Zug Island#Noise and vibration

Originally a marsh-filled peninsula at the mouth of the River Rouge, the territory now known as Zug Island served as an uninhabited Native American burial ground for thousands of years.{{cite book | last = Bak | first = Richard | date = September 2010 | title = Boneyards: Detroit Under Ground | url = http://wsupress.wayne.edu/content/downloads/911/Boneyards_sample_pages.pdf | location = Detroit, Michigan | publisher = Wayne State University Press | isbn = 9780814333532 | page = 45 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101216001048/http://wsupress.wayne.edu/content/downloads/911/Boneyards_sample_pages.pdf | archive-date = December 16, 2010}} Upon European arrival, the land was incorporated into Ecorse Township, making up the very northeast corner of the township. The beginning of interest in developing the land came when Samuel Zug, one of the founders of the Republican Party and a staunch abolitionist, came to Detroit from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1836 to make his fortune in the furniture industry with the money he earned as a bookkeeper. Shortly after, Marcus Stevenson, a Detroit financier, went into business with him. {{cite news |last1=Rubin |first1=Neil |title=Mill workers at Zug Island steel themselves for the end |url=https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2020/04/19/mill-workers-zug-island-steel-themselves-end/2957131001/ |access-date=20 April 2020 |work=The Detroit News |publisher=Gary Miles |date=19 April 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Allnutt |first1=Brian |title='The dirtiest square mile in Michigan' |url=https://detroit.curbed.com/2020/1/23/21078486/zug-island-detroit-closing-river-rouge-pollution |website=Curbed Detroit |date=23 January 2020 |access-date=20 April 2020}}

The Stevenson & Zug Furniture Company flourished until 1859 when Samuel Zug, by then a rich man, dissolved the partnership. He decided to invest in real estate to provide security for his wife, Anna. Envisioning a luxurious estate on the Detroit River, Zug bought {{convert|325|acre|km2}} of marshy land below Fort Wayne from the town of Delray in 1876. But the dampness was too much for the Zugs, and after 10 years they abandoned their home.

In 1888, Zug allowed the River Rouge Improvement Company to cut a small canal through the south section of his property to more directly connect the Rouge River to the Detroit River. This Short Cut Canal, as it came to be known, was enlarged in the early 1920s by Henry Ford to allow large ships to more easily navigate to the Ford River Rouge Complex. In 1891, Zug completed the largest real estate transaction of the decade{{among whom|date=October 2023}}: he sold his island for $300,000 {{USDCY|300000|1891}} to industries that wanted it as a dumping ground.

Zug became interested in politics and served as Wayne County Auditor under Gov. John J. Bagley. He died in 1896 when he was 80.

Image:Coke train, Zug Island.jpg

The Detroit Iron & Steel Co.{{efn|Incorporated in Michigan on April 24 1902, issued 75,000 par $10 common (split 2-for-1 on July 16, 1917) and 75,000 par $10 7% preferred shares. Issued $600,000 15-year 5% bonds dated July 1, 1909, due annually $40,000 till July 1, 1925 ($280,000 redeemed by 1917-07-01). Paid 4% per year dividend on common stock until 1917, then 2.5% quarterly (10% annual) and also paid a few extra dividends.

• President: Daniel R. Hanna (Cleveland)
• Vice: C. C. Bolton
• Secretary and Treasurer: C. W. Baird (Detroit)
• General Manager: Frank B. Richards (Cleveland){{cite newspaper |newspaper=Commercial and Financial Chronicle |volume=76 |issue=1980 |date=6 June 1903 |title=Detroit Iron & Steel Co. - Status |page=1251 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_commercial-and-financial-chronicle_1903-06-06_76_1980/page/1251/mode/1up?q=%22Detroit%20Iron%20%26%20Steel%22}}{{cite magazine |magazine=Iron Trade Review |volume=35 |issue=18 |date=1 May 1902 |title=Industrial Summary |page=76c |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_industry-week_1902-05-01_35_18/page/n48/mode/1up?q=%22zug%20island%22}}{{cite book |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2930562&seq=598 |page=478 |title=Moody's Manual of Railroads and Corporation Securities (19th annual) |volume=3 |date=1918}}

The joint venture included:

• M. A. Hanna & Co
• Solvay Process Company (owned 30 adjoining (map) byproduct coke ovens)
• Detroit capitalists

The furnace had a capacity of 300 tons of foundry iron per day, 30 additional coke ovens were built concurrently and there were plans to eventually have 180 ovens.{{cite magazine |magazine=Iron Trade Review |volume=35 |issue=16 |date=17 April 1902 |title=The Detroit Iron & Steel Co. |page=28 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_industry-week_1902-04-17_35_16/page/n7/mode/1up?q=%22zug%20island%22}}

Riter-Conley had the contract for the furnace, Russell Wheel & Foundry (Detroit) for auxiliary structures. The furnace was 78x17.5ft and the 4 stoves were 83x20ft.{{cite magazine |magazine=Iron Trade Review |volume=35 |issue=26 |date=26 June 1902 |title=New Construction |page=42 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_industry-week_1902-06-26_35_26/page/42/mode/1up?q=%22zug%20island%22}} There were 120 coke ovens in 1905. The furnace was located on the north-east corner of the island (see map).{{cite magazine |magazine=Iron Trade Review |volume=38 |issue=22 |date=1 June 1905 |title=The Zug Island Furnace of the Detroit Iron and Steel Co |page=15 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_industry-week_1905-06-01_38_22/page/15/mode/1up}} The furnace was blown in on February 15, 1904{{cite magazine |magazine=Iron Trade Review |volume=37 |issue=8 |date=25 February 1904 |title=General Industrial Notes |page=56 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_industry-week_1904-02-25_37_8/page/56/mode/1up?q=%22detroit%20iron%22}} and in 1911 rebuild as a modern thin-lined, water cooled furnace.{{cite magazine |magazine=The Iron Age |volume=89 |issue=1 |date=4 January 1912 |title=New Iron and Steel Works Construction - Merchant Blast Furnaces |page=102 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chiltons-iron-age_1912-01-04_89_1/page/102/mode/1up?q=%22detroit%20iron%20%26%20steel%22}} The B furnace (80x18.5ft; 300tpd, Arthur G. McKee type), directly adjoining to the east of A, was begun in early 1909 and blown in on July 21, 1910 (see map).{{cite magazine |magazine=The Iron Age |volume=86 |issue=20 |date=17 November 1910 |title=The New Blast Furnace of the Detroit Iron & Steel Company |page=1145 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chiltons-iron-age_1910-11-17_86_20/page/1145/mode/1up?q=%22detroit%20iron%20%26%20steel%22}} Also on Vol 5 Sheet 79 of the 1910 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map}} brought ironmaking to Zug Island with the construction of a blast furnace in 1902. In 1904 the works was purchased by the M.A. Hanna Company of Cleveland, Ohio, which built a second blast furnace in 1909. At this time the island's two furnaces were reportedly the largest of their kind in the world, producing pig iron for foundry companies. The plant expanded and became part of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation in late 1931, becoming a key component of a fully integrated steel mill and a division of the larger National Steel Corporation. A third blast furnace was added in early 1938 while the existing furnaces were rebuilt and enlarged.

When National Steel became insolvent in 2003 most of the island's facilities were purchased, along with the rest of what is now called the Great Lakes Works, by United States Steel, which currently operates the mill.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-12-20/us-steel-layoffs-trump-michigan|title=U.S. Steel to cut 1,545 Michigan jobs as weakness overwhelms Trump's protection|last=Deaux|first=Joe|date=2019-12-20|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-21}} The island is home to the mill's ironmaking facilities (the rest of the mill's facilities, primarily steelmaking and processing, are located at the main plant a few miles south in the city of Ecorse) which includes 3 blast furnaces ("A", "B" and "D") and raw materials storage areas. Ships supply large ore docks along the north ("1 Dock") and east ("3 Dock") shores of the island and large coal/coke/ore storage fields along the south and west ("B Area") shores. Number 5 Coke Battery located there, once an integral part of the mill, is independently owned and operated by EES Coke LLC, a DTE Energy company. Delray Connecting Railroad, a subsidiary of Transtar, LLC, also operates some rail facilities on the island. A "2-way" vehicle/rail bridge is the main access to the island. Secondary vehicle and rail bridges (the "Swing Bridge") at the southwestern corner of the island also allow mainland access.

Iron produced at Zug Island was transported in bottle cars via rail to steelmaking at the main plant while DTE's coke is shipped via rail to supply consumers, chiefly ISG/Mittal, in the merchant metallurgical market. During the industry's peak, thousands of workers were employed on the island with a large percentage of the downriver community supported by the local steel producer. Recently a few hundred people worked on the island with the hourly workers at U.S. Steel represented by United Steelworkers Local 1299. In fall of 2008 U.S. Steel halted its production due to the economic downturn, but restarted it in fall of 2009.

U.S. Steel announced in December 2019 that it would idle most of its operations in the area, including all of its operations on Zug Island, by April 2020.{{cite news |last1=Thibodeau & Hall |first1=Ian & Kalea |title=Layoffs loom at U.S. Steel's Zug Island mill despite tariffs |url=https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2019/12/20/tariffs-us-steel-zug-island-mill-ecourse-river-rouge-wayne/2710422001/ |access-date=20 April 2020 |work=The Detroit News |publisher=Gary Miles |date=20 December 2019}} Primary steelmaking activities did shut down in April 2020, and the hot strip mill shut down in June of the same year, however in January 2021 the Detroit Free Press reported that there remained 500 employees working at the plant, and that "a few operations [were] ongoing — as long as demand will support them".{{cite news |url=https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2021/01/05/steel-mill-zug-island-operating/4126148001/ |title=Steel mill at Zug Island still operating with a fraction of the workforce it once had |date=January 5, 2021 |first=Frank |last=Witsil |publisher=Detroit Free Press |access-date=March 26, 2024}}{{and then what|date=October 2023}}

Despite the island's heavily developed industrial landscape, areas along the south and west shores have been left undeveloped to provide habitat for wildlife. Foxes and once-endangered peregrine falcons, which frequent large outdoor structures such as the gantry cranes at the ore docks, thrive on the island and offshore. At the bottom of the Detroit River is a man-made bed of coal cinders which serves as a rare spawning site for lake sturgeon, a threatened species. Less desirable are the sizable and sometimes troublesome populations of gulls, feral cats and rats.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

File:ZugIslandFromDelray.jpg neighborhood of Detroit]]

One of the most pressing problems in the neighborhoods surrounding Zug Island is poor air quality. According to an article in the January 20, 2010, edition of the Detroit Free Press, the neighborhoods around the area compose six of the ten most polluted zip codes in Michigan. In the article, residents cite air quality samples containing lead and high levels of methyl ethyl ketone, large numbers of cancer and asthma cases, and foul smells with "sparkly" dust that must be removed with toilet cleaner.{{cite news | last = Lam | first = Tina | date = June 20, 2010 | title = 48217: Life in Michigan's most polluted ZIP code | url = http://www.freep.com/article/20100620/NEWS05/6200555 | newspaper = Detroit Free Press | publisher = Gannett | location = Detroit, Michigan | access-date = October 17, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150601160919/http://www.freep.com/article/20100620/NEWS05/6200555 | archive-date = June 1, 2015}} Interviewed separately, residents of the area say the foul smells are strong enough to cause dry heaves.

In 2011, the Zug Island area was identified by Canadian scientists and Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources as the source of mysterious rumblings and vibrations, known as "The Hum", that plagued hundreds of area residents with cyclical vibrations, reportedly being felt in the ground up to fifty miles (eighty kilometres) away.{{cite news | last = Schmid | first = Doug | date = September 21, 2011 | title = Zug Island likely culprit of Windsor hum | url = https://windsorstar.com/Scientists+pinpoint+Island+area+source+Windsor+Maghnieh/5438127/story.html#ixzz1YdEX7e4d | newspaper = The Windsor Star | publisher = Postmedia Network Inc. | access-date = October 17, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111225202101/http://www.windsorstar.com/Scientists+pinpoint+Island+area+source+Windsor+Maghnieh/5438127/story.html | archive-date = December 25, 2011 }}{{cite news | date = January 30, 2012 | url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/mysterious-noise-escalates-in-windsor-ont-1.1177965 | title = Mysterious noise escalates in Windsor, Ontario | publisher = CBC News | access-date = October 17, 2015 }}{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/07/windsor-hum-canada-zug-island-united-states | title=The 'Windsor Hum': where is the noise plaguing a city of 210,000 coming from? | World news | The Guardian | author=Ashifa Kassam | newspaper=The Guardian | date=June 7, 2016 | access-date=June 19, 2016}}

The city of River Rouge reported in the Star that it cannot afford to spend any more money on investigating the hum. They claim the City Council had already spent over $1 million to help Windsor and Ontario find the source of the noise. However, they say it likely comes from the steel mill facilities on the island.{{cite news | date = November 7, 2011 | url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/river-rouge-calls-off-search-for-windsor-hum-1.1035209 | title = River Rouge calls off search for Windsor Hum | publisher = CBC News | access-date = October 17, 2015}}

In April 2013, a Canadian scientist used sound-level meters and a portable "pentangular array" of cameras and microphones to try to accurately identify the source of the sound, in order to know whom exactly to ask to fix it.{{cite web | url = http://www.onearth.org/article/the-sound-and-the-fury | title = The Sound and the Fury | last1 = Tingley |first1 = Kim |date = June 24, 2013 |website = OnEarth.org | publisher = NRDC | access-date = June 20, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130628235835/http://www.onearth.org/article/the-sound-and-the-fury | archive-date = June 28, 2013}}

The results of the 2013 study were released on May 23, 2014. Although contemporaneous news reports claim the study confirmed that Zug Island was the source of the Hum,{{cite news | date = May 23, 2014 | url = http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/mysterious-windsor-hum-traced-to-zug-island-mich-1.2651783 | title = Mysterious Windsor Hum traced to Zug Island, Mich. | publisher = CBC News | access-date = May 23, 2014}}{{cite news | date = May 23, 2014 | url = https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/mysterious-windsor-hums-source-revealed-as-zug-island-but-scientists-still-have-no-idea-what-the-cause-is | title = Mysterious Windsor hum's source revealed as Zug Island — but scientists still have no idea what the cause is | publisher = National Post | access-date = May 23, 2014}}

the report's findings actually stated "the most probable source of the Hum points well to the South of Zug Island. The bulk of our observations from both stations do not support the hypothesis that the source of the Hum emanates from Zug Island."{{Cite web | url=http://www.international.gc.ca/department-ministere/windsor_hum_results-bourdonnement_windsor_resultats.aspx?lang=eng | title=Summary of the 'Windsor Hum Study' Results | author=Colin Novak | date=May 23, 2014 | access-date=June 19, 2016}}

Reports of the Hum ceased after the US Steel plant on Zug Island ceased operations in April 2020.{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-hum-zug-island-us-steel-1.5665100 |title=Infamous 'Windsor Hum' finally dies down as U.S. Steel idles |work=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=27 July 2020}}

The island is mostly off-limits to the public. Cameras are prohibited on the premises,

{{cite web

| url = https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Zug+Island&hl=en&ll=42.289624,-83.10947&spn=0.000825,0.001798&sll=52.469397,5.509644&sspn=5.543056,14.732666&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=42.289624,-83.10947&panoid=9QtOsBwJwoKpfszxoz6e4g&cbp=12,159.99,,0,-1.74

| title = Zug Island

| date = July 2009

| website = Google Maps

| access-date = October 17, 2015 }} so pictures of the island's interior are rare. Due to its location and relative security, many urban legends exist regarding the island. One popular legend claims that the island is home to a correctional facility or prison, but no such facility exists on the island. Another popular claim is that parts of the movie RoboCop were filmed there. Although Zug Island is mentioned by name in the movie, the steel mill shots in RoboCop were actually filmed at the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp.'s Monessen Works in Pennsylvania.{{cite news |last = Batz |first = Bob Jr. |date = September 7, 2000 |title = A celluloid pilgrimage: Brothers journey from Dundee to see 'RoboCop' location |url = http://post-gazette.com/magazine/20000907robocop1.asp |newspaper = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |location = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |publisher = PG Publishing Co. |access-date = October 17, 2015}}

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald of Great Lakes shipwreck fame was laden with taconite destined for Zug Island on her fateful voyage in 1975.{{cite web |url = http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/about-the-ship-61/ |title = About the Ship |website = Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum |publisher = Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society |access-date = October 17, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151026071144/http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/about-the-ship-61/ |archive-date = October 26, 2015}}{{cite web | url = http://www.ssedmundfitzgerald.org/fitz-timeline/ | title = Timeline of Events for the Edmund Fitzgerald | last = McCall | first = Timothy C. | website = S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online | access-date = October 17, 2015}}

In 2011, Detroit based author Gregory Fournier published his novel, Zug Island: A Detroit Riot Novel.{{cite web | url = http://www.nicolasbooks.com/event/meet-author-greg-fournier | title = Meet Author Greg Fournier | date = July 20, 2011 | website = Nicola's Books | access-date = October 17, 2015}}

Zug Izland, a Detroit-based rock band in association with Insane Clown Posse, named themselves after the island and self describe their sound as "Juggalo Rock". ICP themselves have made references to Zug Island in their songs "The Shaggy Show", "In the Haughhh!" "Cotton Candy & Popsicles" and "Toxic Love". This is likely due to its proximity to the Delray/River Rouge area, where the members spent some of their youth. In fact, part of the island can be seen in the background of the cover photo for Insane Clown Posse (at the time, Inner City Posse)'s EP, Dog Beats.

{{Portal|Michigan}}

• Michigan, geography of

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{{reflist}}

• [http://detroityes.com/webisodes/2001/08-downriver/01-downriverzug.htm Zug Island Photo Essay]
• [http://www.ussteel.com/ U.S. Steel]
• {{cite book|title=Men and Mills of Great Lakes Steel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3U8iGwAACAAJ|year=1948|publisher=Great Lakes Steel Corporation|oclc=38219465}}

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Category:Ford Motor Company

Category:River islands of Michigan

Category:Islands of the Detroit River

Category:Islands of Wayne County, Michigan

Category:Artificial islands of Michigan

Category:1888 establishments in Michigan