Environment | Page 5

Map of land transfered by the Minnesota Historical Society to the Lower Sioux Indian Community in 2022

Map of land transferred by the Minnesota Historical Society to the Lower Sioux Indian Community in 2017.

Bird’s-eye view of Willmar State Hospital, 1937

Bird’s-eye view of Willmar State Hospital, 1937.

Shagawa Lake at sunset

Shagawa Lake as seen from Grant-McMahan Boulevard on the lake’s north shore. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Tony Webster, September 30, 2017. CC BY-SA 2.0

Jaspilite (banded iron) formation, Sudan Underground State Park

Glacially eroded outcrop of jaspilite (banded iron) formation, Sudan Underground State Park. Photograph by James St. John, June 10, 2015. CC BY-SA 2.0

Map of the iron ranges of the Lake Superior region

Map of the iron ranges of the Lake Superior region, ca. 2015. Created by W. F. Cannon for the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Lake Vermilion State Park Overlook

Lake Vermilion State Park Overlook. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, September 27, 2011. CC BY-SA 3.0

Mine in the Vermilion Range

A mine in the Vermilion Iron Range operated by the Minnesota Iron Company, 1891. Photograph by Crandal & Fletcher Studio, Duluth.

Mine 8, Tower

Miners pose for a photograph during their work at Mine 8 in Tower, on the Vermilion Iron Range. Photograph by George A. Newton, ca. 1885.

The Vermilion Range, with its distinctive hard and high-grade iron ore deposits, looms large in the history of the mining industry in Minnesota. It was the first range to open (1884) and also the first to cease commercial mining operations (1967) due to changes in the steel-making process and the rise of cheaper-to-produce taconite on the nearby Mesabi Range. After mining ended, the area’s protected wilderness spaces—including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness—took center stage in a new regional economy based on tourism and conservation.

Map of Embarrass and adjoining townships in central St. Louis County

Map of Embarrass and adjoining townships in central St. Louis County, Minnesota. Wayne Gudmundson, Testaments in Wood: Finnish Log Structures at Embarrass, Minnesota (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1991), 12.

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