Power in The Wilderness Karl Jacob and Aaron Brown

Karl and Aaron narrate the end of the series with a surprising discovery. Victor Power returns from a long Alaskan expedition in good spirits, only to find his village in political chaos. Mayor John Gannon tried to negotiate with U.S. Steel over the move of the remaining portion of North Hibbing, only for the company to undercut his ideas and leave the village broke. Power returns to power, but not for long. His coalition is shattered by changing political conditions. With fewer friends than before, he tries to run for Congress but a scandal derails his hopes of ever achieving higher office. Alone at his farmhouse on the edge of Hibbing, Victor Power dies one night, leaving a lasting legacy, an unsolved mystery, and … a secret wife?

Victor Power’s deal with Michael Godfrey creates a new village in South Hibbing. A new city hall and school are on the way, along with an unparalleled downtown business district for a town of this size. But the political unity that marked Power’s rise to prominence is breaking apart. Some residents lose out when the village moves south, while young men with no memory of Power’s triumphs seek new leadership. Amid all of this, Power reels from the early death of his wife Percy. In this stew of discontent, a lawyer named John Gannon rises from obscurity. Gannon makes a name defending a township official accused of murdering two immigrant bootleggers. The case exposes a growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the village and the chaotic influence of prohibition on local culture. Since Power’s coalition was founded by immigrants and saloon keepers this puts him in a tough spot. As a “bigger, better Hibbing” takes shape, Power faces the greatest political challenge of his life and, for the first time, he loses. A new mayor tries a new kinder, gentler approach with U.S. Steel while Victor Power licks his wounds and heads to Alaska.

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.

Peace between Power and U.S. Steel doesn’t last long. As European war demand raises the price of steel, the value of iron ore in the land around Hibbing rises with it. As it does, miners decide they deserve better than poverty wages. When they went on strike in 1916 it became the biggest labor uprising in Iron Range history. Here, Mayor Power tries to maintain the rights of striking workers by banning the company police force from patrolling the streets of Hibbing, a move that likely saved lives. However, the strike becomes much bigger than just Power or Hibbing. As regional violence intensifies, Power receives an enormous blow from the mining companies. He and his entire administration, along with prominent supporters from Hibbing’s business community, are charged with graft by the administration of Governor J.A.A. Burnquist, a man who would become Power’s greatest rival in his quest for statewide office. Power would successfully defend himself and all his friends, but not before paying a great political price.

Hibbing’s population is exploding faster than the mine blasts on the edge of town. Vic’s policies prove hugely popular and the town prospers. However, the world is changing. Half the people in Hibbing come from Europe where the first World War just broke out. The demand for steel is about to skyrocket which means the pressure from the mining companies is about to ramp up. But Vic continues to beat U.S. Steel in the courtroom and at the ballot box. He easily defeats a mining company candidate in his first contested bid for re-election. Then the mines try to cap the village’s taxing power through a bill at the state legislature. Power gathers a force of Hibbing citizens to counteract the sophisticated lobbying operation of U.S. Steel at the state capitol. The people rejoice, throwing an enormous midnight parade for “the Little Giant.” Then the mining companies take their boldest action yet: they refuse to pay taxes to the Village of Hibbing, again citing extravagant spending. Somehow Victor Power and Hibbing endure months of economic sanctions by using village IOUs as a makeshift currency. In the end, Hibbing wins the fight, but Power sees the edges of what is possible in the face of overwhelming corporate strength.

Victor Power quickly implements the most ambitious slate of public improvements in the history of Hibbing, unprecedented for a village of this size anywhere in the United States. He does this by doing the one thing that the Oliver Iron Mining Company can’t stand: raising taxes. Streets get paved and bright, beautiful new lights are installed. New sanitary sewers and water lines snake under the village, improving public health, while spectacular new public parks welcome all of Hibbing’s citizens, rich or poor. Power says he’s not being extravagant; he’s just making up for the years the mines wouldn’t allow Hibbing to grow. But the mines form a new lobbying organization, the Lake Superior Taxpayers Association, which seeks to control men like Victor Power and villages like Hibbing through the state legislature. Power bests the mines during his first year in office, but his success invites the fight of his life as the world’s largest corporation plans its revenge.