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Duluth, Missabe, and Iron Range Railway records

 Collection — Box: 1 IP
Identifier: S3776

Scope and Contents

The collection contains photographs, slides, and negatives, 1901-1954; Weekly Activity Letters to the Board of Directors from the General Manager, 1949-1980; speeches by General Manager Fred Voss, 1954-1961; and a small amount of Duluth, Missabe, and Northern employee information, primarily car shop employees, 1894-1902

Photographs depict groups of employees, employee picnics and events, and some dock and rail yard locations. Weekly Activity Letters include a narrative description of operations, workers, vessels, loads, equipment, maintenance, weather, and wages. The Letters also include figures regarding tonnages of ore shipped, reclaimed, stored, and stockpiled.

Dates

  • 1894-1980

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Open for use in the Kathryn A. Martin Library, Archives and Special Collections.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection may be protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials. Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provision of the copyright law.

Biographical / Historical

The Duluth and Iron Range Railroad Company and the Duluth, Missabe and Northern, both owned by United States Steel Corporation, were operated as one system from 1901 to 1937, although they were not formally merged. The DM&N leased the properties of the D&IR in early 1930. On July 1, 1937 the DM&N and the Spirit Lake Transfer Railway Company consolidated to form the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway Company (DM&IR). In March 1938 the property and assets of the D&IR and the Interstate Transfer Railway Company were transferred to the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range. Interstate Transfer was subsequently dissolved on June 28, 1938, and the D&IR was dissolved July 7, 1938. The surviving company, The Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range, had two separate operating divisions: The Missabe Division, operating the former DM&N trackage on the western portion of the system, and the Iron Range Division, operating the former D&IR trackage on the eastern portion of the system.

Soft high-grade iron ore began to run out on the Vermilion and Missabe iron ranges in the mid-1950s, and at that time development of northeastern Minnesota's taconite industry began in earnest. With the passage of the Taconite Amendment in 1963 the construction of taconite plants along the DM&IR proceeded with the Eveleth Taconite Company's plant at Forbes, Minnesota coming into operation around 1965 and United States Steel Corporation's large Minntac taconite pellet plant at Mountain Iron beginning operation in October 1967.

In 1988 the DM&IR, a wholly-owned subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation, was sold to Transtar Inc., Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Transtar was a holding company owned in part by the Blackstone Group and USX Corporation (formerly known as United States Steel Corporation). In 2001 the railroad became part of Great Lakes Transportation, a privately-held transportation holding company with principal operations in railroad freight and transportation, Great Lakes shipping, and inland river barging.

In 2002 the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway was said to be the largest iron ore handling railroad in North America, with 212 miles of track. Its primary mission was to move ore from Minnesota's Missabe Range taconite plants to DM&IR dock facilities at Duluth and Two Harbors, or to connecting railroads at Superior, Wisconsin.



Extent

11.00 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The collection contains photographs, slides, and negatives, 1901-1954; Weekly Activity Letters to the Board of Directors from the General Manager, 1949-1980; speeches by General Manager Fred Voss, 1954-1961; and a small amount of Duluth, Missabe, and Northern employee information, primarily car shop employees, 1894-1902.

Physical Location

This collection is located at the University of Minnesota Duluth Archives. For more information about this collection or to make an appointment, contact us at libarchives@d.umn.edu or 218-726-8526.

Related Materials:

NEMHC Archival Collections S2403 Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway Company illustrated calendars

NEMHC Archival Collections S3739 Railroad Maps and Drawings

NEMHC Archival Collections S3780 Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway Computerized Car Identification System training film and audiotape

General

This collection is part of the Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections, which are housed in the University of Minnesota Duluth Archives at the Kathryn A. Martin Library, and are on permanent loan from the St. Louis County Historical Society.

Title
Guide to the Duluth, Missabe, and Iron Range Railway records
Author
Finding Aid Authors: Staff.
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Collecting Area Details

Contact The University of Minnesota Duluth Archives and Special Collections Collecting Area

Contact:
Kathryn A. Martin Library
University of Minnesota Duluth
416 Library Drive
Duluth MN 55812-3001
(218) 726-8526