ISHPEMING — In 1864, the Iron Cliffs Mining Company incorporated. Initial investors were Samuel Tilden, a wealthy New York lawyer who was the 1876 Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, William Ogden, first mayor of Chicago and also the first president of the Union Pacific Railroad and John Foster. William Barnum was a key figure in the company, becoming its first president.

The new company’s first act was to purchase 38,000 acres of land in Marquette County from the St. Mary’s Mineral Lands Company, part of the St. Mary’s Canal Company. The parcel was part of the 750,000 acres of land in both the Upper and Lower Peninsulas granted to the Canal Company as compensation for the building of the Soo Locks. Iron Cliffs paid $500,000 for this land, which may not seem like much money, but in today’s dollars, that sum would be over 8 million dollars. The company also purchased additional lands, including the Pioneer furnace in 1867 and made the decision to produce and sell pig iron, instead of just selling the iron ore. Their holdings in Marquette County eventually totaled over 50,000 acres.

In 1867 the first two mines were ‘opened,’ the Foster and the Barnum. It usually took at least a year of hard work in sinking a shaft before ore could be extracted from the mine. The Barnum mine was located within the city limits of Ishpeming, directly north of one of the Lake Superior Mining Company mines and the Foster mine was located in the National Mine area and was eventually swallowed by the open pit Tilden mine.

Both mines were originally open pit mines but eventually transitioned into underground operations. The original Barnum mine produced specular hematite while the Foster yielded lower quality ore. The product of both mines were shipped to the Pioneer Furnace in Negaunee.

In 1869, Iron Cliffs sold 120 acres of what was deemed ‘worthless cedar swamp’ land to Robert Nelson. Nelson filled the swamp with waste rock from the mines, platted it and sold it to form the downtown area. Nelson also purchased additional parcels of land to plat for use as residential lots and Iron Cliffs sold some of its lands directly or offered the lots for lease. “The Iron Cliffs company has decided to plat the forty acres lying between North, Second and East High streets and will lease lots for building purposes. Lots may also be sold, but as to this no definite information has been secured. It will be a great aid to our city, permitting a growth that has long been waiting such an opportunity for building location.” (Iron Ore, March 31, 1888)

In the mid-1870s, Iron Cliffs began exploring some of the lands north of the original Barnum mine as that mine showed signs of running out. Diamond drills produced core samples and ore was found over 400 feet below the surface. The decision was made to start to sink the A and B shafts of what was then called the New Barnum mine in 1879.

Work on the A shaft went well, but quicksand was soon encountered in the B shaft and work was stopped on that shaft until stronger pumps could be procured. Because the ore was deeper underground through a thick layer of quartzite, sinking the A shaft took longer than a year and wasn’t finished until late 1881.

When water started being pumped from the A shaft in 1881, the wells in the Strawberry Hill area ran dry and households had to travel to the A shaft workings for water. This was not a satisfactory solution, especially during the winter, and since Strawberry Hill was where many of the wealthier residents of the city lived, the dry wells may have been an impetus for the city to begin the process of putting in a water and sewer system.

In April of 1882, the A shaft of the New Barnum mine began shipping ore and about 12,000 tons of ore were shipped to the furnaces in Negaunee in the first four months of operation. Once the A shaft was finished, attention was turned to the B shaft. “The shaft with which the Iron Cliffs company have been having so much difficulty in endeavoring to sink to the ledge in this city, and which was abandoned some months ago, will probably be given another trial in a few weeks, the president of the company, Hon. W.H. Barnum deciding on his last visit here that the shaft must be sunk, and when this gentleman issues an order, it must be obeyed if such a thing can be done.” (Iron Agitator, January 28, 1882)

“The timbers are being removed from B shaft, Iron Cliffs company’s property, this city, and the work of attempting to sink the shaft to the ledge will be begun in a few days. Several thousands of dollars have already been expended on the work, and it is to be hoped that they may be successful in this attempt to conquer the quicksand.” (Iron Agitator, April 11, 1882)

The quicksand was eventually conquered and the B shaft started shipping ore sometime in 1884. In 1888, the New Barnum mine was renamed the Cliffs Shaft mine. In addition to the Foster, Barnum and Cliffs Shaft mines, the company also had the Ogden and Tilden mines, which produced low quality ore and the Salisbury mine. For the Iron Cliffs Company, the quality of the ore did not matter as every ton of ore went to the Pioneer furnace.

The decision to sell pig iron instead of iron ore may have been a wise decision at first, as pig iron commanded high prices during the Civil War, but in later years, the demand for charcoal iron waned due to improvements in technologies, including the invention of Bessemer Steel. Continual tensions between the head office, located in New York and the local management compounded Iron Cliff’s woes and by the late 1880s the company was in trouble.

In April of 1889, the Iron Cliffs Company decided to investigate the possibility of selling the company. Jeptha Wade, along with other top Cleveland Iron Mining investors formed a syndicate and began purchasing Iron Cliff’s stock. By February of 1890 over 14,000 shares of stock were in the hands of Cleveland Iron Mining Company and in April of 1890, control of the Iron Cliffs Mining Company passed to the syndicate. In May of 1891, a holding company, Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company was formed to control the stock in both mining companies. This maneuver was necessary due to restrictions in Michigan mining laws. It wasn’t until 1910 that both the Cleveland Iron Mining Company and the Iron Cliffs Mining Company ceased to exist.