Luther L Wright High School - Hematite Yearbook (Ironwood, MI)

Page 10 text:

Principals of the High School. Geo. T. Downer, Superintendent of Butte, Montana Public Schools. A. H. Tuttle, Professor of History, University of Ohio. John Buttler, Manager Sterns Lumber Co., Kentucky. F. H. Haller, Supt. Osceola Mine, Houghton, Mich. .1. B. Patrick, Cashier, Oliver Iron Mining Co., Ironwood. J. V. Brennan, Supt. of Ironwood Schools. Boy Chamberlain, Insurance BusinesMinneapolis, Minn. .1. V. Brennan, Supt. of Ironwood Public Schools. John C. Watson, Present Principal of Ironwood High School. 8

Page 9 text:

H-E-M-A-T-l-T-E Rah! Rah! Rah! Good! Good! Good! HEMATITE! HEMATITE! IRONWOOD! HEX the Ironwood High School yell was chosen several years ago the selection was most appropriate for it contains the name of the element which is particularly typical of this mining community; an element which forms the very nucleus of our existence, that which contributes essentially to our prosperity, the rich product of our rugged hills in whose depths it lay hidden for ages—HEMATITE. Hematite is the most valuable ore of iron. The ores mined in Ironwood and on the Gogebic Range are a soft, red hematite containing hydrated and some blue steel hematite. There is apparently no limit to the supply of this ore, for in recent years the problem of deep iron mining has been mastered, mining methods have steadily advanced, powerful modern machinery has supplanted obsolete types, and vast bodies of the richest and purest ores in the world have been discovered. The name HEMATITE is from the Greek word HA IMA meaning “blood,” and was given to the mineral by the ancients from its fanciful resemblance to coagulated blood. It crystallizes in grapelike and globular masses with beautiful radiating fibrous structures and is of a deep brownish red to which is applied the name Red Hematite. Hirst discovered in Britain it appears today in vast quantities in various parts of the I’nited States, notably in Northern Minnesota, Gogebic County and the Marquette District in Michigan and in Northern Wisconsin. Indications of the “ Bloodstone,” as red hematite is sometimes • ailed, are everywhere in evidence in our locality: the very soil is teeming with it; its deep red color lends a picturesque element to our landscape; it is sufficiently spectacular to attract the attention of our visitors who comment with admiration on the red dirt, and if those visitors were to arrive upon a rainy day they would be impressed with the blood-red rivulets and the gory pools that are everywhere conspicuous. The Ironwood High School color was selected to perpetuate our native color—not cardinal, not maroon, not the common red, but that color of magnificicnt lustre, which has an individuality of its own and which is peculiar 1o Red Hematite alone. Symbolizing, as it does, wealth, because of its great intrinsic value;beauty, because of its rare color; health, because of its fancied resemblance to rich, red warm heart-blood pulsating with life; harmony, because of its natural blending with the native soil of which it is a .... part; it is but fitting that our Annual Publication THE HEMATITE should bear the name of this important mineral which so lavishly contributes to our welfare. Mr. J. B. Patrick.

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No history of the Ironwood Public Schools, which does not contain the name of Hurlbut Keese, will ever be complete. He has been associated with the schools of the city as truant officer for nine years consecutively, and during that time the attendance has steadily and markedly increased. Mr. Keese has been eminently successful because he is deeply interested in the welfare of every boy and girl in the schools. He believes in education, but what is more important, he believes in boys and girls. His theory is that an education is the birthright of every human being. He also understands that young people, especially boys, do not always see the justice of his view, and while he sympathizes with their point of view, he insists that his own views are more correct and more valuable for future use. So thoroughly does he realize the necessity of an education that he is never averse to doing his utmost to keep every boy and girl in school as long as pos- ible, even though to do so may cause occasional inconvenience to him- self and others. Mr. Keese knows everybody old and young, and from the time school opens in September until it closes again in June there is scarcely a day in which he does not pay a visit to the home of some parent to encourage him or to remind him of the duty or obligation of keeping his children in school. Many a day the familiar figure of this “boy ' of seventy-five may be seen facing a blinding snowstorm in quest of someone who is absent from school without a valid cause, and who otherwise might be mortgaging his future for temporary comfort. Mr. Keese not only helps to keep the boys and girls in school regularly, but he also helps many in a material way, and I think I am betraying no confidence when I say that his charity has helped many a person to stay in school who otherwise would be compelled to quit or to suffer serious hardship in order to remain. It is because of these things that Mr. Keese’s work is valuable and far reaching; and it is because he is helping to shape the future of so many men and women that he is eminently worthy of an important place in the history of the Ironwood schools. 9 J. V. BRENNAN.