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Iron Range Tour
| Before letting Tom leave us completely we went with him as far as Hibbing and took a tour that included Iron World. This is a view of the Pillsbury mine as new growth has taken over. The large red mounds that were common when I was young are now almost all forested. |
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The highlight of Iron World was a trolley car tour of the mine. |
| After lunch at Sammy's Pizzeria, Tom headed off toward home and then college. We took a tour of the Greyhound Bus Museum. |
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This is a picture of the birth of the Greyhound bus line in Hibbing. It all started when two guys couldn't sell their Hupmobile but were able to make a profit selling rides on it. I think it is appropriate that the first route had both Hibbing and Alice in the title. |
| The Scenicruiser was the most famous image of the Greyhound Bus. |
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We visited North Hibbing where the foundations of a town remained after all of Hibbing was moved south between 1918 and 1956. The reason for the move was the large taconite deposit that is still being mined at the Hull Rust Mine. In the left of the picture you can see where they have drilled a number of holes to blast the rock. Later the pieces will be picked up by the enormous equipment and crushed to harvest the 26% iron content. |
| Not on the official tour brochure but a must see is the Hibbing High School. Taxes from the mines in the 40s and 50s paid for a magnificently appointed building. |
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This hallway is typical with chandeliers, stone floor, and ornamental ceiling and trim. |
| Who among us can say that their high school auditorium looked like this? |
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Our last stop was in Chisolm at the Minnesota Museum of Mining. This doesn't look like much from the outside but has quite a good collection hidden away in a few buildings. They also have large machinery on display in the yard. For example, they have the earliest Greyhound Bus (known as Mesabi Transit then) in existence. |
| I still like the trains. |
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These outboard motors date back to 1928. The one on the far left is a Johnson and the two on the right are Sears and Roebuck. |