Iron Man gazes down on region rich in mining history.

Huge Iron Man Statue

Chisholm, Minnesota

In the heart of Minnesota's Mesabi Range mining country, a gargantuan likeness of an 1880's miner balances on a spherical framework of rusted corten steel.

Titled "The Emergence of Man Through Steel," the sculpture was designed by artist Jack Anderson and dedicated in 1987. The whole structure is 85 feet high, claimed to be the third largest free-standing memorial in the United States.

The 36-foot-tall brass and copper iron miner is a tribute to the "Iron Men" of yore, when metal mining boomed in the region.

If this gleaming, brass-colored miner had been waving his shovel, he'd be taller than Birmingham's Vulcan the Iron Man! From a spectacle perspective, the immense load of steel beneath him makes the miner appear... a little dinky. Yet, he is huge! Too bad there are no stairs to let one pose at his feet.

Cross-eyed, the miner stares down at the McDonald's strategically located across the street.

A plaque near the Iron Man's base says the statue is "a tribute to the Mesabi, Vermilion, Cuyuna and Gogebic Ranges' men of steel, who carved out of a sylvan wilderness the iron ore that made America the industrial giant of the world. They shall live forever!"