Duluth, Missabe and Northern Railway

[5] Its line was opened in 1892 with the first load of iron delivered via trackage rights on the Duluth and Winnipeg Railroad (D&W) and its ore dock in Superior, Wisconsin.

[6] In 1893, due in part to the D&W's shortage of freight cars, the DM&N extended its line into Duluth,[7] and built what were then the largest iron ore docks in the world.

[10][11] The company, along with other Merritt iron ore interests in the region, was acquired by John D. Rockefeller during the panic of 1893 as part of a deal that was valued near $30,000,000.

[22] Later, wildfires again threatened the railroad and the communities it served when parts of Virginia City and Mountain Iron were burned on June 5, 1894, and fire also destroyed the roundhouse at Hibbing.

[27] Rockefeller sought to use the DM&N to compete with the lines of James J. Hill and William Cornelius Van Horne by extending the railroad westward and hauling more grain and lumber.

His plan included construction of 400 miles (640 km) of new line across northern Minnesota to the Red River; there it would connect to a new railroad to be named Winnipeg and Southern Railway to build into Saskatchewan.

[36] Although not to the extent that Rockefeller planned, the DM&N did start construction in early 1896 on new branches to the Victoria, Adams and Franklin mines.

[37] In 1897, DM&N construction was focused on improvements to the existing line including trestle filling and grade lowering projects,[38] and plans were made to build a new coal dock in Duluth that would receive coal, from Rockefeller's ships, for delivery in the area,[39] as well as a 762-foot (232 m) extension to the existing dock.

[47] In order to continue iron ore shipments from Duluth, the DM&N played a big part in developing the St. Louis Bay harbor.