Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range: The People

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The mining of natural ores on the Mesabi Iron Range paralleled the logging of the great pine forests of the area, beginning in the 1880's. All of this was supported by the waterways-logs floated to the mills, ore shipped down the Great Lakes.

The Native American culture of northern Minnesota was decimated, to be replaced unwittingly by waves of ethnic immigrants lured by the image of streets paved with gold. The immigrants came from southern and northern Europe, from countries plagued by famine due to blight, by political unrest, by the partitioning of farmlands into smaller and smaller parcels. They came to towns with streets paved not with gold, but with mud, lined with tar paper shacks. Later they settled in mining locations, moving their wood frame houses as the open pits moved.

Working conditions were dangerous and grim. Damp underground tunnels held the risk of cave-ins. Workers in the open pits faced merciless weather. Miners struggled for workers' rights. Scandinavian workers fought to unionize, while others chose to log or to homestead.

By the 1930's, the era of logging was over, as all the great trees had been cut. Depression days hit the Iron Range. World War II and its demand for steel pulled the Range out of deep recession. Post war demand for automobiles continued to support mining---until most of the rich ore gave out.

As early as 1914, Dr. E.W. Davis, head of the mines experiment station of the University of Minnesota, began developing a process to crush and pulverize taconite rock with 25% iron content, and form pellets containing about 62% iron. Money from the school trust fund lands funded these University experiments. Taconite mining began in earnest in the 1950's. The Iron Range mining industry continued to follow the boom-bust cycles of market demand. In the 1970's approximately 16,000 miners were working in the taconite industry, down from the 20,000 miners that once worked the natural ores.

That taconite boom ended in the 1980's as the economy slowed. This was followed by company moves to make the work force more efficient and accompanied by increasing use of technology and supersized equipment.

From 2004-8, global demand fueled maximum output at the six taconite plants of the Iron Range. All of this was done with a work force of less than 4,000 miners. Supplier jobs were added to these numbers to total a workforce of 10,000. When the global market crashed in late 2008, the mines went with it. There was a time in the spring of 2009 when all six taconite mines were shut down. By mid 2009, less than half of the workers were being called back.

In the meantime, the Iron Range identity has been changing. Gone are the immigrants and the first generation born here. Nationalities are mixed and ethnic traditions are disappearing. With a smaller work force and smaller family size, population on the Iron Range has declined. Streets and infrastructure are now over 100 years old. Immigrant houses, sometimes built side by side, lacking good insulation, with old wiring and plumbing, are not in demand. However, they provide cheap rental homes for the layer of people who come to the Iron Range by default-their welfare payments go further where housing is cheap. Alcohol and drugs are prevalent.

Yet native Iron Rangers are proud of their land. They hang on to their small town roots, pass on the skills of making do and fixing things, of helping each other in times of need. They celebrate holidays with traditional foods, and participate in a subculture of arts and entertainment. There are cultural remnants of hunting and fishing, of gardening, of survivalship. Outdoor recreation during all seasons is a priority.

As we start a new century, materialism and market madness have done much to erode ethnic values. The Iron Range culture, which replaced the indigenous culture over 100 years ago, is now on the brink of being replaced itself. With approximately 15 years of taconite left, what new identity will emerge over the hills of the Mesabi? What part will our waters and waterways have in the unfolding of that future?