Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park

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Soudan Iron Mine
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The 27th level of the Soudan Mine
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LocationTower-Soudan State Park, Breitung Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota
Nearest city Tower, Minnesota
Coordinates 47°49′24″N92°14′14″W / 47.82333°N 92.23722°W / 47.82333; -92.23722
Area122 hectares (301 acres)
Built1900
Website Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park
NRHP reference No. 66000905 [1] [2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPNovember 13, 1966 [1]
Designated NHLNovember 13, 1966 [3]

The Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park is a Minnesota state park at the site of the Soudan Underground Mine, on the south shore of Lake Vermilion, in the Vermilion Range (Minnesota). The mine is known as Minnesota's oldest, deepest, and richest iron mine. It formerly hosted the Soudan Underground Laboratory. As the Soudan Iron Mine, it has been designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

Contents

History

Lake Superior Iron Ranges Iron Ranges.jpg
Lake Superior Iron Ranges
The headframe for shaft #8, still in active use today Soudan Mine Headframe.jpg
The headframe for shaft #8, still in active use today

In the late 19th century, prospectors searching for gold in northern Minnesota discovered extremely rich veins of hematite at this site, often containing more than 65% iron. An open pit mine began operation in 1882, and moved to underground mining by 1900 for safety reasons. From 1901 until the end of active mining in 1962, the Soudan Mine was owned by the United States Steel Corporation's Oliver Iron Mining division. By 1912 the mine was at a depth of 1,250 feet (381 m). [4] When the mine closed, level 27 was being developed at 2,341 feet (713.5 m) below the surface and the entire underground workings consisted of more than fifty miles of drifts, adits, and raises. In 1965, US Steel donated the Soudan Mine to the State of Minnesota to use for educational purposes. [5]

The primary underground mining method used was known as cut and fill. This involved mining the ceiling and using Ely Greenstone and other waste rock to artificially raise the floor at the same rate as the ceiling was being mined out. As a result, the floor and ceiling were always 10–20 feet (3–6 m) apart. There was no need to move waste rock to the surface, because it was moved short distances and left in place. This technique was particularly suited to the Soudan Mine due to the strength of the hematite formations and the weakness of the encasing Greenstone. This method was not possible in the nearby mines in Ely, Minnesota, because the iron formations there were fractured and thus were not as structurally stable as those at Soudan.[ citation needed ]

State park

The park is in Breitung Township, on the shore of Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota's Vermilion Range. It has become a popular tourist site, often visited on the way to and from Ely and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.[ citation needed ]

The state park is operated under the Department of Natural Resources. It is a National Historic Landmark, meaning that it is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [3] As of 2021, the surface buildings are open to the public, and during the summer months there are daily tours of the mine. [6] Visitors are lowered in the antique 1924 electric mine hoist to level 27, the mine's lowest level at 2,341 feet (713.5 m) below ground. [7] As of 2021, tours of the previously active underground physics laboratory were no longer offered. [8]

Lake Vermilion State Park, originally separate from Soudan Underground Mine State Park, began with the purchase of about 3,000 acres from U.S. Steel in 2010. [9] [10] [11] The park includes the Stuntz Bay Boathouse Historic District. [12] In 2014, the two adjacent parks were combined into one. [13]

Underground laboratory

MINOS Detector MINOS Project in Soudan Mine.jpg
MINOS Detector
Surface outcrop, folded Soudan Iron-Formation, age about 2.69 billion years. Scratches are from glaciation. Jaspilite banded iron formation, Soudan Underground State Park.jpg
Surface outcrop, folded Soudan Iron-Formation, age about 2.69 billion years. Scratches are from glaciation.

In the 1980s, scientists from the University of Minnesota began to develop the Soudan Mine as a site for sensitive physics experiments because of the very low rate of cosmic rays in the deep underground site, and also because they could inexpensively use the still-operating mine hoist. The mine laboratory was originally home to the Soudan 1 proton decay experiment and its successor, Soudan 2 which operated from 1989-2001. [14] The University and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources later expanded the laboratory to accommodate other physics projects, such as the MINOS neutrino detector, dark matter search experiments CDMS-II, SuperCDMS, and CoGeNT, as well as work on electroforming copper to create pure radiation-free copper. Low-background materials screening facilities were in use and in continuing development. [15] [16] The mine was proposed as one possible site for a U.S. Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, but that project was instead awarded to the Homestake Mine (South Dakota).[ citation needed ] Parts of the laboratory had been open for daily tours, and there was an annual open house with more access to the facilities and representatives of the experiments to help with the tours and answer questions. [17] The laboratory, along with public tours, were closed circa 2016. [8] [15] [18]

2011 fire

A fire broke out late on March 17, 2011, in the main shaft at the 25th level. [16] The fire was smothered using 70,000 gallons of fire-fighting foam, filling the 27th and lowest level of the shaft (27th level) from floor to ceiling. The Underground Laboratory lost power but remained safe. The mine tours were closed for the summer of 2011, but the above ground tours and interpretive center reopened. After a major cleanup effort, underground tours resumed on May 26, 2012. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ely, Minnesota</span> City in Minnesota, United States

Ely is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,268 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesabi Range</span> Mining district in northeastern Minnesota

The Mesabi Iron Range is a mining district and mountain range in northeastern Minnesota following an elongate trend containing large deposits of iron ore. It is the largest of four major iron ranges in the region collectively known as the Iron Range of Minnesota. First described in 1866, it is the chief iron ore mining district in the United States. The district is located largely in Itasca and Saint Louis counties. It has been extensively worked since 1892, and has seen a transition from high-grade direct shipping ores through gravity concentrates to the current industry exclusively producing iron ore (taconite) pellets. Production has been dominantly controlled by vertically integrated steelmakers since 1901, and therefore is dictated largely by US ironmaking capacity and demand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reed Gold Mine</span> Historic mine in North Carolina, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iron Range</span> Iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada

The Iron Range is collectively or individually a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Much of the ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by the Giants Range batholith. These cherty iron ore deposits are Precambrian in the Vermilion Range and middle Precambrian in the Mesabi and Cuyuna ranges, all in Minnesota. The Gogebic Range in Wisconsin and the Marquette Iron Range and Menominee Range in Michigan have similar characteristics and are of similar age. Natural ores and concentrates were produced from 1848 until the mid-1950s, when taconites and jaspers were concentrated and pelletized, and started to become the major source of iron production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Vermilion</span> Lake in the state of Minnesota, United States

Lake Vermilion is a shallow freshwater lake in northeastern Minnesota, United States. The Ojibwe originally called the lake Onamanii-zaaga'iganiing, which means “the evening sun tinting the water a reddish color”. French fur traders translated this to the Latin word Vermilion, which is a red pigment. Lake Vermilion is located between the towns of Tower on the east and Cook on the west, in the heart of Minnesota's Arrowhead Region at Vermilion Iron Range. The area was mined from the late 19th century until the 1960s, and the Soudan Mine operated just south of the lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vermilion Range (Minnesota)</span> Iron ore deposit in Minnesota

The Vermilion Range exists between Tower, Minnesota and Ely, Minnesota, and contains significant deposits of iron ore. Together with the Mesabi, Gunflint, and Cuyuna ranges, these four constitute the Iron Ranges of northern Minnesota. While the Mesabi Range had iron ore close enough to the surface to enable pit mining, mines had to be dug deep underground to reach the ore of the Vermilion and Cuyuna ranges. The Soudan mine was nearly 1/2 mile underground and required blasting of Precambrian sedimentary bedrock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuyuna Range</span> Iron mining range in northern Minnesota

The Cuyuna Range is an inactive iron range to the southwest of the Mesabi Range, largely within Crow Wing County, Minnesota. It lies along a 68-mile-long (109 km) line between Brainerd, Minnesota, and Aitkin, Minnesota. The width ranges from 1 to 10 miles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hill-Annex Mine State Park</span> Former State park in Minnesota, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hull–Rust–Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine</span> United States historic place

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain Iron Mine</span> United States historic place

Mountain Iron Mine is a former mine in Mountain Iron, Minnesota, United States. Opened in 1892, it was the first mine on the Mesabi Range, which has proved to be the largest iron ore deposit ever discovered in the United States. Mining operations at the site ceased in 1956. The bottom of the open-pit mine has filled with water but its dimensions are readily visible. The city maintains an overlook in Mountain Iron Locomotive Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gogebic Range</span> Iron ore region in Michigan and Wisconsin

The Gogebic Range is an elongated area of iron ore deposits located within a range of hills in northern Michigan and Wisconsin just south of Lake Superior. It extends from Lake Namakagon in Wisconsin eastward to Lake Gogebic in Michigan, or almost 80 miles. Though long, it is only about a half mile wide and forms a crescent concave to the southeast. The Gogebic Range includes the communities of Ironwood in Michigan, plus Mellen and Hurley in Wisconsin.

Soudan is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Breitung Township, Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 385.

The Taconite State Trail extends 165 miles from Grand Rapids, Minnesota to Ely, Minnesota and intersects the Arrowhead State Trail west of Lake Vermilion. On the Grand Rapids end, the trail is paved for the first 6 miles for in-line skating and biking. The rest of the trail is natural surface used primarily in the winter months for snowmobiling. In the summer, several areas contain standing water, but some areas are suitable for horseback riding, hiking, and mountain biking

The Bear Island State Forest is a state forest in Minnesota bordered by the towns of Ely, Babbitt, and Tower in Lake and Saint Louis counties. It is adjacent to the Burntside State Forest and the federally managed Superior National Forest and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It is managed primarily by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elcor, Minnesota</span> Ghost town in Minnesota, United States

Elcor is a ghost town, or more properly, an extinct town, in the U.S. state of Minnesota that was inhabited between 1897 and 1956. It was built on the Mesabi Iron Range near the city of Gilbert in St. Louis County. Elcor was its own unincorporated community before it was abandoned and was never a neighborhood proper of the city of Gilbert. Not rating a figure in the national census, the people of Elcor were only generally considered to be citizens of Gilbert. The area where Elcor was located was annexed by Gilbert when its existing city boundaries were expanded after 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuntz Bay Boathouse Historic District</span> Historic district in Minnesota, United States

The Stuntz Bay Boathouse Historic District comprises a row of 143 boathouses on Lake Vermilion in Breitung Township, Minnesota, United States. They were mostly built in the first half of the 20th century by employees of the adjacent Soudan Iron Mine. The mining company provided the lots to employees as a reward for their years of service, and the miners did their own construction. Most of the boathouses were built with tamarack logs and scrap corrugated metal from the mine property. Boating and fishing were major pastimes for the mine employees and their families in their leisure hours, and the mining company promoted access to outdoor recreation as a perk of employment. The Stuntz Bay Boathouses were listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 for their local significance in the themes of architecture, entertainment/recreation, industry, and social history. They were nominated for illustrating the personal lives of the miners and vernacular metal architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pioneer Mine</span> Mine in Vermilion Range, Minnesota, U.S.

The Pioneer Mine was an underground iron mine in Ely, Minnesota, United States, in operation from 1889 to 1967. It is one of only two such mines on the Vermilion Range whose above-ground structures are still standing, the other being the Soudan Mine. The Pioneer Mine Buildings and "A" Headframe were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district in 1978 for their state-level significance in the themes of engineering and industry. They were nominated for being some of the last vestiges of a once-common mining technique on the Vermilion Range.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ↑ Stephen Lissandrello (January 3, 1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Soudan Underground Mine State Park" (pdf). National Park Service.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying 8 images from 1975.  (897 KB)
  3. 1 2 "Soudan Iron Mine". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 12, 2012. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
  4. ↑ Van Barneveld, Charles E. (1913) Iron Mining in Minnesota, 199. University of Minnesota.
  5. ↑ Richard W. Ojakangas; Charles L. Matsch (1982). Minnesota's Geology . University of Minnesota Press. pp.  127–130. ISBN   0816609535.
  6. ↑ "Soudan Underground Mine Tours". Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  7. ↑ Pointer, James (2009). Engine House Audio Tour Chapter 12, Stop 11. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
  8. 1 2 "Virtual Tour". University of Minnesota Soudan Underground Laboratory. 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  9. ↑ Park Info Archived 2014-01-16 at the Wayback Machine , Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
  10. ↑ Cooperative Master Plan: Lake Vermilion State Park, Soudan Underground Mine State Park, 2011–2020, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Division of Parks and Trails (December 2010). Master plan for development of parks.
  11. ↑ Lake Vermilion and Soudan Underground Mine State Parks, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources map of two parks indicated separately
  12. ↑ Ross, Jenna (September 18, 2020). "These 143 historic boathouses offer a peek into Minnesota's past". Star Tribune . Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  13. ↑ Laine, Mary (June 1, 2016). "Once Minnesota's deepest mine, Soudan complex is now a state park". MinnPost . Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  14. ↑ "High Energy Physics Lab". Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
  15. 1 2 "Lab History: Why Underground?". University of Minnesota Soudan Underground Laboratory. 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  16. 1 2 "Scientists reenter Soudan Underground Laboratory". Fermilab Today. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  17. 1 2 "Closed by fire, Soudan Underground Mine State Park resuming tours". St. Paul Pioneer Press. May 22, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  18. ↑ Kazcke, Lisa L. (March 3, 2018). "Work continues to find tenants for Soudan underground lab". Duluth News Tribune . Retrieved December 26, 2021.
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