thenshortly afteworld waii some farsighteentrepreneurs cided there was money to be made in a rock calledonite, found here in abundance, near the famous mesabi iron range. they called their venturethe reserve mining company. ruth erickson remembers the early days before the trouble started. anybody that came here to work was in -- [ dog barks ] shush! -- was in bad shape economically. and reserve ilt the town they furnished us with our medical facilities fire, ambulance, everying. um... i can't say enough good things about reserve mining. schoumacher: taconite contains iron. not a lot, but enough to make a profit if younow w to crush it and separate the grains of iron from the rest of the rock. and reserve knew how. but the refining process requires vast amounts of water anproduces 2 tons of sandy residue, called tailings foevery ton of iron pellets. and thatreates a proem. those tailings have to be put somewhere. and for years, the cheapest place to put them was the lake. that upset a lot of people ke environmentalist alden lind. the save lake superiorassociatiostarted in late '69 and ca