COLUMN: "A ‘vital’ life in the ‘zone of plenty’"

The following is my weekly column for the Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Fans of the blog might recognize part of this column that ran as a post last winter. Check it out to see an image of the Great Northern ad I talk about.

A vital life in the ‘zone of plenty’
By Aaron J. Brown

Living on the Iron Range means navigating between good and bad economic news on lands north of the power. The power is elsewhere, you see. The power is east. The power is south. Lately, the power is even west. The power is not here. Iron Rangers live powerless, despite their great, immeasurable power.

This fact is disguised by our lives. We in northern Minnesotans operate in seasons, some celestial and some of our own design. As Halloween approached this past week some considered the costumes they would wear, or the costumes of their children or dogs. “Field of Screams” was going on. Next up is the deer hunt and soon enough Thanksgiving will arrive: the ham, the turkey, the relatives. Then Christmas, and ice fishing, snowmobiling and shoveling. The kids need our attention. Then school will be out, and in. The mines are open, then closed.

Here in northern Minnesota it’s easy to believe that nothing will change and that we are indeed powerless. In fact, the story of the last 30 years has done nothing but implant that belief in an entire generation. If you leave that’s understood, and if you stay you exist in a bubble of your own creation, separated from all those outside your circle. In all this, it’s even easier to forget that history has called the Iron Range’s number many times before.

Early this year I received a letter from Earl Currie. Currie shared an old Great Northern Railroad advertisement from 1943 along with his own recollections from living in that time in West Duluth. He watched as the iron ore of the Range met the shipyards of Duluth on its way to east to feed the American war machine. The Great Northern ad reads:

“All the gold buried at Fort Knox, Ky., is less important to Victory than the rich iron ore deposits of the Mesabi, Cuyuna and Vermilion Ranges of Northern Minnesota. The Mesabi Range alone contains the world’s largest developed deposits, and much of this ore lies in open pits. … The fabulous iron ore deposits in Minnesota are only part of the wealth contributed to America by the Zone of Plenty — and delivered by this vital artery of transportation.”

This ad is accompanied by a map showing the 1943 routes of the Great Northern Railway, running across what the company terms “The Zone of Plenty.” The Zone of Plenty includes the northern plains states, the Northwest, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Chicago and – lit up like a Christmas tree – the entire state of Minnesota. How many maps do you know that show Hibbing and Virginia in the same sized font as Chicago and New York?

The vague wartime train propaganda actually does a great job of explaining, in the present tense, why the Iron Range is so significant to the nation’s economy and history. This rich value now stands in stark contrast to our beleaguered economic present, but if we’re smart the “vital” life may again be part of our future.

In 1999, at age 19, I purchased a Great Northern Railway hat at a model train show in Dyersville, Iowa. The guy asked me why I would do that, since there weren’t any Great Northern routes near there. “There are where I’m from,” I said. I remembered the Great Northern logo on all manner of historical trains, displays and documents from my recent and yet vague youth. I didn’t know then what I knew after I read Mr. Currie’s letter about the Great Northern. The “Zone of Plenty” remains the future of the Upper Midwest, just as it did during World War II.

Our minerals, our timber and water ensure the future of the Iron Range. Some demand, and jobs, will always exist for these pursuits. But these things do not ensure power for our people. In this 21st century, which might seem greatly removed from our past, a single truth remains. The zone of plenty is ours – to protect, to use, or to destroy. We make our own future.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune“Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range”. Contact him or read more at his blog MinnesotaBrown.com. His book “Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range” is out now.

Comments

  1. Pam Brunfelt says

    Aaron,
    Would it be possible to get a copy of the ad? I’d love to use it in my research and Minnesota History class.
    Pam Brunfelt

  2. Pam –
    Yes, I’d be happy to make a copy for my favorite Range historian (don’t tell Potts). What I have appears to be a color photo copy that was folded up and sent to me through the mail. Earl’s letter was at least as interesting as the ad and I’ll send a copy of that too. He did a personal history of the ore docks in West Duluth. Great stuff. I have his address, too, if you’d like to write him for more information. I’ll try to get it out Wednesday when I can get a decent color copy made.
    Hope you’re well!
    ~AB

  3. Excellent column, Aaron! The Zone of Plenty is still here. Together with more modern modes of transportation.

    Some of its potential features in Northern Minnesota currently include iron nuggets, iron and steel produced locally, copper-nickel-platinum group mines and refineries. Not to mention sustainable forestry, crystal-clear water, and enhanced forest products manufacturing.

    We are standing – or resting – on the shoulders of the Gopher State’s Greatest Generation.

    Its names include Norman Borlaug, plant pathologist; E.W.Davis, father of taconite processing; Elmer L. Andersen, who got the Taconite Amendment passed and Voyageurs National Park created; Donald Yardley, who located and explored the geochemical traces of nickel; Eugene Pfleider, who pioneered drilling and blasting methods in the original iron formation; Thomas Joseph and Gus Bitsianes who taught metallurgists new ways to make iron and steel.

    Here in Northern Minnesota we can keep on creating, exploring, and developing – or we can look away for our future. New York, Washington, Houston, Toronto, or London will then roll our dice.

    But from this Zone of Plenty we can grow and prosper once more, if we choose.

    – KAXE’s Golden Gopher

  4. Thanks, Aaron. I am well especially because our accreditation visit is over tomorrow!

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