The Iron Hunter

Chase Salmon Osborn (1860 - 1949)

This is an autobiography by Michigan Governor Chase Osborn. Osborn was born in 1860 in a log house in Huntington County, Indiana and later attended Purdue University, without graduating. He briefly worked at the Chicago Tribune and a newspaper in Milwaukee before marrying in 1881. He and his bride moved to Florence, on the northern border of Wisconsin, to run a local newspaper and prospect for iron. In Florence he used his newspaper to organize opposition to the criminals who controlled the town, at great risk to his life.

Later in the 1880s he moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and again ran a newspaper. Sault Ste. Marie would remain his home for most of his life. He was appointed Postmaster, then state Fish and Game Warden, then Commissioner of Railroads. He was increasingly involved in state and national politics, and served as a Progressive Michigan Governor from 1911-1913. Afterward he remained involved in politics, traveled the world, became wealthy through iron prospecting, contributed articles to magazines, authored several books, and continued to run a newspaper. Osborn was throughout his life a very active outdoorsman, and was a member of numerous organizations. (Summary by Ted Lienhart)

Genre(s): Memoirs, Modern (20th C)

Language: English

Keyword(s): michigan political history (1), michigan upper peninsula (1), michigan iron mining (1), michigan governors (1)