**Exhibit 31**

 

**CERTIFICATION**

** **

I, Kenneth Ring, certifythat:

 

1.                                       I have reviewedthis quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Mesabi Trust, for which DeutscheBank Trust Company Americas acts as Corporate Trustee;

 

2.                                       Based on myknowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material factor omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, inlight of the circumstances under which such statements were made, notmisleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

 

3.                                       Based on myknowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information includedin this report, fairly present in all material respects the financialcondition, distributable income and changes in trust corpus of the registrantas of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

 

4.                                       I amresponsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures(as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) andinternal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and15d-15(f)), or for causing such controls and****proceduresand internal control over financial reporting to be established and maintained,for the registrant and have:

 

a)                                      designed suchdisclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls andprocedures to be designed under my supervision, to ensure that materialinformation relating to the registrant, including its consolidatedsubsidiaries, is made known to me by others within those entities, particularlyduring the period in which this report is being prepared;

 

b)                                     designed suchinternal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control overfinancial reporting to be designed under my supervision, to provide reasonableassurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparationof financial statements for external purposes;

 

c)                                      evaluated theeffectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures andpresented in this report my conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosurecontrols and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this reportbased on such evaluation; and

 

d)                                     disclosed inthis report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financialreporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (theregistrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that hasmaterially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, theregistrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

 

5.                                       I have disclosed,based on my most recent evaluation of internal control over financialreporting, to the registrant’s auditors:

 

a)                                      all significantdeficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internalcontrol over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely 

 

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affect the registrant’s ability to record,process, summarize and report financial information; and

 

b)                                     any fraud,whether or not material, that involves persons who have a significant role inthe registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

In giving the foregoing certifications inparagraphs 4 and 5, I have relied to the extent I consider reasonable oninformation provided to me by Northshore Mining Company and Eveleth Fee Office, Inc.

 

 
| Date: December 5, 2008 | By:    | /s/ Kenneth Ring                          |
|-----------------------------|--------|-------------------------------------------|
|                        |   | Kenneth R. Ring*                          |
|                        |   | Vice President                            |
|                        |   | Deutsche Bank National  Trust Company     |
|                        |   | For Deutsche Bank Trust  Company Americas |

 

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* There are no principal executive officersor principal financial officers of the registrant.

 

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