Editing Mesabi Range

{{Short description|Mining district in northeastern Minnesota}}
{{Coord|47|30|N|93|4|W|region:US-MN|display=title}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2015}}
[[File:Iron Ranges.jpg|thumb|300px|Lake Superior Iron Ranges]]
[[Image:Map of Minnesota NA.jpg|right| thumb|300px| The '''Mesabi Range''' (upper center) is west of [[Lake Superior]], north of [[Duluth, Minnesota]], and far north of [[Minneapolis, MN|Minneapolis]]-[[St. Paul, MN|St. Paul]].  Nearby towns include [[Grand Rapids, Minnesota|Grand Rapids]], [[Hibbing, Minnesota|Hibbing]] and [[Virginia, Minnesota|Virginia]].]]
[[File:Mesabi Trail 2010 023.jpg|thumb|[[Hull–Rust–Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine]], Mesabi Range, 2010]]

The '''Mesabi Iron Range''' is a mining district and mountain range in northeastern [[Minnesota]] following an elongate trend containing large deposits of [[iron ore]]. It is the largest of four major iron ranges in the region collectively known as the [[Iron Range]] of Minnesota. First described in 1866, it is the chief iron ore mining district in the United States. The district is located largely in [[Itasca County, Minnesota|Itasca]] and [[St. Louis County, Minnesota|Saint Louis]] counties. It has been extensively worked since 1892, and has seen a transition from high-grade direct shipping ores through gravity concentrates to the current industry exclusively producing iron ore ([[taconite]]) pellets. Production has been dominantly controlled by vertically integrated steelmakers since 1901, and therefore is dictated largely by US ironmaking capacity and demand.

==Name==
The Mesabi Range was known to the local [[Ojibwe]] as {{Transliteration|oj|Misaabe-wajiw}} ('Giant mountain').<ref>The Ojibwe peoples dictionary. ''Minnesota Geographic Names''. Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society (Minnesota Historical Society: St. Paul, 1920), page 504. Available in fulltext at [https://books.google.com/books?id=iDXu-1hq6bcC Google Book Search] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529080136/https://books.google.com/books?id=iDXu-1hq6bcC |date=May 29, 2016 }}.</ref><ref>John D. Nichols and Earl Nyholm. ''A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe''. University of Minnesota Press (University of Minnesota: Minneapolis, 1995) {{ISBN|0-8166-2427-5}}</ref> Throughout the Mesabi Range, ''Mesaba'' and ''Missabe'' spelling variations are found along with places containing ''Giant'' in their names.

==Geology==
There are four iron ranges in northern Minnesota: the [[Cuyuna_Range|Cuyuna]], the [[Vermilion_Range_(Minnesota)|Vermilion]], the Mesabi, and the [[Gunflint_Range|Gunflint]].  Most of the world's iron ore, including that contained in northern Minnesota, was formed during the middle [[Precambrian]]. 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]] caused the eroded iron to [[precipitate]] into the [[banded iron formation]]s found in northern Minnesota and other members of the [[Animikie Group]]. Over billions of years, geological forces left behind ore deposits of varied quality and concentrations – differences that would determine how the ore was mined from place to place. On the Mesabi Range, stretching {{convert|100|mi|km}} from Grand Rapids to Babbitt, soft ore lay close to the surface, where it could be scooped from open pit mines.<ref name="Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board">{{cite web | url=http://mn.gov/irrrb/DataCenter/history/history-iron-range.jsp | title=History of the Iron Range | access-date=July 26, 2014 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720115631/http://mn.gov/irrrb/DataCenter/history/history-iron-range.jsp | archive-date=July 20, 2014 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

The overall structure of the range is that of a [[monocline]] dipping 5 to 15 degrees to the southeast.  Key [[fault (geology)|faults]] include the Calumet, La Rue, Morton, Biwabik, and the Siphon. The Duluth [[Gabbro]] complex to the east has caused [[metamorphic]] changes in the Biwabik [[formation (geology)|formation]]. The natural iron ores and the magnetite [[Taconite|taconites]] occur in this Precambrian Biwabik formation, which is a [[chert]]y layer {{convert|340-750|ft|m}} thick. The natural ores are located in elongated [[channels (geography)|channels]] or tabular deposits, while the magnetite taconites occur in [[stratigraphic]] zones. Natural ores have an iron content of 51 to 57 per cent while the taconites are 30 to 35 percent iron, and are [[Beneficiation|beneficiated]] to pellets contain 60 to 67 per cent. The natural ores are mainly mixtures of [[hematite]] and [[goethite]].<ref name=Ridge/>{{rp|519–520, 522, 527–528}}  The most common [[silicate]] is [[Minnesotaite]].  Also of note are the presence of [[algal]] structures in the Biwabik formation.<ref name=Gruner>{{Cite book |last=Gruner |first=John |author-link=John W. Gruner |title=The Mineralogy and Geology of the Taconites and Iron Ores of the Mesabi Range, Minnesota |publisher=Office of the Commissioner of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation |year=1946 |page=8,38}}</ref>

==Physical extent==
The Mesabi Range is {{convert|110|mi|km}} long. Heights vary from {{convert|200-500|ft|m}}. The highest point, located about {{convert|5.6|mi|km}} northeast of [[Virginia, Minnesota|Virginia]], is Pike Mountain at {{convert|1950|ft|m}}.<ref name="Terranes">{{cite web|last1=Mangou|first1=Patrick J.|title=The Archean Terranes of Minnesota|url=http://usgeologymorphology.com/MN-archean-p1.html|website=US Geology and Geomorphology|access-date=13 February 2016}}</ref> The range trends from the northeast to the southwest, extending from [[Babbitt, Minnesota|Babbitt]] to [[Grand Rapids, Minnesota|Grand Rapids]].<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/376548/Mesabi-Range  Mesabi Range] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150426182724/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/376548/Mesabi-Range |date=April 26, 2015 }}</ref>

===Embarrass Mountains===
The Embarrass Mountains are a small subrange of the Mesabi Range, spanning about {{convert|9|mi|km}} through northern [[White Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota|White Township]] and [[Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota|Hoyt Lakes]] in St. Louis County. Heights vary from {{convert|200-400|ft|m}}.<ref>{{cite web|title=MyTopo Free Online Topo Maps|url=http://mytopo.com/maps/index.cfm|website=MyTopo|access-date=13 February 2016}}</ref> The highest point, at {{convert|1940|ft|m}}, is roughly {{convert|1.9|mi|km}} west of the unincorporated community of Hinsdale,<ref name="Terranes" /> near the former Erie Mining Company's pits and taconite processing plant.

==Mining operations==
Iron-bearing rocks were noted by the Minnesota State Geologist Henry H. Eames in 1866.<ref name="MNop-Mesabi">{{cite web |last1=Tieberg |first1=Alex |title=A brief history of Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range |url=https://www.mnopedia.org/place/mesabi-iron-range |website=MNopedia |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref> Iron ore was discovered north of [[Mountain Iron, Minnesota]] on November 16, 1890 by J. A. Nichols of the [[Merritt brothers]]. The range was defined by 1900. Initially underground mines were employed but these gave way to open pits so that by 1902, half the operations were conducted this way. The last underground mine closed in 1960. Natural ores eventually gave way to iron-ore concentrates from [[magnetite]] [[taconite]] so that by 1965 one third of production came from these pellets.<ref name=Ridge>{{Cite book |author1=Marsden, R.W. |author2=Emanuelson, J.W. |author3=Owens, J.S. |author4=Walker, N.E. |author5=Werner, R.F. |title=The Mesabi Iron Range, Minnesota, in Volume 1 of Ore Deposits of the United States, 1933–1967 |publisher=The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. |year=1968 |editor=John D. Ridge |pages=520–521}}</ref>

Iron ore is currently mined only from [[Open pit mining|open pits]], although some mines operated underground early on.<ref>[http://www.macalester.edu/geography/mage/urban/iron_range/vermillion.htm Iron Range – The Mining Frontier] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924062041/http://www.macalester.edu/geography/mage/urban/iron_range/vermillion.htm |date=September 24, 2008 }}. [[Macalester College]].</ref>

Much of the softer ore was formed close to the surface, allowing mining operations to be conducted via open pit mines. The world's largest open pit iron ore mine is the [[Hull–Rust–Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine]] in [[Hibbing, Minnesota|Hibbing]]. In the early years of mining from the late 19th century until the 1950s, mining focus was on high grade ore 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 facilities before moving to port. The mined ore is then transported, primarily by the [[Canadian National Railway]], to the ports of [[Two Harbors, Minnesota|Two Harbors]] and [[Duluth, Minnesota|Duluth]], and by [[BNSF Railway]] to [[Superior, Wisconsin]]. At Duluth, trains of up to eighty 100-ton open cars are moved out on massive ore docks to be dumped into "[[Lake freighter|lakers]]" with [[tonnage]]s of up to 60,000 for shipment to steel mills in [[Indiana]] and [[Ohio]].
 
Dormant and exhausted open pit mines 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 State Park|Hill-Annex Mine]] is now a [[state park]] 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. [[Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.]] owns and operates Northshore Mining, which has mining operations in [[Babbitt, Minnesota|Babbitt]] and crushing, concentrating (grinding) and pelletizing operations in [[Silver Bay, Minnesota|Silver Bay]], along with United Taconite which has mining operations in [[Eveleth, Minnesota|Eveleth]] and crushing, concentrating and pelletizing operations in [[Forbes, Minnesota|Forbes]]. [[Arcelor Mittal]] owns and operates the Minorca Mine and Plant with mining operations near [[Biwabik, Minnesota|Biwabik]] and [[Gilbert, Minnesota|Gilbert]] and a crushing, concentrating and pelletizing facility near [[Virginia, Minnesota|Virginia]] ({{coord|47.5428|N|92.5169|W|display=inline}}). [[United States Steel]] owns and operates both KeeTac ({{coord|47.3992|N|93.0759|W|display=inline}}) and Minntac ({{coord|47.49730|N|92.61401|W|display=inline}}) with mining and processing facilities in [[Keewatin, Minnesota|Keewatin]] and [[Mountain Iron, Minnesota|Mountain Iron]] respectively. The last facility is Hibbing Taconite which operates a mine and plant between the cities of Hibbing and [[Chisholm, Minnesota|Chisholm]]. Hibbing Taconite is majority owned and managed by ArcelorMittal USA, with minority stakes held by Cleveland-Cliffs and United States Steel.

In addition, Mesabi Metallics (controlled by [[Essar Steel]]) is constructing a mine/plant near [[Nashwauk, Minnesota|Nashwauk]] to mine and process taconite.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kraker |first=Dan |date=2024-12-02 |title=After years of delays, revived taconite mine offers new economic hope on Minnesota's Iron Range |url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/12/02/after-years-of-delays-revived-taconite-mine-offers-new-economic-hope-on-minnesotas-iron-range |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=MPR News |language=en}}</ref> [[Steel Dynamics]] and [[Kobe Steel]] formerly owned and operated Mesabi Nugget ({{coord|47.5280|N|92.1216|W|display=inline}}) near [[Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota|Hoyt Lakes]] which did not mine its own material, but produced high-iron content nuggets from purchased iron ore concentrate. Magnetation, Inc. formerly produced iron ore concentrate reclaimed from tailings with company-designed high-power magnetic separators to produce concentrate to sell and ship throughout the world.

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Hibbing Open-pit iron mining 1906.jpg|Open-pit iron mining with five-ton steam shovels, Hibbing, Minnesota {{circa| 1906}}
File:Duluth Ore Docks.jpg|Duluth Ore Docks {{circa| 1900–1915}}
File:Mahoning-overlook.jpg|Hull–Rust–Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine {{circa| 1946}}
</gallery>

==Rockefellers' interests==
[[John D. Rockefeller]] had previously loaned money to his brother, [[Frank Rockefeller]], and Frank's business associate, James Corrigan, to buy into the Franklin Iron Mine Company, which operated in the Mesabi Range. By late 1896 or early 1897, John D. took Corrigan's shares due to failure to repay loans. Frank and Carrigan were forced to sell the company.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hawke|first=David Freeman|title=John D. The Founding Father of the Rockefellers|publisher=Harper & Row|date=1980|pages=[https://archive.org/details/johndfoundingfa00hawk/page/203 203-204]|isbn=978-0060118136|url=https://archive.org/details/johndfoundingfa00hawk/page/203}}</ref> The market for ore from the Mesabi range was almost non-existent at this time because American steel furnaces were not built to deal with its powdery nature and steelmakers believed it to be poor ore. John D. invested $40 million to build up the Mesabi ore and transportation business. To reach the steelmakers in Pittsburgh, the ore had to travel across the [[Great Lakes]] to Cleveland. He invested $2 million into a railroad to transport the ore from the Mesabi range to Duluth on Lake Superior. By 1896, he controlled the Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines Company, which was a holding company of the Merritt brothers. He built a fleet of ore ships. In December 1896, he made a deal with [[Henry W. Oliver]] and [[Andrew Carnegie]] of Pittsburgh whereby they agreed not to go into the ore field or transportation business, and John D. agreed not to go into the steel business. The steelmakers adapted their mills to process the ore from the Mesabi range. Oliver broke with the agreement, and in response, John D. procured a monopoly of ore ship transportation on the Great Lakes. John D. sold his western ore holdings to [[J. P. Morgan]] for $90,900,000 soon after Morgan bought Carnegie's steel interests in 1901.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hawke|first=David Freeman|title=John D. The Founding Father of the Rockefellers|publisher=Harper & Row|date=1980|pages=[https://archive.org/details/johndfoundingfa00hawk/page/208 208-211]|isbn=978-0060118136|url=https://archive.org/details/johndfoundingfa00hawk/page/208}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rockefeller |first1=John |title=Random Reminiscences of Man and Events |date=2019 |publisher=Compass Circle |isbn=9781790494996 |pages=75–86}}</ref>

==Labor strikes==
[[Image:Miners at Mesabi Range.jpg|thumb|Miners at work on the Mesabi Range 1903.]]

Several large-scale strikes took place on the Mesabi Iron Range during the early 1900s. The first began on July 20, 1907 after the [[Western Federation of Miners]] (WFM) asked [[Oliver Iron Mining Company]] for, among other demands, an eight-hour work day and a pay raise. The strike lasted two months and resulted in thousands of workers being blacklisted.<ref>{{cite book|title=Struggle a Hard Battle|url=https://archive.org/details/strugglehardbatt00hoer|url-access=registration|date=1986|publisher=Northern Illinois University Press|location=DeKalb, IL|pages=[https://archive.org/details/strugglehardbatt00hoer/page/210 210–211]|author=Michael G. Karni|author-link=Finnish Immigrant Leftists in America: The Golden Years, 1900–1918|editor=Dirk Hoerder}}</ref>

On June 25, 1916, a miner left his shift after being paid less than the contracted rate. His action led to the Mesabi range strike of 1916. The [[Industrial Workers of the World]] quickly supported the strike for better pay and shorter hours. In September 1916, the workers voted to resume work, assuming a failed strike. However, shortly after returning to work a 10% raise in wages was issued for workers throughout the Range.<ref>{{cite book|title=Struggle a Hard Battle|url=https://archive.org/details/strugglehardbatt00hoer|url-access=registration|date=1986|publisher=Northern Illinois University Press|location=DeKalb, IL|pages=[https://archive.org/details/strugglehardbatt00hoer/page/218 218–219]|author=Michael G. Karni|author-link=Finnish Immigrant Leftists in America: The Golden Years, 1900–1918|editor=Dirk Hoerder}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum]]
* [[Cuyuna Range]]
* [[Gogebic Range]]
* [[Gunflint Range]]
* [[Hill-Annex Mine State Park]]
* [[Iron Mountain Central Historic District]]
* [[Marquette Iron Range]]
* [[Rouchleau Mine]]
* [[Soudan Underground Mine State Park]]
* [[Vermilion Range (Minnesota)]]

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited sources ==
* [[Charles Kenneth Leith|Leith, Charles Kenneth]] (1903). ''The Mesabi Iron-bearing District of Minnesota''. [[United States Geological Survey|U.S. Geological Survey]] Monograph 43. Washington, D.C.: [[United States Government Printing Office]].
* {{cite journal |last=Stacy |first=Francis N. |date=September 1904 |title=The Iron Mines That Give Us Leadership: The Most Extraordinary Deposits in the World in the Mesabi Range |journal=[[World's Work|The World's Work: A History of Our Time]] |volume=VIII |pages=5235–5243 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AYbNAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA5235 |access-date=2009-07-10 }} Includes numerous photos of c. 1904 Mesabi iron works.

==Further reading==
* Beck, J. Robert (2005). ''Well, Here We Are! The Hansons and the Becks''. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse. <small>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.</small>
* George, Harrison (December 1916). [https://books.google.com/books?id=SVRIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA329 "The Mesaba Iron Range"]. ''International Socialist Review''. vol. 17, no. 6, pp.&nbsp;329–332.
* George, Harrison (January 1917). [https://weneverforget.org/hellraisers-journal-from-the-international-socialist-review-harrison-george-claims-victory-on-the-mesabi/ "Victory on the Mesaba Range"]. ''International Socialist Review''. vol. 17, no. 7, pp.&nbsp;429–431.
* {{Cite book |last=Hawke |first=David Freeman |date=1980 |title=John D.: The Founding Father of the Rockefellers |url=https://archive.org/details/johndfoundingfa00hawk |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=978-0060118136}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161107092759/http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/hill_annex_mine/index.html Hill Annex Mine State Park: Minnesota DNR]

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[[Category:Economic geology]]
[[Category:Geography of Itasca County, Minnesota]]
[[Category:Geography of St. Louis County, Minnesota]]
[[Category:Geology of Minnesota]]
[[Category:Iron mining]]
[[Category:Iron ore deposits]]
[[Category:Mining in Minnesota]]
[[Category:Mining districts in North America]]
[[Category:Minnesota placenames of Native American origin]]