#taconite mining

Postcards from Snagglepuss: So what was this Cuyuna Iron Range, anyway?

So ... having decided to return to the road after quite some time at the lakeside retreat in lieu of a cancelled Minnesota State Fair, yours truly finds himself on no less than Minnesota Highway 210 eastwards towards Duluth ... and in the general vicinity of Aitkin, he couldn’t help but notice some rather unusual-looking lakes, to begin with.

Which, I was to find out at a local diner in Aitkin over conversation, were once iron ore mines. Open pit iron mines as had filled in with water, becoming a diver’s paradiso (Peter Potamus, take notice) in the bargain ... remnants, it was explained to be, of the Cuyuna Iron Range, a rather widespread (extending about ten miles) such which saw mining activity from just before World War I until about the late 1960′s/early 1970′s, about the time Scooby-Doo made his debut. The name, should you ask, was an amalagm of an adventurer in the region by name of Cuyler Adams, who also had a dog by the name of “Una”--and who had to rely on dip compasses to locate ore deposits as magnetic compasses act rather weird close to iron ore deposits.

But as it was explained to me, what made the Cuyuna Range particularly fascinating in the iron ore-related history of Minnesota, even if it never had the prestige of the more famous Mesabi or Vermillion ranges further north, was that Cuyuna Range ores had a high manganese content, especially important to steelmakers wanting high-strength steels back in Pittsburgh and Youngstown.

And yet some of you wonder why it is that much of the Cuyuna Range’s former mines are diving holes for the most part: Steelmakers felt it was better sense economically to mine taconite ore on the Mesabi Range and process it into pelletised form for steelmaking use rather than continue mining high-grade raw ore on the Cuyuna Range, manganese or no manganese, for which there was unlikely to be a market. Mind you, taconite is low-grade iron ore, the remnants of such mines on the Mesabi Range especially as supplied the raw material for the nation’s steel mills for at least three generations, and requires further processing to make such suitable for steelmaking.

But--heavens to Cuyler Adams!--back in the salad days of Minnesota’s iron mining glory, the raw ores were of such richness that such would come forth rather damp, and risked being caked up while in transit to the Duluth ore boat docks, requiring the use of “punchers” to get into the ore cars and loosen up the ore ... and in the winter, the raw ore tended to freeze up while in stockpile awaiting shipment in the spring, requiring steam injection from time to time just to keep the ore from freezing over in such legendary Duluth winters....

At any rate, I left word with Peter Potamus noting about some of these onetime iron mines becoming diving spots, which at least one diver mentioned had rather clear waters as were even more diveworthy ... and his response: “Who would have known?! At least such may be worth looking unto.”

Great thinking there, Peter.