Exhibit 31.1

# Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, Joseph S. Micallef, President of the Trustees and Chief Executive Officer
of Great Northern Iron Ore Properties, certify that:

1.                 I
have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Great Northern Iron Ore Properties;

2.                 Based
on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with
respect to the period covered by this quarterly report;

3.                 Based
on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in
all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods
presented in this quarterly report;

4.                 The
registrants other certifying officers and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15f and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

a)                 designed
such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision,
to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by
others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this quarterly report is being prepared; and

b)                 designed
such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our
supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial
statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; and

c)                 evaluated
the effectiveness of the registrants disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this quarterly report our
conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
quarterly report based on such evaluation; and

d)                 disclosed
in this quarterly report any change in the registrants internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
registrants most recent fiscal quarter (the registrants fourth quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrants internal control over financial
reporting;

5.                 The
registrants other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
financial reporting, to the registrants auditors and the audit committee of the registrants board of directors [or
persons performing the equivalent functions]:

a)                 all
significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrants ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
information; and

b)                 any
fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrants
internal control over financial reporting.

|By | /s/   Joseph S. Micallef                                                |  | Date | April 25, 2006
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|   |                                                                         |  |      |               
|   | Joseph S. MicallefPresident of the Trustees and Chief Executive Officer

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