| As a
major employer and the dominant provider of electricity in northern
Minnesota, Duluth-based Minnesota Power (then called Minnesota Power
& Light and now part of Allete Corp.) played a big role in the
local war effort during World War II. In early 1942, just a few
months after America’s entry into the war, 46 Minnesota Power
employees had enlisted or been drafted into the military. By 1944,
that number had climbed to about 200. About one in five company
employees eventually served in the military – and their places
were often taken at the utility by women who were joining the work
force for the first time.
However, most of the utility’s
contribution came on the home front. Minnesota’s Iron Range
provided about two-thirds of the iron ore for America’s steel
industry during World War II. That steel was crucial to the national
defense. Minnesota Power provided electrical power to the iron mines
and stepped up production dramatically during the war – as
required by all the local industries that participated in the war
effort. 
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