[1] Van Dusen was a grain dealer; one of many businessmen to become very rich from the milling boom in Minnesota during the second half of the 19th century.

He followed the trade westward to Rochester, Minnesota where in 1865 he began building grain elevators and warehouses along railroad lines under his G.W.

[1] The Chicago and North Western Railway gained control of the Winona and St. Peter in 1867, and the line continued to grow westward.

In 1907, the Van Dusen-Harrington Company and its subsidiaries operated around 400 country grain elevators and owned 50 retail lumber yards.

[10] Van Dusen's remains lie in a Mausoleum in the heart of downtown Rochester, Minnesota; the Oakwood Cemetery with the script G.W.