is crushed into a form that is "road ready". All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions 2023 worldatlas.com. Keep updated on the latest news and information. Detroit had a very large salt mine that was basically an underground industry underneath their city. Dugan said road salt is by far the biggest contributor to salt pollution in the Great Lakes region. Once you enter the mine, you go through a series of airlocks that regulate the air pressure. The economy of salt mining dried up like a 400 million-year-old ocean, prompting the company at the time, International Salt, to say,. the various sizes are separated. Today, the salt from this mine is used exclusively as road salt. 245 Regent StreetGoderich, Ontario N7A-3Y5519.524.8338, RELATED LINKS Mechanical Evaporation Underground Salt Mining About Goderich Huron County Museum 2014 TRA Public Annual Report and Public Report of Plan Summary 2015TRA Public Annual Report and Public Report of Plan Summary 2016 TRA Public Annual Report and Public Report of Plan Summary. Generally speaking, the absence of gas, water, excessive of Energy). A sealed test tube said to hold Thomas Edison's dying breath was given to the inventor's friend and mentee, Henry Ford. 5.1M views 15 years ago This is how you flush an entire lake down a hole. The mine is as deep as the CN Tower in Toronto is tall. How deep are the salt mines in Michigan? Geological studies estimate that 55 counties of the Lower Peninsula cover 30,000 trillion The gigantic salt mine is located 1,200 feet beneath Detroit's surface, spreads out more than 1,500 acres and has over 100 miles of underground roads. The 5 most ridiculous things about Michigan's state flag, 12 wild and weird facts about the largest fish you can catch in the Great Lakes, The historic futility of the Detroit Lions: a very sad timeline, 8 fascinating facts about Iron Mountain, Tom Izzo's hometown, Torch Lake is Michigan's own slice of the Caribbean, A guide to the 9 drive-in movie theaters still standing in Michigan, This Northern Michigan drive-in movie theater is a nostalgia trip, 6 places to sip a Michigan beer along the White Pine Trail, These three Hollywood movies filmed at the same Niles train station. Source: Photograph by Randy Schaetzl, Professor of Geography - Michigan Some 1,200 feet beneath the streets of Detroit, under the north end of Allen Park, Dearborns Rouge complex, and most of Melvindale, run 100 miles of subterranean roads over an area of more than 1,500 acres. personal use. ", "Shovel first. : Canada: Sifto Salt Mine in Goderich, Ontario, which, at 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide and 2 miles (3.2 km) long, is one of . She said individuals can also consider switching to alternatives like sand or birdseed for traction. Years that have passed since the salt was discovered. The mine is as deep as the CN Tower in Toronto is tall. This mining technique is referred to as "room and pillar" mining. Entire rooms are carved out in the salt, leaving behind massive stabilizing pillars, which, for some reason, have workers constantly looking over their shoulders. One Curious City question prompted us to find out. In the The underground salt was deposited by the ocean that covered the Lake Huron basin about 400 million years ago. Davis Readings in the Geography of Michigan Source: Photograph by Randy Schaetzl, Professor of Geography - Michigan As recently as a few years ago, miners at this mine, one of the worlds largest The study found urban areas like Milwaukee are contributing the most salt with the highest readings stemming from a stormwater outflow at General Mitchell International Airport, which is just a few miles from the lake. Yes! For the secret CIA prison, see. "It could have some repercussions that we're not fully aware of yet.". Why is there a long line of railcars parked on the tracks near Spooner? The anhydrite (calcium sulphate) content 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Rooms from 50 to 60 feet wide are driven out and blocks of salt of the same Discover mining activity in your area and find new regions of opportunity. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The Resources and Search Tips blog is intended to highlight resources and communicate helpful pieces of information about conducting research. There are no salt mines under Lake Michigan, however, About 2,000 feet under Lake Erie, 30 miles east of Cleveland in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, you'll find a vast site called the Morton Salt Mine. The salt is also packaged at the Compass Mineral plant, located about 4 kilometers away, and distributed throughout North America. The Salina Group Underground salt mining can be challenging, especially if a mine is located under water. Mall, Okemos. 2010-10-23 03:07:21. Some of the images and text on this page were taken from various issues Laura Johnson, The Cargill salt mine: an other world under Lake Erie, "Bulgarians find oldest European town, a salt production center", "CBC-TV - Geologic Journey - Goderich, Ontario and Detroit Michigan", "Salt mine in the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia, 2015", "The Detroit Salt Company -- Explore the City under the City", "American Rock Salt to expand in Livingston", "All 17 Cargill Salt Miners Trapped on Underground Elevator Freed", "Definition of back to the salt mines | Dictionary.com", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salt_mining&oldid=1135677242, Socit de Sel de Mohammedia (Mohammedia Rock Salt company) near, This page was last edited on 26 January 2023, at 04:10. Curious City: Morton Salt production in Chicago by WBEZ PLUS: Ever wonder what's inside the Morton Salt building on North Elson Ave.? To extract the salt, they first cut a large slice between the floor and a desired section of salt. The room-and-pillar system is used to take out Salt mines are mines from which salt is extracted, typically in the form of rock salt, known as halite. However, the largest underground salt mine in the world, the Sifto Salt Mine, is located in Goderich, Ontario, Canada. Fresh air from the su. The rock salt produced at the mine is used to keep citizens in North America safe as they travel through winter snow and ice. Even though it has changed ownership a few times, there is a lot of history underneath the city of Detroit that most people dont even realize. An exploratory drilling exercise miscalculates the location of a salt mine while drilling through a lake bed. Miners rode down to the mine smushed face to face in a tiny elevator. The size of the room depends on the thickness of the salt deposit, although most rooms are 60 feet by 60 feet. Its origin dates to the Devonian period (419-359 million years ago),a time when fish were evolving legs and crawling out of the sea, Michigan was covered with ocean, and the Lions last won a playoff game. top of the formation under Ohio, near the West Virginia boundary, reaches a maximum depth But like much of Michigans mineral wealth, only a fraction of this It was over 1,500 acres big and had over 100 miles of roads making up this underground salt mine. Oil drillers accidentally discovered the deposit in the 1860's. Offer subject to change without notice. The rock salt produced from the mine is mainly processed by mechanical evaporation into fine-coarse grain salt. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0; . 2023 Compass Minerals. "That's a big game changer.". The Salt Institute's page on Michigan salt says that estimated salt deposits in Michigan are astronomical. However, miners at the Sifto Salt Mine have perfected the process. The 1,060-foot shaft was finally completed in 1910. Evidently it is the Cargill mine that is the worlds largest. Country Site(s) Austria: Hallstatt and Salzkammergut. Additional salt blocks were built at Ecorse and River Rouge the following year. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0; . In three minutes, the skip drops nearly 1,700 feet below Cleveland. A central Wisconsin food pantry grew fivefold during the pandemic. This blog is offered as part of the information literacy mission of the Moraine Valley Library. by The mine has lunch rooms for workers, a service depot, electric transformer rooms, a crushing plant, and dump trucks. 1 of 2. Curious City: Morton Salt production in Chicago from WBEZ on Vimeo. Geological studies estimate that 55 counties of the Lower Peninsula cover 30,000 trillion tons of salt. Age of the salt deposit, in years. But there is another part of the city far fewer people seem to be aware of, and it lies directly underneath their feet. It has operated since 1959 and was acquired by Compass Minerals in 1990. Its no secret that Detroit has been hit very hard by the recession. "We don't have any rats in our Detroit mine is because the rats would have nothing to eat except the leavings of our lunch pails," one miner said somewhat famously, thus curtailing the theory that Matt Millen went down there to live after the Lions canned him. Required fields are marked *. It was over 1,500 acres big and had over 100 miles of roads making up this underground salt mine. This mine stretches from Dearborn all the way to Allen Park. Top Sheboygan officials lacked key details on police department sexual harassment probes, State lawmakers try again to allow DACA recipients to become police officers in Wisconsin, After record-breaking 2021, investment firms take increased interest in Wisconsin's economy, Tired of waiting, a Wisconsin island community is directing millions to create its own high-speed internet. Is there salt mined underneath Chicago and Lake Michigan? In slang, the term salt mines, and especially the phrase back to the salt mines, refers ironically to one's workplace, or a dull or tedious task. That level has increased over the last 200 years from about 1 to 2 milligrams per liter in the 1800s, researchers said. The Sifto Salt Mine produces over 7 million tons of rock salt annually, which is enough to meet the demand in the Great Lakes region. Here are the Detroit salt mines, by the (really, really big)numbers. They want to keep our highway safe and clear, and they don't want to use any more chemicals than they need to," Hughes said. No purchase necessary. One copy may be printed for Unlike coal mining, salt mining is less dangerous since extracting rock salt requires less combustion. Michigan are located in Detroit, while solution mining takes place along Lake Michigan and A young boy tosses a chunk of snow into Lake Michigan Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019 in Milwaukee. It was the result of ancient oceans pouring into a huge basin, evaporating, and leaving huge amounts of salt behind in the process. Manufacturing Company started sinking a shaft for underground mining of rock salt. Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). 2014 TRA Public Annual Report and Public Report of Plan Summary, 2015TRA Public Annual Report and Public Report of Plan Summary, 2016 TRA Public Annual Report and Public Report of Plan Summary. Although the leather and food industries were once large customers to the Detroit mine, road deicing salt is the only product the mine currently provides. Detroit had a very large salt mine that was basically an underground industry underneath their city. Thats deeper than the Chrysler Building is tall, but not quite as far down as the salt bae meme needs to be buried. from approximately 17 to 40 ft. The biggest salt dry-mining operation in Michigan today Using mechanical evaporation, the plant produces high-purity, fine- and coarse-grained salt products in packages and in bulk for commercial, agricultural and industrial applications. Source: Detroit Free Press "We easily do our winter maintenance more than $1,000 less per lane mile than either Minnesota or Michigan.". However, there are currently more than 30 routes that lead to the workstations, making the mine easily accessible. It has operated since 1959 and was acquired by Compass Minerals in 1990. There was just one problem: it was located beneath a thousand feet of stone and glacial drift. State University. I'll be sharing thoughts, photos and videos along the way - as I search for answers to questions that bother me so. Since 1959, the Fairport Harbor Morton Salt Mine has been mining for rock salt, most commonly used to melt snow and ice on road. Today it is closed. This phrase originates from c.1800 in reference to the Russian practice of sending prisoners to forced labor in Siberian salt mines. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Some of the salt is trucked to the Compass Minerals plant less than 4 kilometers away, to be packaged for distribution and sale at retailers in North America. Goderich PlantThe Goderich plant has operated since 1867, after an unsuccessful search for oil uncovered a vast bed of rock salt under Goderich. floor to roof. It stretches over 1.5 miles wide, 2 miles long, and covers an area of 2.7 million squares miles. [2] In 1041, during the Song dynasty, a well with a diameter about the size of a bowl and several dozen feet deep was drilled for salt production. Since 1959, the Fairport Harbor Morton Salt Mine has been mining for rock salt, most commonly used to melt snow and ice on roads. Tawas, Michigan May 28, 2022 I am still shaking my head that the world's largest underground salt mine is UNDER Lake Huron. Manufacturers of plastics and other products also buy salt in bulk from the Compass Minerals Plant. Unlike coal mining, salt mining is less dangerous since extracting rock salt requires less combustion. In 1895, the existence of an enormous rock salt deposit was officially discovered. In operation since 1959, the mine is located approximately 1,800 feet under Lake Huron in the Canadian province of Ontario. fatality. 2023 by Going Places. The mines were owned and operated by The Detroit Salt and Manufacturing Company. Michigans only salt mine is/was operated by International Salt Company. Mineral plant, and dump trucks in a tiny elevator is as deep as the CN in... Dump trucks minutes, the mine easily accessible skip drops nearly 1,700 feet below Cleveland contributor... The Great Lakes region as road salt prompted us to find out and by. Why is there a long line of railcars parked on the thickness of the Moraine Library! Moraine Valley Library the Chrysler Building is tall, but not quite as far down as the Tower! By 60 feet by 60 feet International salt Company the size of city. Mines were owned and operated by the Detroit salt and manufacturing Company started sinking a shaft for underground mining rock... 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