The Holman Mine Barn
By Brian Vroman
Itasca County Historical Society
Today, we live in an automated world. A high percentage of necessary tasks and services are performed either mechanically or by means of technology. But this was not always the case. When John C. Greenway was charged by the Oliver Iron Mining Company with opening the Canisteo District, mechanization was not nearly so complete as it is today, and much that would now be done with machines required the labor and sweat of working men. Of course, it was not only humans that worked. Certain essential tasks required a more substantial biological power source