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Article: Mesabi Iron Range
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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MESABI IRON RANGE
MESABI IRON RANGE
contained the richest deposit of iron ore in the United States, but the peculiar quality of the soft hematite ore (nonmagnetic and powdery rather than rock) delayed discovery and exploitation until the 1890s. The ore existed in some eighteen town-ships in northeastern Minnesota. When its great value became known, there was an unparalleled scramble to enter the land through abuse of the Preemption Act (1841) and the Homestead Act (1862) and for the choicer deposits with the rarer forms of land scrip. Leonidas Merritt and his seven brothers made some of the greatest finds, though, lacking capital to build a railroad to Lake Superior, they were unable ...