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
It’s a great mural, but what grabbed my eye in this photo is the sign for Wild Rice. Maybe because I’m hungry… lol!
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Robin, sorry it has taken me so long to respond! July was a whirlwind month of vacation to Ely, then a visit from my wonderful mother-in-law. Am spending the day catching up, sitting, more sitting. It’s a beautiful day here in Minnesota.
The Wild Rice sign is a detail I love about this photograph, too! You were the first to mention it to me. It’s also one of my fave parts of this photograph. I ended up getting some wild rice soup at the Minnesota History Center last week when we visited with oliverowl. It was delicious!
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I’m fascinated by the Iron Range. All the immigrants, the amazing high school/college they built in Hibbing, Bob Dylan, the struggle of females to work in the mines, people who were lowered deep into the dark for decades of their life to extract iron ore…all of it. Everyone I’ve met from The Range has strong, strong feelings about where they came from. Deep, emotional, angry, proud.
BTW, I didn’t know how Ely got its name. I like knowing.
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Teri, me, too. The more I learn about the history of the Iron Range, the more I see how complex it is. And the locals I meet have very strong feelings about the place where they are rooted. On the last trip to Ely, we got into an interesting discussion on the recent mining controversy that has cropped up in the Ely area over the last few years. It made me realize why some feel so strongly about bringing mining back to the area. There are always two sides to every story. I guess the trick is to learn to live together. Taking care of the environment while we allow progress to go forward so that people in small towns have a way to make a living without leaving their homes.
BTW, I did not know how Ely got it’s name either until I researched this little piece. I like knowing, too. Liz and I will be back next year in July. And maybe one other trip before then. I wanted to visit Pioneer Mine and take some photos. We were right near there for an event a few weeks ago. But the timing was not right, and it was so darned hot, I couldn’t fathom it at the time. Maybe next year. We try to explore one new thing each year we are there. Thanks for stopping by!
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