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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The Diamond Drill (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996

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About The Diamond Drill (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996

Claude M. Atkinson was the founding editor and proprietor of the Diamond Drill, a newspaper published in January 1887, in Crystal Falls, in Iron County, Michigan. Its name derived from the diamond-tipped drills that miners used to take core samples to determine the presence of iron ore.

In 1897, Thomas Conlin, Sr. began a long association with the newspaper, which continued until his death in 1935. Sole owner of the Diamond Drill after 1924, Conlin was personally interested in the mining industry. He served as president of the Michigan Equal Tax Association, an organization that was opposed state taxes levied against ore mined in Michigan. As a leading citizen of Crystal Falls, Conlin was often appointed to various public bodies, such as the county board of school examiners and the governing board of the Newberry State Hospital, an institution that cared for the insane.

After Conlin’s death, his son, Thomas Conlin, Jr., ran the Diamond Drill for many years. Conlin, Jr., however, had an engineering degree from the University of Michigan and took a job in 1943 with the Michigan Highway Department. He sold the paper to the Rudolph family in 1946; the Diamond Drill remained in operation until 1996.

Iron County, Michigan, was established in 1885, and after a bitter dispute, Crystal Falls became the seat in 1887. The town was first settled in 1880, near a major deposit of iron ore. By 1881, approximately 500 people lived in Crystal Falls, most of them men, and almost all engaged either in mining or lumbering. The following year, the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad reached the town. However, the iron ore was of a lower grade than ore from other sites in northern Michigan and Minnesota, and the mining boom in Crystal Falls slowed during the 1890s. Despite the closure of some facilities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mining continued until the Great Depression. The last iron mine near Crystal Falls finally closed in 1969.

Lumbering operations began in the area in 1875, and for a period of time they were at least as, if not more, active than the mines. By 1889, 30 lumber camps were operating near Crystal Falls. Lumbering continued on a much reduced scale into the 21st century. As the mining declined and lumbering reached a steady but relatively low level, Crystal Falls has explored alternatives to those earlier industries, most notably tourism. However, the town’s remote location and its distance from major population centers has limited its appeal as a tourist destination.

Provided By: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Diamond Drill (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996

Dates of Publication

  • 1887-1996

Created / Published

  • Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich. : C.M. Atkinson

Headings

  • -  Crystal Falls (Mich.)--Newspapers
  • -  Iron County (Mich.)--Newspapers
  • -  Michigan--Crystal Falls
  • -  Michigan--Iron County
  • -  United States--Michigan--Iron--Crystal Falls

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan. 22, 1887)-v. 109, no. 32 (Aug. 7, 1996).
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.

Medium

  • v.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn96076817

OCLC Number

  • 35051048

ISSN Number

  • 2475-0131

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Diamond Drill Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich. -1996. (Crystal Falls, MI), Jan. 1 1887. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn96076817/.

APA citation style:

(1887, January 1) The Diamond Drill Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich. -1996. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn96076817/.

MLA citation style:

The Diamond Drill Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich. -1996. (Crystal Falls, MI) 1 Jan. 1887. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn96076817/.