In 1853, an insurance agent and businessman in Detroit traveled to the Lake Superior area in Michigan and learned ol hematite iron ore of a very high quality. He had sample*' of the ore tested and later smelted in a bloomcry. The tests returned superior-quality results, and he immediately returned to Detroit and interested some fellow capitalists, including Eber IV Ward, who arrived in the Detroit area in 1821.

At the age of 12, he was sailing on the Great Lakes for his uncle, who was an owner of a large number of vessels. As there were no railroads in those days, steamboating became immensely profitable. Gradually, as railroads began to spread out toward the West, he devoted his interests to iron manufacturing. By 1860, America's railroads were largely dependent on domestic iron or steel rails imported from England, which exported inferior quality to America.

Ward set out to remedy this problem, which forged the way lor the Industrial Revolution. He was the giant industrialist of the Northwest from 1840 to 1875 and was a superior financier and organizer. On October 15, 1853, the Eureka Iron Company was officially organized. Ward proceeded to lay out the village ol Wyandotte. (Wyandotte Museum.)





Capt. William Bolton contracted with Eber B. Ward to transport building supplies for the construction of the Eureka Iron factory.

As a result of his many visits to the village of Wyandotte and the realization of the importance of using the Detroit River for transporting supplies, Bolton decided to build a home in Wyandotte in 1855.

As a result of Bolton's frequent visits as a transporter, local residents soon recognized that the river meant as much to the continuing development of the new village as the land itself. (Bacon Memorial District Library.)

The Eureka Iron plant, which once occupied the site ot the Wyandott Indian village or Maquaqua, was the major industry in the village and operated from 1854 to 1892. The furnaces were built of stone brought to the land site by Bolton by way of the river. The two furnaces and a rolling mill consumed approximately 6,000 bushels of charcoal each day and over rwo million bushels a year, or about 50,000 cords of wood. In those days, the constant sound of the felling of trees was a positive sign that the mill was running and people were at work. In later years, coke replaced the use of charcoal. (Information from the Wyandotte Museum.)

The Eureka Iron Company operated a rolling mill and iron works in Wyandotte from 1855 until it closed in 1892. It was here that America’s first Bessemer steel was made under the leadership of William Durfee and Eber Ward.

The Wyandotte Iron Works was located along the Detroit River; a convenient location for bringing in supplies

Eber Ward began paying employees with vouchers in 1873 in an effort to keep business afloat during tough economic times. Most stores in Wyandotte and Detroit accepted the script which promised 7 percent interest in six months.

In 1864), the first steel ingots were made by the Bessemer steel process, which used a method developed by an American, William Kelly, but named for Sir Henry Bessemer.

The next year, the first Bessemer steel rails were rolled at the Wyandotte mill. These were the first steel rails produced in the United States and the beginning ot the steel industry in America.

Kelly's process was quickly adopted by companies in other states. Since they had easier access to coal, coke, and natural gas, fuels that proved to be much better than charcoal, they were able tii produce B cheaper product than the company in Wyandotte. (From the Bacon Memorial District Library.)