Where did the families that were forced out of the mining town move to?
In 1954, the Corsica pit was shut down. Workers were told that the shutdown was temporary because the demand for that particular type of ore had declined. The pit was allowed to flood, and Pickands Mather officially conceded that "temporary" might stretch into quite a long time, although the mine would perhaps "eventually" be reopened. A year later, Pickands Mather and Company, manager of the mines at Elcor and the land on which the houses rested, ordered residents to vacate the property. By edict of the mining company, the remaining families were forced out so that the company could reclaim the land.Sources differ on why the order was issued, speculating that the company wanted the land for a dump site, no longer wanted to tend to the town's maintenance, or decided it was not economical to own houses anymore. No one in authority revealed what was to become of the land.Residents of the company-owned houses were given the option to buy the structures at bargain prices, provided they moved them out of town. For many, it took much of their life savings to relocate elsewhere, taking their homes in caravans along the highways and leaving behind empty foundations. Most Elcor residents purchased lots in the surrounding communities, trying to beat land speculators. In the few months after  Elcor's fate became official, land prices skyrocketed. Lots that had originally been priced at $75 were sold for as much as $500. Most of the remaining families moved about two miles west to Gilbert, although other homes were replanted in nearby McKinley. The last vestiges of the old mining community were gone by 1956. Every building was torn down or removed. All that remained for some years after were old foundations, sidewalks, rusting stoves, pipes, bottles, and yard shrubbery, formerly visible from the old section of Minnesota State Highway 135 between Gilbert and Biwabik. A rusted fire hydrant adorned what was once a street corner, and a porcelain toilet bowl remained bolted to a concrete floor. An abandoned rail line for the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway went through what was left of the town site. Mine shafts were boarded up with old timbers. After everyone had left, the company dumped heaps of iron ore on the roads leading into Elcor, and in the process a ghost town was made out of what was once a thriving community.
Gilbert