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Salford Salutes Dylans Back Pages |
From Hibbing to Little Hulton...
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Left: CP Lee contemplates the 'largest man-made hole in the world' near Hibbing, Minnesota. Photo courtesy of The Celestial Monochord.
Right: Cut Acre Tip, Little Hulton, 1960, then, if not now, 'the largest slag heap in the world', like a coal Ayers Rock in the middle of south-east Lancashire. Photo courtesy of Little Hulton Library, Salford City Council.
There are some curious paralells between Bob Dylan's hometown of HIBBING Minnesota and our own LITTLE HULTON. Take what we have gathered from coincidence...
Both began as mining towns: HIBBING, iron ore; LITTLE HULTON, coal.
Both have a current population of about 17,000.
HIBBING boasts the 'largest man-made hole in the world' on the iron range where ore has been excavated. Nearly half the ore used in World War II came from there.
LITTLE HULTON has Cut Acre Tip: once, if not still, the largest slag heap in the world. Spoil from local coal mines was dumped there. The 1,200 acre site is now being excavated for coal by UK Coal, and a nature reserve is going to be developed on the site.
Both are 'towns that moved':
in 1919 iron ore deposits were discovered under HIBBING. In 1921 most of the people AND the buildings had moved two miles south to make way for more mining. See next page for more about 'the town that moved'.
In Salford it was a case of 'the people that moved'.
Between 1949 and 1966 up to 18,000 people moved from the old Salford 8 miles west to the mining village of LITTLE HULTON. This was the UK's first major 'overspill' scheme. 4,500 houses were to be built to rehouse people from Salford, where there was a housing crisis due to slum clearance and war damage.
In 1974 under local government reorganisation the town of LITTLE HULTON 'moved ' to Salford, becoming part of the new city.
Both SALFORD and HIBBING have played important parts in the history of transport.
Salford can boast the first suburban bus service in England (John Greenwood's Pendleton to Manchester horse-drawn carriage in 1824),
When in Manchester visit the Greater Manchester Transport Museum, and when in Hibbing visit the Greyhound Bus Museum.
For Hibbing is the birthplace of the famous Greyhound Bus. Carl Wickman started the company when he began transporting miners from Hibbing to the nearby iron ore mines in 1914.
And both have been the hometowns of well-known rock musicians.
HIBBING- Robert Zimmerman-Bob Dylan: "It's where I was raised an went t school...my youth was spent wildly among the snowy hills an sky blue lakes, willow fileds an abandoned open pit mines. contrary t rumors, I am very proud of where i'm from..." (quote found in "The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia" by Michael Gray- see under "Hibbing")
LITTLE HULTON - The Happy Mondays, managed by Salfordian, the lateTony Wilson. Salford itself can claim several other notable rock musicians and a thriving music scene. This is to be celebrated this autumn at Salford Museum and Art Gallery.
There are some differences, however: whereas the famous Highway 61 reaches Minnesota, but not Hibbing, the UK's M61 does pass through Little Hulton.
And to the best of our knowledge there isn't a song or album entitled The M61 Revisited
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