Paul from Ireland. Hannah immigrated here during the "Great Famine" years. From their marriage came a family of 5 children.

Born in Canada in 1822, Mr. Dion came to St. Paul in 1848, or thirty-seven years ago, unable at the time to speak a word of English. He is a real live, active Canadian - Frenchman, and although sixty-three years of age is as bright and as fresh and jolly as a boy of twenty years. He was the first miller in the city, and is a miller by trade, though at times he has run a steam engine.

He purchased a lot in "Kittson's Addition" for $1000.00 and sold it for $2000.00 - today is worth $15000.00; owned a lot on the corner of Cedar and Ninth Streets, for which he paid $2000.00 - today worth $15000.00. In 1857 he moved to Pig's Eye, and with $8000.00 established a sawmill, sank in all his money, and came back to St. Paul poor and barefooted, where he has since resided.

On the corner of Cedar and Minnesota Streets was a large pond of water, and in 1848 Mr. Dion used to shoot ducks that swam upon it's surface. After he came to St. Paul everything looked so uninviting that he became disgusted and wanted to get away, but he could not, for he had no money. He hadn't the faintest conception then, that St. Paul would grow to become what it is now, or he might have become a very rich man.

As I have already stated, Mr. Dion could not speak English, but he undertook to drive oxen for a living, and as he did not understand "haw" from "gee", his oxen went directly opposite to what he wanted them to do. One day he was passing a small house where there was a good-sized cabbage garden owned by a widow, he called out "haw" and the oxen started for the cabbages on the run, and before he could comprehend the fact he should have called "gee" a greater portion of the garden was devoured, and the widow came very near to killing him for his ignorance. "Oh ! my !, but dat vas one great time. How dat old woman did saccreme, "By - Damn !".

Mr. Dion is a small man and constant laborer. He is frank, cheerful, active, and philosophical. He has a nice little home, has raised a family of five children, four boys and a girl, and three of his boys are engineers. He looks upon the bright side of life, and though sometimes he may feel a little sad at "what might have been," yet he brushes away the cobwebs of the past and laughs in the sunshine of the present, as he sings:

And thus in his quiet little cottage home he no doubt enjoys more of life's sweetness than many who count their millions. And why should he not ? He has less to annoy him, less to burden him, less to fret about, less to make him stingy and mean, less to force him to be hypocritical and overbearing, less to take away the best attributes of a man, and more to bring out the qualities that adorn the brows of those who toil for their daily bread. God aid the poor and the lowly in all walks of life, for they are nearer the perfection of manhood than those who are warped and distorted by their everlasting greed for money! money! money!
Pleasant Cottage!, Humble home!, Happy Dion!