Serious exploration for iron ore along the Maple River
(soon known as the Iron River) was begun in March of 1880 by R.L. Selden
and his son, William H. Selden, who had first come to the area in 1878 and
who were following up on a surveyor's report of an ore outcrop in the
Iron River valley. After a period of about nine months, sufficient ore
was discovered on property owned by the Seldens in Section 36, T43n, R35W,
to warrant the opening of the Iron River Mine, later known as the Riverton
Mine. William Selden soon persuaded the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad to
extend its line from Stager to Iron River, a distance of approximately 15miles.
Anticipating an influx of miners to the area, the brothers
Donald C. and Alexander MacKinnon platted a village on the west bank
of the Iron River, on land they had purchased three years earlier.
This village, taking the name of the river, was the first settlement
platted on the west side of what later became Iron County.
Serious exploration for iron ore along the Maple River
(soon known as the Iron River) was begun in March of 1880 by R.L. Selden
and his son, William H. Selden, who had first come to the area in 1878 and
who were following up on a surveyor's report of an ore outcrop in the
Iron River valley. After a period of about nine months, sufficient ore
was discovered on property owned by the Seldens in Section 36, T43n, R35W,
to warrant the opening of the Iron River Mine, later known as the Riverton
Mine. William Selden soon persuaded the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad to
extend
its line from Stager to Iron River, a distance of approximately 15miles.
Anticipating an influx of miners to the area, the brothers
Donald C. and Alexander MacKinnon platted a village on the west bank
of the Iron River, on land they had purchased three years earlier.
This village, taking the name of the river, was the first settlement
platted on the west side of what later became Iron County.