Davis, Edward W. (Edward Wilson), 1888-1973

E. W. Davis was a member of the University of Minnesota faculty (1912-1955), and a Superintendent (1918-1938) and Director (1938-1951) of the Mines Experiment Station of the University.

Edward Wilson Davis, B.A. (1911), Electrical Engineering degree (1918), Purdue University. Joined the staff of the school of mines (1912) at the University of Minnesota; served as superintendent (1918-1937), and director (1938-1951) of mines experiment station at the University of Minnesota. Considered the father of the taconite industry by pioneering modern processing of lower grade ore. E. W. "Bud" Davis, "Mr. Taconite" was born on May 8, 1888 in Cambridge, Indiana. He received a BA in 1911 and an electrical engineering degree in 1918 from Purdue University. He began working at the University of Minnesota as an instructor in mathematics in the School of Mines from 1912-1915. He became superintendent-professor of the Mines Experiment Station in 1919 and was director-professor from 1938 until 1951. He was appointed as professor in 1951 retiring from the University as professor emeritus in 1955. He was awarded honorary doctorates from Purdue University (1955) and the University of Minnesota (1956). Davis is most noted for a process he developed that could easily produce a pig-iron ingot from taconite ore, greatly increasing efficiency and making the mining of taconite economically feasible. After retiring from the University in 1955, Davis was a consultant for the Reserve Mining Company in Silver Bay, Minnesota, and chairman of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Committee on Mining. Throughout his career, he wrote over 30 mining related articles, such as Pioneering With Taconite published in October of 196, and held 15 patents. Edward Wilson Davis died in Duluth, Minnesota December 3, 1973.

Edward Wilson Davis, B.A. (1911), Electrical Engineering degree (1918), Purdue University. Joined the staff of the school of mines (1912) at the University of Minnesota; served as superintendent (1918-1937), and director (1938-1951) of mines experiment station at the University of Minnesota. Considered the father of the taconite industry by pioneering modern processing of lower grade ore.

E. W. "Bud" Davis, "Mr. Taconite" was born on May 8, 1888 in Cambridge, Indiana. He received a BA in 1911 and an electrical engineering degree in 1918 from Purdue University. He began working at the University of Minnesota as an instructor in mathematics in the School of Mines from 1912-1915. He became superintendent-professor of the Mines Experiment Station in 1919 and was director-professor from 1938 until 1951. He was appointed as professor in 1951 retiring from the University as professor emeritus in 1955. He was awarded honorary doctorates from Purdue University (1955) and the University of Minnesota (1956).

Davis is most noted for a process he developed that could easily produce a pig-iron ingot from taconite ore, greatly increasing efficiency and making the mining of taconite economically feasible. After retiring from the University in 1955, Davis was a consultant for the Reserve Mining Company in Silver Bay, Minnesota, and chairman of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Committee on Mining. Throughout his career, he wrote over 30 mining related articles, such as Pioneering With Taconite published in October of 196, and held 15 patents. Edward Wilson Davis died in Duluth, Minnesota December 3, 1973.

Edward Wilson Davis was born May 8, 1888 in Cambridge City, Indiana, the son of Walter and Delphina (Wilson) Davis. He and his brother Royden attended public schools in Indiana. He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in electrical engineering in 1911 and received an EE degree from the University of Minnesota in 1914. In 1912 he joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota School of Mines as a mathematics instructor. The next year he began his pioneering work to perfect a commercially useful process for extracting magnetic iron ore from taconite. From 1918 to 1939 he served as superintendent of the University of Minnesota Mines Experiment Station, and was its director from 1939 to 1955, when he retired and became a consultant for Reserve Mining Company. The company named its taconite plant at Silver Bay the E. W. Davis Works in his honor.

Dr. Davis was the holder of 15 patents relating to the iron ore industry, the author of more than 30 technical articles in professional journals, and the author of a book, Pioneering With Taconite, published by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1964.

Among his other interests was the history of the voyageurs and their canoe routes. This led to his interest in Underwater Archaeology and his participation with the Minnesota Historical Society in discovering artifacts lost in canoe accidents during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Dr. Davis was a member of the American Mining Congress; American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers; Board of Directors of the Minnesota Historical Society; Engineers Club of Minneapolis; Newcomen Society of North America; American Society for State and Local History; and other professional organizations.

He married Jessie Campbell of Yorktown, Indiana on June 4, 1914. They had three daughters: Jane, Martha, and Ruth. Dr. Davis died December 3, 1973.