Where is the World's Largest Underground Salt Mine? Michigans only salt mine is/was operated by International Salt Company. Once part of an ancient international harbor, it's now an all-you-can-eat shrimp buffet for flamingos and other water birds. Keep updated on the latest news and information. Michigan are located in Detroit, while solution mining takes place along Lake Michigan and This amazing ancient cave was kept secret for seven years to protect it from the public. The rock salt produced from the mine is mainly processed by mechanical evaporation into fine-coarse grain salt. Chris Stuber The salt was first used by local Native American tribes, who extracted it from salt springs. Detroit had a very large salt mine that was basically an underground industry underneath their city. Mining This gigantic mine, 1,160 feet beneath the surface, spreads out over more than 1,400 acres with 50 miles of roads. Some 400 million years ago, a vast expanse of salt deposits formed under much of Michigan, including the city of Detroit. The biggest development in the industry in recent years is increased China, the United States, and India rank as the top three producers of salt, and are home to some of the worlds largest salt mines. "Everybody wants to see people get home safe. We will never spam or sell your information because we take your privacy seriously. The salt created by the Detroit salt mine. Number of workers who died digging the shaft. the International Salt Company assumed control of Michigans only underground salt Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. A large square cavern alternating with pillars of salt is left behind. Groups have been pushing the state to reduce salt use to protect the environment, including Wisconsin Saltwise. The size of the room depends on the thickness of the salt deposit, although most rooms are 60 feet by 60 feet. Year the shaft was finally completed, by the Detroit Salt Company. Entire rooms are carved out in the salt, leaving behind massive stabilizing pillars, which, for some reason, have workers constantly looking over their shoulders. [2] They first discovered natural gas when they excavated rock salt. 2023 by Going Places. Trucks powered by electricity take it to a giant crusher underground. of Michigan History magazine and 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. It was over 1,500 acres big and had over 100 miles of roads making up this underground salt mine. The mined salt is usually in the form of halite (commonly known as rock salt), and extracted from evaporite formations.[1]. 2023 by Wisconsin Public Radio, a service of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. No purchase necessary. The mine opened in 1910 and covers 1,500 acres (610 ha) underground. [4] The Chinese made use of natural crystallization of salt lakes and constructed some artificial evaporation basins close to shore. downwarp or sinking of the earth's crust into basins during formation of the salt beds. The Sifto Salt Mine is located deep below the waters of Lake Huron. Its called the city beneath the city: the myriad tunnels and chambers of the Detroit salt mines comprise one of our great states man-made marvels, a true thing of fascination for Michiganders. A central Wisconsin food pantry grew fivefold during the pandemic. 1) A healthy market requiring salt for the meat processing industry, chemical industry, Amy Pataki, Richard Lautens, Salt at the source: a day in a Lake Huron mine. 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. freezing point to reduce cracking. For questions or comments, contact WPRs Audience Services at 1-800-747-7444, email listener@wpr.org or use our Listener Feedback form. use of the product for highway purposes. The salt is packaged at the plant and shipped to several destinations. Detroit Salt produces 1.7 million tons of salt annually, and will increase to 2.5 million tons if a proposed expansion is approved. The Sifto Salt Mine in Goderich is the world's largest underground salt mine. A comparison of the maps above and below will show that the main salt dry mining sites in Unlike a coal mine, the operation The Salt Institute's page on Michigan salt says that estimated salt deposits in Michigan are astronomical. is in Wayne County. (halite). Geological studies estimate that 55 counties of the Lower Peninsula cover 30,000 trillion thickness from 1/6 in. along the St. Clair River. Underground salt mining can be challenging, especially if a mine is located under water. The salt is now used exclusively as road de-icer, thus proving the state of Michigan's preference that our cars be damaged by potholes instead of sliding into guardrails and ditches. But there is another part of the city far fewer people seem to be aware of, and it lies directly underneath their feet. 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. The Detroit salt mine is a salt mine located 1,100 ft (340 m) below Detroit, Michigan. 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 Detroit Salt Company produced the first salt there in 1895. Actual mining is confined completely to the salt bed. The U.S. salt bed map (Courtesy photo | U.S. Dept. All rights reserved. undisturbed by faults or other forms of sharp ground movements. Getting to the salt would prove to be the costliest and deadliest part of the operation. Last year, the state cut its overall salt use to less than 325,000 tons the least amount of salt used since the early 2000s. the Devonian period (419-359 million years ago), Size, in feet, of the opening to the shaft at the time, "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, Amount, in tons, of salt yielded from a single dynamite blast, originally used "mainly for homemade ice cream and cattle licks,", and will increase to 2.5 million tons if a proposed expansion is approved. Follow us on social media to add even more wonder to your day. It stretches over 1.5 miles wide, 2 miles long, and covers an area of 2.7 million squares miles. salt is left to form the roof. The Salina Group Unlike coal mining, salt mining is less dangerous since extracting rock salt requires less combustion. While the lake's salinity is low, the amount of chloride an element signaling the presence of salt is close to 15 milligrams per liter. Workmen "undercut" the walls of salt with a Public tours are currently unavailable. Some of the images and text on this page were taken from various issues That level has increased over the last 200 years from about 1 to 2 milligrams per liter in the 1800s, researchers said. However, there are currently more than 30 routes that lead to the workstations, making the mine easily accessible. Source: Photograph by Randy Schaetzl, Professor of Geography - Michigan Discover mining activity in your area and find new regions of opportunity. 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. The 1,060-foot shaft was finally completed in 1910. Acreage of the vast network of underground tunnels. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0; . 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). This video addresses this myth. The Detroit salt mine is a salt mine located 1,100 ft (340 m) below Detroit, Michigan. Note that parts of the road The estimates of salt deposits in Michigan are astronomical. Last year, the state used a record 11.5 million gallons of brine on state highways covering more than 35,000 miles. Created some 400 million years ago during the Devonian Period, a time when the first fish were beginning to grow legs and make their way onto land. million tons or 35% of the combined total produced in the U. S. and Canada. vertical distance below the surface. The massive salt deposit would then be covered up by dirt pushed by glaciers. In 1913 the International Salt Company assumed control of Michigan's only underground salt mine. Since 1959, the Fairport Harbor Morton Salt Mine has been mining for rock salt, most commonly used to melt snow and ice on road. Then holes are drilled in the wall from Curious City: Morton Salt production in Chicago from WBEZ on Vimeo. Pillar size is adjusted so that the extraction or recovery The amount of salt used fluctuates depending on the winter. The geology of the Great Lakes salt mining area consists of sedimentary There has long been an urban legend that Morton Salt mines salt Lake Michigan. Your email address will not be published. where it is lifted in nine-ton buckets. ", "Shovel first. This video addresses this myth. The salt is also applied to icy roads in cities and towns throughout the Great Lakes region during the winter season. Also, the number of claustrophobes and canaries who are unhappy that its not even an option. There are hundreds of salt mines around the world in operation today, and most are privately owned or operated by large multinational corporations such as Compass Minerals and Cargill. Hughes said brine doesn't work for every winter storm, but it can cut the amount of costs and labor necessary to clear highways without compromising safety. Unsubscribe anytime. Please contact Randall Schaetzl (soils@msu.edu) But like much of Michigans mineral wealth, only a fraction of this Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. One Curious City question prompted us to find out. Best Answer. [3] In Southwestern China, natural salt deposits were mined with bores that could reach to a depth of more than 1,000m (3,300ft), but the yields of salt were relatively low. AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps. The salt beds themselves contain bands of anhydrite which vary in Five large rivers out of the lake's 300 tributaries caused more than 70 percent of the salt flowing into Lake Michigan. It was booming from the early 1920s up until 1983, when it was forced to close due to the falling salt prices. : 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 . Solution mines are often called "brine mines". for more information or permissions. Read further to see exactly what they are delivering. higher up in this page). The Detroit Salt Company (MLive photo | Ben Solis). Other cities followed. Heres what happens in Chicago. The salt is shipped to hundreds of communities around the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Five large rivers out of the lake's 300 tributaries caused more than 70 percent of the salt flowing into Lake Michigan. Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). The Diggings is a resource for locating where mining claims are and have been. The mine is so large that it can accommodate over 400 people and once had a bus system that transported workers to their various underground workstations. There was just one problem: it was located beneath a thousand feet of stone and glacial drift. As recently as a few years ago, miners at this mine, one of the worlds largest The Goderich plant has been in operation since 1867. In 1997, the Detroit Salt Company, LLC, purchased the mine from Crystal Mines, Inc. and began salt production in the fall of 1998. Offer subject to change without notice. In the beginning, the leather and food industries were the primary customers. In 1958 the salt production from these areas amounted to 8.7 In the Detroit area alone, it is believed that there are over 71 trillion tons of unmined salt. Years the salt mine was abandoned, from 1983-1998. An exploratory drilling exercise miscalculates the location of a salt mine while drilling through a lake bed. 100,000 cubic feet of fresh air a minute down one shaft. Fresh air from the su. It has no vermin, who would have nothing to eat, and workers are even allowed to smoke, as long as it isnt in sensitive areas. As a geological entity, this salt deposit is older even than the dinosaurs. control. Unlike coal mining, salt mining is less dangerous since extracting rock salt requires less combustion. The mine has lunch rooms for workers, a service depot, electric transformer rooms, a crushing plant, and dump trucks. 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. This army of concretions is an unexplained geological phenomenon unlike anything else in the world. In three minutes, the skip drops nearly 1,700 feet below Cleveland. The Cargill salt mine beneath Lake Erie Watch on Down, down, down. 2010-10-23 03:07:21. Get out there with something to remove the snow mechanically," said Madison. mine, which consists of 100 miles of tunnels, has never experienced a collapse or mine Electric shovels dip the salt into trailers the Curious City: Morton Salt production in Chicago. Paul Ryan says he'll support 'anybody but Trump' in the 2024 presidential contest, Wisconsin Educational Communications Board. The Sifto Salt Mine in Goderich is the world's largest underground salt mine. She said individuals can also consider switching to alternatives like sand or birdseed for traction. Officials drive about Manufacturing Company started sinking a shaft for underground mining of rock salt. from C.M. Manufacturers of plastics and other products also buy salt in bulk from the Compass Minerals Plant. [15][16], This article is about mining for salt. Detroit had a very large salt mine that was basically an underground industry underneath their city. In operation since 1959, the mine is located approximately 1,800 feet under Lake Huron in the Canadian province of Ontario. As the state has cut back on salt, winter road maintenance costs have also dropped by one-third from $111 million to $74 million over the last three winters. "It's good to know that what we're seeing is not catastrophic by any means, but we should be aware that it is increasing," said Dugan. One may also ask, is it hot or cold in the Detroit Salt Mine? The shaft is considered one of the great engineering accomplishments in Michigan history, but dont say that too loud, because it makes the Mackinac Bridge feel insecure. Amount, in tons, of salt yielded from a single dynamite blast. Salt mining is a Detroit industry older than auto manufacturing, and is such an impressive endeavor, its best summed up in a series of statistics that are earth-shattering in the most literal sense of the term. However, miners at the Sifto Salt Mine have perfected the process. A radical change in salt production occurred in 1906 when the Detroit Salt and The salt is packaged at the plant and shipped to several destinations. The economy of salt mining dried up like a 400 million-year-old ocean, prompting the company at the time, International Salt, to say,. Goderich PlantThe Goderich plant has operated since 1867, after an unsuccessful search for oil uncovered a vast bed of rock salt under Goderich. 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. 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