Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Bill would fund mine shaft repairs, ATV campground

Marcus White
Posted 3/28/19

SOUDAN MINE— Jim Essig pointed out steel panels in need of repair at the mine shaft here Tuesday morning.

“This project would keep the mine shafts free of major repair for 80 years,” said …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Bill would fund mine shaft repairs, ATV campground

Posted

SOUDAN MINE— Jim Essig pointed out steel panels in need of repair at the mine shaft here Tuesday morning.

“This project would keep the mine shafts free of major repair for 80 years,” said Essig, who has served as manager of the Lake Vermilion Soudan Underground State Park for more than a decade. “Some of these steel rails are up to 70 years old,” he said. And they’re beginning to show the effects of time.

The hoped-for overhaul will be possible if the state legislature passes a $9.5 million spending bill, authored by Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, that includes funds for the shaft work as well as a campground to be built for ATV users.

Mine shaft repairs

A mine shaft fire in 2011 during winter maintenance revealed more extensive deterioration than could be repaired by the park’s onsite staff.

Steel beams below the seventeenth level of the mine were not only deteriorating at a faster than anticipated rate but were concealing wood and debris from the mine’s construction that could catch fire if left in place.

Previously, park staff undertook most of the maintenance work at the park, but Essig said the shear amount of work and the potential dangers of trying to haul out debris led him to the conclusion that contractors would be better suited for the job.

Under the proposed plan, contractors will replace nearly all of the steel and concrete beams and clear wood and debris from behind the shaft walls. They would then spray the rock face with concrete to hold the walls in place.

According to Essig, the planned work should provide a long-term upgrade to the mine shaft, lasting up to about 80 years.

Concrete walls above the seventeenth level do not need repair and the steel cables that raise and lower the mine cars remain in good repair, having been replaced about 30 years ago. Essig said a recent inspection of the cables showed only six-percent wear in that time.

The project to overhaul the shafts is being done in three phases.

The first phase, completed in 2012, fixed the damage done by the fire.

The second and third phases are covered under the current spending bill.

The second phase will remove and replace steel beams with the third phase replacing concrete beams below the seventeenth level as well. It could take two winters to complete the work, said Essig.

The work is important not only to the park, but to the region, Essig said.

“It’s a major part of Minnesota history,” he said. “It was the first mine in Minnesota.”

More than 35,000 people use the mine shafts to access the mine tour more than 2,300 feet below the surface each year.

Nearly all of the equipment used to operate the shafts has been in place and operating since 1924, and Essig said the only failures of the equipment have come from trying to add modern electronics to the mix.

ATV campground

Plans to add a campground to allow ATV users access to regional trails were included in the original master plan for Lake Vermilion State Park when it was created by legislation. Now those plans may come to fruition.

The plan would not allow ATVs to be used in the park since the vehicles are banned within state park boundaries in Minnesota.

Essig said, however, DNR Parks and Trails staff have contemplated whether camping spaces at state parks could be used by those wanting to recreate outside of the boundaries of the properties.

While selection for the site hasn’t occured, Essig said it would most likely be located on the portion of the park that extends south of Hwy. 169 and near where the southern park boundary comes close to existing and proposed motorized trails.

With an increase in park visitorship, Essig said placing the camping area on the outskirts of the park makes sense.

He added that officials from the park and the state are hoping to meet with ATV trail enthusiasts to better develop plans for the campsites.

No timeline for the completion of the campground has been set, but funding would need to be used by the end of 2021 under the pending legislation.

The bill that would grant funding to the projects is currently in a legislative committee.