Edward G. Kingsford was operating a Ford dealership in Iron Mountain, Michigan, when his cousin-in-law, Henry Ford, contacted him about acquiring timberland in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Kingsford arranged the purchase of some 313,000 acres on behalf of Ford Motor Company. He then became vice president of Ford's Upper Peninsula operations, which included sawmills, factories, and a wood chemical plant.

In pursuit of self-sufficient automobile manufacture, Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company purchased over 313,000 acres of timberland for logging in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A massive sawmill complex and powerful hydroelectric plant were constructed at Iron Mountain. Here, sawmill workers produced huge quantities of lumber for wooden automobile framework, floorboards, and wheels.

The Vagabonds -- Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone -- used this truck on their 1923 camping trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Built on a 1922 Lincoln chassis, the vehicle served as a mobile kitchen. It carried food and cooking utensils used to prepare the elaborate meals that the friends enjoyed together each day.

Between 1916 and 1924, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs embarked on a series of camping trips. They called themselves the Vagabonds, but they camped in style. Numerous support staff set up and took down camp, cooked, took photographs, and maintained the cars and equipment trucks. This photograph shows the Vagabonds' automotive camping caravan in 1923.

In 1919, Henry Ford began buying vast amounts of forestland in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. These prime hardwood forests supplied the lumber used to create vehicle bodies and parts. Other products such as railroad ties, shipping containers and chemical byproducts were also made -- all to support Ford's automobile operations and his goal of manufacturing self-sufficiency.

In 1919, Henry Ford began buying vast amounts of forestland in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. These prime hardwood forests supplied the lumber used to create vehicle bodies and parts. Other products such as railroad ties, shipping containers and chemical byproducts were also made -- all to support Ford's automobile operations and his goal of manufacturing self-sufficiency.

In 1924-25 the Ford Motor Company ran a series of sixteen dramatic advertisements in the Saturday Evening Post and Country Gentleman magazines. Rather than promoting the Model T specifically, the ads aimed to convey the company's scale and philosophy. At the heart of this ad is a notion dear to modern environmentalists -- and long valued by farmers -- a denial of the very idea of "waste."

In pursuit of self-sufficient automobile manufacture, Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company purchased over 313,000 acres of timberland for logging in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Ford built a large lumber camp in Sidnaw, where well-fed, well-dressed, and well-housed lumberjacks like this worker harvested mature trees. The wood would be made into automobile parts at a plant 65 miles southeast.

In 1919, Henry Ford began buying vast amounts of forestland in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. These prime hardwood forests supplied the lumber used to create vehicle bodies and parts. Other products such as railroad ties, shipping containers and chemical byproducts were also made -- all to support Ford's automobile operations and his goal of manufacturing self-sufficiency.

Ford Motor Company opened its first employee commissary in 1919. By purchasing groceries, dry goods and over-the-counter medicines in bulk, Ford obtained better prices -- savings which it then passed on to employees through its company stores. The lumbering village of Pequaming, essentially a Ford company town, was especially dependent on its commissary; it was the only store in the area.

In 1919, Henry Ford began buying vast amounts of forestland in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. These prime hardwood forests supplied the lumber used to create vehicle bodies and parts. Other products such as railroad ties, shipping containers and chemical byproducts were also made -- all to support Ford's automobile operations and his goal of manufacturing self-sufficiency.

In pursuit of self-sufficient automobile manufacture, Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company purchased over 313,000 acres of timberland for logging in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Here, workers pose at one of Ford's remote milling sites on Keweenaw Bay. Lumber harvested from the hardwood forests at L'Anse would be shipped out and made into parts for Ford automobiles.

Henry Ford purchased a lumber mill in L'Anse, Michigan, on Lake Superior in 1922. The complex included a sawmill, dry kilns, a planing mill, and a powerhouse -- all surrounded by 30,000 acres of hardwood forest. Up to 180,000 board feet of lumber were produced there each day and then shipped 80 miles south to Ford's factory at Iron Mountain.

In 1919, Henry Ford began buying vast amounts of forestland in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. These prime hardwood forests supplied the lumber used to create vehicle bodies and parts. Other products such as railroad ties, shipping containers and chemical byproducts were also made -- all to support Ford's automobile operations and his goal of manufacturing self-sufficiency.

Few jobs were as important in a lumber camp as that of a chef. The logger's work was physically demanding -- even in the mechanized 1920s -- and it generated an impressive appetite. Chefs prepared enormous quantities of food for every meal, and little of it went uneaten. Good food was vital to a lumber camp's morale and productivity.

Early automobile bodies were made of wood. Henry Ford wanted to secure a timber supply in the hardwood forests of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He contracted E. G. Kingsford, the authorized Ford dealer in Iron Mountain (and his cousin-in-law), to purchase land for company use. Iron Mountain quickly became the center of Ford's logging and manufacturing operations in northern Michigan.

Henry Ford's corporate family was generous when it came to acknowledging their leader's enterprising and innovative strides forward. This tray was presented to Henry Ford by Michigan's Upper Peninsula Ford dealers. Ford first visited this beautiful country in the 1920s with a mind to incorporate its natural resources but returned many times to be recharged by the region's wild beauty.

Henry Ford purchased Sialia in 1917 and used the yacht on various business and pleasure trips to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In 1920 Ford sailed to Escanaba to explore his lumber operations in nearby Iron Mountain. In 1923 Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone crossed Lake Michigan from Traverse City to Escanaba aboard Sialia on one of their Vagabond camping trips.

In pursuit of self-sufficient automobile manufacture, Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company purchased over 313,000 acres of timberland for logging in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Ford established remote milling sites in several places, but Big Bay was unique. In 1943, Henry Ford purchased not only the sawmill and power plant, but nearly every other building in town.

In pursuit of self-sufficient automobile manufacture, Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company purchased over 313,000 acres of timberland for logging in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Ford established remote milling sites in several places, but Big Bay was unique. In 1943, Henry Ford purchased not only the sawmill and power plant, but nearly every other building in town.

In pursuit of self-sufficient automobile manufacture, Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company purchased over 313,000 acres of timberland for logging in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A massive sawmill complex was constructed at Iron Mountain, including this chemical plant. Here, workers distilled scrap wood into useful chemicals for plant operations, antifreeze, paint, and even artificial leather.

Ford Motor Company sawmills created heaps of wood wastes. Some was used to produce steam for factory operations. The rest was carbonized and compressed into charcoal. Workers mixed charred hardwood chips with starch, forming nearly 100 tons of charcoal briquettes each day. Dealers sold branded barbecue accessories and packages of the popular briquettes in Ford dealerships across the country.

Henry Ford (center), Edward Kingsford (left), and Fred Johnson (right) posed with children in the Ford company town of Alberta, Michigan, in 1938. Kingsford and Johnson helped manage Ford's vast forest lands in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and Alberta was home to a sawmill that produced lumber for Ford's automobiles. In 1954, Ford Motor Company donated the sawmill and community buildings to Michigan Technological University.

Ford's Iron Mountain plant, part of an extensive sawmill complex in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, was retooled during World War II to produce wooden CG-4A gliders for the U.S. Army. These workers assembled the light aircraft, which had no motor or propellers. A pilot and copilot could silently land these gliders to deliver supplies, equipment, or up to 13 additional soldiers.

Ford's Iron Mountain plant, part of an extensive sawmill complex in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, was retooled during World War II to produce wooden CG-4A gliders for the U.S. Army. Here, workers assemble the light aircraft, which had no motor or propellers. A pilot and copilot could silently land these gliders to deliver supplies, equipment, or up to 13 additional soldiers.

Ford's Iron Mountain plant, part of an extensive sawmill complex in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, was retooled during World War II to produce wooden CG-4A gliders for the U.S. Army. Here, workers assemble the light aircraft, which had no motor or propellers. A pilot and copilot could silently land these gliders to deliver supplies, equipment, or up to 13 additional soldiers.

Ford's Iron Mountain plant, part of an extensive sawmill complex in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, was retooled during World War II to produce wooden CG-4A gliders for the U.S. Army. Here, workers assemble the light aircraft, which had no motor or propellers. A pilot and copilot could silently land these gliders to deliver supplies, equipment, or up to 13 additional soldiers.

The Waco CG-4A glider was widely used by the U.S. Army to deliver troops and cargo to the battlefront during World War II. In 1942, Ford Motor Company retooled its extensive sawmill complex in Iron Mountain, Michigan, to build these wood, steel and cloth aircraft for the Army. Iron Mountain workers made over 4,000 gliders -- more than any other production facility.

Henry and Clara Ford enjoyed visiting Big Bay, Michigan, when staying at the nearby Huron Mountain Club. In 1943, Henry bought the community's sawmill, power plant, and houses and turned Big Bay into a company town. Its quaint hotel, the two-story building at right, became a popular destination for vacationing Ford executives. Ford Motor Company abandoned the unprofitable venture in 1951.

Henry and Clara Ford found solace in the quiet country of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In 1929-1930 they built a large cabin in the Huron Mountain Club, an exclusive resort on Lake Superior about 40 miles north of Marquette. When staying there, the Fords enjoyed feeding deer, hiking through the woods, and visiting the nearby village of Big Bay.

In pursuit of self-sufficient automobile manufacture, Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company purchased over 313,000 acres of timberland for logging in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A massive sawmill complex was constructed at Iron Mountain, including this plant which produced automotive body parts. These workers use a machine to saw huge logs for use on Ford "woody" station wagons.

In March 1946, Ford Motor Company sent photographers to its Iron Mountain plant on the Menominee River in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where workers produced handcrafted station wagon bodies from local hardwood. This photo shows the spare tire carrier and tailgate on what appears to be an early mock-up of the 1949 Ford wagon.

Henry Ford II, named for Henry and Clara Ford’s oldest grandchild, was built in 1924 to carry iron ore from Lake Superior to Ford Motor Company’s blast furnaces at the Rouge. In the 1930s, Mr. and Mrs. Ford traveled each summer in one of the freighter’s staterooms to their cabin in the Huron Mountain Club, near Marquette, Michigan.