In 1865, a Minnesota state geologist discovered gold and silver-bearing quartz near Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota. This touched off a short-lived gold rush to the area called the Vermilion Range, a stretch of land between Lake Vermilion and an area just to the east of Shagawa Lake. While miners prospecting for gold were striking out, others were discovering that the area was rich in iron ore. George C. Stone, a banker from Duluth, heard of large ore deposits in the Mesabi Range, which lies west of the Vermilion. In 1873, he met with Tower in his Philadelphia office to discuss the property.