The Taconite Harbor dock could accommodate two ships at the same time alongside its concrete face, and load ships faster than any of the state’s other ore docks in Duluth, Two Harbors or Silver Bay and in Superior or Ashland, Wisconsin.
Thanks to a Minnesota Power Foundation $2,000 grant to the Schroeder Area Historical Society, the 2016 exhibit Stories of Taconite Harbor is on secure financial footing.
The exhibit will debut May 27 at the opening of Cross River Heritage Center. Later in the season, on Aug. 6, Schroeder Area Historical Society will host a reunion of former Taconite residents and workers. The June 11 annual meeting will feature the reminiscences of Taconite Harbor’s physician, Dr. Roger MacDonald.
Stories of Taconite Harbor is created by Schroeder Area Historical Society historians. Barb Livdahl’s winter residence in the Twin Cities gives her time to scour the archives of the Minnesota History Center. It is Livdahl’s charge to create the storyboards for 2016 exhibits.
Here’s a snippet of Livdahl’s recreation of early Taconite Harbor history:
The Taconite Harbor Story: Part One.
Carlton Peak in Tofte provided the armor stone for the break wall at Taconite Harbor. The 2- to 15-ton stones cut from its face were so large that a trailer truck could carry only two at a time. They were placed on the rock core by derrick boat.
In the early 1950s rumors swirled rapidly around Schroeder, Tofte and Lutsen that a mining company was going to build and dock and power plant at Two Island. Excited residents dreamed of well-paying, stable jobs and increased economic opportunity.
Looking back over 50 years, Schroeder resident Maybelle Skou said, “The business people were happy and it gave jobs to many people who had depended on logging or fishing. Now they had money and could do things they had never done before, like fixing up their houses or buying a boat. It brought in new people.” Her neighbor Bev Johnson added, “It was fun to have a train, and everyone had jobs down there.”
The sleepy, small towns of Schroeder, Tofte and Lutsen were suddenly flooded with hundreds of carpenters, ironworkers, big equipment operators, engineers, railroad workers and general laborers all needing places to stay and eat. Housing was scarce.
Erie Mining Company realized that while hundreds of workers were needed to build the dock and power plant, only a few would be needed to operate it, so they didn’t build a company town at the harbor. Instead they built a temporary trailer park with 500 8-foot by 20-foot trailers next to a two-story steel building holding a grocery store, barbershop, and restaurant. Felix Nelson ran the IGA grocery store, and Sammy Horn ran the restaurant.
During the very cold winter of 1953, workers drilled and blasted the water and sewer lines for the first 30 trailers. The Hovland Trailer Village eventually grew to 500 trailers. The trailers were home to many of the early workers.
Carlton Peak in Tofte provided the armor stone for the breakwall at Taconite Harbor. The 2-15 ton stones cut from its face were so large that a trailer truck could carry only two at a time. They were placed on the rock core by derrick boat.
The company built breakwaters to supplement the two natural islands and create a safe harbor. The class “A” rock excavated in the harbor was used to build the core of the breakwater. Trucks began by dumping the stones weighing about 5 tons each at the shorelines, the fill serving as a roadway on which to extend the breakwaters farther into the lake.
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