The first time I wrote the words “economic diversification” was probably back in 2001. I was a new reporter and then the editor of the Hibbing Daily Tribune.
If you asked any kid who grew up on the Iron Range in the 1980s and ’90s what the place needed, the answer would be “more.” The mines were shedding jobs. Bigger trucks. Smaller crews. The grownups told us to get out of here for our own good. But we loved the Range. Surely there must be another way?
We needed cultural activity, better schools, housing, jobs and, yes, more. We were born into economic decline, a slide that we didn’t cause but that defined our entire lives to date. The idea that the working class people of the Range needed and deserved more was central to my political thinking then. Education, experience and research refined this view — “more” isn’t just money, after all, but meaning, too — and yet the central idea didn’t change all that much.
And so here I am, in a new job at midlife, writing columns that say the same things I was thinking back then. Mining? Fine, but it’s not enough to sustain an economy anymore. We need more. And even if we want to reap another generation’s bounty from under our land, we’re going to have to be a lot smarter and a lot more insistent for the spoils to stay here on the Range.
Some think it’s enough to regain what was lost. It’s not. And that thinking is a trap, because the jobs are different now and so are the economics. We have to imagine where the world is going and get our share. That’s a lot harder, but it’s the job.
In today’s column (gift link), I welcome the investment pouring into the iron mining industry right now. We need it. But we need more, too. Economic diversification is not merely a goal, but a necessity to survive and thrive.
Read “Minnesota’s iron industry must modernize or die” in the Monday, Nov. 24, 2025 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.
