In 1884, a rush to find iron ore on the Penokee Range drew speculators, miners, and immigrants to the area. Established as a small open pit mine in 1885 by the Oglebay-Norton Mining Company, the Montreal was one of more than one hundred mines operating there, and while most were abandoned as worthless ventures by 1887, the Montreal Mine proved to be one of the world’s largest iron ore deposits. It produced 45 million tons of iron ore before shutting down in 1962, and competition from cheaper sources of iron, rather than any lack of ore, forced its closure. The huge tailing piles are waste rock left after 77 years of mining, and the Modern-Art Deco fieldstone building that once served as the Montreal Mining Company Medical Clinic is now Montreal City Hall, one of many company-built structures that remain from the mining community.