L. A. Foote, our energetic and enterprising car seal manufacturer, was born in Potsdam, New York, on March 21, 1837. At the age of fifteen he commenced the study of telegraphy and two years later took charge of the express and telegraph offices in his home town.

The year 1860 he spent with his brother on a prospective tour in the south and west and when to Cleveland, Ohio, enlisted for three months in an Infantry company. Then reenlisted in another he served twenty months. His regiment was in the deadly engagements of Murfreesboro and Shiloh, and at the former place Mr. Foote fractured his right ankle. He was taken to the hospital for three months and discharged for general debility in February 1863.

As soon as he was able he resumed his work as telegraph operator in Boston and other New England points. He came to Minneapolis in 1869 and then to Le Roy and Lansing. He made the latter place his home for some time, until he removed his family and business to Austin in 1890. While in Lansing he engaged in the lumber and coal business in connection with this station work, and there his attention was directed to better methods of protecting freight cars in transit.

He set his mind to work out improvements and in 1881 obtained his first patent and commenced the manufacture of car seals on a small scale. Still unsatisfied with his achievement he kept on studying and now has four patents on the seals and also one on the punch. The business has been pushed steadily to the front and a consolidation with other companies has recently been formed, which will increase the extent of the business even more rapidly.

During last winter Mr. Foote made himself very popular among the young people by furnishing them a skating rink and toboggan slide, which idea culminated in the Austin Carnival, and is continued this winter.

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Submitted to MnGenWeb by Darrel K. Waters