8: From Over Here to Over There

Power in The Wilderness

Weary from the tax fight, the strike, and the graft trials, Victor Power hopes that 1917 is the year he returns to building his vision for Hibbing and a future campaign for governor. A new superintendent of the Oliver Iron Mining Company in Hibbing, Michael Godfrey, decides to change tactics, befriending Power instead of fighting him. As the United States enters World War I Vic Power becomes Captain America, a patriotic wartime leader who turns Hibbing into a powerhouse of military enlistment, war bond sales, and iron ore production. While the war changes the lives of the young men and women caught up in its horrors, the very ground beneath Hibbing starts to shift. U.S. Steel begins buying up property in the northern section of the village to access rich iron ore deposits beneath the primary business district, including Vic Power’s law office, his brother Walter’s famous theater, and his sister-in-law Dottie’s beloved department store. With much at stake, Vic Power makes a deal that changes Hibbing forever.