Dear Readers, I chose to revisit mining history as this issue’s theme because of how well it resonates with readers. This edition explores iron mining’s nearly 150-year history in Minnesota— and even historic Native American copper mines on Lake Sup… Please register for a free account or log in below to access this content. Username Password Remember Me […]
Mining Features
“We worked hard and had a lot of fun”
Erie Mining Co. employees share tons of fond memoriesAn aerial view of Erie Mining Company’s plant facilities near Hoyt Lakes. Ore was shipped by rail to Taconite Harbor (inset) for loading onto ore boats. Submitted photos. HOYT LAKES/TACONITE HARBOR — The Erie Mining Company History Project’s prima… Please register for a free account or log in below to access this content.
Spruce Location—squatter’s land
Miners' homes, since torn down, made a tight-knit little townThis map of Spruce shows the approximate locations of mine buildings and family homes. Photos courtesy of the Iron Range Historical Society. A message from the Iron Range Historical Society The Iron Range Historical Society (IRHS) is pleased to… Please register for a free account or log in below to access this content.
A motion picture theater underground
A view of the Wilsonian Auditorium, an underground theater built in the 1920s at the Spruce Mine in Eveleth. The image on the projector screen reads, “It is better to lose a minute in avoiding a possible accident than a month in nursing an injury.” O… Please register for a free account or log in below to access this content.
A bond as strong as steel
A Minntac employee learns valuable skills while helping veteransChad Buus hikes up a set of stairs on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Buus works at U. S. Steel’s Minntac facility and participated in a program called 23rd Veteran Recon, which involved both individual and team exercises geared toward personal dev… Please register for a free account or log in below to access this content.
Minong Mine designated as a National Historic Landmark
The general appearance of the Indigenous mining cluster landscape today. In the photo above, each person is positioned at the center of an Indigenous mining pit. Submitted photo.HOUGHTON, MI — Minong Mine Copper Mining District, part of Isle Royale N… Please register for a free account or log in below to access this content.
A city built on ore
Exploring Ely’s early history of mining Vermilion iron oreLucky Boy Mine in early 1900, near where today’s golf course is. Submitted photo.The Iron Range was built on mining. Ely at the end of the 19th Century sat upon one of the greatest ore bodies in the world. To say the name Ely, one thought instantly o… Please register for a free account or log in below to access […]
Scotland’s Iron Range reach
Origins of Chisholm and the Glen MineThis cropped portion of an 1875 plat map shows what would later be named Longyear Lake. Submitted photos. CHISHOLM — Some of the park’s trail names are poetic—Fractured Falls or Secret Garden. Some are straight pop culture—Orange Crush or Roller De… Please register for a free account or log in below to access this content.
New display planned at Soudan Mine
Project will honor men who died at the underground mineTower-Soudan Historical Society board member Barb Burgess submitted this photo of her grandfather, Swan H. Branwell, age 37, who died on April 16, 1940. According to his obituary, he died after falling 50 feet down a raise at the Soudan Mine. He left… Please register for a free account or log in below to access this content.
Minnesota’s first mine from above
This drone photo of Soudan Underground Mine State Park was taken earlier this month. Minnesota’s mining industry began in summer 1884, when the Soudan Mine shipped its first trainload of iron ore to Two Harbors. Photo by Kevin Jacobsen. … Please register for a free account or log in below to access this content.
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