Image of a group of men standing outside of the Agate Bay House. Painted sign underneath the decorative peak on the covered porch. This was utilized as a boarding house for railroad workers. Also pictured is an intersection of a wooden sidewalk, one of the first built in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Managers are Brown, Butler, and Blake standing on the right side of the covered porch.
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.
Image taken from bay showing the wooden footings for the first ore dock in Agate Bay. Wooden planks are lined up along the bank, Agate Bay House is the large building in the center of the image. Construction of the ore docks began in 1883.
Image showing a network of railroad tracks and barges used to construct the second docks in Agate Bay. Footings have already been set, completed wooden ore dock can be seen in the background. Ore dock six was the first steel iron ore dock on the great lakes. Built by the Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railroad.
Image of Dodge, a lumber or mining camp, set into a forested area. Note the stumps are waiting to be burned to level the land around the constructed buildings. May have been a lumber camp near Lake County, Minnesota.
Image of a group of men posing for a photograph outside of a large wooden building. A few carry large packs, some carry snow shoes. May have been a lumber camp identified as Dodge Camp near Lake County, Minnesota.
Image of the tugboat, Edna G., at dock in Two Harbors. A whaleback vessel is docked alongside the tugboat. Ice appears around the tugboat, snow covers railroad tracks alongside dock. Note the eagle on top of the pilot house. When the Edna G. returned to Two Harbors from WWI service, the eagle had been removed.
Image shows the Ella G. Stone, predecessor to the Edna G. tugboat pulling a whaleback vessel into the ore docks at Agate Bay. Note the hatches are open on the whaleback.
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.
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.
Interior view shows four men posing in the Hansen and Schilberg Ice Cream Parlor. Note the extensive display of cigars, Soda Fountain, and Confectionary Counter.
Ice harvesting at Agate Bay. Bays in Lake Superior regularly froze in the cold winter months. Jacob Rafin Senior is seated on the sled. Town of Two Harbors in the background.
Interior view of a large printing press, 3 workers work at a table assembling blocks for printer. Electric lights hang above the press, various broadsides displayed on the wall behind the workers.
Interior view of Floyd and Lloyd James inside of James Drug Store. The father and son pose for a staged photograph, mixing up pharmaceuticals in the back room of the drug store.
Set of 3 delivery wagons loading in front of J. Schriener and Company General Store (1888-1919). Called the Big Store as all merchandise was purchased in carload lots. Operated by John Schreiner and E.H. Schreiner. The business later evolved into Schreiner Brothers and Molton.
Interior view of the Millinery store owned and operated by Katherine Spaith. Pictured are Katherine Spaith and sister Julia O'Hearn. Spaith arrived in Two Harbors in 1890 and turned the old post office on Poplar Street into her millinery store. She also was the first woman in Lake County to take up her rights in homestead and timber lands.
The Nelson Store was located on First Avenue, where the present day American Legion now stands. The N.C. Nelson General Store was the first store in Agate Bay, Minnesota, now known as Two Harbors.
Image of workers posing for a photograph on the loading docks at Agate Bay. Steam powered on dock with ore cars. Note the numbered loading docks and electric lights. The Two Harbors Lighthouse is in the background.
Image of a group of men and children standing on a wooden sidewalk outside of the Iron Port Printing Shop. Second floor contains apartments for the proprietor and his family. The Iron Port was the official paper of Two Harbors and Lake County. Founded by James Coggswell, the newspaper was first published July 11th, 1890.
Interior view of the grocery counter at Scandinavian Cooperative Mercantile (1893-1957). Company stock certificates were held locally. At one time there were 325 stockholders.