Big deal, two ore trains at Proctor... whats the big deal? Unless you have been living under a rock, you'll know that the glut of cheap foreign steel has decimated the Iron Range of Minnesota. Out of 7 taconite plants, only Minntac, Minorca, and Hibbing Taconite are running at anywhere near full capacity. Northshore Mining, United Taconite (including the Thunderbird Mine) and Keewatin Taconite have not seen a train in months. This has left Proctor dead quiet. For a period in late 2015, Proctor, headquarters of the mighty DM&IR Railway, did not receive a single ore train. Many nights in December, the lights on the ore docks in Duluth would be completely extinguished, something I had never seen before. Two Harbors was handling around 5 trains of Minntac and Minorca pellets a day, and that was sufficient to keep up with demand. Minntac recently started sending one train a day to Proctor, and while our trusty government attempts to slow foreign steel, the once mighty hub of US steel production slowly begins to hum again. With a train on the dock, and two here at the scales, it is a VERY welcome sight to those who depend on iron ore for their livelihood.
