The Forgotten Iron King Of The Great Lakes

Eber Brock Ward (1811-1875) began his career as a cabin boy on his uncle's sailing vessels, but when he died in 1875, he was the wealthiest man in Michigan. His business activities were vast and innovative. Ward was engaged in the steamboat, railroad, lumber, mining, and iron and steel industries. In 1864, his facility near Detroit became the first in the nation to produce steel using the more efficient Bessemer method. Michael W. Nagle demonstrates how much of Ward's success was due to his ability to vertically integrate his business operations, which were undertaken decades before other more famous moguls, such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. And yet, despite his countless successes, Ward's life was filled with ruthless competition, labor conflict, familial dispute, and scandal. Nagle makes extensive use of Ward's correspondence, business records, contemporary newspaper accounts, and other archival material to craft a balanced profile of this fascinating figure whose actions influenced the history and culture of the Great Lakes and beyond.

A Gilded Age industrialist becomes Michigan's wealthiest resident and helps shape the nation.

This book is the first to explore the history of a 1908 communal Cottage Row called The Colony, and also the nearby 1889 summer resort called Fountain Point. This history directly concerns Lake Leelanau, Michigan, but it also reflects major social and economic changes shared with many other parts of the United States due to the growth in the late 19th century of vacationing as a culmination of the Industrial Revolution. We explore these issues by telling the stories of the six families who joined The Colony, and other families who then built summer cottages nearby. They ran the gamut from a retired widow and a traveling salesman, to a distinguished physician, to two wealthy owners of the Ohio company that first invented and sold KitchenAid appliances. Hayward Draper’s meticulous unfolding of the history of The Colony not only sheds light on the era’s economic history but also encourages readers to explore the histories of their own idyllic vacation spots, including several he mentions created by members of the African American community. Draper’s book is both a fascinating read and a major contribution to scholarship. -Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Harvard University Draper weaves together interesting stories of a diverse cast of characters with factual and charming appeal. This original research sheds new light on the history of Lake Leelanau, Fountain Point, and the interplay between original settler families and newly arriving vacationers. Since it ties this in with similar developments across America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it merits reading by anyone. -Kim Kelderhouse Director, Leelanau Historical Society

Tin Stackers tells its story of the role of the U.S. Steel Corporation's largest commercial fleet.

This work examines the archaeological record of copper mining in the Lake Superior area.

Details the history of the iron-hulled war steamer USS "Michigan"

Ojibwa Narratives presents a fresh view of an early period of Ojibwa thought and ways of life in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the south shore of Lake Superior. This fascinating collection of fifty-two narratives features, for the first time, the tales of three nineteenth-century Ojibwa storytellers-Charles and Charlotte Kawbawgam and Jaques LePique-collected by Homer H. Kidder. By the late nineteenth century, typical Ojibwa life had been disrupted by the influx of white developers. But these tales reflect a nostalgic view of an earlier period when the heart of Ojibwa semi-nomadic culture remained intact, a time when the fur trade, together with seasonal roving, traditional transportation, and indigenous practices of child rearing, religious thought, art, and music permeated daily life.

Narrating the history of Michigan's forest industry, Karamanski provides a dynamic study of an important part of the Upper Peninsula's economy.