History :

Bessemer the county seat of Gogebic County, is finely situated on the northern slope of Colby hill. It is protected from the wind on all sides by high, picturesque bluffs that add to the natural beauty of the site.

It's history is just as colorful and interesting. The city's beginning must be traced back to Ontonagon County which was created in 1852 and extended west to the Montreal River on the Wisconsin border. The Ontonagon County included two townships-Ontonagon and Pewabic. Pewabic included the present townships of Carp Lake, Matchwood, Bergland, and all of present Gogebic County. The earliest explorations of Bessemer were done by single men of small exploring parties. In 1880, a hunter and trapper Richard Langford, discovered iron ore under an overturned birch tree. However Captain N. D. Moore is credited with disclosing the ore which led to the development of the Colby property. In 1882, a few log cabins were built. The Dolan house of logs was one of the first built on what is now East Mary Street. Bessemer was a heavily timbered region which would later lead to the lumber industry. Mining began in 1883.

By 1884, the Milwaukee Lake Shore and Western Railroad (later the Chicago and Northwestern) was being built from Antigo, WI to Ashland, WI by way of the new mines. The railroad company platted the town of Bessemer in 1884. The President of the railroad named the town in honor of Sir Henry Bessemer, who discovered the smelting process which bears his name. By 1885 a boom was on in the city and people began to filter into Bessemer in increasing numbers. The railroad was finished to Ashland and ore from the Colby open pit mine was hauled by horse teams to the railroad line by the First and Last Chance Saloon which is the present corner of old County Road and Fourth Street. Here it was dumped into railroad cars and shipped to the Ashland ore docks. Miners were usually paid in gold which caused frequent robberies. This was a problem since the Sheriff was in the county seat in Ontonagon miles away. Communication was difficult. It was not until March 1,1863 when Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act that created the "Military Road" that travel was possible to Ontonagon, but only in the winter because the road was too muddy in the spring. Thus, by 1887, Bessemer was a wide open town with fifty saloons and with little regard for the law. Almost all of the early settlers were young people who were husky and were not afraid of hard work and privation. First came a group of mixed Americans, surveyors, prospectors who laid bare the iron ore deposits. Then came the miners. The Cornish, Irish, Scandinavian, French Canadian, and Polish. The latter were mainly railroad workers, also Finns and a few Jews.