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鐵世界探索中心(Ironworld
Discovery Center)
地方性遺產
為什麼一個州需要數以百萬的樹呢？就明尼蘇達州來看，為開採鐵砂，境內多數土地皆經挖掘，故地表上光禿一片，沒有樹木及其他植被的蹤跡。
所以，在1930年代的大蕭條時期，一個名叫公共資源保護隊(Civilian
Conservation Corps)的聯邦政府計畫，在明尼蘇達州種下了超過2500萬株樹木，總共僱用了4,000多位，年齡介於18至25歲的工作人員。除了樹木之外，保護隊的工作人員也建造了數百哩的健行步道、馬路及獨木舟口岸，深受市民喜愛。
雖然他們種殖樹木，藉以恢復大地景致，但明尼蘇達州仍希望保存其礦脈歷史，所以它在奇斯和姆(Chisholm)建立了鐵世界探索中心。直到1970年代中期為止，露天開採的礦業一直是明尼蘇達州的主要企業。1900年時，米沙比礦場(Mesabi
Iron Range)是世上最大的鐵礦地帶，而二次世界大戰時，戰事中所使用的鐵，有75%是產自明尼蘇達州。由於鐵的礦床已被耗盡，另一種型式的礦業起而代之，其使用複雜的機械過程來提取鐵質。露天礦場的結束也意味著，許多明尼蘇達人的生活方式也告一段落，而探索中心則有助於人們瞭解那個時期的一切。
Why would a state need millions of trees? In Minnesota it was because much of the land had been mined for iron ore and was stripped bare of trees and other forms of nature.
So, in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, a federal government program called the Civilian Conservation Corps planted more than 25 million trees in Minnesota. More than 4,000 men between the ages of 18 and 25 were hired for the project. In addition to the trees, the Corps workers built hundreds of miles of hiking trails, roads, and canoe ports that citizens have come to love.
Even though they planted trees to restore the land, Minnesota wanted to preserve the history of its iron ranges, so it established the Ironwood Discovery Center in Chisholm. Open-pit mining was a big business in Minnesota until the mid-1970s. In 1900, the Mesabi Iron Range was the largest iron-mining area in the world, and during World War II, Minnesota produced more than 75 percent of the iron used in the war effort. As the iron deposits ran out, another form of mining replaced it, which extracts iron in a complicated mechanized process. The end of the open pits also spelled the end of a way of life for many Minnesotans. The Discovery Center helps people learn about that period.
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關於地方性遺產
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