Gilbert, MN

Gilbert is a St. Louis County Iron Range city that has turned old mining ground into one of its biggest calling cards. The town was platted in 1907, the same year its post office opened, and it became part of the Quad Cities with Virginia, Eveleth, and Mountain Iron. The mining-era terrain now hosts the Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle State Recreation Area: 1,200 acres and 36 miles of trails across ground shaped by pits, stockpiles, and tailings. Lake Ore-Be-Gone, a former mining pit, adds fishing, swimming, and scuba diving to the mix. Gilbert still reads as Iron Range, but the local route now runs from mine landscape to outdoor playground.