Coop's Corner: Lake Vermillion - Soudan State Park/Mine

Monday, July 5, 2021

Lake Vermillion - Soudan State Park/Mine - 2021/07

"The 'Range"

As Minnesotan's we've heard these words forever and most of us that have lived here for any length of time know that the Iron Range is "up north". Minnesota's Iron Range....in the Arrowhead.

A lot of history and an almost unfathomable amount of ore has come from the area. Briefly, iron was discovered in the late 1800's and because of the remote locations of where it was found, huge investment was required to mine, process and ship it. Rockefeller, Carnegie and Oliver were the big names involved to mine, move and ship the ore, names that created U.S. Steel. Early on, mines were often underground but safety, access and improved technologies brought about the large open pit mines that are prominent these days.

Early on, high grade iron ore was the primary product and a lower grade ore, now known as taconite was considered a waste product. As supplies and access to the high grade iron ore decreased, the taconite process became the primary source for iron. A pelletized process developed in Minnesota, the little round balls of lower-grade iron have become the main ingredient for steel production.

At the Tower-Soudan State Park Mine, ore was mined the old way...underground and is the oldest, deepest and richest mine in Minnesota. Physics experiments that were once conducted at Level 27 have for the most part been moved to the Homestake Mine in SD.

I knew about the State Park, the mine tours and a visit there was one of my goals during my week's vacation 'up North.

Cable system entering the Engine House...

On the shore of Lake Vermillion.....former Air Compressor House

Larry Cars carried the ore once it arrived up top in the Skips over to the Crusher House

Dumped in rail cars out at the end of the conveyor, sometimes stockpiled in huge piles.

In the Engine House, the Hoist that is used with each descend and ascend of the elevator cars.

I see Allis-Chalmers and I think Heavy....dams, turbines and machinery.

The hoist operator's command post.

East Shaft West Shaft

The Brake...

In the museum...

Couldn't help it...had to include this. I bet I still can recite every page, at least I could about a Moon.

Dad had his hands full with these 2 little fella's.

He was anxious to get that chain down....the guy with the yellow hat.

The ride down, very close quarters, 11 people in a car. 3 minute ride down to Level 27. From there a train ride, can't remember how far, then climb a very narrow spiral stair case two floors back up to Level 25.

Spiral staircase...

Finding seats on the train...

The Drill Shed, last operated in 1962. The advent of Diamond Drills a huge advancement.

Watch the video to see the Engine House in action, some very interesting machinery used to keep the Cages moving up and down.

More content, more mine content and finally some time on the Himalayan soon. There were more museums and places to visit though before getting on the bike.

4 comments:

redlegsridesJuly 5, 2021 at 10:18 PM
Your mine tour looks a lot more hands-on and more interesting than the tour I did of a salt mine recently.
ReplyDelete
Replies
DanJuly 6, 2021 at 8:11 AM
Looks way cooler than the Quincy Mine tour in Houghton, too. Thanks for all the photos, Doug!!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)