Marji Gesick, the Ojibwe guide who led prospectors to iron
In 1845 Marji Gesick showed a prospecting party iron ore near present-day Negaunee. His family later fought for decades over his share of the mine.
Philo Everett and the Jackson Mining Company
Philo Everett led a party from Jackson, Michigan, to the Upper Peninsula in 1845 and helped start the first iron mine on the Lake Superior ranges.
William Austin Burt and the compass that found the iron range
In 1844 a survey crew led by William Austin Burt saw its compass needle swing wildly near Teal Lake. The cause was iron, and the Marquette Range was born.