A Free Range Publication

IRON TIMES
A Free Range Publication
VOL. 1 NO. 1
THURSDAY MARCH 22, 2012
OUR MINES, OUR COMMUNITY
THE IRON RANGE, MINNESOTA
EARLY YEARS – RUGGED
MINERS IN UNSAFE MINES
By HAILEY ERCHUL
Mt. Iron-Buhl High School
ArcelorMittal open pit mine blast area. Photo by Cayenne Kjerland.
By JULIA MENART
Virginia High School
Living in a mining area my
whole life, it is normal for me to
watch the big trucks hauling loads
or feel the blasts in the walls of my
house. I always saw mining as how
the Seven Dwarfs did it in Snow
White, except they were mining
precious gems, while up here, we
just dug up “special dirt.” In the
early years of the Iron Range,
some similar techniques were
used in mining iron ore just as
the Dwarfs used in the movie, but
there’s more to it than a few “HiHos.” Today, mines have made
changes and are focused on more
eco-friendly, safer, and more efficient ways to mine iron ore.
I never expected how complex
the process of mining pellets was
until I toured two area mines. For
starters, I was surprised that they
didn’t just throw a stick of dynamite and run for the blasts. I also
expected what they dug up to be
the basic end product. But once
again, I was wrong. To produce
the blasts I am now so used to feeling, they first drill a series of holes
12-16 inches wide by 20-50 feet
deep. From there, they wire the
explosives together, each containing a mini circuit board to detonate them individually with the
accuracy of 1/1000th of a second,
producing an even, low bang and
frequency to assure minimal disruption for neighboring civilians.
Each different type of rock they
encounter will have a different formula of Anflow (fuel and fertilizer
mix) to ensure the most effective
bang based on the characteristics
and velocity of detonation. Once
blasted, the shovel and trucks
come in and cart millions of tons
of rock to the start of crushing. At
this stage, the total amount of iron
in each load is only about 30%.
Once crushed to about a manageable size, the material goes
through a series of finer crushing
and magnetic sorting and washing to extract the tailings, or waste
rock, and leave behind a usable
mixture for producing pellets.
These steps use thousands of gallons of water a minute. By using
a closed water system, the mines
can be sure to minimize waste and
pollution by recycling 97% of the
water they use, some evaporating
or absorbed in the process. Contrary to popular belief, iron ore
mines do not produce much pollution. The environment is pro-
A8
tected with the uses of processes
such as dust collectors and recycling water.
Once the materials are ground
to a fine powder, they fill drums
and from there, go through a spin
with a binder mix to shape the pellets. They are screened for sizing so
that only the right sized pellets can
go on to the next step. The balls
that are too small or too large go
through the spin again to produce
the right size. From here, the balls
go through an oven at temperatures over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, bouncing around to even out
the heat. Once cooled, the pellets
are loaded into storage to wait
for a train ride to the steel plant
to produce everyday products
such as automobiles, appliances,
lighting fixtures, and many more.
Without these mines, our country
would not be able to produce the
weapons for fighting our wars, the
buildings we live and work in, or
products that we can’t imagine living without. If it weren’t for these
mines, we also wouldn’t have the
communities we live in as Iron
Rangers.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the excellent people
working for Cliffs Natural Resources and ArcelorMittal mines
for giving me college course style
educational tours. They are true
Iron Rangers with a passion for
the work they do and the impact
it has on the world’s steel market.
United Taconite in Forbes, Minnesota. Photo by Cayenne Kjerland.
It’s 1865 and the very idea of
gold sets explorers out to dig the
world up. Their sights are set on
the Vermilion area of northern
Minnesota when the word of gold
is spread like wildfire. Unfortunately for the gold hunters, the
gold is hard to extract from its
hard rock and not worth the effort.
Luckily for the future of America,
a different type of gold was found,
at least in value - Iron Ore.
The Iron Range’s history is embedded in the rock it grew from.
The Range is practically synonymous with mining. The Range was
built on the dreams of miners and
is still being shaped by what we
bring out of the ground. Mining
has gone through many generations of change here on the Iron
Range, from underground with
a pickaxe to open pit with huge
drills.
Originally the ore was discovered in the Vermilion Range,
but wasn’t that rich. The Merritt
Brothers moved west and found
rich ore on what is the western Mesabi Range. The railroads
hadn’t been created yet to ship
out the valuable ore, so the Merritt Brothers had no way to make
money on the ore they discovered.
They ended up making a deal with
Rockefeller so they could pay off
the people they owed money to.
Rockefeller profited by this as he
had bought the Merritt Brothers’
stake in the Range and had the
railroads built for shipping right
after the Brothers had nothing.
The mines that first opened
on the Range went deep underground. The tunnels tracked
through hundreds of feet under
rock and soil. They were completely devoid of light. Imagine
closing your eyes and going 500
feet underwater. Not only was it
that dark, but also they had to deal
with the threat of collapse under
the pressure of tons of rock that
could end their lives. Miners typically had to buy their own supplies including a candle they had
to mine with, a pickaxe, helmet,
and dynamite.
Miners didn’t make a lot of
money and having to spend it
in order to make money was an
unhappy paradox. They pinched
their pennies as best as they could
and often walked to their section
of the mine without any light. Often two to three men shared the
light of one candle to mine by.
They were only paid by what they
produced, as in what was brought
to the surface. The time they spent
making the tunnels safer with logs
to brace the passages was unpaid.
The miners worked early in the
day, all day. They blasted into the
rock with dynamite, not knowing
if that blast would be the one to
trap them. Being in a cave-in was
a serious fear for miners. Being
trapped and unable to see, without any food, and without any
idea when, if at all they would be
saved.
A major problem miners had
to deal with was the tunnels flooding, especially since Minnesota
has such a high water table. In
1924, for example, on the Cuyuna
Range, 41 miners drowned when
a nearby lake broke through and
flooded the tunnels. Another fear
was of dangerous gasses filling the
tunnels and breathing it in and
dying.
In today’s modern times, life is
a lot safer for the miners. On the
Range we practice open pit mining. Dynamite is used to blast into
the earth and huge trucks come
and hall the unwanted rock away
and to take away the ore too. The
pits have layered steps to prevent
rockslides.
Another thing that’s different about today’s mines on the
Iron Range is what we mine. The
Range supplied so much ore in
the form of steel in WWII that the
fine ore we once used was basically
exhausted. The Range would’ve
died out for that fact, except that
a study at the University of Minnesota revealed how the rock formally considered useless could be
turned into steel too. That’s how
we entered the age of Taconite
mining. The Range has come a
long way from using pickaxes and
candles.
Large group of miners at Tower-Soudan Mine. Source: Minnesota Historical Society.
IRON TIMES – A FREE RANGE PUBLICATION
SPECIAL INSERT
IRON TIMES
A Free Range Publication
VOL. 1 NO. 1
THURSDAY MARCH 22, 2012
THE IRON RANGE, MINNESOTA
IRON RANGE TEENS DISCUSS PAST & FUTURE
By JULIANN PERALA
Virginia High School
A small group of students
from around the Range gathered together to further their
knowledge of the Iron Range’s
history and also talk about
their lives on the Range at a
Teen Summit held recently in
Virginia. Much of the focus
was put on comparing different
issues and trends among the
people then and now, seeing if
they still exist, and if they will
in the future. As we spent the
day watching a historical video,
listening to different speakers,
and forming small groups to
discuss their own thoughts and
ideas about the Range and its
future, we walked away from
the experience with a better understanding of the interesting
area they happen to call home.
The video we watched explained many issues that mining brought to the Iron Range
and its workers. One major
effect that comes with providing a key component to the
world’s steel production and
still exists today is suffering the
major boom-and-bust cycles.
Although the cycles are less extreme today, it shows the great
importance in our mining industry. When mines were first
getting started, one of the big-
TOP, left to right: Finnish immigrants, 1925. Cook butchering pigs in lumber camp kitchen, Biwabik, 1913.
Finish immigrant, 1925. BOTTOM, left to right: A school near Mountain Iron, 1900. Finish immigrant,
1925. Family and home near Mountain Iron, 1910. All photos from Minnesota Historical Society.
gest concerns was keeping the
workforce from unionizing
and striking. Corporate spying
and blacklisting are methods
of the past to try and prevent
strikes and unions, but the acts
themselves have not totally
been abandoned. Another issue
that was discussed is the trends
in Range politics. One of the
speakers, Steve Potts, explained
that before the secret ballot
when miners voted at work,
mining owners would make
sure their workers’ votes were
Republican, or they would be
fired. The secret ballot led to
the Iron Range being known
as predominantly Democratic
because of the worker support.
All of these facts were given to
us to help us define the Iron
Range for ourselves and compare our lives today to the life
of people back when mining
first started.
As we were taught about
the history of the Iron Range
and its people, we also had to
come together and discuss how
we felt the area has affected our
lives personally by answering
questions like, “What do you
think defines the Iron Range?”
“Do you consider yourself an
Iron Ranger?” “Do you want
to stay here? Come back? Leave
forever?” Of course the first
words that came to mind in
defining an Iron Ranger are
camouflage, hunting, mining,
and small town, but digging
deeper past the stereotypes,
the students found many more
defining qualities in this area.
Maybe you don’t fish or hunt,
your parents or grandparents
don’t work in the mine, you
want to get out of here after
high school, and you absolutely despise the cold weather, but
that doesn’t mean you aren’t
an Iron Ranger. Whether it’s
coming home to a small town
after traveling, going to Giant’s
Ridge every weekend with your
friends, being outdoors at your
cabin, pit swimming and cliff
jumping, or being able to say
you knew each and every person in your small graduating
class, there is probably something that you love about growing up on the Range that may
affect your decision of coming
back and living here in the future.
Whether we decide to come
back to the Iron Range or not,
there will always be a demand
for iron and other metals in the
future, especially with the constant advances in technology.
Although it’s hard to believe
the importance of this small
area, the Teen Summit taught
us about the Iron Range’s great
influence on the world. We are
living in, as the video quoted,
the “national powerhouse that
built America,” and should be
proud to call ourselves Iron
Rangers.
HARD WORKING IRON RANGERS FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS
By KIRSTEN MCCONNELL
Mt. Iron-Buhl High School
The Iron Range is made
up of a very diverse group of
people. Many different ethnicities immigrated here to find
jobs, mostly in the mines. Iron
Rangers are strong willed, hard
working people who are not
afraid to fight for what they believe in. The Iron Range has almost always voted Democratic
since the 1930s because we
tend to favor the working class.
I feel that Iron Rangers have a
great respect for anyone who
works hard. Most people tend
to value morals and hard work,
but I think those are the things
Iron Rangers put first. There is
definitely a bond between the
workers of today because they
have an understanding and respect for each other.
Unions are very prominent
here, but it wasn’t always that
way. As shown in the 1907
and 1916 strikes, rights have
to be fought for. Nowadays,
the people who work in the
mines are some of the most
successful. They make good
money, and work really hard
for it. However, it took a lot of
fighting for it to become this
way. Miners were treated very
badly. They had horrible pay,
poor working conditions and
were seen as property or equipSPECIAL INSERT
Underground miners, Mesabi Range, 1906.
Source: Minnesota Historical Society.
ment by the mine owners, not
skilled workers. There were
anti union views in the mines
until around 1940, even after
the countless attempts to end
them for decades. The miners
did not give up, and now they
are some of the most well off
and respected people on the
Range, all because they did not
give up on themselves.
Women were also not afraid
to fight for what they deserved.
If you haven’t seen or at least
heard of the movie North
Country, you might be missing
something. North Country is
based on the court case Jenson
vs. Eveleth, which was the firstever sexual harassment case to
become class action. The case
becoming class action meant
that not only would Lois Jen-
son, the woman who filed the
case be included in the lawsuit,
but so would all other women
employed at Eveleth Mine
since 1983 if she met the criteria.
Now imagine if Lois Jenson was too scared to stand up
for herself that she just kept
quiet. I’m sure a lot of people
were inspired to stand up for
their own rights. She not only
changed views on the Iron
Range, but the entire country
as she set a precedent as the
first ever sexual harassment
class action case.
A woman who was definitely not afraid to do what she
needed to get things done was
Mary Anderson, the mayor
of Kinney in 1977 when they
succeeded from the union.
IRON TIMES – A FREE RANGE PUBLICATION
Women taking a break from work in an open pit iron mine.
Source: Iron Range Resource Center.
Anderson was finding it virtually impossible to get assistance
with the $186,000 cost of Kinney’s much needed water system replacement. Mary Anderson realized it would be easier
to get government assistance as
a foreign country. So on July
13, 1977, Kinney succeeded
from the Union. Kinney did
get a grant and was able to
repair the water system. Who
knows when or if they would
have been able to get that help
if Mary Anderson had not taken such a daring approach to
help her town.
So maybe you don’t think
we can do anything to change
things, but we can. The Mining companies didn’t expect
the workers they viewed as
equipment and tried so hard to
separate to come together and
fight for their rights, but they
did. The men who harassed
Lois Jenson and the countless other women in the mines
didn’t expect them to speak up
for themselves, but they did.
The government did not
expect the small town of Kinney Minnesota with their 325
people and failing water system to do anything when they
were denied the assistance they
deserved, but they did.
As Iron Rangers, we are
hardworking people who will
fight for our rights. So appreciate those who fought for what
we have today, and don’t be
afraid to stand up for something you know is right. You
may just make a big change for
future generations.
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IRON TIMES
A Free Range Publication
VOL. 1 NO. 1
THURSDAY MARCH 22, 2012
THE IRON RANGE, MINNESOTA
ON THE ENVIRONMENT,
BALANCING JOBS & LEISURE
GLADYS PEKKARIAN –
GROWING UP IN SIMPLER DAYS
By KATLIN KOSKELA
Eveleth-Gilbert High School
Walking outside a Northern
Minnesota February morning is
like walking into a snow globe.
The trees are covered with pure
white snow and the sun is shining bright. Wow, what a great
area we live in. Up here on the
Iron Range we have four very
distinct seasons. In the summer
we enjoy swimming and fishing
in one of our thousands of lakes.
In the fall we love to four wheel
in our plentiful woods, oh yeah
and the big thing that most of
us wait yearlong for, hunting. In
fact over 42% of Northeastern
Minnesota is public land and
open to different types of hunting at different times under the
guidelines of the Department of
Natural Resources and the Unit-
Little Vermilion Lake. Source:
Minnesota Historical Society.
ed States Forest Service.
The winter brings a different
type of adventure with downhill
and cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, ice fishing, and snowshoeing. We are lucky to live in
such a diverse area. I mean it is
a big reason why so many of us
live up here. It is also a big reason why so many people from
the south come up here to do the
things we do every single day.
With all its great beauty, the
Iron Range is also known for
something way different, mining. There is a problem though;
when we mine we create pollution harming the environment
around us. So all these great
things we do are at risk. For example, the new copper-nickel
mine that is going to be built
poses the threat to ruin our environment by the metallic-sulfide
being produced. As we can see,
mining and our leisure activities
can clash. It is hard to see why
you wouldn’t want the coppernickel. It does do a lot of great
things, for example create jobs.
So now we have the power to
figure out how we are going to
mine but not harm the environment so we can do the thing that
we do and like the best.
NEW MINES, NEW JOBS, NEW CONCERNS
By MAGGIE DITZLER
Virginia High School
With the promise of economic remedy that copper
nickel mining will bring to
the Iron Range, concerns also
come about our thriving tourism industry and the environment it feeds from.
PolyMet is still working
with the EPA and the DNR,
stating this February that the
two years in the making environmental review will not be
available publicly until October 2012. Copper nickel mining was
first proposed in 2006, and
already PolyMet has spent 35
million dollars on the environmental review, but with the
delay of the approval from state
agencies, the project would not
begin construction until 2014,
at the earliest. The standards
that our federal and state agencies are holding PolyMet to for
this new mine are much higher
than those that are presently
operating on the Iron Range. The new project has lots of
political support because of
the expected 360 jobs it would
create, not to mention 600 additional jobs resulting from
the economic activity of the
region. The 600 surplus jobs
are very important, and would
bring many diverse and lasting
jobs to the area. Being that Northern Minnesota is one of the nation’s
most beautiful outdoor recreational areas, there are many
environmentalists that believe
this is the wrong place for these
mines. To some people, the
risk of acid runoff, polluting
sulfates, and straining of heavy
metals is too large a gamble.
The new mining project raises
concerns for people workA10
Underground miners waiting to go into the mine, 1936.
Source: Minnesota Historical Society.
ing in tourism and recreation,
they claim that mining is not a
permanent industry and its income is temporary while tourism and recreation is a lasting
high valued industry.
The current and future
employees at PolyMet are our
family, friends, and neighbors.
They love the environment as
much as we do and are not out
to pollute our areas or destroy
any wild life. PolyMet is putting every effort into making
these mines the most environmentally friendly they can be.
Currently, they have about
a 1% sulfide deposit, as opposed to other copper nickel
mines with a 30-50% sulfide
deposit. The lower the sulfide
deposit means less pollution.
PolyMet plans on having an
open pit mine near Babbitt,
and the ore would be processed
in an old steel mining plant in
Hoyt Lakes, leaving the old
plant cleaner and brought up
to higher standards than it was
before. If copper nickel mining
never happens in northern
Minnesota, where will we get
these precious metals for things
like cell phones, rechargeable
batteries, wind turbines and
catalytic converters from? We
would turn to China where
working conditions and the
harm done to the environment
is unimaginable, being that
China has limited environmental protection or labor laws.
There will always be challenges facing our mines as they
work to be good stewards of the
environment. There is also a
place for the environmentalists
as they want our corporations
to be held to the highest standard. We live in a remarkable
area here on this Iron Range
with fishing, hunting, canoeing, skiing, camping, snowmobiling and many other outdoor
recreational activities. We want
this paradise we live in to stay
pristine. We also want jobs
and growth in our communities. We want the best of both
worlds and since we have been
mining and recreating for over
150 years on the Iron Range, I
am confident we can continue
to do both for a long time to
come.
IRON TIMES – A FREE RANGE PUBLICATION
By SARAH STUBBS
Virginia High School
Every person, as they grow
up, is equipped with an identity developed by their family,
school, and community. These
elements of our environment
make us who we are. They
form in us invisible bonds,
which serve as ties between
ourselves and other persons
whose beliefs, values, and even
recreational activities mirror
ours. On the Iron Range, we
are often labeled as truck-driving, camouflage-wearing, small
town citizens. Though these
stereotypes may not always be
accurate, it is true that we carry
a common cord as “Iron Rangers.”
But what does it mean to
live on the Range? And has it
always been this way? To attempt to understand our identity, we must first understand
our heritage. For this reason,
we interviewed 93-year-old
Gladys Pekkarian, who has
resided on the Iron Range
since her birth at the end of
World War I. At first glance,
she seemed a milk-and-cookies type of grandmother like
any other. Her sweet exterior,
however, belied a greater inner
strength, which shone through
in the stories she told of her
world in the 1920s.
“I think all kids really should
live on a farm,” Gladys commented while talking about her
experience growing up in an
agricultural family. She grew
up in a time without electricity
and running water, with no TV,
computer, or digital camera. Yet
she saw no flaw in this type of
living. Hard work, family, and
community instead dominated
her time, and she continues to
think herself better off for it.
The oldest of three, she spent
time milking cows and feeding
animals before her half-mile
walk to school each morning.
Gladys Pekkarian.
Photo by Cayenne Kjerland.
When the family had a job to
do, she was always expected to
help out, whether it was preparing dinner for her father
and younger siblings or helping
a neighbor deliver her baby girl
at the age of eleven. On holidays, she enjoyed lutefisk, sledding, and sleigh rides. When
an event was taking place, the
community gathered in a oneroom schoolhouse to celebrate,
mourn, or worship.
To the members of a twenty-first century generation, this
lifestyle seems as intangible as
the characters of a storybook,
but the identities of a society are inevitably formed by
its history. The Iron Rangers
of today certainly do not live
like Gladys did, but perhaps
in each of us lies a bit of her.
Her indomitable will, positive
outlook, and sense of community seem to have been passed
on as trademark characteristics
of area citizens. We continue to
be a populace low in crime and
high in voter turnout, moral
values, and educational promotion. The Iron Range continues
to be a place where hard work
and integrity are given more
value than money or influence.
It may only be a small wedge
on the American map, but its
citizens should carry a certain
pride. We have an identity. We
are Iron Rangers.
An original Finish residence at the Wirtanen Farm in Makinen,
Minnesota, homesteaded in 1904. Photo by Cayenne Kjerland.
SPECIAL INSERT
IRON TIMES
A Free Range Publication
VOL. 1 NO. 1
THURSDAY MARCH 22, 2012
JOURNALIST, ENTREPRENEUR &
VISIONARY – VEDA PONIKVAR
CHISHOLM MUSEUM OF MINING EDUCATES ON
HISTORY OF CHISHOLM FREE PRESS & VEDA PONIKVAR
By STEVEN SIMENSEN
Virginia High School
By ANDREW MAHONEN
Virginia High School
“They didn’t want a center for
mentally handicapped children.
They didn’t need a center for the
mentally handicapped children.
And I had no right to come in
and say that we were going to
have it, but we went ahead.” Veda
Ponikvar said this during an interview with Generation W. She
was one of the major advocates
for the Range Center when it
was first starting. The plans were
made before JFK took office,
when the Iron Range and Washington D.C. were fueled for helping the developmentally disabled
at the same time. Veda overcame
physical obstacles as well as much
opposition from the community.
The community thought she was
crazy for even thinking about
such a thing, but without her
and the help of a small handful
of other individuals, the Range
Center would not have blossomed to where it is today. That
is, an internationally known organization that helps the disabled
become active community members by volunteering and holding
jobs.
Veda grew up with four siblings in Chisholm. Three of the
five would grow up and join the
service. Veda included. She was
one of the first women ever to
join the military. However, at the
time, women were not allowed to
go overseas, with the exception
of nurses. That included, Veda’s
Navy experience was still enough
to change her life. She learned to
do whatever job is at hand to the
full extent of her capabilities; she
learned to have everything right,
honest, and level with society;
and most importantly, she really
learned what freedom is. As she
said: “When people don’t really
understand, and many of them
don’t, what freedom is… God
help us.” She encourages everyone to have some military experience, because that is where you
can learn why the U.S. is such a
great place to live. The U.S. has
something priceless and rare,
something that has to be learned,
but can’t be taught: freedom.
With her skills she got from
the Navy, Veda was able to do
what really set her apart from the
rest. That is her work with the
Chisholm Free Press. Her first
major achievement was getting
the first double keyboard linotype in the U.S. With financial
help from the bank, perseverance, and a little luck, Veda was
able to snatch the $6,500 machine off the German boat at
the end of WWII. She ran the
paper for almost 50 years, and
she definitely put in her fair share
of work. The weekly newspaper
was sold on the street, subscribed
Veda Ponikvar, circa 1960.
to, and funded through ads. The
articles were flawless before the
paper was printed, and they were
important to the community.
However, that changed after she
stepped down from her position.
She now reads the paper and
finds words that are misspelled.
Also, articles aren’t all focused on
the community, and it isn’t locally printed. Papers are focused
on money, and not the community, which is what Veda had.
When she stepped down, many
businesses wanted the linotype,
but she didn’t want it to leave the
community. Therefore, she donated it to the Museum of Mining.
Veda is still active in the community. She volunteers happily
at the Armory whenever they ask
her to. She also realizes the importance of kids in the community through all her work. She
offered her help to the interviewers saying, “If you ever go in the
ditch or lose a shoe or something,
call me and I’ll help.” She thinks
that kids are the future, and they
can help us fix our economy.
She was then offered a copy of
a Generation W issue, and after
looking at it for a short while, she
said “Your young people want to
do wonderful things like [Generation W], and yes they have to
live… and they have to buy this
and that and the other thing;
but it isn’t more important than
doing something right to begin
with. And they’re doing it.”
Veda is an amazing person
to have in our community, and
she is a great example for anyone
to look up to. She went against
what people thought was right
and made a noticeable difference
in the community. She is a caring compassionate person who
realizes what really matters in
life, and she is not afraid to do
what she thinks is right. At the
end of the interview, she told our
interviewers, “I apologize, and I
should have had coffee for you.”
Many people don’t understand how printing came about in
America. It was much more labor
intensive and strenuous to send
out newspaper issues. There were
no computers and automated
printing machines in the 1930’s.
People like Veda Ponikvar had
to do them by a different means
of typing. They would use either
a standard i.e. manual (which
would have to be set up letter by
letter) or a machine known as the
linotype (that could produce an
entire line of type at once). These
machines were used for many decades until offset printing replaced
them.
However, the linotype was a
great improvement over the standard i.e. It revolutionized typesetting and only needed a relatively
small amount of operators to help
it function daily. Even though the
linotype was more expensive than
the standard manual, it vastly
improved the duration of printing which was worth it in the
long run. When there was a new
customer for a newspaper, the linotype would make a lead mold
piece of that person’s name and
then the machine would use that
mold over and over when they
publish a new issue.
Nowadays, most newspapers
and book publishers use the technique of offset lithography. This is
where the inked image transfers
from a plate to a rubber blanket,
and then onto the printing surface. Mass printing is best used by
this type of machine. Some other
modern techniques of printing are
laser printing and digital printing.
Printing in Minnesota has greatly
evolved over the years due to the
new techniques and machinery.
People can’t talk about Minnesota printing in the 1940’s without mentioning Veda Ponikvar.
She was the first female newspaper
publisher in the U.S. and the only
one in Minnesota to speak out
against the big mining companies.
Veda attended Drake University
and graduated with a degree in
journalism. After briefly returning to Chisholm, Veda joined the
U.S. Navy. She was discharged
from the service about four years
later earning the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
When Veda returned to Chisholm, she started a weekly newspaper named the Free Press where
she worked as a writer, publisher,
and editor for almost fifty years.
Here, she worked with Lou Novak and Frank Ruper on stories
concerning the Iron Range. Several years later, Veda purchased
the Tribune Press and continued
to publish both newspapers until 1996. She traveled all around
the area collecting stories big or
small with a notebook and camera. Many people say that she is
the most influential person on the
Iron Range.
When some of my colleagues
and I visited the Chisholm Museum of Mining, we found it was
full of interesting history about
the Iron Range. It had information about how kids got to school
in the olden days to the machines
that Veda used when she was
publishing her newspaper. Lou
Novak stopped by as well and it
was intriguing to watch him show
us how the linotype functioned.
Many other machines were on
display there as well. I had an
enjoyable experience at the Chisholm Museum of Mining and I
would encourage anyone who is
interested in printing to stop by
and take a tour of it.
Lou Novak demonstrating an original linotype printer at the Chisholm
Museum of Mining. Photo by Shanai Matteson.
TECHNOLOGY BRINGS PROFOUND CHANGES TO JOURNALISM
By DEZIRAE DRUMM
Virginia High School
Journalism, or what we have
defined as the activity or profession of writing newspapers,
magazines, or broadcasting the
news on radios or televisions, had
began somewhere in the 14th
century when the technology of
printing was invented. Creating
great opportunities to put forth
the production of printing, modern journalism wasn’t said to have
taken flight until years later in the
late 18th century. Back then and
in most cases now, modern journalism served as a proponent and
voice of a community’s numerous
social groups. But, even then, advancements in technology weren’t
as nearly as great as they are today,
considering that the first airmail
hadn’t even landed until 1936.
In current time, when looking
back to the beginning of modern
journalism, the journalistic needs
and methods were completely
PROJECT
PARTNERS
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THE IRON RANGE, MINNESOTA
different. Since the 14th century
invention’s contribution, inventions themselves began to get
more efficient and advanced with
time. This lead to the tremendous
expansion of news and journalism
that we have gained today. Now
they seem to appear everywhere.
Starting with old-fashioned newsletters and radio talks, advancing
to Internet access, camcorders,
and other more advanced journalistic tools, the power of the
journalist has increased immensely. Technology has created a completely new concept of journalism.
Moreover, with opposing
opinions about whether or not
technology has placed a burden
on the printing revolution of
journalism, it has actually managed to increase production of
printed products such as articles,
advertisements, and other forms
of entertainment or information,
by combining different types of
technologies. Though it has its
benefits, it also has a few nega-
tive impacts amongst journalism
and news itself. The way reporters gather and disseminate news
is constantly changing, which
means there are always new
things to be taught and learned
by the journalists and reporters of
our societies. In the same sense,
photography has been put on a
threshold due to cameras, making
it all the easier to do, while on another hand, internet has emerged
as a means of mass communication. This has brought new challenges to the world of journalism,
forcing there to be changes in the
content of most of today’s papers.
In conclusion, with technology becoming more efficient every
day, changes in journalism would,
and will continue to quicken,
each time altering the profession
with every new creation. Journalism has brought and added a
sense of dimension and character.
Whether it’s changing for the better or worse, Journalism is said to
be the first rough draft of history.
PUBLIC ART & DESIGN STUDIO
WORKSPROGRESS.ORG
IRON TIMES – A FREE RANGE PUBLICATION
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