Eveleth
Minnesota
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City of Eveleth
The “Hill Top City” was named for Erwin Eveleth, a timber cruiser employed by Robinson & Flinn from Michigan who had been sent to purchase pinelands in the region. Eveleth is also known as the “friendliest city of the Iron Range” and never allows a stranger within its gates to remain a stranger long. Eveleth has an altitude of 1,574 feet and a population of about 3,865 according to the 2000 census.
In 1892, with the discovery of iron ore in the region, a town was platted and incorporated about one mile southwest of the present location, on land now included in the Adams Spruce Mines (Douglas Avenue between Jones and Monroe Streets). Unfortunately, the disastrous financial panic of that year almost coincided with the founding and the tiny settlement was hard pressed to survive. No new buildings were added to the four or five that formed the nucleus and at times, food was so scarce that residents were reported to have existed solely on moose meat. Mail service at this time was practically discontinued; the only letters to arrive came by way of Virginia and dog sled.
In 1895, iron ore was discovered beneath their town site, and five years later, the village was moved to its present location. Men of all nationalities worked side by side in the mines. From 1900 to 1910, the population increased from 2,752 to 7,036.
The community was incorporated as a city in 1902. It is a city of the Fourth Class operating under a home rule charter.
Mining was Eveleth’s chief industry for many years. The open pit method was the favored process here. Visitors can still view the colorful man-made excavations from whose depths millions of tons of iron ore have been taken and hauled by rail to Duluth sixty miles away. The Adam-Spruce Mines, a combination of seven properties, was operated by both underground and open pit methods. The Leonidas Mine, the deepest underground mine in the world at this time (1890s) had reached a depth over 650 feet. Today with the development of low grade ore called “taconite” mining is again Eveleth’s chief industry.
In 1892, with the discovery of iron ore in the region, a town was platted and incorporated about one mile southwest of the present location, on land now included in the Adams Spruce Mines (Douglas Avenue between Jones and Monroe Streets). Unfortunately, the disastrous financial panic of that year almost coincided with the founding and the tiny settlement was hard pressed to survive. No new buildings were added to the four or five that formed the nucleus and at times, food was so scarce that residents were reported to have existed solely on moose meat. Mail service at this time was practically discontinued; the only letters to arrive came by way of Virginia and dog sled.
In 1895, iron ore was discovered beneath their town site, and five years later, the village was moved to its present location. Men of all nationalities worked side by side in the mines. From 1900 to 1910, the population increased from 2,752 to 7,036.
The community was incorporated as a city in 1902. It is a city of the Fourth Class operating under a home rule charter.
Mining was Eveleth’s chief industry for many years. The open pit method was the favored process here. Visitors can still view the colorful man-made excavations from whose depths millions of tons of iron ore have been taken and hauled by rail to Duluth sixty miles away. The Adam-Spruce Mines, a combination of seven properties, was operated by both underground and open pit methods. The Leonidas Mine, the deepest underground mine in the world at this time (1890s) had reached a depth over 650 feet. Today with the development of low grade ore called “taconite” mining is again Eveleth’s chief industry.