4 ms·

I went down to these mines on a school field trip as a child 30+ years ago. I can almost remember it like it was yesterday, even the smell, and the surprising w

by danans 7y ago

I went down to these mines on a school field trip as a child 30+ years ago. I can almost remember it like it was yesterday, even the smell, and the surprising warmth despite it being the dead of winter outside. I kept a chunk of salt I brought back under my bed for years after that.

dmix 7y ago
Neat. How did you enter the mine?
- danans 7y ago
  There was an elevator
chipperyman573 7y ago
Why did it have such a significant impact?
- danans 7y ago
  Well, I was about 8 years old, so it was just ... neat I guess. In a creepy movie kind of way. I remember it being very yellowish but maybe that was the color of the lights. Also I've never been in a mine since then.
- altcognito 7y ago
  It was a common "field" trip for kids in the Detroit area. I went as well, and yeah, there was something very pleasant about the trip. I imagine it was notable for the fact you didn't get a ton of field trips, much less to one with giant machinery down a rickety elevator with an element of danger.
myself248 7y ago
I took such a trip too! Here's what I remember: The elevator car was very small, and we were packed in, nose-to-buttcheek, since I was quite small myself at the time. Oy. It was only closed at the bottom -- it was shaped like a hot air balloon basket, with the upper sides open. We kids were strictly admonished to not even try to touch the sides of the shaft as they went by, though I don't think I could reach that far up anyway. Our ears popped several times on the way down. The ride to the bottom took over a minute, which seemed very long for an elevator not stopping at any other floors! The ride down was dark, which gave our eyes time to adapt. Once we reached the bottom, the mine seemed bright, although the light level was probably quite low in absolute terms. I remember the light fixtures being attached to the ceiling, drilled straight into the salty rock. There were vehicles down there! This blew my mind, and even at the young age, I recognized them as older style vehicles, Jeeps and such which had been down there for years. I have no idea how they were kept from rusting immediately. The air tasted of salt. Everything was covered in salt dust. We were given a ride on a vehicle of some sort, I don't remember if we were in the back of a Jeep or on a trailer hayride-style, but we covered quite some distance into the mine. The room-and-pillar system was pointed out, and we got to see the conveyor bringing salt from the active face being mined at the moment, though we didn't get close to the active room itself. They let us grab some lumps of salt to bring them home. Whatever you could fit in a backpack to ride the elevator back up, is what I was told. Some of those samples made it into my rock collection, some are still in my memory-box. I don't know what became of the others, but I was using one as a paperweight in elementary school. I don't know why they closed the mine to tours, but it's a great loss to education. Obviously experiences like that are transformative to a young kid! In the years since, I've oft wondered if the exceptional stability of that geological formation might make it good for other sorts of uses. Archive storage, or perhaps it's the "secret undisclosed location" where important people scuttle off to when bad things happen. The size of the mine, several miles and with extents under four cities, is remarkable. It's surely expanded further since this map was made: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~copyrght/image/solstice/sum99/salt1.jpg http://www-personal.umich.edu/~copyrght/image/solstice/sum99...
- knute 7y ago
  > I have no idea how they were kept from rusting immediately. Rust isn't a huge problem because the environment is very dry. Salt doesn't cause rust, it just makes it worse.

by danans 7y ago

dmix 7y ago

Neat. How did you enter the mine?

danans 7y ago
There was an elevator

chipperyman573 7y ago

Why did it have such a significant impact?

danans 7y ago
Well, I was about 8 years old, so it was just ... neat I guess. In a creepy movie kind of way. I remember it being very yellowish but maybe that was the color of the lights. Also I've never been in a mine since then.
altcognito 7y ago
It was a common "field" trip for kids in the Detroit area. I went as well, and yeah, there was something very pleasant about the trip. I imagine it was notable for the fact you didn't get a ton of field trips, much less to one with giant machinery down a rickety elevator with an element of danger.

myself248 7y ago

I took such a trip too! Here's what I remember: The elevator car was very small, and we were packed in, nose-to-buttcheek, since I was quite small myself at the time. Oy. It was only closed at the bottom -- it was shaped like a hot air balloon basket, with the upper sides open. We kids were strictly admonished to not even try to touch the sides of the shaft as they went by, though I don't think I could reach that far up anyway. Our ears popped several times on the way down. The ride to the bottom took over a minute, which seemed very long for an elevator not stopping at any other floors! The ride down was dark, which gave our eyes time to adapt. Once we reached the bottom, the mine seemed bright, although the light level was probably quite low in absolute terms. I remember the light fixtures being attached to the ceiling, drilled straight into the salty rock. There were vehicles down there! This blew my mind, and even at the young age, I recognized them as older style vehicles, Jeeps and such which had been down there for years. I have no idea how they were kept from rusting immediately. The air tasted of salt. Everything was covered in salt dust. We were given a ride on a vehicle of some sort, I don't remember if we were in the back of a Jeep or on a trailer hayride-style, but we covered quite some distance into the mine. The room-and-pillar system was pointed out, and we got to see the conveyor bringing salt from the active face being mined at the moment, though we didn't get close to the active room itself. They let us grab some lumps of salt to bring them home. Whatever you could fit in a backpack to ride the elevator back up, is what I was told. Some of those samples made it into my rock collection, some are still in my memory-box. I don't know what became of the others, but I was using one as a paperweight in elementary school. I don't know why they closed the mine to tours, but it's a great loss to education. Obviously experiences like that are transformative to a young kid! In the years since, I've oft wondered if the exceptional stability of that geological formation might make it good for other sorts of uses. Archive storage, or perhaps it's the "secret undisclosed location" where important people scuttle off to when bad things happen. The size of the mine, several miles and with extents under four cities, is remarkable. It's surely expanded further since this map was made: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~copyrght/image/solstice/sum99/salt1.jpg http://www-personal.umich.edu/~copyrght/image/solstice/sum99...

knute 7y ago
> I have no idea how they were kept from rusting immediately. Rust isn't a huge problem because the environment is very dry. Salt doesn't cause rust, it just makes it worse.