Then and Now: how our economy changed
The wealthiest member of the first Roman triumvirate, Gen. Marcus Licinius Crassus, was so rich that his enemies made a show of pouring molten gold down his throat. Today, you could fill a Roman legion with Americans who are richer than Crassus. Killing them with gold would be a logistical nightmare that only they could… Read More →
No place like our place
Regular readers know that I push for economic diversification and independence on the Mesabi Iron Range. For too long we on the Mesabi have allowed our lives to be defined by outside forces. The most obvious external influences are mining companies. They’re the reason our towns exist but also the reason we live in a… Read More →
State Senator named director of Lake Superior Zoo
Soon, State Sen. Erik Simonson will tame ravenous beasts, feed ferocious predators, and see that no harm befalls innocent tour groups. And then when he comes home to Duluth he’ll run a zoo. Simonson, a Duluth Democratic-Farmer-Laborite, was named the executive director of the Lake Superior Zoo today. He will accept early retirement from his… Read More →
Great Minds think aloud at Oct. 5 Quiz Bowl
If you were like me, and for the sake of your social life I hope you weren’t, you were part of your high school Knowledge Bowl team. It goes by different names in different places, but here in Minnesota we call it Knowledge Bowl. Being from the Iron Range, our knowledge bowl tournaments were held… Read More →
New laws may block language counselors at Concordia
The director of the Concordia Language Villages program warns that new immigration and visa laws could dramatically impact its language and cultural immersion program located on a complex near Bemdiji, Minnesota. “There has been a very significant development over the weekend regarding our J-1 Camp Counselor Exchange Visa, writes Christine Schulze in a letter posted… Read More →
Hot Off the Press
No place like our place
Regular readers know that I push for economic diversification and independence on the Mesabi Iron Range. For too long we on the Mesabi have allowed our lives to be defined by outside forces. The most obvious external influences are mining companies. They’re the reason our towns exist but also the reason we live in a… Read More →
POWER: A new book project about Victor Power by Aaron J. Brown
Victor Power
For a time, Victor Power was the most powerful small town mayor in the United States. Nevertheless, his short yet extraordinary life fighting the steel trusts from his office in Hibbing slowly slips into obscurity. Aaron J. Brown is working on a book about Victor Power and his early 20th Century world, which stretched far beyond a little boom town in the forests of Northern Minnesota, from the ganglands of Chicago to the ivory towers of New York. Contact Aaron with any Hibbing-area stories from 1900 to 1926 even remotely related to Victor Power or his family, labor unions, the Oliver Mining Company, Al Capone, bootleggers, politicians or any first-hand material about what life in Hibbing was like then. This may be the last chance for many longstanding family legends to become part of permanent history.
