Miners Mural – Ely, Minnesota – 22/365, Archive 365, Droid Shots, Ely, Minnesota, July 2011, photo © 2011-2012 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
When I passed this mural yesterday on the corner of Sheridan Street and Central Avenue, I was reminded that I had a photograph in my archives from the trip North last year. The art catches my eye every year when I visit Ely, Minnesota for an annual trip to the North American Bear Center. Ely was a thriving mining town 50 to 100 years ago, with rumbling steam locomotives that pulled train loads of iron ore over to Lake Superior to be shipped out of the Midwest. The town of Ely was named after Samuel B. Ely, a miner from Michigan who never actually visited there.
Most of the mines have closed now. On the north side of town, the bones of Pioneer Mine stand tall over the abandoned quarry where tons of iron ore were extracted by a thriving community of miners; it is now a large body of water called Miners Lake. The mural is one of many around Ely that honor its mining past. It was painted by artist Bill Defenbaugh, part of the Ely Greenstone Public Art Project.
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ARCHIVE 365 is a photo collaboration between skywire7 and QuoinMonkey featuring images from our archives. We will alternate posting once a day in our Flickr sets from July 1st 2012 through June 30th 2013. You can view our photographs at skywire7 Archive 365 set on Flickr and QuoinMonkey Archive 365 set on Flickr.
-posted on red Ravine, Tuesday, July 24th, 2012. Related to posts: MN Black Bear Den Cam: Will Lily Have Cubs? and Jewel Under The Bear Moon
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