Editing Bessemer, Michigan (section)

== History ==
[[File:Vintage picture of Downtown Bessemer (Sophie Street).jpg|left|thumb|301x301px|Vintage picture of Downtown Bessemer (Sophie Street)]]
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. Mining began in 1883. By 1884, the Milwaukee Lake Shore and Western Railroad (later the Chicago and Northwestern) was being built from [[Antigo, Wisconsin|Antigo, WI]] to Ashland, WI by way of the new mines. The railroad company plotted the town of Bessemer in 1884. On June 4, 1886 [[Gogebic County, Michigan|Gogebic County]] was separated from [[Ontonagon County, Michigan|Ontonagon County]]. In March 1887, 360 voting members assembled and voted to organize the village of Bessemer. In the same year [[Gogebic County, Michigan|Gogebic County]] was officially created by the Michigan Legislature. Also in the year Bessemer and [[Ironwood, Michigan|Ironwood]] called an election to see which city would be the county seat and also have the [[Gogebic County Courthouse]]. [[Ironwood, Michigan|Ironwood]] men traveling to Bessemer to vote were made drunk and the train did not stop at the voting site. [[Ironwood, Michigan|Ironwood]] lost and Bessemer gained the county seat. From 1884 to December 31, 1958, a period of seventy-five years, the iron ore shipment from all of [[Gogebic County, Michigan|Gogebic County]] totaled over 245 million tons. In 1966 the last mine in Bessemer, the Peterson Mine, closed. Many left the area to work in car factories in Kenosha, and the local economy underwent a serious decline.<ref name="History of Bessemer">{{Cite web|url=http://www.cityofbessemer.org/about.history.html|title=History of Bessemer|website=www.cityofbessemer.org|access-date=2016-04-08|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326062944/http://www.cityofbessemer.org/about.history.html|archivedate=2016-03-26}}</ref>

Bessemer is named for [[Henry Bessemer|Sir Henry Bessemer]] (1813-1898), English inventor of [[Steelmaking|steel manufacturing]].<ref name="History of Bessemer"/>