CLOSE RANGE

http://rangestories.com

Close Range is part of an ongoing exploration of Minnesota’s Iron Range, focusing on the culture surrounding the mining industry. This series consist of portraits whose families have lived and worked on the Minnesota Iron Range for generations. Each portrait was inspired by their personal story and how it relates to the mining environment and its ethnically diverse beginnings. Their stories have also been documented in either text format or video interviews on the website http://rangestories.com

The Range covers an area 120 miles long and three miles wide that became one of the world’s largest iron ore mining sites beginning in 1884.  By 1910 there were 43 nationality groups who immigrated to Minnesota for work there. The decline of the domestic steel and iron industry in the 1980’s resulted in the area becoming economically depressed.