Iron Will: Cleveland-Cliffs and the Mining of Iron Ore, 1847–2006 (review)

Life in the Iron Mills this is not. In writing the corporate history of the Cleveland-Cliffs iron ore company over 159 years, the authors, in effect, have written an economic history of the United States from the standpoint of a particular business. They make a point that their narrative was “free from oversight” on the part of Cleveland-Cliffs, but there is nothing in the narrative that basically challenges the corporate gaze. As a railroad worker for twenty years, I am not the ideal reader for this book. That said, I found it to be a fascinating read.

The basic thesis of the book is that Cleveland-Cliffs survived over 159 years as a solvent company because of the continuity and intelligence of its leadership, its core basis as an independent iron ore company, its use of partnerships to leverage capital, its investment in customers’ companies, and its investment in proven new technologies. A certain amount of global luck also seemed to play a role, as when in the 1990s China emerged as an unexpected customer for iron ore.

Terry Reynolds, a professor of social sciences at Michigan Tech, and Virginia Dawson, an independent writer of institutional histories, collaborated on the book. The style is seamless and readable, with deft technical explanations enabling the reader to follow the technologies as they evolved in the ore business. The book proceeds chronologically from the company’s founding in 1847, moving along in twenty- to thirty-year increments. The authors devote considerable ink to the family executives’ role in the company’s success, so the book can serve as a study of leadership styles. Business readers will find it a useful study of strategy and response. The fact that the company spanned world wars, the Great Depression, the emergence of labor unions, and globalization makes the book useful as a general economic history.

I found the story of the challenges the business faced eye-opening. Boom-and-bust cycles in the ore and steel industries kept management busy staying ahead of transportation options, changing technology, new reserve development, market strategies, and labor. Labor, of course, took a direct hit during all bust cycles, even when, overall, profits were up. For example, the company found it necessary to threaten workers with a gunboat, the USS Michigan, in both 1864 and 1865, though the war had proved quite profitable for the company. During the Panic of 1873, the company did not have the money to pay its workers, despite ten preceding successful years. In the 1890s a similar cycle occurred when the company’s prosperous position was threatened by the Panic of 1893. This resulted in the state militia being called in to intimidate workers.

Cleveland-Cliffs maintained an anti-union stance until forced to capitulate by the organizing steelworkers. The authors point out the many paternalistic mitigations employed by the company: providing housing, gardens, medical care, pensions, workplace safety, education, and rest homes. When the unions became successful, the company dropped these programs. I found myself curious as to what a worker might say about the trade-off. A few interviews would have added some missing voices to this saga, especially those of the workers. For instance, the first women hired in 1973, Linda Bancroft, Jeannette Dunquist, and Donna Garceau, might have had some interesting comments on the lack of paid leave for new mothers, leading to the fact that “women workers usually retired once they started families” (p. 203). Lack of pregnancy leave undermines the ability to gain seniority on the job.

I learned more than I expected to in reading Iron Will. I had never considered the struggle-for-survival aspect of running a company in the face of uncontrollable national and global events or the degree to which executive decisions make the difference between success or failure. What was also clarified was that, since failure takes with it...