On our drive to Ely we stopped at the Soudan Underground Mine State Park. Peyton did a great job driving us into the parking lot. I had read about this Iron Ore Mine Tour and we were all very excited to visit. First, let me give you a little history of the mine. In the late 1800s gold prospectors discovered that northern Minnesota had a lot hematite which had extremely rich veins containing more than 65% iron. The Soudan open pit mine began operation in 1882. The pit got so big by the early 1900s that it became unsafe for the miners so they decided to go underground. The mine remained open till 1962. When it closed it was 27 levels and 2,341 feet below the ground. That is about a half mile underground! This mine was known as one of the safest and well maintained mines in the World. The way the ore was mined was through a cut and fill method. They would blast out a section, then mine the ceiling and artificially raise the floor at the same rate as the ceiling was being mined out. The floor and ceiling were always 10-20 feet apart, and waste rock never had to be hauled to the surface because it was being recycled. The mine closed in 1962 due to new technology making it more cost effective to use less pure surface Iron than mining the very pure iron out of the deep mine.
Now let me tell you about our visit. When we arrived we sat through a 10 minute video telling us what to expect on our decent into the mine. Then we were handed hard hats and guided into a 80 year old electric mine hoist (kinda like an elevator that goes down at a 78 degree angle) and lowered a half a mile, 2,341 feet to the 27Th floor of the mine. It takes 2 and a half minutes at 10 miles per hour to get to the bottom, which was actually 500 feet to the north from were we started. Once at the bottom we boarded a rail car and rode 3/4th of a mile into the last and deepest area mined. We went up a spiral stair case and into a fairly large rock room. (The guide told us that there is a much larger room on another level of the mine. He said it was large enough to fit a full baseball field in it. In this room we got an idea of what it would have been like to be a miner. We learned all about the different jobs the miners had. One miner called the pole man got payed a little more because he had the deadliest job. He would go into the blasted area with a pole and hit the ceiling to knock down loose rocks so that the mine would be safe for the other miners. The last man that died in the mine had that job, he hit the ceiling and a section of boulders collapsed on him.
Our guide also showed us what it would be like to work in total darkness (there is dark and then there is 2,341 ft under the ground dark). The miners did have some light to work with. They had to buy their own supplies when they worked in the mine so each miner would only have a few candles and would light them very sparingly in order to save money. We learned that the miners worked 12 hour shifts 7 days a week. The boys decided that mining was another job they didn't want to do. (On a side note, I forgot to mention that while at the fur post Sterling decided that he would like to be a Indian fur hunter and Peyton thought being a Voyager would be fun if he didn't have to do any of the chores). We then headed back in the rail car and learned that their was a state of the art, high tech lab down in the mine. The Soudan Underground Lab is the leading deep underground science and engineering lab in the US today. Scientists from around the world come here to study. Well, we headed back up the man-operated cable elevator and into sunlight. We visited the crusher room and the rest of the mine and then headed back to the RV for ice cream.
It was a 20 minute drive to Ely, the home of the world famous boundary waters canoe area wilderness. This town is so sweet. I seriously could spend a week here just walking up and down the quaint streets, relaxing on the patio of one of the roadside pubs, taking walks or canoe rides in the amazing wilderness. We decided to settle in at Fall Lake National Campground. What a wonderful campground right on the lake. Peyton and I walked to the lake and had a great mommy and me moment. He is so cute! Most campers were in possession of a canoe or were out on a canoe...I guess what I'm trying to say is "If you come here bring a canoe and Off (mosquitoes like it here too)".
Peyton is a great driver!
The boys on the rail car.
Mom on the rail car.
View from the crusher.
Tanner is the photographer.
This is the size of the wheel used to lower mine hoist
View of Fall Lake from our campground.
Cutest ragmuffins in the world.
Sterling found a way to keep the mosquitos off him.
Cutest ragmuffins in the world.
Sterling found a way to keep the mosquitos off him.
