The Rabbit Lake Mine (Sec 29 T47N R28W) was a large open pit operation.In 1943 drilling through the ice at Rabbit Lake discovered rich ore. The Youngstown Mines Corporation built a dike across a narrow portion of the lake, dividing it into east and west portions. Water was pumped out of the east part of the lake into the west, draining that part of the lake. In 1945 mine development by striping began in the now bare lake floor. Ore was shipping began in 1952. The pit excavated ore to a depth of over 330 feet. The working eventually enclosed the site of the Kennedy Mine and other nearby mines. The ore was in the thin-bedded facies of the Proterozoic Trommald Formation. Seams showed extensive later secondary enrichment, at times forming rich concretionary masses of iron oxides replacing chert. Unlike many mines in the district, the Rabbit Lake Mine was relatively deficient in manganese. The iron formation also had thin concordant layers of slate, schist and breccia, some tourmaline-bearing.

In 1950 the state of Minnesota brought suit against the mining company, claiming the lake and adjacent bodies were navigable waterways when the state was established in 1858. Hence the lake floor was the property of the state, not individuals. A characteristic long law suit followed, eventually ending in the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1957. The final ruling was that the lake was not used for navigation ("highways of commerce") by either Native Americans nor European settlers at the time of the state's establishment. The lake, although large (1,160 acres), was land-locked, thus the lake bed was not state property. Mining continued, producing over 5 million tons of ore from 1952 to 1969. After cessation of mining the lake returned to the old mining site. By 1978 the Lake had returned to its previous extent and has been stocked with a wide variety of fish.

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Link to USGS MRDS:	10194987

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References