**Exhibit31.1**

 

**CERTIFICATION**

 

I, Rodney Gaughan, certify that:

 

1.                                       I have reviewedthis quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Mesabi Trust, for which Deutsche BankTrust 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 am responsiblefor establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as definedin Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)), or for causing such controlsand****procedures to be establishedand 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)                                     evaluated theeffectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures andpresented in this report my conclusions about the effectiveness of thedisclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by thisreport based on such evaluation; and

 

c)                                      disclosed in thisreport any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reportingthat 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 havedisclosed, based on my most recent evaluation of internal control overfinancial reporting, 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 adverselyaffect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and reportfinancial information; and

 

b)                                     any fraud, whetheror not material, that involves persons who have a significant role in theregistrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

 

In giving the foregoing certifications in paragraphs 4 and 5, I haverelied to the extent I consider

 

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reasonable on information provided to me by Northshore Mining Companyand Eveleth Fee Office, Inc.

 

 
| Date:  December 15, 2003 | By:    | /s/ Rodney Gaughan                   |   |
|-------------------------------|--------|--------------------------------------|--------|
|                          |   | Rodney Gaughan*                      |
|                          |   | Assistant Vice President             |
|                          |   | Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas |

 

 

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* There are no principal executive officers or principal financialofficers of the registrant.

 

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