In our continuing quest to bike different sections of the Mesabi Trail in northern Minnesota, Russ and I meandered over to the small mining town of Mountain Iron last weekend. We planned to pedal a 6.5-mile stretch between there and the neighboring town of Kinney. (Round-trip, the distance is a little over 13 miles.)

Mountain Iron is known as “The Taconite Capitol of the World.” It’s the site where iron ore was first discovered on Minnesota’s Iron Range. The mine is no longer in operation, but during the 30 years it was open, 52 million tons of iron ore were shipped to various steel mills in places like Michigan and Illinois.

The landscape and town bear the scars of this industry. A huge mine pit filled with turquoise water is visible from the small city park where the trail begins. As we biked toward Kinney, we passed ghostly remnants of homes and businesses that had been moved to make room for mining operations. Cement house pads and neglected lilacs provided testament to the abandoned homesteads.

These days, instead of iron ore, Mountain Iron is known for wind energy. Several turbines spin on far hills. They are part of the Taconite Ridge Wind Energy Center – the first commercial wind center in northeastern Minnesota. An interpretive sign in the park says, “In ideal wind conditions, 10 turbines can collectively capture the wind and convert it into 25 megawatts of electricity – enough to power 8,000 homes on an annual basis.”

Compared to other sections of the trail we’ve biked, this was more civilized. Once we passed the abandoned neighborhood, a few occupied homes lay along the trail. Huge grassy piles of mining tailings lined the horizon. Although a sign along the way says that tailings are not a health hazard, I don’t believe it! We saw a lined basin where it seemed like water was being pumped from the base of the piles. I couldn’t find any info about that online, but I am hoping it’s so the water can be collected and treated before being released into the environment. For much of the way, the trail parallels a highway, although it’s often hidden from view by trees.

A couple of hills dot this section of trail, but nothing too onerous. When you first near the highway, there is a hill with a curve at the bottom. Bikers coming the other way also have a downhill before the curve, so beware of that. Two downhills lead over small bridges with culverts underneath them. The culverts each form a bump. I almost caught air on one of them!

We saw one bicycling family and a few other small groups. When we reached the turn off to Kinney, we did not feel the need to explore. But now, after reading more about the town, I wish we would have. Kinney once voted to secede from the United States and become a foreign country. This bold yet tongue-in-cheek action was taken to draw attention to the small city’s dire water system situation.

According to an account on the Mesabi Trail website (linked above via “Kinney”), the system was “failing so badly that the fire department had to watch buildings burn to the ground due to lack of water pressure. That year the term ‘The Kinney Brown Shirts’ was coined because all clothing washed with detergent that included bleach turned brown because of mineral deposits in the water.

“Replacing the water system far exceeded the budget of the small town, so the city exhaustively searched locally and nationally for assistance. The resulting volume of paperwork led to the city’s motto of ‘File in Triplicate.’ The city attorney commented that it would be easier to get money if the city seceded, waged war with the union, quickly lost, and then asked for foreign aid. The joke took root, and the council voted unanimously to secede on July 13, 1977, and a certified letter was sent to U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.”

The secession gained international publicity and from that, the city eventually received grants to replace their water system.

Our way back to Mountain Iron seemed easier than the ride out. I’m not sure if that was from the tailwind or the topography, but biking back was a breeze. Ride over, we spent time exploring the various pieces of mining equipment in the park. This included an old locomotive, which, no doubt, used to haul taconite to ships waiting for it on Lake Superior’s shore. Another group of bikers that we passed on the trail arrived and we chatted a bit. They were from St. Paul and were biking the entire trail, staying in hotels overnight.

That’s it for our experience with this section of the Mesabi Trail. Maybe next time, we’ll start from Kinney to experience this plucky little burg.

Update: 8/31/25

Well, it took a while, but we did start cycling from Kinney. This hardscrabble town is composed mostly of trailer homes. Not that there’s anything wrong with trailer homes. I’m just not used to seeing so many of them near the center of town.

We biked from Kinney to Buhl, which is only 4K. From there we rode toward Chisholm, a section we’ve ridden in the past, but I don’t think I blogged about it. The most scenic spot was the Stubler Mine Pit Beach, which looked like a good spot for swimming. A bunch of folks were doing just that during our Labor Day Weekend ride.

The beginning of the trail was wooded, but then much of it follows an abandoned roadway. The most scenic part of the section past Buhl was the City of Chisholm sewage plant. Thus, this addendum and not an entire blog post.