Mesabi Range
Encyclopedia
Iron Range
The Iron Range is a region that makes up the northeastern section of Minnesota in the United States. "The Range", as it is known by locals, is a region with multiple distinct bands of iron ore...
of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. Discovered in 1866, it is the chief deposit of iron ore in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The deposit is located in northeast Minnesota, largely in Itasca
Itasca County, Minnesota
Itasca County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is named after Lake Itasca, which is in turn a shortened version the Latin words veritas caput, meaning 'truth' and 'head', a reference to the source of the Mississippi River. As of 2010, the population was 45,058. Its county seat...
and St. Louis
St. Louis County, Minnesota
St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population was 200,226. Its county seat is Duluth. It is the largest county by total area in Minnesota, and the second largest in the United States east of the Mississippi River; in land area alone, after Aroostook...
counties. It was extensively worked in the earlier part of the 20th century. Extraction operations declined throughout the mid-1970s but rebounded in 2005. China's growing demand for iron, along with the falling value of the US dollar versus other world currencies, have made taconite
Taconite
Taconite is a variety of iron formation, an iron-bearing sedimentary rock, in which the iron minerals are interlayered with quartz, chert, or carbonate...
production profitable again, and some mines that had closed have been reopened, while current mines have been expanded.
Name
Mesabi Range was known to the local Ojibwe as Misaabe-wajiw : "Giant's Mountain" or "Big-man's Mountain". Throughout the Mesabi Range, "Mesaba" and "Missabe" spelling variations are found along with places containing "Giant" in their names.Formation
Most of the world's iron ore, including that contained in the Mesabi Iron Range, was formed during the middle PrecambrianPrecambrian
The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
period. During this period, erosion leveled mountains. This erosion released iron and silica into the waters of a new sea. Marine algae living in this new sea raised the level of atmospheric oxygen. This oxygen catastrophe
Oxygen Catastrophe
The Great Oxygenation Event , also called the Oxygen Catastrophe or Oxygen Crisis or Great Oxidation, was the biologically induced appearance of free oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. This major environmental change happened around 2.4 billion years ago.Photosynthesis was producing oxygen both before...
caused the eroded iron to precipitate into the banded iron formation
Banded iron formation
Banded iron formations are distinctive units of sedimentary rock that are almost always of Precambrian age. A typical BIF consists of repeated, thin layers of iron oxides, either magnetite or hematite , alternating with bands of iron-poor shale and chert...
s found in the Mesabi Iron Range and other members of the Animikie Group
Animikie Group
The Animikie Group is a geologic group composed of sedimentary and metasedimentary rock, having been originally deposited between 2,500 and 1,800 million years ago within the Animikie Basin. This group of formations are geographically divided into the Gunflint Range, the Mesabi and Vermilion...
.
Mining operations
Iron ore is currently mined only from open pits, although some mines operated underground early on. The mined ore is then transported away, primarily by the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range RailwayDuluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway
The Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway is a railroad operating in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin that hauls iron ore and later taconite to the Great Lakes ports of Duluth and Two Harbors, Minnesota...
to the ports of Two Harbors and Duluth, Minnesota. In the early years of mining from the late 19th century until the 1950's mining focus was on high grade ore (hematite) that could be processed into steel without much change. However, when that supply dried up, focus shifted to lower grade ore (taconite), which requires extensive processing at large mining/processing facilites before moving to port. At Duluth, trains of up to eighty 100 ton open cars are moved out on massive ore docks to be dumped into "lakers
Lake freighter
Lake freighters, or Lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that ply the Great Lakes. The best known was the , the most recent and largest major vessel to be wrecked on the Lakes. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships. In the mid-20th century, 300 lakers worked the...
" of up to 60,000 tons weight for movement to iron mills in Indiana and Ohio.
Much of the softer ore was formed close to the surface, allowing mining operations to be conducted via the open pit mines. The world's biggest open pit iron ore mine is the Hull-Rust-Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine
Hull-Rust-Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine
The Hull-Rust-Mahoning Mine in Hibbing, Minnesota, is one of the largest open pit iron mines in the world. The mine, located in the Mesabi Range, supplied as much as one-fourth of all the iron ore mined in the United States during its peak production during World War I and World War II.This area of...
in Hibbing, Minnesota
Hibbing, Minnesota
Hibbing is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 16,361 at the 2010 census. The city was built on the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range. At the edge of town is the largest open-pit iron mine in the world. U.S...
. Open pit mines that are no longer worked are a common feature along the iron range. Some of these sites have been redeveloped for other uses. For instance, the Virginia Pilot is a project which focuses on redeveloping the grounds adjacent to the old mines into low- to moderate-income residential space. The Hill-Annex Mine
Hill-Annex Mine State Park
Hill-Annex Mine State Park is a state park of Minnesota, USA, interpreting the open-pit mining heritage of the Mesabi Range. The park is located just outside the town of Calumet.-External links:*...
is now a state park
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...
and offers tours to visitors who wish to learn about mine operations. Tours are guided by former mine workers.
Currently, there are six mining/processing facilities in operation on the Iron Range. Cliffs Natural Resources owns and operates Northshore Mining which has mining operations in Babbitt, MN and crushing, concentrating (grinding) and pelletizing operations in Silver Bay, MN, along with United Taconite which has mining operations in Eveleth, MN and crushing, concentrating and pelletizing operations in Forbes, MN. Arcelor Mittal owns and operates the Minorca Mine and Plant with mining operations near Biwabik, MN and Gilbert, MN and a crushing, concentrating and pelletizing facility near Virginia, MN. United States Steel owns and operates both KeeTac and Minntac with mining and processing facilities in Keewatin, MN and Mountain Iron, MN respectively. The last facility is Hibbing Taconite which operates a mine and plant between the cities of Hibbing, MN and Chisholm, MN. The interesting thing about Hibbing Taconite is the fact that although Arcelor Mittal owns a majority stake in the company, the operating agent is actually a minority owner, Cliffs Natural Resources. United States Steel is also a minority stakeholder in Hibbing Taconite.
In addition, Essar Steel is building a mine/plant near Nashwauk, MN that has plans to not only mine and process the taconite, but eventually to produce steel on-site ready for shipment around the world. Steel Dynamics and Kobe Steel own Mesabi Nugget near Hoyt Lakes, MN which does not yet mine its own material, but does produce high-iron content nuggets. Magnetation, Inc. is one other company currently working the Iron Range, but their focus is reclaiming left over iron from ore dumps with company-designed high-power magnetic separators to produce concentrate to sell and ship throughout the world.
Notable people
Basketball Hall of FameBasketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, honors exceptional basketball players, coaches, referees, executives, and other major contributors to the game of basketball worldwide...
r Kevin McHale
Kevin McHale
Kevin Edward McHale is a retired American professional basketball player and current head coach of the Houston Rockets. After his playing career, he worked for the Minnesota Timberwolves as the team's general manager and later its coach. He was fired as coach in June 2009...
was born and raised on the Mesabi Range in Hibbing
Hibbing, Minnesota
Hibbing is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 16,361 at the 2010 census. The city was built on the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range. At the edge of town is the largest open-pit iron mine in the world. U.S...
; Robert Allen Zimmerman, later to be known as Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, was raised in Hibbing. His song "North Country Blues
North Country Blues
"North Country Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his third studio album The Times They Are a-Changin in 1964. He also performed it at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival....
" is about the decline of mining in the Mesabi Range, and its effect on miners and their families.
Popular culture
The Mesabi Range was brought to public attention by the 2005 film2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
North Country
North Country (film)
North Country is a 2005 American drama film directed by Niki Caro. The screenplay by Michael Seitzman was inspired by the 2002 book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law by Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy Gansler, which chronicled the case of...
, which depicts a fictionalized version of the events surrounding Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.
Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.
Lois E. Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co. was the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States, filed in 1988 on behalf of Lois Jenson and other female workers at the EVTAC mine in Eveleth, Minnesota on the state's northern Mesabi Range, which is part of the Iron...
, a sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
, class-action lawsuit that female miners brought against a Mesabi Range mining company.
The range is also featured in the song "Youngstown
Youngstown (song)
"Youngstown" is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad. Although many of the songs on the album were performed by Springsteen solo, the lineup for the "Youngstown" includes Soozie Tyrell on violin, Jim Hanson on bass, Gary Mallaber on drums, co-producer Chuck Plotkin...
", by Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, from his 1995 album The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Ghost of Tom Joad is the eleventh studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1995 . The album was recorded and mixed at Thrill Hill during the spring and summer of 1995. Musically and lyrically reminiscent of Springsteen's 1982 critically acclaimed album Nebraska, The Ghost of Tom Joad...
:
- From the Monongahela valley, to the Mesabi Iron Range –
- To the coal mines of Appalachia, the story's always the same.
Mesabi is the title song of a 2011 album by Tom Russell
Tom Russell
Thomas George "Tom" Russell is an American singer-songwriter. Although most strongly identified with the Texas Country music tradition, his music also incorporates elements of folk, Tex-Mex, and the cowboy music of the American West. Many of his songs have been recorded by other artists, including...
: "Some things never change on the Mesabi iron range . . . Bethlehem of the Troubadour Kid (Dylan - see above)"
Further reading
- Beck, J. Robert. Well, Here We Are! The Hansons and the Becks. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse, 2005. ISBN 059535725. A history of a Swedish-Finnish immigrant family from the Mesabi Iron Range, which details the social (and socialist) conditions of the area during its heyday.