The Cuyuna Range is named for the first man to discover Iron in the area, CUYler Adams, and his dog, UNA. Early mines in the area stretched from around Aitken southwest to Morrison County (South of Brainerd). Most of these mines were oriented to the rail station at Deerwood. With the extension of rail to the Cuyuna-Crosby-Ironton area the main mining region shifted northwards. It was here that the most abundant and most easily mined deposits could be found.
With the depletion of higher grade ores nationally, the Cuyuna range was enhanced by various processing plants. These were constructed at or near mine sites and oriented towards railways. Ores of lower grade had to go through "benefaction", in order to be used in the steel process. This involved extracting of the impurities (in the case of Cuyuna ore, the majority impurity was maganese) in the iron ore. The Ironton Sintering Plant was such a facility, and was the second of its kind in the United States ... more
