Title: Montreal Mining Company Reports
Inclusive Dates: 1921-1923, 1931

Creator:

• Montreal Mining Company

Call Number: Micro 657; Northland Micro 7

Quantity: 1 reel of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:

Housed at the Area Research Center, History Center and Archives, Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center / Ashland Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Four reports of a Montreal, Wisconsin company which mined iron ore from the western section of the Gogebic iron range in northeastern Wisconsin, all dealing with increased employee housing needs after company expansion. The first three reports, 1921-1923, illustrated with maps, street plans, sketches, floor plans, and photographs, are studies of existing company housing of the Montreal Mining Company and of other company towns, such as those operated by the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. and the Carnegie Land Company. The detailed proposals cover all aspects of Montreal's new housing development including construction, sewers, water, painting, and landscaping. The final report, written in 1931, looks at the progress made on the development, again with photographs, floor plans, cost projections, analysis of sites and experimental building materials, and notes on the segregation of ethnic and racial groups of miners. The reports were drafted by the company, a subsidiary of Oglebay, Norton & Company of Cleveland, Ohio and include descriptions of mining sites at Hamilton, Wisconsin; Montreal, Wisconsin; and Gwinn, Michigan; all of which lie within the Ironwood Mining District.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-micr0657

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The Montreal Mining Company, located in the western section of the Gogebic iron range in northeastern Wisconsin, was founded in 1885 in Montreal, Wisconsin. With the decline of the lumber industry at the turn of the century, particularly the close of the Montreal lumber mill in 1904, iron ore production became the focus of the economy in the area. As a subsidiary of Oglebay, Norton & Company of Cleveland, Ohio, the Montreal Mining Company was for many years the largest underground mine producing iron ore in the United States. Curtailed production forced the mines to close on August 10, 1962.

The collection consists of four reports prepared by the Montreal Mining Company over a ten year period and concerns the extension and improvement of employee housing in company towns. (Montreal's mining properties were in the Ironwood District, located in the northern Michigan peninsula and on both sides of the Wisconsin-Michigan state line. Company housing, built near each mine, was needed to accommodate the new employees hired for the expanding production program.) The August 1921 report analyzes housing built by other companies including Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, and Minnesota Steel Company. The report discusses the various types of homes constructed, methods of ownership, and styles of landscaping and planning used by these firms and makes recommendations for Montreal's housing needs. The October 1921 and March 1923 reports describe existing housing conditions on the company's mining properties and offer suggestions for improvements and new housing development. All three reports include maps of the area, proposed street plans, floor plans, photographs and sketches of houses, and proposals covering all aspects of the new development such as sewers, water, electricity, painting, landscaping, even the type of street signs to be used. The reports also discuss estimated improvements, construction, and repair costs on the new development for the following twenty years. The final report (1931) shows the progress made on the housing project since 1921, again with extensive photographs and floor plans of the new homes as illustrations.

Acquisition Information

Loaned for microfilming by Gail Hunton, Madison, Wisconsin, 1977. Accession Number: M77-495

Processing Information

Processed by Tom Hughes and Chris Rongone, January 1978.

Reel   1 Frame   1	Housing Report for Mining Properties of Oglebay, Norton & Company, August 1921
Reel   1 Frame   138	Improvements Report on the Montreal Mining Company Properties in the Ironwood District, Michigan, October 1921
Reel   1 Frame   275	Report on the Housing, Water & Sewer Requirements for the Montreal Mining Company's Employees in the Village of Hamilton, Wisconsin, March 3, 1923
Reel   1 Frame   300	Report on Employee Housing at Montreal, Wisconsin, 1931