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 27 - Mansfield Township

128     HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN     Chapter XXVII   MANSFIELD TOWNSHIP      Mansfield township is the smallest of the township units and came into being in 1891 when Dickinson county was organized and Felch township was released by Iron County. At this time Cry- stal Falls township gave up two geographical townships and one was added from lands received from Marquette County to form the present boundaries of Mansfield Township.    The township is traversed by the Michigamme River which had provided the link of communication between Lake Superior and Green Bay from pre-historic times. Down the course of this stream came Geologists Foster and Whitney in 1848 under a federal assignment by Dr. C. T. Jackson to study and report on the minerals of the area. Along this course also, it is believed by some, that the aging Father Menard came to his death at a portage in 1661 while making his way from the unfriendly L'Anse Chippewa to the Menominee tribe on Lake Michigan. Here also journeyed the grant land selection crews in the late sixties from the north with their main supply base situated at the month of the Deer River.    Mining exploratory work followed closely on the heels of the lumbermen into the township and in 1882 we find the crews of Dr. D. M. Bond and Adolph Guensburg of Florence, operating as the Calidonia Mining Company, engaged in exploratory work on Lot 5, Section 17-43-31. The company failed however, to uncover any large bodies of ore. After several years of idleness, a lease was secured by W. S. Calhoune who discovered ore in mer- chantable quantities in 1889. The mine was developed by the Mans- field Mining Company and a railroad spur was extended to the mine from Crystal Falls in 1890.    At this mine, the county was to witness its greatest mining disaster when on the evening of September the 8th, 1893, the workings beneath the river gave way and snuffed out the lives of twenty-seven men. To add to the hardships of the mine families, a forest fire destroyed practically   HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN     129   every dwelling at the site during the following year. The mine was redeemed in 1896 by the DeSoto Iron Company by a diversion of the stream and was later sold to the Oliver Iron Mining Company. The mine shipped a total of 1,462,504 tons of ore.    With the depletion of the forests, some settlers have turned to farming and many fine farms have been, cleared along M-69 near the county border. Much land area of the township has re- cently been inundated by the Michigamme Reservoir, a de- velopment of the Wisconsin-Michigan Light & Power Company.                            CONCLUSION    And now comes to its conclusion the present Story of Iron County. The main objective of the writer in this undertaking has been to bring together in one work and in somewhat chronological order, all the available interesting factual events since the first French voyaguers made their way into this widerness to barter with Indians. Special emphasis on research has been placed on the period extending from 1850 to 1900 for this is the era of our history that is in gravest danger of becoming permanently lost.    The work has been a hobby with the writer over the past two decades and it is his hope that others will be encouraged to ex- pand and carry it on for the edification of posterity.    The success of a work of this type naturally involves the co- operation of many individuals and the writer wishes to sincerely thank the pioneers and others who have provided material or aid in its compilation and also the Reporter Publishing C o m p a n y whose kind offices have made its publication possible.