UPDATE: On Tuesday, May 3, Mountain Iron-Buhl voters approved the bond referendum, paving the way for the new school proposal to move forward. The original piece, published May 2 follows: Voters in the Mountain Iron-Buhl school district will decide Tuesday on whether to accept a $29 million plan to build a new high school on Highway 169…. Read More →
Hakly plans House 6A write-in campaign
April 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Steven Hakly of Iron has announced the unusual decision to seek the District 6A House of Representatives seat as a write-in candidate. Hakly, 59, is a union equipment operator and former Marine. “I’ve put myself behind the 8 ball right off the bat A write-in candidate! What the hell am I thinking?” wrote Hakly in… Read More →
DFLer Mike Thompson joins crowded 6A race
February 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Mike Thompson, a DFLer from Cherry, announced in today’s Hibbing Daily Tribune that he will run for the House 6A seat being vacated by State Rep. Carly Melin (DFL-Hibbing) this fall. Thompson is a car salesman who works at the Hibbing Chrysler Center. Though it’s not clear how many candidates plan to honor the DFL… Read More →
Super Bowl done, now for superb owls at Sax-Zim Bog
February 11, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The 9th Annual Sax-Zim Bog Birding Festival starts Friday, Feb. 12 and runs through Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016. It provides serious and casual birders alike a unique opportunity to see great gray owls, northern owls, pine grosbeaks and many other wintering species. The IRRRB’s Lee Bloomquist published an article on the Sax-Zim Bog Birding Festival… Read More →
Oracle breaks winds of change in 2016
January 3, 2016 by 1 Comment
The gas burner spews a flame of blue, red, orange and yellow into the ghostly white sphere above. I’m trying to type on an old manual typewriter, no easy task on a hot flying monstrosity operated by a muskrat. “Gnnaaaaagh!” shouts the muskrat. Steamy breath in cold air, his jaunty captain’s hat adding authority to… Read More →
A tale of two junkyards
July 21, 2015 by 2 Comments
I was raised in the 1980s and early ’90s on a family-owned junkyard along the storied Iron Range Highway 7 on the edge of the Sax-Zim Bog. Two trailer homes rested upon these swampy grounds: one filled to the ceiling with hubcaps and the other which housed my family. The steam cloud from Eveleth Taconite filled… Read More →
Rare moose sighting near Cherry
June 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
My social media feed has been abuzz with pictures and tales of moose patrolling Highway 37 near my ancestral lands of Cherry, Minnesota. The Mesabi Daily News reports this morning that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has issued a warning to motorists to be on alert for two young female moose in the area just… Read More →
Journey to the Center of the Sax-Zim Bog
January 4, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Like a gnarled oak, the world below the Iron Range is as complicated as the one above. This becomes clear riding underground in the DrillRover 5000X, boring a bullet’s highway from the long forgotten I. Tripplarbee underground mine south of Eveleth into the moist morass of the Sax-Zim bog. The DrillRover 5000X is a curious… Read More →
In a small Iron Range town, the ‘Eye of the Tiger’ blinks shut
October 10, 2014 by 3 Comments
I can still hear the tinny speakers perched above Tommy Koskela Memorial Field at my alma mater of Cherry High School. A cassette tape pulsates the floppy, weather-worn woofers, creating the approximate sound of Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” This was the sound of Friday nights in the fall through my teen years, both as a… Read More →
Mesaba Park arts camp is June 16-19
May 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The Mesaba Co-op Park, one of the unique vestiges of Iron Range labor history, will be holding its 20th Annual Northstar Arts Camp, “Poetry in the Park” this summer from June 16-19. If you’re interested in a cool arts and outdoor activity for 8-14 year old kids, check this out: Registrations are being accepted for the 20th Annual… Read More →
