Remembering Our Ancestors Through Genealogy

A History of Iron County Michigan by Jack Hill Published in 1955, "A History of Iron County Michgan" gives the history and other interesting facts about this Upper Peninsula county. The book was originally printed in two columns. In order to improve the readability of the pages on a web browser it was converted to single column by combining every two original lines. With this exception the transcription was done without changes or corrections. Chapter 26 - Hematite Township

HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN     127     CHAPTER XXVI   Hematite Township      Hematite Township came into existence in the year 1891 during the organization of Dickinson County. At this time, Felch Town- ship was released by Iron County to Dickinson and eight geograph- ical townships were given up by Republic Township of Marquette County in lieu of the lands taken. The new area acquired embraced Townships 45 and 46 to the west line of Range 34 and thus squared the northeast corner of our county as we find it today. From these new lands and twelve sections released by Crystal Falls Town- ship was carved the new Township of Hematite. The first Super- visor of the Township was Thoburn Gibson who was seated on the County Board on August 13, 1891. Unfortunately, the early records of the Township have not been preserved and the following brief history is pieced together from other sources.    The main factor leading to the formation of Hematite Township were the iron ore discoveries of Mathew Gibson and his son Tho- burn. The original strikes were made along the shores of the Hem- lock River near the center of section 4-44-33 in 1888. When suffi- cient ores had been uncovered, the property was taken over by the Hemlock River Mining Company, a Pickands, Mather Com- pany subsidiary. The operation of the property was under the dir- ection of Charles E. Lawrence and William H. Jobe, both of whom served as early supervisors of the Township. A sizeable village soon developed west of the workings, the new community being called Hemlock for a time but was later changed to Amasa. It is reported that this unusual Biblical name was given to the village in honor of Colonel Pickands favorite son. This may be true. A more plaus- ible explanation however, is that it was intended to honor Mr. Amasa Stone, the father-in-law of Colonel Pickands who was a well-known railroad builder and public benefactor. The village has remained unincorporated throughout the years and continues to be governed by the Township officials.    In 1890, the Paint River Railway Company built a sixteen mile spur to the mine and village from Crystal Falls for the Chi- cago and Northwestern Railroad. Two years later the Milwaukee & Northern Railroad entered the village on its way to meet the Ontonagon & Brule Railroad which had begun the section of line south from Ontonagon. In 1893, these lines were united and became a part of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad system.    The Hemlock Mine developed into one of the moderately large early producers of the county and shipped a total of 2,125,681 tons of ore prior to 1940. The Gibsons continued their exploration and succeeded in uncovering another body of ore adjacent to the village which became the Michigan Mine in 1893. This mine was developed by the Oliver Mining Company and shipped 350,270 tons during its lifetime. The Amasa-   128     HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN   Porter Mine lying some three and one-half miles south of the village on Section 22 was one of the most unfortunate of mines. This prop- erty was developed by the Nevada Mining Company in 1914 and on February 21, 1918, a cavein of sand, gravel and water at the mouth of the shaft resulted in the death of sixteen miners. The catastrophe struck at 12:45 noon as the crew was being lowered to the underground workings for the afternoon shift. Had the ac- cident occurred fifteen minutes later, an additional hundred men comprising the shift crew would have lost their lives. The prop- erty produced 733,327 tons during its operation.    Another mine property of note is the Warner Mine lying in the southeast corner of Section 9. This mine was opened by the Pickands, Mather Company under the Hemlock River Mining Company in 1916 near the early Gibson explorations in that area. Up to the year 1940, the mine produced 1,868,637 tons of ore. Following a long period of idleness, the property was activated by the North Range Mining Company several years ago and is the only active mine in the Township at this time.    The uncertain operation of the mines as a means of employment for the villagers has been ternpered throughout the years by avail- able work in the surrounding forests. Many fine farms have also sprung up about the village in recent years.    J. Thoburn Gibson, in addition to being one of the leading citi- zens of the village and Township served with distinction as a sup- ervisor of the Township for twelve years and as County Road Com- missioner for a period of twenty years.