Underground in Minnesota

[Off_Pavement]

As part of our 8 week trip, we went to the Soudan Mine north of Duluth, Minnesota. This former iron ore mine was known as the "Cadillac of Mines" for it's hard rock and safety record.

There is a lot to see above ground including the power house that contains the elevator hoist operator and the 3000' cable used to move ore from the mine depths and transport the underground miners to their work areas.

The mine closed in 1962 after 80 years of operation and reaching the 27th level at 2341 feet below the surface. The tour includes a trip on a mine train, and a great guided tour describing the work of the miners. The elevator trip takes 2 1/2 minutes to go the half mile, it's noisy, and the temperature at the bottom is 52 degrees.

A few pictures are in order...

Elevator shaft. Ore came up, and 18 people at a time could fit for the ride up or down.









Mine train...





We had a great time, and even claustrophobic Margie admitted the elevator ride wasn't as bad as she thought, and the mine is so big underground that it didn't bother her a bit. Hard hats are required and provided.

If you don't want to go underground, we think there is outstanding access to the old mine equipment with a self guided tour. It's free if you stay above ground, but we recommend going underground!

[buta4]

I dig it!!

[pigman1]

When we were there a number of years ago the underground tour guides were retired miners that had actually worked in that mine. A bunch of really fascinating stories once we got him talking.

[Drbolasky]

Way cool. I love that kind of stuff!!

[agb2529]

Very cool place, we were there a number of years ago. The other part that Brian didn't mention is that attached to the mine is a high energy physics lab that was installed there to take advantage of the existing cavern 1/2 mile underground in old, stable rock. Among the experiments they do there are studies on subatomic particles that are fired at the target in the mine from the accelerator at Fermilab in Chicago, traveling some 450 miles through the solid rock in between. When we were there they were just finishing work on the lab but it's been in operation for a while now. Cutting edge physics in the woods of northern Minnesota - who would have thunk it?

Soudan Underground Mine High Energy Physics Lab

University of Minnesota Lab page

[Jay_Pat]

Enjoyed your post!!!
I'm currently in Colorado and have done 2 mine tours.
I'm hooked!!!!
Pat

[kknowlton]

Quite an interesting visit! Thanks for sharing.