IRON RANGE 1907
BARN OWL
Below is the post for week 10 of 2026
IRON RANGE 1907
During a Labor History course at the University of Minnesota, I asked the professor if there were examples in Minnesota history where race had been used by owners to separate groups of workers and control the outcome of a strike. He described the early 1900’s on the Iron Range. The example showed that even among the “white races”, if division can be made for the benefit of the owners, it will be done.
Through the Progressive Area, rural Midwest enjoyed a wave of educators and lectors, presenting topics from politics to botany, who travelled a circuit through small towns and cities. Part of this effort, the Chautauqua movement, offered adult education, entertainment and “lifelong learning” to rural areas through institutions and traveling tent shows. Teddy Roosevelt call it “the most American thing in America.” It not only offered insight into issues of the day, but showed respect and motivation to an often isolated part of the country. Now, with the control exerted by corporate media, education and information is funneled into a small cluster of topics deemed acceptable for public consumption. “If it bleeds, it leads” journalism sells history and events as a chaotic collection of one-day outrages and celebrity news that do not offer any sort of world view that is real.
BARN OWL has posted in rural county papers and shoppers as a paid ad for the last year. County papers are still accessible outside of corporate media and they reach all levels of the community. In Jackson, Buffalo, Trempealeau and Clark counties in Wisconsin, BARN OWL arrives on every kitchen table in the Shopper or the county paper of record. It may not always be read - but is now part of the conversation. In close communities, people keep their opinions to themselves. BARN OWL allows you to read with privacy. One lady at our local quick stop said she buys the paper “for BARN OWL and the obituaries.”
BARN OWL is now in Trempealeau county. The printer who publishes in my county also owns papers in two adjoining counties. I get a good rate for an extra paper. With the new exposure I hope to attract enough interest and financial support and make the addition permanent. That will depend on response in that county and from supporters on Substack and Buy Me A Coffee.
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IRON RANGE 1907
Who Benefits from Racism?
This is a question that we do not often ask.
The huge iron mines of northern Minnesota were the site of many fights between workers and owners. Working conditions were very hard, and the pay was low. Many families were so desperate that striking for better pay and safer conditions felt like the only way to survive.
In the 1880s, the first immigrants to work the mines were the Finns. They were a united group that worked well together. Many were Socialists. When the Oliver Mining Company brought in people to break a strike, they did not recruit Finns. Instead, they brought in Italians who spoke no English and Greeks who couldn’t understand Italian. These people wore different clothes, had different cultures and could not talk to each other. They didn’t understand what was going on. Their skin tone was darker and they looked nothing like Scandinavian workers.
When they took the striker’s jobs, the strike failed.
Later, when the miners’ union began to organize the new workers in their own languages, the mine owners brought in more workers from other places like Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. The idea was simple: if workers were different enough, they would not be able to cooperate and organize against the owners. The different groups stayed suspicious and angry towards one another. Mining company officials called the southern and eastern Europeans “black races” and said they were weaker and less intelligent.
Fear and hatred were encouraged and each strike failed.
Because of the immigration, the Iron Range became the most diverse area of Minnesota. 43 different nationalities lived there.
The same tactic was used in the coal mines in the eastern United States. When white miners went on strike, Black Americans were offered their jobs. Poor white workers stopped asking for better pay because Black workers could be paid less. This caused anger between groups of people who looked different and did not speak the same. The wealthy mine owners made more money while workers fought each other. The owners were the only ones who benefitted.
Anytime someone tells you that a group of people who are different from you are the cause of your problems, stop a moment. Ask yourself, “who benefits from this fight?” Are black or brown people, gay people, immigrants, feminists or activists really causing your problems? Or are you being pushed to blame them – so someone else can get what they want from you?
By Ben Boardman and Friends. Paid by gifts from supporters
Now published in Buffalo, Clark, Trempealeau and Jackson counties.
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