The Pillsbury Mine on this site, part of the Monroe group of mines viewed from this lookout, was named for John S. Pillsbury, Governor of Minnesota and owner of the property when iron ore was discovered in 1893 by Edmund J. Longyear. Mining operations began here in 1896 under the Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines and continued in 1901 under the Oliver Iron Mining Division of the United States Steel Corporation until the mine was exhausted in 1961. This mine was one of many that together made up the world-famous Mesabi Iron Range, and the Monroe group of mines had produced 108,081,465 of the Mesabi’s 2,570,676,060 tons of iron ore, helping build the country’s industrial strength and sustain it through two World Wars. Thousands of miners of many nationalities, through their pioneering spirit and labor, helped uncover and develop this iron range and created the man-made canyons and man-made mountains seen here.