Mesabi Essay

The discovery of iron ore on the Mesabi Range can hardly be credited to one person. In 1890, however, it was the family of Lewis Merritt that discovered merchantable ore and opened the Mesabi to industry. Within three years, they owned several mines and had built a railroad leading to immense ore docks in Duluth. On the cusp of controlling a mining empire in northern Minnesota, they lost everything to business titan John D. Rockefeller.
The Merritts came to Minnesota Territory in 1855 and 1856. They were among the first settlers of Oneota (West Duluth). The family ran a hotel and Lewis, the father, worked as a millwright. Lewis participated in the Vermilion Gold Rush of 1865–1866. Like his peers, he found nothing. He was, however, shown a chunk of iron ore that prompted him to speculate that ranges of the mineral would be discovered in northern Minnesota.
Lewis and his wife Hepziabeth had eight sons. One became a teacher and another a minister. Some worked on Lake Superior vessels for a time. Several of the sons worked in the extractive industries of lumbering and mining. Prominent among the brothers was Leonidas. He became the head of the Merritt clan in Duluth, especially after his father Lewis died in 1880.
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It led to what were then the largest ore docks in the world. While this was a great accomplishment, the Merritts had achieved it using borrowed money as the country was entering the financial downturn of 1893. In the summer of 1893 Leonidas met with John D. Rockefeller. The two men negotiated the consolidation of their mining interests into the Lake Superior Consolidated Mines Company. In addition, Rockefeller pumped over two million dollars into the Merritt properties to keep them afloat. As the financial depression of 1893 deepened, the Merritts found themselves unable to meet their obligations. Eventually, in January of 1894, the Merritts sold all of their stock in the consolidated company to