You can choose which features to show as you create a map of the state. GREAT for creating maps for quizzes because you can choose to label the features or not.
Another Interactive map lets you add features such as natural resources, production and transportation, people, historic events and more.
THE LAND, TOWNS, AND HISTORY
An extensive website from Macalester College covers the history of cities and towns, land ownership issues on the Iron Range, the question of why Hibbing isn't a huge metropolis and the modern urban hierarchy on the Range. Part of a larger unit about the Iron Range from Indigenous Peoples to the future of the industry.
An extensive website from Macalester College covers the history of the Iron Range area in terms of economic development including timber, taconite, tourism, and the success of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB). Part of a larger unit about the Iron Range from Indigenous Peoples to the future of the industry.
Lecture notes by Geographer David Lanegran based on Richard Francaviglia's book
Hard Places. Provides a framework for analyzing the landscape and learning more about the people who have lived here, shaped, and been shaped by the landscape. 4pgs.
by David A. Walker in Minnesota History, Summer 1974.
Following the Civil War, many gold prospectors flocked to Lake Vermilion hoping to get rich on gold. Two years later, efforts to mine gold had been determined to be unproductive. But other wealth was still to be had from the Iron Range. An in-depth look at the major players in the Lake Vermilion Gold Rush. 13pgs.
By Dana Miller in Entrepreneurs and Immigrants: Life on the Industrial Frontier of Northern Minnesota. Iron Range Research Center, 1991.
Also telling the story of the Lake Vermilion Gold Rush, this chapter focuses on the everyday people who came to the Iron Range search for gold. 5pgs.
A site from the Library of Congress memory project, this site details the history of the upper midwest including this page on the history of logging and mining on the Iron Range. Mostly text, two pictures.
By Arnold R. Alanen in Entrepreneurs and Immigrants: Life on the Industrial Frontier of Northern Minnesota. Iron Range Research Center, 1991.
A scholarly chapter discusses the early development and evolution of communities on the Vermilion Range. It also compares those with locations on Lake Superior and in the Michigan mining areas.Contains an advertisement to draw people to Ely and many pictures of the types of dwellings on the Range. Would be good for OPVL to study the pictures. 8pgs.
The "Locations" - Company Communities on Minnesota's Iron Ranges
By Arnold R. Alanen in Minnesota History, Fall 1982.(v48 no3). p94-106
This article traces the origin of the word "location" and explains why locations were different from company towns and why they were so prevalent on the Range. It also describes the social and institutional conditions of these locations. Many pictures and maps of locations.
To purchase back issues of Minnesota History Quarterly, click here: http://www.mnhs.org/market/mhspress/MinnesotaHistory/backissues.html Not all titles are available, check your local library. 8 double pages. (Large File -14 MB)
Giant's Ridge is a ski resort on the Iron Range. This page tells the history of the resort and the future - which involves reclaiming mining areas.
A selection from David Lanegran's book
Minnesota on the Map describes the process of creating a town and land plots and how it differed on the Iron Range from other farming communities in Minnesota. Googlebooks preview.
By Arnold R Alanen created for Pines, Mines, and Lakes Architecture Forum, July 2000.
Created for a conference of architects, this is an amazing short book about architecture in Northern Minnesota including the Iron Range. Lots of photographs, history, and architectural drawings of buildings built by settlers. 24pgs (7 MB)
In his book
Main Street Revisited, Richard V. Francaviglia, lays out sixteen axioms to help readers understand the principles affecting the design of Main Street and what it can tell us about the people who designed it. p189-191. Googlebooks preview.
A new study points to a potential big housing boom on the Iron Range - IF a handful of large new mining and power projects take off. Originally broadcast June 24, 2008. Check the web to see if this is still the case since the recession started.
The official global GPS Cache hunt site has this web page answering your basic questions about what Geocaching is (A worldwide game of hide and seek) and how it works (anyone can hide a cache, anyone can play). Go find a cache - sign the log book and start a journal of your hides and seeks!
The next time you are near Soudan Underground Mine State Park, take your GPS to find this one! Requires free log-in for coordinates.
The biggest open pit iron ore mine in the world, the first strip mine on the Mesabi Iron Range.
This cache comes with a history lesson on the Vermilion Gold Rush.
This cache is actually multiple caches included in a single trip. Next time you are in Ely, try to get all of these.
From the time it opened in the 1950s, the Reserve mine dumped its waste products into Silver Bay on Lake Superior. In the 1970s, the EPA told them to stop and a precedent-setting court case was fought over pollution and company's rights. This story, originally broadcast on October 29, 2003, revisits the case 25 years later and the impact it has had. Includes slideshow and audio.
A power point presentation by Hillary Carpenter, a toxicologist at the University of Minnesota does an excellent job of summarizing the Reserve Mining case in the first part of her presentation. The later part gets rather technical into the make-up of asbestos-like materials, how they are created in the mining process and why they are so dangerous to the human body.
An article written for the Hamline University Law Alumni focuses on Judge Miles W. Lord, who presided over the Reserve Mining Case and who voted to shut down the public water system in the interest of public health.
Originally broadcast on July 31, 2007, this story reports that the Northshore Mining Co., who runs the Reserve mine, wants to re-open the court case saying that the restrictions are too limiting. The story questions the safety of the nearby residents and the count of asbestos-like fibers present in the air. Sideshow.
BOUNDARY WATERS CANOE AREA (BWCA)
Originally broadcast July 17, 1998 this story reviews the twenty year history of the protected BWCA including interviews with BWCA enthusiasts, and a canoe outfitter who remembers what it was like before the 1978 act was passed. Includes audo.
MPR Story: Boundary Waters - 25 Years Later
Beautifully illustrated with photos from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, this piece reflects on what the BWCA was like before the passage of the BWCA Act of 1978. Includes audio story and links to other related MPR stories. Originally broadcast October 21, 2003
Prepared by Range Historian Pamela Brunfelt, this chronology covers from 1889 to 1998.
A four-minute photo montage of the BWCA.
This is the official video that all visitors are shown when they apply for a permit to camp in the BWCA. In includes all the rules for camping and traveling in the BWCA. 10 min.
By Mark Harvey in Minnesota History, Fall 2002 (v58, n3)
This article looks at the fight to protect the Boundary Waters from motorized boat traffic, logging, and other activities and the impact on resorts and businesses in the area.
An act to establish a National Wilderness Preservation System and further define national wilderness areas and national parks. On the Friends of the Boundary Waters website.
Passed by congress, an act to protect the BWCA and ensure its status as a wilderness for future generations, the text of the actual Act sets specific limits on the size of motors on certain lakes, bans them on others, and prohibits mining in the wilderness area.
Founded in 1976 to pass the Boundary Waters Wilderness Act, the friends have been working since then on issues involving the BWCA.
by Greg Breining in New York Times: Great Homes and Destinations