By Jack Brummet, travel editor
The Iron Man, a gigantic rendition of a nineteenth century miner standing on a sphere of rusted steel, lives in Chisholm, in the heart Minnesota's mining country. "The Emergence of Man Through Steel"—the official title of the sculpture—was designed by the artist Jack Anderson and completed in 1987. The whole structure is 85 feet high, and is one of the five tallest statues in America.
The brass and copper statue is a tribute to miners of the past, when mining boomed in Minnesota and King Steel ruled the roost. People claim that the giant pile of steel beneath him makes the miner appear a little small. And, yet, the statue alone is a respectable 36 feet tall, which in itself makes it one of the tallest U.S. statues.
A plaque on Iron Man's base says the statue is "a tribute to the Mesabi, Vermilion, Cuyuna and Gogebic Ranges' men of steel, who carved out of a sylvan wilderness the iron ore that made America the industrial giant of the world. They shall live forever!"
The cross-eyed miner stares down at a McDonald's across the street
How to get there: It's on Iron Drive in Chisholm, Minnesota, on the north side of US Highway169, just east of its intersection with Highway 73.
Read about other roadside attractions we've written on here:
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