Mountain Iron Mine, railroad approach to open-cut

Abstract

The rail lines leading to the entrance of the Mountain Iron pit are shown. A miner walks in the background. The Mountain Iron Mine was an open pit mine in the Mesabi Range, Minnesota. The Mesabi area was prospected for iron ores for decades before the first body of soft iron ore was discovered at the present site of Mountain Iron by 1890. The Mountain Iron Mine shipped the first iron ore in the Mesabi Range in 1892. The Mine was later operated by the Oliver Iron Mining Company. The Oliver Iron Mining Company was organized in 1892 to manage mining property in the Mesabi Range. The Company later acquired mineral properties elsewhere in Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula. By 1901 the Company was a division of United States Steel Corporation.