About seventy miles east of the continental divide of the Ural Mountains in Russia there are some hills that are composed largely iron ore. Because of their iron content they attrack compasses and the mountain comprising these two hills was therefore called Magnet Mountain, in Russian Magnitogorsk. Long before the iron content of the hills were known the local Bashkir inhabitants called them Eye-Derliu and Atach; the Russian name for them is Magnitnaya. These hills were notable even before their iron content was known because they were largley bare. Plants do not grow well in high-grade iron ore.

In the early 1700's a Czarist military output was established at Chelyabinsk about 120 miles to the northwest of the hills. Russians from Chelyabinsk came to the area to, among other things, collect taxes. The Russians noticed that their compasses were attacked to the hill Eye-Derliu. They named the mountain, Magnet Mountain, Magnitogorsk. The next year those Russians came back with prospecting equipment and established that Magnitogorsk contained high-grade iron ore.