Iron Range
From the Northern Lights Stage to National TV
When bass-baritone Andrew Hiers took the stage at the Northern Lights Music Festival in Aurora, audiences knew they were witnessing a performer with something special.
The rest of the country will see it on April 19 when CBS Sunday Morning airs a segment on Hiers, an opera singer who has recently gone viral for something unexpected: singing operatic car sales pitches from a dealership in Florida. His videos, blending humor with serious vocal talent, have attracted millions of views across social media. (more…)
Video: Sledding at the 2026 Laskiainen Finnish Festival
Videographer Adam Jagunich shot this aerial footage in the small Iron Range town of Palo, about 40 miles north of Duluth, capturing sledding scenes from the 88th annual Laskiainen Finnish Festival.
Mining and Smelting Iron of Minnesota’s Mesabi Range in 1926
If this footage looks familiar, it might be because Perfect Duluth Day previously featured a condensed version of this film. The 16mm Time Machine YouTube channel offers the version above, which has an additional four minutes of content. (more…)
Iron Country: Iron Ore and Minnesota’s Future (1955 Film)
This supremely cheesy 70-year-old promotional film explains the importance of mining through actors portraying a group of people chatting in the dining hall at the Minnesota State Fair.
Duluth appears briefly at the 7- and 21-minute marks. (more…)
Minnesota Historia: The Laurentian Divide
The Laurentian Divide is a continental divide that crosses some of Minnesota’s most stunning landscapes. But what does one do with such a geographical gem? Mine it? Ski it? Or build a tourist attraction on top of it? (The answer is all three.)
Minnesota Historia is a PBS North web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink-Ziebol and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.
Video Archive: Iron Ore from the Mesabi Mines circa the 1920s
This silent documentary film depicts the mining, shipping and processing of iron ore from the Mesabi Range. Although the title confidently states 1920, other sources estimate 1926 as year the footage was shot.
Scenes from Duluth begin at the ore docks at the 1:55 mark and conclude at the shipping canal at the 3-minute mark. (more…)
Postcard from Mining on the Range
This undated postcard shows an unidentified mine on Minnesota’s Iron Range, obviously not in Duluth despite what the caption on the front indicates. The card was published by the Souvenir Postcard Company of New York and Berlin.
Big Into – “Used to Go”
The latest music video from Big Into includes cameos by a variety of other Iron Range rockers, but the real star is a cheese-flavored cracker. The video was shot at Mesaba Co-op Park near Hibbing.
Wildrose: 1984 film shot on the Iron Range
It’s been 40 years since Wildrose, a feature film shot on Minnesota’s Iron Range, premiered in theaters. The full movie is available to stream in the video section of the Russian social media website Odnoklassniki, or ok.ru, and is embedded above. (more…)
PDD Geoguessr Challenge #7: Downtown on the Iron Range
W.F. Cannon (USGS)
As enough people played the original Geoguessr challenge series of six games for it to continue as a regular series, new Geoguessr challenges will now appear twice a month on Sundays, at least for the time being, so if you have any ideas for what you might like to see in the future, please share in the comments. As always, an overview of how the game is played appears at the end of this post. (more…)
The Slice: Olcott Park Greenhouse and Botanical Garden
The Olcott Park Greenhouse and Botanical Garden in Virginia is open year-round during volunteer-staffed open hours on Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. It offers the chance to view a variety of tropical plants in the comfort and warmth of a unique green space during the long winter months.
In its series The Slice, PBS North presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Minnesota Historia: Boomtown!
The history of Minnesota’s Iron Range is full of boomtowns. That word usually refers to any town that grows rapidly due to economic prosperity. But in the case of Eveleth, “boomtown” took on a more literal definition. Twice.
Minnesota Historia is a PBS North web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.
Postcards from Sellers Mine, north of Hibbing
The Burt-Poole and Sellers mines were the first to ship iron ore out of Minnesota’s Iron Range in the summer of 1895. In its first five years the Sellers Ore Company shipped 188,000 tons. By 1919 the figure had shot up to 8.9 million tons, according to the 1921 book Duluth and St. Louis County, Minnesota; Their Story and People by Walter Van Brunt. (more…)
Video: Sledding at the 2023 Laskiainen Finnish Festival
Videographer Adam Jagunich took his drone for a winter flight in the small Iron Range town of Palo, about 40 miles north of Duluth, to capture sledding scenes from the 85th annual Laskiainen Finnish Festival last weekend. (more…)
When Blossom went to Hibbing and got bad directions
Actress and Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik was a guest on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on April 4. At about the 4:50 mark in the clip above she tells the story of traveling with her father to the Iron Range to visit their “personal Mecca, which is Hibbing, Minn., the birthplace of Robert Zimmerman — also known as Bob Dylan.”
Of course, the Jeopardy! question that would lead one to the place where Robert Zimmerman was born is “What is Duluth?” The Zimmerman family moved to Hibbing when Robert was 6 years old. (more…)
Postcard from Third Avenue in Hibbing, 1921
This postcard was mailed 100 years ago today — Aug. 6, 1921. The image shows Third Avenue in Hibbing looking north, including the Oliver Hotel at 422 Third Avenue. The card was published by T. C. Congdon. (more…)
Bob Dylan on Hibbing from 1966 Playboy interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4xLk31ZwL8
Dude reads highlights from the 1966 Playboy interview. Dylan on Hibbing: @6:40-8:53. (more…)
Redhead Mountain Bike Park Overview
Red Head Mountain Bike Park opened this summer on former Iron Range mineland near the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm. (more…)
Postcard from the Spruce Mine at Eveleth
The undated postcard shown here is a scene from the Spruce Mine in Eveleth, about 50 miles north of Duluth. The card was published by David Milavetz News Company of Virginia, Minn. and produced by E. C. Kropp Co. of Milwaukee, Wis. (more…)
The Slice: Red Head Mountain Bike Park
The Slice follows the recreation group Mesabi Outdoor Adventures as members try out the new Red Head Mountain Bike Park, built on former Iron Range mineland near the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm, about 60 miles northwest of Duluth.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Postcard from Mesabi Open Pit Iron Mine in Virginia
This undated postcard shows scenes from the Mesabi Iron Range, the largest of four iron ranges in northeast Minnesota. The card uses a spelling more often associated with a roadway in Duluth — Mesaba Avenue. (more…)
PDD Video Lab: Old Iron Range Footage
In this edition of the PDD Video Lab we take a cruise through Virginia, Chisholm and Hibbing circa the 1960s with footage from Richter Home Movies set to the tune of Iron & Wine’s “Weary Memory” from the 2002 album The Creek Drank the Cradle.
Steve’s Overpopulated One-Man Band – “Iron Ore”
Steve Solkela shares the musical story of his great-great grandfather’s journey from Finland to Minnesota in search of a better life. “It was backbreaking work down in those Minnesotan mines,” Sorkela writes on the YouTube description. “Many were injured, and many died; but of course, many were successful in feeding their families countless times and watching them grow to live beautiful lives.”
The video was shot over the summer at various locations across northern Minnesota, and edited using a free iPhone app.
Taps are flowing at Rapids Brewing in Grand Rapids
Executive Chef Erik Halverson, General Manager Bill Martinetto and Head Brewer Darin Jensen are ready to spread beard and beer culture in Grand Rapids.
The newest brewery on Minnesota’s Iron Range has begun serving up suds. Rapids Brewing Company opened Aug. 2 for its first “Summer Sneak Peak Weekend,” with limited beer and food options. General Manager Bill Marinetto said he expects the business to be open seven days a week before the end of the month, and his target is next weekend. (more…)