Menominee Iron Range: Mining & Miners
By 1955 a total of 162,621,749 tons of iron ore had been shipped from this Michigan portion of Iron ranges. Who were the miners?
In 1955, the majority of the ore produced was soft red hematite and yellow limonite, with a smaller quantity of hard blue hematite. The iron-bearing rock unit of the Iron River-Crystal Falls range is situated in a triangular-shaped basin between Iron River and Crystal Falls, Michigan, and Florence, Wisconsin. Most mining activities in the Michigan part of the range have been concentrated around Iron River and Crystal Falls at the basin's apices and on the limb extending south from Crystal Falls.
Homer Mine, Homer-Wauseca Group, Mineral Hills, Iron County, Michigan, USA | Hiawatha No. 2 mine, Hiawatha Group, Stambaugh, Iron County, Michigan, USA - Photo: Mindat
The oldest rocks in the main basin are volcanic greenstones, up to 5 miles thick, encircling the basin's north, southwest, and east sides. These greenstones are ancient lava flows altered to secondary minerals, giving them a green hue. Between the greenstone and the iron formation lies a series of mudstones or slates, with the upper 50 feet being very black due to high carbon content and containing 30-40 percent finely disseminated pyrite. Above the iron formation is another series of slates and graywacke. The greenstone belt in the southwestern part is of undetermined age, consisting mainly of pale-green hornblende, chlorite, albite, epidote, magnetite, and fine-grained sphene.
Rock units in the Iron River-Crystal Falls district | Adapted from Geological Survey Professional Paper 570 (James et el, 1968, 17)
Where Migrants Come From: 1900' Countries of Birth
Journeying Through Mines: Georeferencing Sanborn Maps
Select Historic Photos:
Ownership and Mining Geanological Trailing
Iron River Area
Crystal Falls Area
What Next?
What this story map has achieved is creating blocks of visual representation of existing data; and building upon these blocks to tell a single story that captures our consciousness to the rich history of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, its migration and legacy that remains to this day. Michigan's Upper Peninsula (UP) has a rich history of iron ore mining, which profoundly shaped both the local economy and the industrial landscape of the United States.
By integrating maps, images and textual descriptions, this is an effectively way to convey the spatial and temporal dimensions of iron mining operations - especially on this highlight to speaks to the miners. A project by Michigan Technological University called The Keweenaw Time Traveler (KeTT) is a recent work that captures the journey through time, specific to the Keweenaw area, but sets the example for the remediation of history through spatial representation. The project highlights the UP across time and it received the Michigan Governor's Award for Historic Preservation.
This work conveys the power inherent in storytelling, and the assemblage of diverse data points encourages users to explore historical data from diverse perspectives. Importantly, it sows the seed for an inter/across-disciplianary inquiry and fosters collaboration between historians, geographers, archaeologists, and digital technologists, enriching scholarly discourse and promoting new avenues for research.
Resources/References
A Rich History: Historical Overview of Iron County - Iron.org
Iron County (MI) Iron Mines - Crystal Falls area - Michigan Rail Roads
Iron County (MI) Iron Mines - Iron River area - Michigan Rail Roads
Iron in Michigan: Discovery and Early Mining - Michiganology.org
Michigan Iron Mines by Robert C. Reed 1957 - Department Of Conservation & Geological Survey Division
Mine Disasters in the US - United States Mine Rescue Association
Mining In Iron County, Michigan - The Diggings™
Photo Gallery: Crystal Falls, Iron County, Michigan, USA - Mindat.org
The Iron River Iron-Bearing District of Michigan by R. C. Allen 1910 - Michigan Geological And Biological Survey
