Oldtown-Finntown Overlook

Finntown Overlook is part of a Virginia City Park and a trailhead with parking for the Mesabi Bicycle Trail. It is open year round with free admission.

A cantilevered platform extends out over the historic Rouchleau group of mines. The mining canyon is nearly three miles long, a half-mile wide and 450 feet deep. The view includes towering rock-cropped walls with various red hues stretching across the entire open pit mine.

The Rouchleau Group of mines began as underground shafts, when other mines honey-combed the earth a few hundred feet below the surface, eventually joining underground. This group of mines produced more than 300 million gross tons of iron ore within the Virginia district. Ten mining companies were involved in the Rouchleau in open pit mining at one time or another, with the last shipments made in 1977.