One of the earliest to take an interest in this trade was Robert Hanna. Whilst living in Columbiana county, Ohio, where he had been brought up, he was attracted by the representations of the mineral riches of the far off northern lakes, and in 1845 he started off to see for himself what was truth in these reports, and what exaggeration. Traveling and exploration in the wilds of the Lake Superior country were very difficult in that day, and those who were anxious to make a fortune out of the bowels of the earth had to rough it, pretty much as the seekers of gold have to now in the tangled wilderness to the west of Lake Superior. Mr. Hanna spent four months in careful exploration, and at length becoming satisfied that there was something in the rumors of mineral riches, obtained from the department, in whose charge the territory then was, a permit to locate three square miles of copper lands. This being accomplished, he returned to set about the organization of a company to work the prospective mines. Whilst at Marquette, on his return from exploring the copper region, Mr. Hanna fell in with a man who had been exploring the country back of that place, and who brought in a specimen of iron ore which he had come across in his search. The ore was so heavy, and apparently rich in iron, that it was taken to a blacksmith, who, without any preparatory reduction of the ore, forged from it a rude horseshoe. The astonishment of those hitherto unacquainted with the existence of raw iron so nearly pure metal, can be imagined. But Mr. Hanna's attention, like those of most of the searchers after minerals in that region, was absorbed in copper, and as we have seen, he located his copper tract and returned home to provide means for working it. A company was formed, materials purchased and miners engaged, and the work pressed forward vigorously. The question of forwarding supplies being now an important one, Mr. Hanna removed to Cleveland, that being the most favorable point for the purchase and shipment of the articles needed, and opened a wholesale grocery establishment in 1852, combining with it a forwarding and commission business. At that time the wholesale grocery business was in its infancy, there being but two or three establishments of the kind in Cleveland.