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The Cuyuna Range is an inactive iron range to the southwest of the Mesabi Range, largely within Crow Wing County, Minnesota. It lies along a line between Brainerd, Minnesota, and Aitkin, Minnesota. The width ranges from 1 to 10 miles (1.6 to 16 km).
Crosby Brainerd MN , Trail Bicycling, Biking, Hiking, Cycling, Touring
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The rocks in the district consist of tightly folded layers parallel to the axis of the Lake Superior Syncline. These folds trend to the northeast. The rocks have been slightly metamorphosed.
The main iron ore bearing
Cuyuna Lakes Trail
{{Authority control Geography of Crow Wing County, Minnesota Geology of Minnesota Iron ore deposits
The Cuyuna Range is an inactive iron range to the southwest of the Mesabi Range, largely within Crow Wing County, Minnesota. It lies along a line between Brainerd, Minnesota, and Aitkin, Minnesota. The width ranges from 1 to 10 miles (1.6 to 16 km).
Discovery
Though covered by Pleistoceneglacial drift
In geology, drift is a name for all sediment (clay, silt, sand, gravel, boulders) transported by a glacier and deposited directly by or from the ice, or by glacial meltwater. Drift is often subdivided into (unsorted and) unstratified drift (glaci ...
up to 200 feet thick, 1859 surveyors noted compass deflection while in the area. The range was surveyed by Cuyler Adams, using a dip needle in 1895. With partners, he located ore by drilling in 1903. The word "Cuyuna" is an amalgamation of the first three letters of Cuyler's name with "Una", the name of his dog.
The Kennedy mine shaft reached ore in April 1908 and the first shipment was made via rail on 11 April 1911. Open pit mining started at the Rowe mine in 1912. In addition to the iron, the ore was rich in manganese, which was useful during World War I, with 32 mines operating.
At the height of the mining, the Cuyuna Range was the location of the worst mining disaster in Minnesota, the Milford Mine
The Milford Mine produced high manganese-content iron ore
in Wolford Township, Minnesota, United States. On February 5, 1924, it was the site of the Milford Mine Disaster, the worst mining accident in Minnesota history, when it was flooded by wa ...
disaster. On February 5, 1924, a new tunnel was blasted too close to nearby Foley Lake, and water rushed in, killing 41 miners.
Mining on the range continued until 1984. Also like the Vermilion Range, mining slowed as it became more economical to extract taconite
Taconite () is a variety of iron formation, an iron-bearing (over 15% iron) sedimentary rock, in which the iron minerals are interlayered with quartz, chert, or carbonate. The name "taconyte" was coined by Horace Vaughn Winchell (1865–1923) � ...
deposits from the Mesabi Range, which were closer to the surface. Additionally, the surface mines were safer than the mines deep underground.
Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area now occupies portions of the range where mining pits and rock deposit stockpiles were left behind by the miners. The Cuyuna Lakes Trail is also located near the former mines./ref>
Geology
The rocks in the district consist of tightly folded layers parallel to the axis of the Lake Superior Syncline. These folds trend to the northeast. The rocks have been slightly metamorphosed.
The main iron ore bearing formation
Formation may refer to:
Linguistics
* Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes
* Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes
Mathematics and science
* Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...
is the middle Precambrian
The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...
Trommald Formation, which belongs in the Animikie Group. This is a chert containing oxidized iron in the form of hematite
Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...
and goethite. Some clastic
Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks ...
quartz sands and argillaceous layers. The agate variant Binghamite
Binghamite (also called silkstone and cuyunite) is a type of agate found only on the Cuyuna Range (near Crosby) in Crow Wing County, Minnesota. The stone occurs near deposits of iron ore.
Description
Mining in the area uncovered deposits of the ...
is found only in the Cuyuna Range.
Communities
* Cuyuna, Minnesota * Crosby, Minnesota * Ironton, Minnesota *Trommald, Minnesota
Trommald is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 98 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Trommald was founded as a mining town on the western end of the Cuyuna iron ...
* Riverton, Minnesota
* Manganese, Minnesota
Manganese is a ghost town and former mining community in the U.S. state of Minnesota that was inhabited between 1912 and 1960. It was built in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, Crow Wing County on the Cuyuna Range, Cuyuna Iron Range in Section (Unit ...
See also
* Mesabi Range * Gogebic Range * Vermilion Range (Minnesota) * Gunflint Range * Marquette Iron Range * Banded iron formationReferences
Further reading
*External links
Cuyuna Lakes Trail
{{Authority control Geography of Crow Wing County, Minnesota Geology of Minnesota Iron ore deposits