Orrin W. Robinson (politician)

Orrin's great-grandfather, David Robinson, was a soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, reaching the rank of captain.

In 1854, at the age of 19, he borrowed fifty dollars to travel and join his uncle, S.S. Robinson, who was managing the Derby copper mine in Ontonagon County, Michigan.

In February 1856, he walked to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he then proceeded by stage to Fond du Lac, then by rail to Chicago and Galena, Illinois on to Dubuque, Iowa.

Following the Spirit Lake massacre in March 1857, immigration into the area nearly stopped and combined with the Panic of 1857, this created greater economic hardship than usual for a frontier community.

By that time, the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway had extended a line to the area with a stop at the growing community that Robinson named Chassell.

The new mill at Chassell, which had a capacity of twenty million board feet (47,000 m³) a year, employed over two hundred and was considered one of the largest in the state.