Seven Iron Brothers

Black and white photograph of Leonidas Merritt, Lewis J. Merritt, Andrus R. Merritt, Alfred Merritt, Lucien F. Merritt, Cassius Clay Merritt, Hephzibah Jewett Merritt, Lewis H. Merritt, Jerome Merritt, and Napoleon B. Merritt.
1871 photograph of the Merritt family.
Top row: Leonidas Merritt, Lewis J. Merritt, Andrus R. Merritt, Alfred Merritt, Lucien F. Merritt.
Bottom row: Cassius Clay Merritt, Hephzibah Jewett Merritt, Lewis H. Merritt, Jerome Merritt, Napoleon B. Merritt.

The Seven Iron Men, also known as the Merritt brothers, were iron-ore pioneers in the Mesabi Range in northeastern Minnesota and the creation of the city that is now known as Mountain Iron.[1] In the late 1800s, the Merritt family founded the largest iron mine in the world and initiated the consolidation of the American railway system into what would ultimately become the United States Steel Corporation. Their story was told, in part, by the book Seven Iron Men by Paul de Kruif.[2] The book was first published in 1929.

The brothers, actually five brothers and two nephews, charted the Mesabi Range and recorded the areas that demonstrated the highest potential for iron after they recognized what they had found.[3] Due to the lack of railroads in the region, they were initially unable to transport the ore, but their discovery catalyzed the growth of railroads in the region.[1] The railroad became the center of conflict between the Merritt Brothers and J. D. Rockefeller,[4] to whom they were eventually forced to sell their stake in Mountain Iron[1] in 1893.[5]

  1. ^ a b c "Merritt Brothers". Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  2. ^ De Kruif, Paul (1 September 2007). Seven Iron Men: The Merritts and the Discovery of the Mesabi Range. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-5262-4.
  3. ^ Benson, Lorna. "A Minnesota Century: Mining the North". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
  4. ^ "Iron Range - The Mining Frontier". Macalester College. Archived from the original on 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  5. ^ DeCarlo, Peter J. (11 February 2014). "The Merritt family helped put the 'iron' in Iron Range". Minnesota Post. Retrieved 13 February 2021.