Detroit Salt Mine Sold

[msamslex]

Detroit's underground rock salt mine sold - Crain's Detroit Business - Detroit

[Pcm]

Over which part of the city is the mine located? Where the heck to you enter it?

[Gsgeorge]

Crazy place, I hear there is 300 miles of salt tunnels under Detroit. Interesting that an Ontario-based company purchased it after all. The mine has continually supplied more salt to Ontario & Canada than to local municipalities and businessmen for years. They rarely let visitors or tourists. Although I heard most recently Matthew Barney was allowed access.

It's tucked away between Fort, Oakwood, and the Schaeffer junction, in other words, here:
http://tinyurl.com/2byfhud

[Detroitnerd]

Over which part of the city is the mine located? Where the heck to you enter it?

You leap from the top of the Professional Building and you'll disappear in mid-air into the Detroit vortex, which will transport you to the bottom of the shaft.

[old guy]

Right here.
Attachment 7616

[Pcm]

Looks like a classy joint. Thanks for the links.

[ruth]

cool map Old Guy where did you find that?

[old guy]

Googled Detroit Salt Mine and some pictures come up if you need the map larger. There are some great stories. One that said when they lowered mules down into the mine, they stayed there until they died. The opening was so small they had to compress tires to get them down the shaft.

[mikefmich]

Crazy place, I hear there is 300 miles of salt tunnels under Detroit. Interesting that an Ontario-based company purchased it after all. The mine has continually supplied more salt to Ontario & Canada than to local municipalities and businessmen for years. They rarely let visitors or tourists. Although I heard most recently Matthew Barney was allowed access.

It's tucked away between Fort, Oakwood, and the Schaeffer junction, in other words, here:
http://tinyurl.com/2byfhud

I was down there as a kid more than once. Used to give tours all the time....general public, school, etc.

I did a report on the salt mine for school about 6th grade....seems I remember some fact about more salt under Detroit than mostof the entire world.

[littlebuddy]

I thought that Detroit and alot of Michigan got their salt from Ohio area.

[marcwigle]

Here's a link to the company website... pretty neat stuff.

http://www.detroitsalt.com/home.htm

[Magnatomicflux]

I thought that Detroit and alot of Michigan got their salt from Ohio area.

Pretty sure SW Michigan gets a whole lot from Windsor as well. Windsor and Godrich have Ontario pretty much covered.

mikefmich - Godrich Ont has the largest salt mine in the world, so I would think your memories about Detroit having more salt under it then most of the planet is fairly accurate. This whole area of the southern great lakes is probably super rich in salt deposits we havn't even found yet.

[gnome]

I believe the ancient salt seas left the huge deposits of salt. From morton salt in Manistee to Dow in Bay City/Saginaw, the chenicals pulled from the salt deposits [[bromine, choride, etc...) have made a lot of people wealthy.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...26tbs%3Disch:1

[Funaho]

This entire area was once an enormous inland sea that dried up and left a huge salt deposit stretching through Michigan, Ohio and Ontario. Not sure how much of it is easily accessible, but there's a lot of it to be had.

Fun fact: this area used to be much closer to the equator a long time ago.

[Savoyard]

Did anyone else taken a tour of the salt mine? I believe it was in the 70s or 80s that they opened it up to tours. I remember it cost $10. Very cool experience. The elevator to the bottom of the shaft is very small. Fit maybe 5-6 people at a time. We boarded a truck, which took us to the various galleries of salt. Many were filled with old equipment that wasn't feasible to disassemble and haul back up. One gallery was reserved strictly for dead donkeys and mules that were lowered when young, and again wasn't feasible to haul the full-grown dead bodies back up. I still remember they pulled the truck into one gallery and turned off the lights. Don't think I've even experienced such blackness since. Way cool. I suspect that, because of insurance liabilities, these tours will never happen again.

[Sandhouse]

I would love to be able to gain admission to the salt mine!
It's interesting to see how the shape of the underground workings are dictated by the sale of rights by the surface owners. I wonder if it's a correct presumption that the original lease was from the Wabash Railroad [[who might have hoped to profit from the transport of the salt, or who used the salt in refrigerator cars). It looks like another lease was granted by the state highway department under I-94, maybe to help ensure a supply of road salt.

[DetroitPole]

Did anyone else taken a tour of the salt mine? I believe it was in the 70s or 80s that they opened it up to tours. I remember it cost $10. Very cool experience. The elevator to the bottom of the shaft is very small. Fit maybe 5-6 people at a time. We boarded a truck, which took us to the various galleries of salt. Many were filled with old equipment that wasn't feasible to disassemble and haul back up. One gallery was reserved strictly for dead donkeys and mules that were lowered when young, and again wasn't feasible to haul the full-grown dead bodies back up. I still remember they pulled the truck into one gallery and turned off the lights. Don't think I've even experienced such blackness since. Way cool. I suspect that, because of insurance liabilities, these tours will never happen again.

Poland has done it...it is a world heritage site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieliczka_Salt_Mine

I went there. It was pretty amazing. Granted they built chapels and statues and stuff.

Unless the mine is dangerous or in disrepair, I don't see why we couldn't do it. Seems like insurance shouldn't be too bad...not a lot of ways to break into a mine and not a lot to steal anyway... It is probably because we are averse to doing anything new or innovative around here. If it isn't hunting, gathering, or building cars, screw it.

[Patrick]

Surprised the Chinese didin't buy the place.

[Downrivergal]

This is the old neighborhood, Oakwood Heights. A tiny neighborhood lumped into Delray, but really its own little entity. Moving to Melvindale meant you were movin on up!! But most places were either rentals or in the same family for generations. My great grandparents bought their house in the 30's... stayed in the family until very recently

[48217]

Oakwood is no part of Delray, they are separated by the Rough River. [[and Carbon Works) Years ago, most homes were owned, rentals the last 40 years. All the San Marinos and Italians moved many years ago.

[Hypestyles]

how much pollution does the salt mine produce? How many jobs does it hold?