Hull Rust Mine and Overlook
|
|
The consolidated network of pits north of Hibbing, called the Hull Rust Mahoning Pit, is the largest iron mine pit in the nation. Known as the Grand Canyon of the North, the pit is 3.5 miles wide and 500 feet deep, has been worked for over 100 years, and is still active. Peak production was in the 1940s, when 1/4 of the ore for the entire U.S. steel industry came out of this hole.
The Hull Rust Mine overlook provides panoramic views of this engineered landscape, which extends for miles, with lakes, mounds, benches and cliffs, on such a scale that is hard to reconcile it as being made by humans. The overlook has some nicely rotting signage, which seems to echo the crumpled disintegration of the landscape below. A walking trail passes by machinery marked with canted plaques, and a framed hole in the fence has a sign that says "Take Photos Here." A small visitor building on the edge has a pleasant gift shop.
Another notable element of the mine is that it is the location of an unusual national hydrogeographic "triple divide." Known by the Chippewa natives as the Hill of Three Waters, a drop of water falling on that spot could flow either into the Arctic Ocean (via the Big Fork and Red Rivers and Hudson Bay), the Gulf of Mexico (via the Mississippi River) or the north Atlantic (via the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River). The fact that the precise spot now falls within the mining area perhaps changes this dynamic somewhat. |
|
| MN |
|
| |
|
|
| |
map |
search
|
|
|
|
