Who lives in MN?

[lspmmp]

Looking for work up here is getting pretty tuff again. All the mines are shutting down for the summer and almost everyone has been laid off except a few lucky millrights who got kept on for maintenance.

I thought the mines were going like crazy with all the demand from China. It's amazing how fast things seem to have fallen apart in the north country. I consider myself very lucky as I have a good job that is secure. I know lots of others who are really struggling now. In fact the chipboard mill in Cass Lake has been permanently closed and the one in Solway is on reduced hours I think.
Good luck.

 

[Dan_IN_MN]

I thought the mines were going like crazy with all the demand from China. It's amazing how fast things seem to have fallen apart in the north country. I consider myself very lucky as I have a good job that is secure. I know lots of others who are really struggling now. In fact the chipboard mill in Cass Lake has been permanently closed and the one in Solway is on reduced hours I think.
Good luck.

Now you're talking around the area where I grew up. Laporte, Walker, Bemidji, area.

Dan

 

[lspmmp]

Looking for work up here is getting pretty tuff again. All the mines are shutting down for the summer and almost everyone has been laid off except a few lucky millrights who got kept on for maintenance.

I was returning to Bemidji from Cable, Wisconsin last Friday and noticed only one fairly small pile of taconite pellets sitting on the shore waiting to be loaded. I know I've seen much larger piles before. Made me wonder just how bad the Iron Range economy really is right now. I sure hope it picks up a bit. I remember the early to mid 80's all too well and don't want to see that again.

 

[lqqk]

I be a central illinoisan but my mom came from the north shore(Silver Bay). Her family worked for the Reserve taconite plant before it shut down and restarted I dont know how man times. I still love to go up there, the North Shore is so much different than the farmland around here but since I have been going up there the shore is so commercialized since I was small. All kinds of resorts and the landmarks are tourist traps compared to the gravel lots like when I was small. Still love the air and smell

 

[ironman_gq]

I was returning to Bemidji from Cable, Wisconsin last Friday and noticed only one fairly small pile of taconite pellets sitting on the shore waiting to be loaded. I know I've seen much larger piles before. Made me wonder just how bad the Iron Range economy really is right now. I sure hope it picks up a bit. I remember the early to mid 80's all too well and don't want to see that again.

production has pretty much stopped. Im in the construction business and my dad owns a pretty large construction company for the area and its very difficult to get jobs right now. A lot of contractors from the twin cities have started to come in and lowball the local contractors and a lot of local work is going to guys from Minneapolis :censored:

 

[lspmmp]

I be a central illinoisan but my mom came from the north shore(Silver Bay). Her family worked for the Reserve taconite plant before it shut down and restarted I dont know how man times. I still love to go up there, the North Shore is so much different than the farmland around here but since I have been going up there the shore is so commercialized since I was small. All kinds of resorts and the landmarks are tourist traps compared to the gravel lots like when I was small. Still love the air and smell

I am 48 years old and remember the North Shore in the late 60's and 70's and it was great. Just a few little towns and little houses scattered here and there. Now it's all commercialized and overrun with people from the Twin Cities. I don't even go there anymore, it breaks my heart. I'm glad most of that stuff has bypassed the Bemidji area at least for now. Not that they aren't trying though.....

 

[JAM]

Iron range

We were having a hard time keeping up to the demand for pellets until about Nov. last year, then the bottom just dropped out. So far we've been able to keep everyone working at reduced hours but now most of the operations people are going to be laid-off starting monday while we (Millwrights) will continue on for the month of May. IF all goes well, everyone will be back to work at reduced hours mid-june. At least most everyone was able to work through the coldest months, -30 temps can be tough on the wood pile and/or
fuel bills.

 

[lspmmp]

We were having a hard time keeping up to the demand for pellets until about Nov. last year, then the bottom just dropped out. So far we've been able to keep everyone working at reduced hours but now most of the operations people are going to be laid-off starting monday while we (Millwrights) will continue on for the month of May. IF all goes well, everyone will be back to work at reduced hours mid-june. At least most everyone was able to work through the coldest months, -30 temps can be tough on the wood pile and/or
fuel bills.

That seems to be my impression too. The bottom just dropped out. I really can't believe how quickly things changed. I bought a new Honda Fit in October and paid full price and had to wait a month to get one. Less than a month later there were six in stock at the local dealer and they were discounting them pretty heavily. They still have anywhere between 8 and 10 on the lot. The guy that built my house says that he is really scrambling to stay alive by cutting firewood and plowing snow.

 

[JAM]

Times are tough and getting tougher, Ketac shut down, Hibtac down for 15 wks. Inland down for a few months, Mntac down to one line (another 250 laid off this week) and Utac down for a couple of months. I guess if one has to be laid off summer is a pretty good time for it. Maybe things will start picking up and people can go back to work before winter sets in. On the positive side, the fish are going to take a beating this year.

 

[lspmmp]

Times are tough and getting tougher, Ketac shut down, Hibtac down for 15 wks. Inland down for a few months, Mntac down to one line (another 250 laid off this week) and Utac down for a couple of months. I guess if one has to be laid off summer is a pretty good time for it. Maybe things will start picking up and people can go back to work before winter sets in. On the positive side, the fish are going to take a beating this year.

I usually start my fishing season on Birch Lake near Babbitt, but this year I think I will stick around home.
Sorry to hear about all the shutdowns. I really didn't know it was that widespread, and I can't believe that Hibtac will be down for 15 weeks. That's a long time to be out of work. Hope all works out well for everyone on the Range.

 

[Mud23609]

Not from Minnesota but only about five minutes from the border. Spend lots of time during the summer down In Kerrick on my familys pontoon boat drinking beer and fishing.

On a side note. I work at ME Global in Gary New Duluth and manufacture many of the liners that are used in the mills up on the range. We have been lucky that we haven't had to many people laid off but we have been working four days a week with nothing over eight hours a day now for about two months. Big change from last year when I was pushing 70 hours a week most of the time.

Its not just the range either. Lost of our business goes to overseas mines and orders are down from them just as much.

 

[JAM]

[/CI work at ME Global in Gary New Duluth and manufacture many of the liners that are used in the mills
The steel or rubber ones? We use them both. There's alot of vendors out there that are hurting too. I guess we should of seen this coming when the housing market crashed and the timber industry dropped off.
The company left it up to the union to lay off or keep everyone working at reduced hours until we shut down for maint. now the operators are off until we restart one of the lines maybe in june. last year at this time it was unlimited overtime with the company begging for more, this year a 40 hr. week seems like a gift.

 

[Mud23609]

Steel or iron depending on the application.

 

[oldsaw]

I figured that would get a reaction. I meant before it was overbuilt and commercialized. I lived there in the late 60's when a kid and there was nothing around Miller Hill but the Target Store and a trailer court.

There was a crappy motel at the top of the hill too. Stayed there once.

Mark

 

[lspmmp]

There was a crappy motel at the top of the hill too. Stayed there once.

Mark

I think the crappy motel may still be there. Or maybe it's one of the other ones that were around there.....LOL
I went through there about a week ago and I am still amazed at how much the area has changed. I really like what Mn/DOT did with the TH 53 rebuild down the hill toward the lake. I worked for Mn/DOT until this past January and was wondering how they would do this job. Looks good.

 

[mechanickeven]

i live in minnesota for now.lol

I currently live in braham,mn. but just signed over the house in a divorse.lol fastst divorse ever. Iam retreating to the u.p. of michigan. I grew up in mn, but aint got much here anymore, ill miss it, but the u.p. is chainsaw paridise.lol

 

[yooper]

What part of the U.P ya looking at?

 

[mechanickeven]

I'm moving to the keewenaw yooper

i used to live in mass city/greenland up there, moved back to mn. now i am moving to hancock to attend michigan tech. I am looking at land on the sturgeon river by chassel to settle on. My friends grandfather used to own the truevalue/lumber yard in mass, he was a hendrickson. if you grew up around ontanagon you might know the familly.

 

[Philbert]

I think that it is interesting that a few of the 'cool' wood cutting machines recently mentioned on A.S. are from Minnesota companies:

http://www.hahnmachinery.com/fp160.html

http://www.jarraff.com/models.html

The Great North Woods ethic is still alive in MN?

Philbert

 

[ironman_gq]

MN companies make lots of cool stuff. How many of you go a day without using something made by 3M or a snowmobile (invented in MN) or have seen the tracks made for trucks (mattracks)