Iron Range - The Iron Range and Its Economy

The Iron Range and Its Economy

From a geological perspective, the Iron Range in Minnesota includes these four major iron deposits:

• Mesabi Range, the largest iron range, largely within Itasca and St. Louis counties;
• Vermilion Range, northeast of the Mesabi, in St. Louis and Lake counties;
• Gunflint Range is in the extreme northern portion of Cook County and extends into Canada; and
• Cuyuna Range, southwest of the Mesabi, largely within Crow Wing County.

The large size of the Mesabi Range leads many Minnesotans to equate it directly with the Iron Range, in exclusion of the other, smaller ranges.

The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB), sometimes known simply as "the I-triple-R-B" or Iron Range Resources, is an economic development agency funded partly by taxes levied by the state on taconite-producing companies and charged with creating jobs. Detractors consider it an example of pork barrel politics.