Hull-Rust-Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine

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View of the site (2014)
Iron ore train

The Hull-Rust-Mahoning Mine in Hibbing , Minnesota , the largest open pit for the promotion of iron ore in the world. The mine is located within the Mesabi Range and has during the years of its peak production from the First to the Second World War, about a quarter of the total in the United States asked mined iron ore.

A miner poses on the edge of the pit.

Exploration of this section of the Mesabi Range began in 1893-1894 shortly after the Mountain Iron , Minnesota mine opened in 1892. Initially it was an underground mine, but the open pit turned out to be the better choice because the iron ore layers here were only covered by soft, flat layers of overburden. A large number of open pits in the area merged into one large open pit and the merger led to the establishment of US Steel in 1901 .

The growth of the mine resulted in the relocation of the town of Hibbing. The move started in 1919 and was completed in 1921. At that time the cost was 16 million dollars . 185 houses and 20 businesses were relocated and some of the larger buildings were cut in half for transport. Only a few uninhabited remains of the original city are visible today, which are located near a viewpoint on the edge of the pit.

This is more than five kilometers long and three and a half kilometers wide; the depth is about 180 meters. The historic district of the Hull-Rust-Mahoning Mine comprises a total of 53 mining properties.

More than 519 million tons of overburden and 690 million tons of iron ore have been extracted from the main area of ​​the mine since production began in 1895. The open pit was registered as a National Historic Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 13, 1966 . The pit is still in operation and therefore only a visitor center is accessible. The Hibbing Taconite Company has been extracting around 8 million tons of taconite from the mine every year since 1976 (excluding overburden).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles Snell: National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Hull-Rust-Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine (PDF; 147 kB) National Park Service. June 1, 1966. Retrieved April 10, 2008.
  2. ↑ National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Accompanying 6 images (PDF; 711 kB) June 1, 1966. Accessed April 10, 2008.
  3. ^ National Register of Historic Places - Hull-Rust-Mahoning Mine . Minnesota Historical Society. 2001. Archived from the original on November 4, 2006. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 10, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / nrhp.mnhs.org
  4. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Minnesota. National Park Service , accessed August 16, 2019.

Web links

Coordinates: 47 ° 27 ′ 0 ″  N , 92 ° 57 ′ 0 ″  W.