Soo Line Railroad Hauls Cuyuna Ore

Soo Line Railroad Hauls Cuyuna Ore. . , In 1910, the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad, better known as the "Soo Line," purchased the Cuyuna Iron Range Railway, allowing for transport of ore from Cuyuna Range mines to Great Lakes shipping docks in Superior Wisconsin. The first ore train departed the Kennedy Mine near Crosby in April of 1911 with great celebration. The final ore shipment left inconspicuously in the fall of 1984. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources estimated that 106,437,863 tons of iron ore were shipped from the Cuyuna Range during that era. For 73 years, iron ore was a significant source of revenue for the Soo Line Railroad. In the year 1923 Cuyuna ore accounted for 17.6% of the rail line's freight traffic; the largest single commodity transported that year. During the Depression years of the 1930s ore production was minimal, falling to a low of only 289,558 tons in 1938. Mining returned in the 1940s, and the Cuyuna Range mines typically generated around a million tons of ore per year for the Soo Line., In the final years of the Cuyuna Range ore movement, most of the trains covered the 92-mile route between Superior and Deerwood empty and in darkness. The mine would then load the train during daylight hours so it was ready to return east to Superior when the train crew was fully rested the next evening., Photos courtesy of Cuyuna Iron Range Historical Network, First ore train leaves Cuyuna Range in 1911, Upon arrival at Superior Wisconsin, Cuyuna Ore was loaded onto ore boats and shipped to steel mills on the eastern Great Lakes