Mountain Iron, Minnesota
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1951 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Mountain Iron City. It lies in ZIP code area 55768. The Survey maps it on the Virginia quadrangle. 2,878 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,486 feet above sea level.
On record in Mountain Iron
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
Mountain Iron MineNational Historic Landmark · listed 1968
Population over time
2 figuresMountain Iron grew from 2,869 to 2,878 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2,869 | |
| 2020 | 2,878 | +9 (+0%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
6 surveys from 16 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1951 USGS Virginia quadrangle1:24000, 9 printings
- 1954 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Hibbing quadrangle1:250000
- 1994 USGS Vermillion Lake quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
148 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 148 fires within 5 miles of Mountain Iron between 1992 and 2020, burning about 356 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 31 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 34 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 31 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 27 |
| Debris and open burning | 23 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 11 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2006 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 71 acres | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | JUNCTION 101 FIRE |
| 7 August 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 August 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 27 August 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 August 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 16 August 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 August 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 6 July 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 116 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 116 workings within 5 miles of Mountain Iron: 91 past producers, 20 producers, 4 plants, 1 prospect. 24 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Water, Free, Silica, Manganese, Aluminum, Water, Free, Phosphorus-Phosphates, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auburn & Great Western Mines | Iron, Silica, Water, Free, Aluminum, Manganese, Phosphorus-Phosphates | Producer | 1894 | |
| Brunt Mine | Iron, Silica, Manganese, Aluminum, Water, Free, Phosphorus-Phosphates | Past Producer | 1906 | |
| El Jay #2 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Minorca Site Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Connie Mine | Iron, Water, Free | Past Producer | 1978 | |
| Magnetic Taconite Mesabi Range 18w | Iron, Water, Free | Prospect | Surface | |
| Rouchleau Group | Iron, Water, Free | Past Producer | 1943 | |
| Allan Mine | Iron | Past Producer | 1913 | |
| Allan Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Alpena Mine East | Iron | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
10 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mountain Iron in 10 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 5 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1998 | Lightning | Mountain Iron | $400,000 | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Hail | Mountain Iron | - | The hail caused damage to a roof and a car. |
| September 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mountain Iron | - | Winds blew down power lines contributing to power outages in the area. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mountain Iron | - | Multiple trees were blown down in the Parkville area. Some were uprooted and some were snapped off. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mountain Iron | - | Trees were blown down. |
| June 2024 | Hail | Mountain Iron | - | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Hail | Mountain Iron | - | no account filed |
| July 2012 | Hail | Mountain Iron | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Mountain Iron | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mountain Iron | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parkville | 2.4 miles | 16 | |
| Hopper | 2.7 miles | 16 | |
| West Virginia | 3.1 miles | 16 | |
| Largo | 4.6 miles | 12 | |
| Virginia | 4.7 miles | 16 | |
| Rainy Junction | 4.8 miles | 12 | |
| Brittmount | 4.9 miles | 16 | |
| De Forest | 5.5 miles | 12 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Mountain Iron | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2005042 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 661972. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.





