Named for entrepreneur Cuyler Adams and his dog Una, the Cuyuna Range lies at the westernmost edge of the ring of iron ore around Lake Superior. The smallest of Minnesota’s three northern iron ranges, it was also the last to open, and by the time ore from the first Cuyuna mine was shipped to Duluth in 1911, Minnesota had already become the nation’s leading iron ore producer. Its ore varied in quality, with some soft and some hard, and the range was also rich in manganese, first avoided by miners and later valued for steel production. When World War I cut off U.S. manganese imports, demand for Cuyuna ore soared, and in 1918, one of its peak years, 27 mines produced nearly 2.5 million tons of ore. Settlement on the range also differed from Minnesota’s other iron regions, as some nearby towns such as Brainerd and Aitkin were already established before ore was discovered, while others such as Crosby and Ironton sprang up with mining, making large land acquisitions difficult and leaving the range in the hands of smaller independent companies rather than large consolidated operations. Mining was further complicated because much of the ore lay under lakes and bogs, and early shafts often filled with water; the 1924 Milford mine disaster became the worst in Minnesota mining history. Even so, businessmen including Adams and George Crosby persisted, and the Cuyuna Range became an important supplier of iron ore for the steel industry before mining there ceased in the 1970s.