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Wind, pumps and pits: a fantasy to become real?
WDIO reports the latest idea proposed in a study from a group at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. It goes like this: Wind turbines, pumps, mine pits, kinetic energy and market speculation based on the premise that electricity is worth different amounts of money at different times of day. Why the hell not? Charlie Chaplin movies…
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This blasted husk of a building is our coliseum
Last Sunday, my old neighbor and Hibbing Daily Tribune staff “curmudgeon” (that is his actual byline) penned a wonderful but disturbing column. He reported that the ruins of the old Dupont power house by Carey Lake in Hibbing might have to be demolished, presumably for safety reasons. Lynch also shared a wonderful collection of archived…
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Railroads are so hot right now
The tiny northern Minnesota border town of Ranier is now the nation’s busiest rail port, according to the mayor of the adjacent “big” city of International Falls. Situated along the Rainy River across from a part of Ontario that even Canadians don’t talk about much, Rainer has long been a busy rail location. While…
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Growing local economies like snap peas and green pepppers
I was recently sent a narrative explaining a unique approach to economic development called “economic gardening.” Sure, this is one of many different buzzwords going around now but I thought the description was worthwhile, and relevant to some of the ideas about economic innovation here on the Iron Range and throughout post-industrial or rural communities…
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The sound and the fury of Range mining politics
The St. Louis County board heard hours of comments on a proposed resolution to back nonferrous mining on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. After scorching through vast amounts of time, emotional energy and professional costs, nothing was done about a resolution that was never going to change anything. Everyone involved looks forward to doing the same…
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Remembering John Spanish
Former Iron Range state Rep. John Spanish (DFL-Hibbing) died Monday at a care facility in Eveleth at the age of 90. He had been in declining health. Last winter he was a candidate in the House 5B special election won by Rep. Carly Melin (DFL-Hibbing). Spanish is one of the most interesting people I’ve met…
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Lamenting the jet age
About a week ago Delta altered its flight schedule in and out of the Range Regional Airport in Hibbing. Instead of three flights a day, they offer two. Instead of smaller turbo-prop planes, they offer slightly larger jets. So the same number of seats are available, just not as many departure or arrival options. The…
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COLUMN: Reasons to be mindful about mining’s future
This is my Sunday column for the Dec. 11, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Reasons be mindful about mining’s futureBy Aaron J. Brown All fate is geology. The rocks tell us who we are and what we will become. Here in northern Minnesota we are the sons and daughters of iron mining. We…
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Shifting from wars to, well, just about anything else
Some friends of mine passed this along. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, professor of Peace and Justice Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, is coming to Grand Rapids for a talk regarding MN ASAP: Minnesota Arms Spending Alternative Project. A resolution process to build political support to shift federal spending priorities of war to…
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Modern minds for the modern mines
The Iron Range Engineering program, a collaborative effort among Mankato State and community colleges on the Iron Range, will present diplomas to its first graduates Saturday. This WDIO story introduces us to Christine Nelson, a graduate who is already working as a project engineer at United Taconite in Eveleth. The mission of the program is…
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Skating back to the 1970s Iron Range
I was born on Minnesota’s Iron Range in 1979, essentially moments before the big steel industry collapse and local economic crash of the early 1980s. The region’s culture in the time since the crash seems forever oriented around comparisons to that boom time of the 1970s, when the taconite plants were new and running hot,…
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New site shows more to the Range than just iron
Today the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation agency unveiled a new website called “Made on the Range.” The site lists goods and services produced here in northern Minnesota’s Iron Range region. It’s an interesting service available for those who like to patronize local businesses and those from afar who wish to find out more about…
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ALERT: Time traveling fugitive on the loose
A man claiming he’s from the future was arrested for trying to sabotage the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. The advanced physics laboratory explores the behavior of atomic particles and the origins of the universe. Some fear it will cause the end of the world, but that’s just silly. OR IS IT? The man from…
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The Pellet Shipping News
Evidence of increased production of Iron Range taconite products was shared today in the Duluth News Tribune. There are 3,900 people now working in northern Minnesota’s taconite industry. Signs of volatility in ore prices should not worry us. Related posts: No related posts.
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COLUMN: ‘Peddler from the Range’ leaves great mark, complicated legacy
This is my Sunday column for the Dec. 4, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. On the same page of the newspaper my old neighbor from town days wrote a more detailed account of Paulucci’s history. ‘Peddler from the Range’ leaves great mark, complicated legacyBy Aaron J. Brown Early Thanksgiving 2011 Jeno Paulucci passed…