July 22, 1893: First load of ore arrives at Duluth docks

On this day Duluth in 1893, at approximately 5:19 p.m., a load of iron ore mined along the Mesabi Iron Range arrived in ten cars pulled by a locomotive of the Duluth, Missabe & Northern Railroad and was loaded on Duluth’s first ore dock, a wooden structure that stretched into the bay at Thirty-Third Avenue West for the first time. (Construction on the dock actually began in 1883 as it was thought Charlemagne Tower would ship ore from his Vermillion Iron Range to Duluth, but instead he chose Agate Bay—today’s Two Harbors—and construction was stopped until the Misabi Range was opened). The Duluth News Tribune called the event “an epoch in the history of the West End” although the ore docks actually mark the border between West Duluth and the West End (aka “Lincoln Park”). The entire Merritt family, which had essentially “opened” the Mesabi Range, was in attendance to watch the ore being dumped into 30 of the dock’s 400 “pockets,” where the ore sat until it was loaded into a waiting vessel. The ore came from the Merritt’s Iron Mountain Mine. Unfortunately for the Merritts, the Financial Panic of 1893 would cost them dearly and soon, because of a series of business deals, they had lost everything to John D. Rockefeller. You can read about the history of Duluth’s ore docks here and about how Rockefeller stole the Merritt’s mine holdings here.

Duluth’s first ore dock, built in 1893. (Image: Duluth Public Library)