Eveleth

Eveleth, city, St. Louis county, northeastern Minnesota, U.S. It lies in the Mesabi Range, about 60 miles (95 km) northwest of Duluth. Following the discovery of iron ore in 1892 by early settler David T. Adams, the city was laid out and named for Erwin Eveleth, a Michigan lumberman who visited the area to scout the white pine forest. The original village was about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of the present location; ore was discovered underneath Eveleth in 1895, and in 1900 it was moved to its current site. Eveleth’s population increased dramatically between 1900 and 1910, with Scandinavian settlers arriving in large numbers. Higher-grade hematite ore reserves were eventually exhausted, and lower-grade taconite mining is now Eveleth’s chief industry. The Leonidas Overlook offers a panoramic view of extensive current mining operations such as the Thunderbird Mine and of former mines such as the Hull-Nelson (closed 1978). The overlook is a man-made hill constructed from mining debris, primarily from the Leonidas Mine (closed 1980), which, at 650 feet (200 metres), was once the deepest underground mine in the world. A community and technical college campus is located in Eveleth. The United States Hockey Hall of Fame is in the city, and a hockey stick some 110 feet (34 metres) tall stands on the side of a street. Superior National Forest is to the north and east. Inc. village, 1893; city, 1902. Pop. (2000) 3,865; (2010) 3,718.