Some old abandoned rail from the Oliver Iron Mining Rouchleau Mine operations laying in the woods near the edge of the pit near Virginia, MN. The Rouchleau Mine is an abandoned open-pit mine and is roughly 3 miles long and .5 miles wide; its deepest point is 450 feet below its surface, making it one of the deepest mines on the Iron Range. Ten companies have overseen mining operations at the Rouchleau Mine since it began operating in 1893 but the majority owner has always been either present owner U.S. Steel or one of the firm's predecessors. The mine has produced 300 million gross tons of iron ore since it opened until closing in the mid 1970's. OIM changed its name to Oliver Iron Mining Division, USS in 1952 and 11 years later, the Oliver name disappeared to become today's Minnesota Ore Operations, USS Corp. which today runs the nearby Minntac mine and plant which is the world's largest taconite processing plant.
