History of Bessemer

Bessemer, the county seat of Gogebic County, is finely situated on the northern slope of Colby hill. It is protected from the wind on all sides by high, picturesque bluffs that add to the natural beauty of the site.

It's history is just as colorful and interesting. The city's beginning must be traced back to Ontonagon County 

which was created in 1852 and extended west to the Montreal River on the Wisconsin border. The Ontonagon County included two townships-Ontonagon and Pewabic. Pewabic included the present townships of Carp Lake, Matchwood, Bergland, and all of present Gogebic County. The earliest explorations of Bessemer were done by single men of small exploring parties. In 1880, a hunter and trapper Richard Langford, discovered iron ore under an overturned birch tree. However, Captain N. D. Moore is credited with disclosing the ore which led to the development of the Colby property. In 1882, a few log cabins were built. The Dolan house of logs was one of the first built on what is now East Mary Street. Bessemer was a heavily timbered region which would later lead to the lumber industry. Mining began in 1883.

By 1884, the Milwaukee Lake Shore and Western Railroad (later the Chicago and Northwestern) was being built from Antigo, WI to Ashland, WI by way of the new mines. The railroad company platted the town of Bessemer in 1884. The President of the railroad named the town in honor of Sir Henry Bessemer, who discovered the smelting process which bears his name. By 1885 a boom was on in the city and people began to filter into Bessemer in increasing numbers. The railroad was finished to Ashland and ore from the Colby open pit mine was hauled by horse teams to the railroad line by the First and Last Chance Saloon which is the present corner of old County Road and Fourth Street. Here it was dumped into railroad cars and shipped to the Ashland ore docks. Miners were usually paid in gold which caused frequent robberies. This was a problem since the Sheriff was in the county seat in Ontonagon miles away

. Communication was difficult. It was not until March 1, 1863 when Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act that created the "Military Road" that travel was possible to Ontonagon, but only in the winter because the road was too muddy in the spring. Thus, by 1887, Bessemer was a wide open town with fifty saloons and with little regard for the law. Almost all of the early settlers were young people who were husky and were not afraid of hard work and privation. First came a group of mixed Americans, surveyors, prospectors who laid bare the iron ore deposits. Then came the miners. The Cornish, Irish, Scandinavian, French Canadian, and Polish. The latter were mainly railroad workers, also Finns and a few Jews.

The first church service was held in 1885 by Rev. D. S. Banks a Presbyterian minister, and Rev. Father Hennesy, a Roman Catholic priest, arrived in 1886.

June 4, 1886 Gogebic County was separated from Ontonagon and Captain Sellwood who was in charge of the Colby Open Pit (also called The Sellwood Properties)became the first supervisor of the new Gogebic County.

In March 1887, 360 voting members assembled and voted to organize the village of Bessemer. In the same year Gogebic County was officially created by the Michigan Legislature. Also in the year Bessemer and Ironwood called an election to see which city would be the county seat and also have the Court House. Ironwood secured the support of the railroad workers and people in Watersmeet. When Bessemer pioneers Paul Rutiman, Sr. and Joe Pecard found out about this, they plotted to change Ironwood's plan. Ironwood men traveling to Bessemer to vote were made drunk and the train did not stop at the voting site. Ironwood lost and Bessemer gained the county seat. This began a rivalry between the two cities that sill has not ended even today. The site selected to build the court house was the cemetery, as a result bodies were removed to the new cemetery Hillcrest. One far sighted individual suggested that the court house be built of stone rather that wood.

Mining was the major industry and as more mines were developed, nearly every home boarded men. Some homes had as many as 21 men at a time and a hired girl helped cook, clean, wash the miners clothes, and make their lunch pails. The miner was paid from $1.05 to $2.00 per day, the hired girl was paid $8.00 per month.

Conditions in the mines were dangerous and unsanitary. There was no electricity and early miners wore a candle in their hats for light. Mules were used to haul the ore out and kept in the mines so long that they would go blind.

Along with the miner came the lumberjack. Logging was the number two industry of Bessemer and the range. In the beginning pine was king and other trees were bypassed. Logging camps were opened and saw mills sprang up. Lumberjacks worked vigorously through winter months at a rate of $12.00 to $28.00 a month. In the spring the men came into town just long enough to spend their winter's earnings and the vanished until fall. Suddenly after a very few years, the pine was gone and the logging industry began a long, steady decline. Now it is done by machinery and small groups of men who live in town and drive to work each day.

From 1884 to December 31, 1958, a period of seventy-five years, the iron ore shipment from all of Gogebic County totaled over 245 million tons. In 1966 the last mine in Bessemer-the Peterson Mine was closed. Many left the area to work in car factories in Kenosha, and the local economy underwent a serious decline. Stability has returned to the area as many of these jobs have been replaced with jobs in the service industry, health care, and small manufacturing. Today the City of Bessemer's industries are mainly logging & lumbering and tourism. Four season sports helps it to continue to grow.