From Caspian and on to Michigamme

In 1923 the Oscar Lundwall family moved from Caspian to Michigamme, and the Imperial Mine, following work in the mines. On the 4th of July, Oscar took his children to a 4th ofJuly picnic, and when they returned home there was a bigger surprise – a baby brother, Kenneth.

Aunt Nancy, who was on the front porch of her home in Michigamme, Michigan, in April 1924 when a large black car pulled up. A man rolled down the window and asked directions to the Imperial Mine. "She was tickled when she recognized the man was Henry Ford, and in the car with him were Harvey Firestone and Thomas Edison, who were touring different Ford properties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan," Mary Ann said. Ford, Firestone and Edison were three of the most famous industrialists of their time, or of any time, for that matter. They were riding around with no police escort, not even a chauffeur. Just three friends looking for Ford's iron mine. Nancy was 15 when they stopped by.

The three men arrived in Marquette on Ford's yacht, and toured the U.P. including the Ford sawmill and parts plant in the Upper Peninsula to manufacture the wooden components for Ford automobiles. E.G. Kingsford facilitated the purchase of 313,447 acres of land for Ford and in 1920 construction began, employing more than 3,000 in the first year. On December 29, 1923, the charter for the newly formed Village of Kingsford was approved. By 1925 employment supporting the Ford Motor Company expansion to Dickinson County peaked at 7,500 workers.

Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone

Nancy Frances Lundwall in Michigamme

Imperial Mine had 165 employees in 1925, 52 houses were built to house miner's families and the rest of the miners lived in boarding houses. A grade school was built in 1923. In 1972 the schoolhouse stood vacant, and 22 of the original houses were still there and all but three of them were occupied. Henry Ford visited Imperial Mine 5 or 6 times in the next few years and each time shook hands with each and every one of his employees.

This is as many of the miners I could get on the scanner at one time. There were 165 in all. Grandpa Oscar Lundwall is the 2nd from the left on the platform (standing behind).

Willard Ekquist, Grandma Teckla's brother, is standing and is the last one on the far right.