Opened in 1882 by the Minnesota Mining Company, Breitung pit was part of the first iron ore mine on the Vermillion Range. Ore from this pit made up the first commercial shipment of Minnesota Iron Ore out of the Agate Bay ore docks, Two Harbors, Minnesota July 31, 1884.
Living room of Elisha J. Morcom, the first mine superintendent of the Soudan Mine. Shows rocking chairs and stove for heating the house. There may be a bed in the lower right corner of the room.
Living room of Elisha J. Morcom, the first mine superintendent of the Soudan Mine. Shows rocking chairs and stove for heating the house and an unidentified room in the background.
Image of a steam powered shovel sitting on a railroad track. Land is barren, multiple tracks cross the landscape. Town of Virginia extends beyond the boundaries of the mine, separated by a fence. Note the rows of iron ore cars in the background. Oliver Mining Company owned this mine.
Miners are wearing helmet lanterns lit with a single candle. They pose outside of a hoist leading to an underground mine. Note the teenage boy holding jackhammer and young boy with two hammers in his hand.
Inside the original drill shop, where drill bits were sharpened and tempered, at Soudan Mine. Notice the dirt floor. This floor later became a wood floor.
The Minnesota Iron Company, incorporated in 1890, was engaged in underground iron ore mining on the Vermilion Range that ran between Tower and Soudan on the west and Ely and Winton on the east of the range.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
An unidentified underground mine pit with a steam locomotive Number 1 of the Duluth and Iron Range railway at work, probably at Tower or Ely, Minnesota, on the Vermilion Iron Range.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
Image of a group of men posing for a photograph next to a hoist and derrick system. Man standing on deck tips a steel bucket into a large pile of iron ore. Identified as hoist at Shaft Number 3 at the Cincinnati Mine, first hoist on the Mesabi Range. Mine was owned by the Standard Ore Company of Duluth. Photograph shows the first bucked of ore hoisted from the site.