09/03/2026
I spent the weekend mountain biking in the Cuyuna area (Crosby, Minnesota). A little interesting history: in 1932, Crosby elected the first Communist Party mayor in the United States. I couldn't find any historic signs stating that in town. It seems labor was radical back then.
The area was a big mining community in the early to mid-1900s, but it has been over 40 years since they actively mined there, and it seems like that history has been romanticized in the town despite a 1924 mining disaster that killed 41 miners — the largest mining disaster in Minnesota.
Recently, I've been reading the paper from 1926, and it seems like disasters like that were common at the time.
While eating breakfast one morning at a local restaurant, another customer, with gray hair, a weathered face, and who looked past retirement age, got up to look at the old photos. One photo was a group photo of miners who were all wearing a standard uniform. The man said to his friends, "They must have issued uniforms back then." More likely they required uniforms and forced the miners to buy them from the company store.
That same customer also said, "I've been in the agricultural business my whole life, and corn makes the economy run. When corn prices are high, everything goes up in price..." So, there's that.
And there's that breakfast cost $70 for two adults and a kid, who ate a pancake and bacon from the kid's menu. It was an expensive weekend eating two dinners and two breakfasts in town. Corn must be super expensive right now.
Regardless, the mountain biking was excellent and it seems like there should be a lesson in here somewhere. Here are a few photos of the town.
