We hope you enjoy this visual tour showcasing a century of events on how our region was electrically energized.

Without electricity, the abundant natural resources of Minnesota would never have been developed. The natural red iron ore of the Mesabi, Vermilion and Cuyuna Ranges; the sprawling forests that stretch north from the Mississippi River to the Arctic Circle; the plentiful supply of taconite. Many businesses throughout the region depend on electricity as an integral part of the process that turns raw material into finished goods.

On the heels of Thomas Edison's centralized generation of steam electric power in 1882, early entrepreneurs from our region were looking for ways to generate electric power cheaply. In the last two decades of the 19th century, lumbermen dammed many of the streams in the Great Lakes states for use as log holding ponds. These early logging dams were turned into hydroelectric power sites. That's where it all began for Minnesota Power.

Today, 11 hydro facilities provide about 10 percent of MP's capacity while much of the rest is generated by coal-fired steam electric plants.