Iron Will: Cleveland-Cliffs and the Mining of Iron Ore, 1847-2006

Great Lakes Books Series

by Terry S. Reynolds, Virginia P. Dawson

In Iron Cleveland-Cliffs and the Mining of Iron Ore, 1847-–2006, Terry S. Reynolds and Virginia P. Dawson tell the story of Cleveland-Cliffs, the only surviving independent American iron mining company, now known as Cliffs Natural Resources. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-Cliffs played a major role in the opening and development of the Lake Superior mining district and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Through Cleveland-Cliffs' history, Reynolds and Dawson examine major transitions in the history of the American iron and steel industry from the perspective of an important raw materials supplier.

Reynolds and Dawson trace Cleveland-Cliffs' beginnings around 1850, its growth under Samuel L. Mather and his son William G. Mather, its emergence as an important player in the growing national iron ore market, and its tribulations during the Great Depression. The authors explore the company's fortunes after World War II, when Cleveland-Cliffs developed technologies to tap into vast reserves of low-grade Michigan iron ore and turned to joint ventures and strategic partnerships to raise the capital needed to implement them. The authors also explain how the company became the largest independent producer of iron ore in the United States by purchasing the mining interests of its bankrupt partners during the implosion of the American steel industry in the late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Reynolds and Dawson detail Cleveland-Cliffs' evolving efforts to deal with labor, from its early mostly immigrant workforce to its ambitious program of welfare capitalism in the early twentieth century to its struggles with organized labor after World War II.

Iron Will is a thorough, well-organized history based on extensive archival research and interviews with company personnel. This story will appeal to scholars interested in industrial or mining history, business historians, and those interested in Great Lakes and Michigan history.

360 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2011

Reviews

[John Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rarely is there a well-documented book on a 150+ year old company that tracks so many other similar companies with funding issues, economic setbacks, labor strife, government intervention, and environmental issues. The story of Cleveland-Cliffs is, in most ways, the story of Cleveland.

It’s surprising how much of the history of this company deals with the fight of workers, striving to achieve their rightful piece of the company. The miners at this company were striking back to the 1800’s – and continued to fight unfair treatment until the 2000’s. While this book mostly focused on how it impacted the company, some of the sources showed how the company tried to deal with worker uprisings and fight to have collective bargaining.

The Mathers, father and son, play a major role in this book – and our city. It was interesting that the father had been given plenty of land but worried about finances. The elder Mather involved in the company moved to Cleveland in 1843 at age 26 when Cleveland had the population of 8,000. Despite the land and becoming an attorney, he evidently was upset he wasn’t doing better financially. The authors wrote that he was depressed, an interesting thought that this family that was hugely successful had such problems.

While it is a book of the company, the authors missed diving in the details of the workers – how these strikes impacted them, what conditions were over the years, and what it was like to lose a strike and be fired or work for an unjust company.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable walk through history of the UP iron mines and also the Ohio area as well as ebbs and flows with business cycles, innovation and competition.

[Ladybug33 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides an interesting history of US steel industry and an iron ore mining company.