Manuscripts Collection
The papers were compiled in 1963 by James S. Steel, then employed by the Oliver Iron Mining Company, for a possible publication that never materialized.
The collection contains correspondence, photographs, interviews, and other materials documenting many facets of life on Minnesota's iron ranges, including community development, Americanization and educational programs, labor issues, ethnic groups, taxation, health matters, mining methods, and sports and recreation.
A photograph album, compiled in 1936 by G. J. Barrett, contains well identified photostatic (cyanotype) views of many aspects of the mining industry on the Iron Range.
Accession number: 13,122; 13,286; 15,034
Processed by: Kathryn M. Johnson, March 1994
Catalog ID number: 09-00038383
Typed extracts of tape recorded interviews between Steel and pioneer Iron Range residents contain a wealth of information on nationality groups; vignettes of mine officials, including William J. Olcott, Richard Trezona, and John Greenway; and data on social life and activities, boarding houses, saloons, schools, and work in the mines.
Includes three John S. Pardee manuscripts on the Iron Range: "Of the Womb of Steel," "At the Foot of the Rainbow," and "An Appanage of Steel."
Contains information on appropriations, shipments, freight rates, wages, ore resources, employment, and exploration for the years 1907-1927.
An extensive collection of 487 photographs (undated and 1860-1944), some in albums and others in folders, contain views of mines, towns, equipment, railroads, miners, underground mines, and related topics. Most are well identified, except for those in the chronological file dated 1917-1927, and in part of the oversize album. Of particular interest is the album of photostatic views printed from photographs taken by Robert Y. Richie, New York City, in 1936 for the Oliver Iron Mining Company, which contains views and detailed information on all aspects of open pit and underground mining including equipment, locomotives, trains, crushing plants, laboratories, miners' clothing and equipment, and views of underground operations.
Photographs on pages 1-122 of the album are accompanied by detailed information sheets and are indexed. The remaining photographs (pages 123-260) are unidentified. The following areas are included: Burt-Day-Sellers open pit, Hibbing; Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railway Company's Duluth ore docks; Hibbing-Chisholm district laboratories; Godfrey Underground Mine, Chisholm; Hull-Rust open pit, Hibbing; Hull-Rust-Sellers, Hibbing; Missabe Mountain open pit, Hibbing; Morris open pit, Virginia; Pioneer "A" underground mine, Ely; Sault Ste. Marie locks; Soudan; Virginia-Eveleth District; Virginia ore crushing plant.