Pilotac, an experimental taconite concentrating plant built by the Oliver Mining Division of United States Steel. The plant went into operation at Mountain Iron in 1953 as Minnesota Ore Operation’s Minntac plant.
Francis Lee Jaques, Pine Forest. Oil on canvas, 1945. Gift of the Minneapolis Aid Society in memory of George Christian. Photography by Tom Nelson. Used with the permission of the Bell Museum and the University of Minnesota.
By the early 1900s, Goodhue County had emerged as Minnesota's leading cheese producer. The county's southeast district around Pine Island, including Pine Island Cheese Company was a production leader, 1937.