Last week, the Nashwauk-Keewatin School Board voted to dissolve its shared services agreement with the Greenway School District on the western Mesabi Iron Range. Days later Greenway also backed away from most elements of the partnership. This marks the end of an experiment exposing many hard truths about the future of school and community collaboration on the Iron Range…. Read More →
Essar claims financing; Magnetation rolls pellets
October 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment
It’s been a big week of economic news on the western Mesabi Iron Range. Late last week, Magnetation LLC, announced it was producing taconite pellets at its Indiana processing plant using iron ore concentrate recovered from Itasca County pits. “This first production marks another significant milestone in Magnetation’s history,” said Larry Lehtinen, CEO of Magnetation…. Read More →
The Empirical Strikes Back: Historians debunk speakeasy
September 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Two weeks ago I joined media outlets around the state in reporting on the speakeasy re-enactment held at Annabella’s in Bovey, Minnesota. Organizers held a fun event recreating a Prohibition era party in an underground room featuring unusual “escape” tunnels. And, by most accounts, a good time was had by all. However, the way organizers… Read More →
Iron Range town re-opens secret speakeasy tunnel
August 28, 2014 by 3 Comments
UPDATE: Photos from the Aug. 29, 2014 event (via Annabella’s Facebook page) Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range experienced a lot of history in a short amount of time. From its rapid transition from native hunting and ricing grounds, to logging fields, to rural industrial mining region 120 years ago, to the collision of dozens of ethnic immigrant groups… Read More →
‘Red Ore Renaissance’ on the Iron Range
May 23, 2014 by 7 Comments
Magnetation continues to grow on the western Mesabi Iron Range. Gov. Mark Dayton named Thursday, May 22, “Red Ore Renaissance Day” in Minnesota. Last night, the company celebrated the ongoing construction of its fourth processing plant, turning piles of waste rock from early iron mining operations into quality iron concentrate for the production of steel. Here’s… Read More →
Scenic Range NewsForum expands web presence
January 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The Scenic Range NewsForum on the western Mesabi Iron Range recently launched its new website, a mobile-optimized site that tosses aside its clunky PDF reader-style predecessor. Along with this comes news that the Scenic snatched the low bid for becoming Itasca County’s newspaper of record, leaving the Grand Rapids Herald-Review to this painfully defensive story. As… Read More →
Range mine extracts holiday spirit with clever video
December 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
One of the big 2013 success stories in northern Minnesota’s Iron Range has been Magnetation. The scram mining operation is hiring workers and turning over old mine dumps to extract iron with new technology. But, importantly, Magnetation’s recent holiday video shows that iron concentrate isn’t the only product Magnetation produces. Why, look, they’re helping out… Read More →
Highway 169 expansion makes road project list
November 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Big news on the western Mesabi: The 40-year dream of a “cross-Range expressway” is every-so-slightly closer to reality. From a Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township) press release: ST. PAUL, MN – Today, Governor Mark Dayton and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) announced ten highway construction projects slated to receive funding through the state’s new… Read More →
Range town mergers could protect jobs, services
November 8, 2013 by 5 Comments
One of the under-reported outcomes of last Tuesday’s off-year local elections was the overwhelming vote by the northern Minnesota communities of Carlton and Thomson to merge. In local media, this was portrayed as the simple matter of tiny Thomson’s overworked mayor and staff. In practice, however, these towns are providing a blueprint for many small… Read More →
Minnesota DNR to allow extra fishing on Canisteo Pit
October 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will open a liberalized fishing season on the Canisteo Pit near Bovey, Minnesota from Oct. 17 until Dec. 1. The Canisteo has been rather infamous in recent years as it had flooded the city of Bovey, which required several million dollars in state aid to mitigate. Times have changed…. Read More →
