The Iron Hunter

A reprint of the autobiography of Michigan's controversial governor from the Upper Peninsula. Originally published in 1919, The Iron Hunter is the autobiography of one of Michigan's most influential and flamboyant historical figures: the reporter, publisher, explorer, politician, and twenty-seventh governor of Michigan, Chase Salmon Osborn (1860 -- 1949). Making unprecedented use of the automobile in his statewide 1910 campaign, Osborn ran a memorable race that was followed by an even more remarkable term as governor. In two years he eliminated Michigan's deficit, ended corruption, and produced the state's first workmen's compensation law and a reform of the electoral process. His autobiography reflects the energy and enthusiasm of a reformer inspired by the Progressive Movement, but it also reveals the poetic spirit of an adventurer who fell in love with Michigan's Upper Peninsula after traveling the world. A native of Indiana, Osborn moved from city to city throughout the northern Midwest, peeling potatoes and unloading ships, until he landed his first job as a newspaper reporter. An interest in iron ore, however, soon prompted him to explore the world for deposits, taking him as far as Lapland and Madagascar. Osborn ultimately settled in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where he transformed the region's economy through the iron industry, while developing a passion for conserving the area's rugged natural beauty. Osborn was a Republican with social, environmental, and international concerns; he campaigned for Theodore Roosevelt, supported Woodrow Wilson's League of Nations, and befriended FDR. Readers of his autobiography will be inspired and entertained by an individualist whoworked relentlessly to improve Michigan, and the world, as he saw fit.