Soudan, Minnesota
Encyclopedia
Soudan is an unincorporated community
in Breitung Township, St. Louis County
, Minnesota
, United States
.
The community is located immediately east of the city of Tower
on MN Highway 169
/ MN Highway 1
.
It is the home of McKinley Park, a park and campground operated by the Township of Breitung named in honor of the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley
.
The Soudan Underground Mine State Park
is located nearby. The park contains the University of Minnesota's
Soudan Underground Laboratory which houses detectors, including MINOS
, over 700 meters below the surface of the Earth. Both the mine and the underground laboratory are open for tours.
Although it is unincorporated, Soudan has a post office
, with the ZIP code
of 55782.
The first mining exploration of the area took place in 1865.
According to the 1905 Legislative Manual of the State of Minnesota, the first mining done in northern Minnesota took place at Soudan in 1882. The Duluth & Iron Range Railroad had been built to the area. In 1886 the road was sold to the Minnesota Iron Company, which was absorbed into the Federal Steel Company and then into the United States Steel Corporation (operated by the Oliver Mining Company).
In 1903 the town was described as being located on the property of the mining company and no stores or saloons were allowed. The number of mine workers varied between 500 and 700 men.
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in Breitung Township, St. Louis County
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...
, 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...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The community is located immediately east of the city of Tower
Tower, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there are 479 people in the city, organized into 233 households and 137 families. The population density is 176.8 people per square mile . There are 295 housing units at an average density of 108.9 per square mile...
on MN Highway 169
Minnesota State Highway 169
Minnesota State Highway 169 is a highway in northeast Minnesota, which runs from its interchange with U.S. Highway 53 in Wuori Township and continues northeast to its northern terminus at the intersection of Lake County Road 18 and Power Dam Road in Fall Lake Township...
/ MN Highway 1
Minnesota State Highway 1
Minnesota State Highway 1 is a highway in northwest and northeast Minnesota, which runs from North Dakota Highway 54 at the North Dakota state line and continues east to its eastern terminus at its intersection with Minnesota Highway 61 at the unincorporated town of Illgen City in Beaver Bay...
.
It is the home of McKinley Park, a park and campground operated by the Township of Breitung named in honor of the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
.
The Soudan Underground Mine State Park
Soudan Underground Mine State Park
The Soudan Underground Mine State Park is a Minnesota state park at the site of the Soudan Underground Mine, on the south shore of Lake Vermilion. The mine is known as Minnesota's oldest, deepest, and richest iron mine, and now hosts the Soudan Underground Laboratory. As the Soudan Iron Mine, it...
is located nearby. The park contains the University of Minnesota's
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
Soudan Underground Laboratory which houses detectors, including MINOS
MINOS
MINOS is a particle physics experiment designed to study the phenomena of neutrino oscillations, first discovered by a Super-Kamiokande experiment in 1998...
, over 700 meters below the surface of the Earth. Both the mine and the underground laboratory are open for tours.
Although it is unincorporated, Soudan has a post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, with the ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
of 55782.
History
The village of Soudan was established March 3, 1885. Soudan obtained its name from D. H. Bacon, general manager of the Soudan Underground mine. Bacon said that the severe winter cold is a strong contrast with the tropical heat of the Soudan (or Sudan) region in Africa to the online resource "Minnesota Place Names" from the Minnesota Historical Society. The village had a post office, established as Tower Mines in 1887 and changed to Soudan in 1888; associated with Tower Junction.The first mining exploration of the area took place in 1865.
According to the 1905 Legislative Manual of the State of Minnesota, the first mining done in northern Minnesota took place at Soudan in 1882. The Duluth & Iron Range Railroad had been built to the area. In 1886 the road was sold to the Minnesota Iron Company, which was absorbed into the Federal Steel Company and then into the United States Steel Corporation (operated by the Oliver Mining Company).
In 1903 the town was described as being located on the property of the mining company and no stores or saloons were allowed. The number of mine workers varied between 500 and 700 men.
See also
- Soudan Underground Mine State ParkSoudan Underground Mine State ParkThe Soudan Underground Mine State Park is a Minnesota state park at the site of the Soudan Underground Mine, on the south shore of Lake Vermilion. The mine is known as Minnesota's oldest, deepest, and richest iron mine, and now hosts the Soudan Underground Laboratory. As the Soudan Iron Mine, it...
- Lake Vermilion State Park