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Manganese is a
ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...
and former mining community in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...
that was inhabited between 1912 and 1960. It was built in
Crow Wing County Crow Wing County is a county in the East Central part of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 66,123. Its county seat is Brainerd. The county was formed in 1857, and was organized in 1870. Crow Wing County i ...
on the Cuyuna Iron Range in
sections Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...
23 and 28 of Wolford Township, about north of
Trommald, Minnesota Trommald is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 98 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area. Trommald was founded as a mining town on the western end of the Cuyuna iron ...
. After its formal dissolution, Manganese was absorbed by Wolford Township; the former town site is located between Coles Lake and Flynn Lake. First appearing in the U.S. Census of 1920 with an already dwindling population of 183, the village was abandoned by 1960. Manganese was one of the last of the Cuyuna Range communities to be established, and was named after the mineral located in abundance near the town. Manganese was an
incorporated community A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...
, built on land above the Trommald Formation, the main ore-producing unit of the North Range district of the Cuyuna Iron Range, unique due to the amount of
manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy u ...
in part of the iron formation and ore. The Trommald Formation and adjacent
Emily Emily may refer to: * Emily (given name), including a list of people with the name Music * Emily (1964 song), "Emily" (1964 song), title song by Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer to the film ''The Americanization of Emily'' * Emily (Dave Koz son ...
District are the largest resource of manganese in the United States. The community was composed of many immigrants who had fled the natural disasters and social and political upheavals in Europe during the decades before
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. Manganese was laid out with three north–south and five east–west streets. Concrete sidewalks and curbing lined the clay streets, which were never paved. At its peak around 1919, Manganese had two hotels, a bank, two grocery stores, a barbershop, a show hall, and a two-room school, and housed a population of nearly 600. After World War I, the population of Manganese went into steady decline as mining operations shut down; along with the
quagmire A mire, peatland, or quagmire is a wetland area dominated by living peat-forming plants. Mires arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. All types o ...
of the clay streets due to spring rains, this led to the community's eventual abandonment and formal dissolution in 1961. The privately owned land started to be resettled in 2017, as the old wooded lots were cleared and redeveloped as primitive campsites.


History

The area around Manganese, and modern-day
Crow Wing County Crow Wing County is a county in the East Central part of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 66,123. Its county seat is Brainerd. The county was formed in 1857, and was organized in 1870. Crow Wing County i ...
, was inhabited in the mid-to-late 1600s by three distinct populations of Native Americans vying for control of the lands that would become the
Cuyuna Range The Cuyuna Range is an inactive iron range to the southwest of the Mesabi Range, largely within Crow Wing County, Minnesota. It lies along a line between Brainerd, Minnesota, and Aitkin, Minnesota. The width ranges from 1 to 10 miles (1.6 t ...
. The
Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho ...
living along the western border of the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five la ...
were quickly displaced by the
Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota ...
and
Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
nations; frequent conflicts between the Dakota and Ojibwe eventually resulted in undisputed control of the region by the Ojibwe. In 1855, a treaty between the Ojibwe and the U.S. government was signed by chief
Hole in the Day Hole in the Sky (The Younger) (1825–1868) was a prominent chief of the Ojibwe, Native Americans of Minnesota. The Ojibwe pronunciation has been written in various spellings such as Bagone-giizhig, Bagwunagijik, Bug-o-nay-ki-shig, Pugonakeshig ...
in what was then
Minnesota Territory The Territory of Minnesota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1849, until May 11, 1858, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Minnesota and west ...
. This treaty secured Ojibwe hunting and fishing rights while ceding land which would become the Cuyuna Range to European-Americans looking to build new settlements in the region. The
Minnesota Territorial Legislature The Minnesota Territorial Legislature was a Bicameralism, bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1849 as the legislative branch of the government of the Minnesota Territory, Territory of Minnesota. The upper chamber, t ...
enacted the creation of Crow Wing County on May 23, 1857.
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...
was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858, and Deerwood (originally named Withington), was the first Cuyuna Range community, settled in 1871. The discovery of the Cuyuna Iron Range was an accident, made by the chance observation of a
compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...
needle irregularity in 1895 while surveyor and mining engineer Cuyler Adams was exploring the area with his St. Bernard, named "Una". Adams surmised that a large, underground body of iron ore might be responsible for the discrepancy. Eight years after meticulously mapping these compass deflections, Adams performed test drilling in May 1903 which resulted in the discovery of manganiferous ore near Deerwood. Thirteen years after ore discovery by the
Merritt Brothers The Seven Iron Men, also known as Merritt Brothers, were iron-ore pioneers in the Mesabi Range in northeastern Minnesota and the creation of the city that is now known as Mountain Iron. In the late 1800s, the Merritt family founded the largest iro ...
in 1890 trigged an iron rush to the
Mesabi Range The Mesabi Iron Range is a mining district in northeastern Minnesota following an elongate trend containing large deposits of iron ore. It is the largest of four major iron ranges in the region collectively known as the Iron Range of Minnesot ...
, another iron rush began in Minnesota, and new mining communities began to develop along the width and breadth of the "Cuyuna" Iron Range, named by combining the first syllable of Adams' given name and the name of his dog.


Establishment and community

Manganese was
plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...
ted in sections 23 and 28 of Wolford Township by the Duluth Land and Timber Company on February 5, 1911, established on March 13, 1912, and incorporated on November 10, 1913, with inside the corporate limits. As a result of the rapid mining development, all of the lots were sold within seven weeks of platting for $100 to $350 each. Manganese was named for the mineral located in abundance nearby. The mines surrounding the community included the Algoma mine, owned by the Onaham Iron Company and founded in 1911; the Gloria and Merrit No. 2 mines, both owned by the Hanna Mining Company and founded in 1916; the Milford Mine, owned by the Cuyuna-Minneapolis Iron Company and founded in 1917, and the Preston mine, owned by Coates and Tweed and founded in 1918. The sixth of the Cuyuna Range communities to be established (after Deerwood, Cuyuna,
Crosby Crosby may refer to: Places ;Canada *Crosby, Ontario, part of the township of Rideau Lakes, Ontario *Crosby, Ontario, a neighbourhood in the city of Markham, Ontario ;England *Crosby, Cumbria *Crosby, Lincolnshire *Crosby, Merseyside **Crosby (UK ...
, Ironton, and Riverton), the new town was touted as the "
Hibbing Hibbing is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 16,214 at the 2020 census. The city was built on mining the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range and still relies on that industrial activity today. At t ...
of the Cuyuna Range". Hibbing, founded in 1893 and by 1915 the largest mining community on the Mesabi Range with a population of 20,000, was at one time called the "Iron Ore Capital of the World." An official
U.S. Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...
opened in 1912 and remained in operation through 1924. In 1914, the town site had a crew of men and teams building streets with concrete sidewalks and curbing (although the clay roads were never paved). The
Fitger Brewing Company Fitger's Brewing Company was a beer manufacturer in Duluth, Minnesota, United States, from 1881 to 1972. The surviving brewery complex stretches for along the Lake Superior shoreline and East Superior Street, one of Duluth's main roads. The majo ...
also built a $10,000, two-story hotel in 1914, complete with a bar and restaurant. By 1919, Manganese had two hotels, a bank, two grocery stores, two butcher shops, a lumber yard, a bakery, a livery stable, a barbershop, a pool room, a show hall, a dog pound, and a two-room school, and housed a population of nearly 600. That same year, the village issued a bond for a $30,000 waterworks project, and the Pastoret Company of
Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
built a water tower with a capacity. Manganese and other Cuyuna Range communities benefited greatly from an unusual situation created by an ad valorem property tax on unmined natural ore, resulting in huge amounts of unforeseen revenue, great expenditures of which were made on public works and improvements. After the discovery of ore near Deerwood, Adams approached
James J. Hill James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railroad director. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwes ...
, then president of the
Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, w ...
, asking for a discounted rate to haul Cuyuna Range ore to Duluth (the rate from the Mesabi Range, which had richer ore, was one dollar per ton). Hill refused, so Adams went to
Thomas Shaughnessy Thomas George Shaughnessy, 1st Baron Shaughnessy, (6 October 1853 – 10 December 1923) was an American-Canadian railway administrator who rose from modest beginnings as a clerk and bookkeeper for the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad (a predec ...
, president of the
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...
and a competitor of Hill, who readily agreed to build of railroad with the guarantee to haul ten million tons of ore at sixty-five cents per ton. At the time, the Canadian Pacific controlled the
Soo Line Railroad The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , one of seven U.S. Class I railroads, controlled through the Soo Line Corporation. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and S ...
, having secured the railroad's funded debt, and the Soo Line came to furnish rail transportation to Manganese and the surrounding mines. In 1914, the Soo Line Railroad constructed a
branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...
to Manganese, and began excavation for a passenger and freight depot with a platform. This branch line was essentially a spur track uncontrolled by train orders: only one train at a time was permitted on the track, with all of the traffic controlled by the Soo Line
dispatcher A dispatcher is a communications worker who receives and transmits information to coordinate operations of other personnel and vehicles carrying out a service. A number of organizations, including police and fire departments, emergency medical s ...
at Iron Hub. Passenger connections with the other Cuyuna Iron Range towns were available three times daily through the operation of buses owned by the Cuyuna Range Transportation Company. It was speculated that
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of ...
once visited Manganese when he was exploring the acquisition of the Algoma mine on behalf of the
Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles ...
. Ford was never observed, but his private rail car, the ''Fair Lane'', with the familiar Ford oval and the gilded words "Ford Motor Company,
Dearborn Dearborn may refer to: People * Dearborn (surname) ** Henry Dearborn (1751–1829), U.S. Secretary of War under President Thomas Jefferson, Senior Officer of the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 Places in the United States Forts * Fort Dearborn, ...
, Michigan", was seen parked on the
siding Siding may refer to: * Siding (construction), the outer covering or cladding of a house * Siding (rail) A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch l ...
at Manganese. The community was composed of many immigrants, including
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,
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,
Austrians , pop = 8–8.5 million , regions = 7,427,759 , region1 = , pop1 = 684,184 , ref1 = , region2 = , pop2 = 345,620 , ref2 = , region3 = , pop3 = 197,990 , ref3 ...
, Swedes,
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,
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,
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,
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,
Slovenians The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Slovenci ), are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia, and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovene as th ...
, and
Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their ...
. Children attended school in Manganese through the eighth grade, attending high school in nearby Crosby, Minnesota. Known then as Independent School District No. 86, the school had indoor plumbing and later its own well, constructed by the
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, in ...
. Over time, the village of Manganese had three wells, all of which collapsed at some point due to the heavy clay soils. During late
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, all of the mines surrounding the community were running at full capacity, furnishing about 90% of the manganese used during the war. By 1920, the combined payrolls of these mines totaled $160,000 (approximately $9.6 million in adjusted 2020 production worker compensation). Seven citizens from Manganese served in the military during World War I, including Harry Hosford, who later survived the Milford mine disaster.


Decline

After the World War I
armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...
was signed, the demand for manganiferous ore decreased, and Manganese experienced a sharp drop in population from its peak of nearly 600 in 1919 to 183 in 1920. Many of the remaining residents worked in the Milford mine, which flooded on February 5, 1924, a result of blasting in a
drift Drift or Drifts may refer to: Geography * Drift or ford (crossing) of a river * Drift, Kentucky, unincorporated community in the United States * In Cornwall, England: ** Drift, Cornwall, village ** Drift Reservoir, associated with the village S ...
that extended beneath Foley (now Milford) Lake. Forty-one miners were killed in what was Minnesota's worst mining disaster; only seven, including Hosford, made it to safety. Many Manganese residents were superstitious and convinced that both the town of Manganese, and the Milford mine, were cursed. With the advent of the Great Depression, mining operations ceased. The Soo Line tore up the track to Manganese in 1930. The last shipment of ore from the Gloria mine occurred in 1931; the Milford mine closed in 1932, although the Merritt mine continued to produce ore intermittently until 1943, and stockpile shipments from the Algoma mine continued through 1980. Very few photos of Manganese are known to exist. Never a wealthy community, residents had no money for cameras, a luxury item during the Depression. In 1938, a
Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminianism, Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a Christian theology, theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the Christian ministry, ministry of the 18th-century eva ...
Methodist Church and Sunday school was founded. Up to four Sunday school classes were offered depending on the ages of the children, and guest pastors would come to conduct services when occasional
revival meeting A revival meeting is a series of Christian religious services held to inspire active members of a church body to gain new converts and to call sinners to repent. Nineteenth-century Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said, "Many blessings may come ...
s were held. The congregation came from Trommald,
Mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
,
Wolford Wolford, headquartered in Bregenz on Lake Constance in Austria, is a textile manufacturer of tights, bodysuits and underwear, as well as women's clothing and accessories. Wolford has 16 subsidiaries and markets its products in approx. 60 cou ...
, and Perry Lake, in addition to Manganese. The church was sold and torn down after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
when the congregation was no longer able have a pastor appointed. As mining operations began to shut down, little employment was left in the community, and residents gradually started moving their homes out of town, relocating to other communities in the region to find new jobs.


Abandonment and later use

Most of the remaining residents moved out around 1955. Structures that were not moved out of the community were torn down. After all of the residents left, the clay roads continued to be maintained, and the street lights remained on until the early 1970s. In 1959, the village of Ironton, one of the creditors for the village of Manganese, petitioned Crow Wing County for the community's dissolution. Einer R. Anderson, then Crow Wing County Auditor, was appointed as its receiver, and creditors of the village of Manganese were given six months to file a claim. Notices sent via
registered mail Registered mail is a mail service offered by postal services in many countries which allows the sender proof of mailing via a mailing receipt and, upon request, electronic verification that an article was delivered or that a delivery attempt was ...
to the last known village officers were refused and returned. Bids were accepted for the sale of the Manganese water tower and the frame building that had housed the village hall, with the condition that all debris be disposed of at the expense of the buyer. The steel water tower, with an estimated weight of of scrap metal, was valued at $1,200; however, the sale and
salvage Salvage may refer to: * Marine salvage, the process of rescuing a ship, its cargo and sometimes the crew from peril * Water salvage, rescuing people from floods. * Salvage tug, a type of tugboat used to rescue or salvage ships which are in dis ...
of the water tower yielded net proceeds of only $200. Ironically, the surviving
Cuyuna Iron Range municipally-owned elevated metal water tanks __NOTOC__ The Cuyuna Iron Range Municipally-Owned Elevated Metal Water Tanks are a group of five water towers within the Cuyuna Range in Crow Wing County, Minnesota. The water tanks, built between 1912 and 1918, were listed on the National Registe ...
(in the towns of Crosby, Cuyuna, Deerwood, Ironton, and Trommald) were added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...
in 1980. The final hearing regarding the dissolution of Manganese was held on July 17, 1961. Manganese was formally dissolved and absorbed by Wolford Township. After the town was abandoned, only remnants of sidewalks, rubble, building foundations, old tires, plastic, pieces of clothing, beer cans, and other abandoned items remained.
Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist ...
,
aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...
, and other trees covered what was once a land occupied by numerous buildings; roots, shrubs, and grass began to heave and crack the concrete sidewalks and overtake the remaining grid pattern of roads, and the entire town site was consumed by the steady growth of natural vegetation. Most of the remaining structures succumbed to the elements. Old building foundations and basements, covered with graffiti, were engulfed by the brush. In 2003, the majority of the land which comprised the former town site was purchased, and a gate was posted along with a "no trespassing" sign at the southeast entrance to the former town. In 2006, the privately owned land was sold again; limited resettlement began in 2017. Called Manganese Base Camp, the old wooded lots, about each, were being cleared and redeveloped as primitive campsites, without electricity, running water, or waste disposal services. Since then, Base Camp has hosted an annual Manganese Days Festival. The event is open to the public as a way to honor the former village, learn of its history, and explore the old town.


Geography

Manganese lay at an elevation of in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, about northeast of Brainerd and west-southwest of Duluth. The nearest cities to Manganese were Trommald, approximately to the south-southwest, and Wolford, approximately to the northeast. Manganese was located to the west of Crow Wing County Road 30, about north of
Minnesota State Highway 210 Minnesota State Highway 210 (MN 210) is a state highway in west-central, central, and northeast Minnesota, which runs from North Dakota Highway 210 (ND 210) at the North Dakota state line (at Breckenridge), and continues east to its ea ...
and west of
Minnesota State Highway 6 Minnesota State Highway 6 (MN 6) is a highway in east-central and north-central Minnesota, which runs from its intersection with State Highway 18 in Bay Lake Township near Garrison and continues north to its northern terminus at its intersect ...
. Manganese was laid out with three primary north–south streets: First Street East, Main Street, and First Street West. Second Avenue North, First Avenue North, Manganese Avenue, First Avenue South (now Old Manganese Road), and Second Avenue South traversed Manganese from east to west. The Soo Line right of way bisected the community on the east side of Manganese from the northeast to the southwest. First Avenue North extended about to the Milford mine.


Geology

Manganese lay atop the iron-rich Trommald Formation, the main ore-producing unit of the North Range district of the Cuyuna Iron Range. The Trommald Formation and adjacent
Emily Emily may refer to: * Emily (given name), including a list of people with the name Music * Emily (1964 song), "Emily" (1964 song), title song by Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer to the film ''The Americanization of Emily'' * Emily (Dave Koz son ...
District are the largest resource of manganese in the United States. The largest high-grade deposit of manganiferous ore is located about north of Manganese on a site at the edge of Emily. Valuable in steel and aluminum production, manganese is also used to make batteries. There is a local push to "scram" the
stockpile A stockpile is a pile or storage location for bulk materials, forming part of the bulk material handling process. Stockpiles are used in many different areas, such as in a port, refinery or manufacturing facility. The stockpile is normally cre ...
s of ore found in the old waste rock of the Cuyuna Iron Range. This mining process is significantly less invasive than traditional blasting and crushing, producing iron ore and iron ore concentrates from previously developed waste rock stockpiles, tailings basins, open pit, or underground mines on land not previously affected by mining. However, the processing of some stockpiles would disrupt the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails, which opened in June 2011, and have been economically beneficial to the region after the last manganiferous ore was shipped from the Cuyuna Range in 1984, resurrecting many Cuyuna Range communities that had been on the brink of economic collapse. This potential for ore processing has created debate as to whether mining and mountain biking can coexist. The use of former underground Cuyuna Range mines as a means of
compressed-air energy storage Compressed-air energy storage (CAES) is a way to store energy for later use using compressed air. At a utility scale, energy generated during periods of low demand can be released during peak load periods.Wild, Matthew, LWind Drives Growing Use ...
has also been investigated by researchers at the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
.


Climate

Manganese was in the
Laurentian Mixed Forest Province The Laurentian Mixed Forest Province, also known as the North Woods, is a forested ecoregion in eastern North America. Among others, this terminology has been adopted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Similar, though not ...
in the
Brainerd Lakes Area Brainerd is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 14,395 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Crow Wing County. Brainerd straddles the Mississippi River several miles upstream from its confluence with ...
of north central Minnesota. The
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
is Dfb. Precipitation ranges from about annually along the western border of the forest to about at its eastern edge. Average annual temperatures are about along the northern part of the forest, rising to at its southern extreme. July is the warmest month, when the average high temperature is and the average low is . January is the coldest, with an average high temperature of and average low of . The spring rains wreaked havoc on Manganese's clay streets, which was cited as one of the reasons for its abandonment.


See also

*
Iron Range The term Iron Range refers collectively or individually to a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Much of the ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by ...
*
List of ghost towns in the United States This is a list of lists of Ghost town, ghost towns in the United States by state. *List of ghost towns in Alabama *List of ghost towns in Alaska *List of ghost towns in Arizona *List of ghost towns in Arkansas *List of ghost towns in California *L ...


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

*


External links


Cuyuna Iron Range Heritage Network Website
{{Crow Wing County, Minnesota 1912 establishments in Minnesota 1960 disestablishments in Minnesota Brainerd, Minnesota micropolitan area Former municipalities in Minnesota Former populated places in Crow Wing County, Minnesota Former populated places in Minnesota Geography of Crow Wing County, Minnesota Ghost towns in Minnesota Mining communities in Minnesota Populated places established in 1912