Soudan Underground Mine State Park

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Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park
The elevator tower above shaft 8 is still in operation today

The elevator tower above shaft 8 is still in operation today

location St. Louis County in Minnesota (USA)
surface 122 ha
Geographical location 47 ° 49 ′  N , 92 ° 15 ′  W Coordinates: 47 ° 49 ′ 29 "  N , 92 ° 15 ′ 23"  W
Soudan Underground Mine State Park, Minnesota
Soudan Underground Mine State Park
Setup date 1963, 1884
administration Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources
f6
Soudan Underground Mine
National Register of Historic Places
National Historic Landmark
Notice board on sole 27

Notice board on sole 27

location St. Louis County in Minnesota (USA)
Coordinates 47 ° 49 '28.7 "  N , 92 ° 15' 22.6"  W.
Built 1900
NRHP number 66000905
Data
The NRHP added November 13, 1966
Declared as an  NHL November 13, 1966

The Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park is a state park in Minnesota and is located at the site of Soudan Underground Mine on the southern shore of Lake Vermilion . The mine is the oldest, deepest and formerly richest mine in Minnesota and is now also home to the Soudan Underground Laboratory . The mine has been on the National Register of Historic Places since November 13, 1966 .

history

Towards the end of the 19th century, explorers searching for gold in northern Minnesota discovered extremely rich veins of hematite at this point , with an iron content of more than 65%. In 1882, mining began in an open pit . In 1900 the mine was converted into a mine for safety reasons. From 1901 until the end of mining operations, the pits belonged to the United States Steel Corporation . In 1912 the mine reached a depth of 381 m and at the time of closure was the deepest point at level 27 at 713.5 m below the surface. US Steel then donated the facility to the state of Minnesota for educational purposes.

As a rule, the tunnels were immediately backfilled with excavated material from other tunnels. This was done by dismantling the ceiling of a tunnel and filling the ground with unusable rock at the same rate as removing the ceiling. That is why the floor and ceiling of the tunnels were always three to six meters apart and the spoil did not have to be brought to the surface. This was only possible because the surrounding rock was solid enough.

State park

The park surrounding the mine is located in the Breiten Township on the shores of Lake Vermilion within the Vermilion Range of northern Minnesota. The mine is located off Minnesota State Highway 169 , about 30 km east of Virginia and about as far west of Ely , just over a kilometer from the town of Tower . The park became a popular destination for tourists stopping over on the way to Ely and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness .

The park is run by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and is a National Historic Landmark , which means it is on the National Register of Historic Places . The buildings on the surface are free to visit and there are daily mine tours during the summer months. Visitors can drive up to level 27 in an 80-year-old electrically operated cage . There are two different visiting tours; one focuses on exploring historic mining facilities, the other shows the modern physical laboratory facilities.

Web links

Commons : Soudan Mine  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Minnesota. National Park Service , accessed August 16, 2019.
  2. ↑ Stephen Lissandrello: National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Soudan Underground Mine State Park (PDF; 281 kB) National Park Service. January 3, 1976. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
    Accompanying 8 images from 1975. (PDF file; 2.14 MB)