Geo-RoadTrip 2013: Down the Hatch

Our next stop was Minnesota's oldest iron ore mine.  At the Soudan Underground Mine State Park a quick, terrifying ride down a tiny elevator/cage takes you half a mile underground.  It's the same elevator that the miners used to get all the way down there:

Once you get down, you can see the stats:

One the tour, you also get to ride the same mine cars that the miners used and get a lot of info about what it was like to work the mines throughout the years.

Another interesting feature you can see down there are examples of banded, unoxidized iron deposits.  These deposits from the Soudan iron formation are over 1.8 billion years old and make up the chief ore body of the mine:

They are evidence of the lack of oxygen in earth's ancient atmosphere.

Video coming soon!