[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Originally Posted by mrvette

Except for business/security job trips, last time I went to Minnesoda I was a kid in early/mid teens.....with family driving from Wash DC to Cleveland Ohio to pickup my cousin/folks....and continue on to the Messabi Iron Range in middle of Minnisoda.......

a very interesting trip, past Chicago around the lake to the right side of the car, heading north, spotting a VERY LONG RR trestle out about 3 miles in middle of the lake......not thinking much about it.....turned left and parallel to the RR track coming downhill from the iron range, we stopped for gas at a station on the left of the highway......the RR track was shaded from open view by a row of trees/bushes/etc......and the ground started shaking, we thought earthquake, the station operator just laughed and said it's s ORE TRAIN.......went by in a huge hurry easy 80+ mph.......short cars, VERY heavy.....

got to the iron mines, largest hole in the ground I ever saw, except the grand canyon.......lookout spot to put a nickle in the scope to see the grand scale ore scoop/digger.....and a dump truck next to it looked like a little toy car by comparison.......

the trains would run out over the lake and dump the ore into barges that went to various steel mills, in all the cities near the Great Lakes.....

overall, a very nice industrial education for a kid......

You most likely saw the Hull-Rust open pit mine in Hibbing. It's incredible.