Hwy. 2, 10 mi. W of Hurley, Iron County

The Gogebic Iron Range, which may be seen to the south of here, extends for 80 miles from Lake Namekagon, Wisconsin, to Lake Gogebic (Chippewa for "place of diving") in Michigan. Prior to the discovery of iron ore, the area was relatively uninhabited as the land was ill-suited to agriculture. Nathaniel D. Moore uncovered ore deposits in the Penokee Gap near Bessemer in 1872, but it was not until 1884 that the first mine shipment was made. The news spread rapidly, attracting specula-tors, investors, and settlers. By 1886 there were 54 mines on the range and the area boomed having "inexhaustible deposits of uniformly high-grade Bessemer ores." For a brief period stocks rose 1200 percent. The crash in 1887 ended the extrava­gant prosperity.

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[Source: McBride, Sarah Davis. History Just Ahead (Madison:WHS, 1999).]