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The questions to answer are posted twice here for Garmin Colorado (like me) and Oregon users - here are the questions so they are not cut off of the cache page.
To Log this Earth Cache:
1) Take a photo of you and/or your group with the monument in the background. Please do not show the plaques. Also, take a few close-ups of the iron ore. You will need this for a subsequent question.
2) Using the plaque and other surrounding signs to answer the following questions:
a. How far away was the original Iron Ore discovery from the original location of this monument?
b. Who was the government surveyor who discovered Iron Ore here?
c. Marji-Gesick, a Chippewa Indian Chief, took the prospectors from Jackson and showed them Iron Ore located where?
3) What type of Iron Ore is this? Describe how it looks.
4) 20 feet away on the north side of the monument is a small rock that has a hole in the center. In that hole is a device used for mining. What is it and how is it used?
5) Using my profile – email me the answers to questions #2, 3, and 4.
This earth cache takes you to Miners Park located in Negaunee, MI where you will find a large iron monument along with some signs and plaques presented to the citizens of “Irontown” USA in 1904. The monument is made of every kind of rock, ore, and mineral found in the Iron Country.
Most of us probably take for granted all of the items in our daily lives that starts with iron ore and is processed / refined into a usable product that can be used in our homes and businesses. Iron is the world’s most commonly used metal. Roughly 5% of the earth’s crust is iron ore. Iron ore is rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted in highly concentrated forms. Iron ore is used to make pig iron which is material used to make steel. 98% of the mined iron ore is used to make steel. In Northern Michigan such high grade iron ores are found. In the last one hundred years over three-quarters of a billion tons have been removed and shipped to refining furnaces on and/or near the Great Lakes.
Geology of the Area
Geographically, Michigan iron ore is found widely scattered throughout the western half of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan. Geologically, it is a part of the exposed southern part of a triangular shaped area of bedrock known as the Canadian Precambrian Shield. This shield of ancient rocks (500 to 3,550 million years old) covers an area of approximately 2,800,000 square miles in Canada, Greenland, and the United States. The southern portion of the Canadian Precambrian shield is exposed in the northern parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The Canadian Precambrian shield is overlapped on all sides by younger strata that dip gently away from the older core.
Michigan’s iron ore are the Precambrian rocks in the immediate vicinity of Lake Superior. They conform somewhat to a structural basin with Lake Superior at the center especially in the area surrounding the southwestern part of Lake Superior. The rocks are divided into three great series — the Archean, Huronian, and Keweenawan. Each series contains many smaller units, which represent three different stages of sedimentary rock deposition, igneous intrusion, mountain building, and erosion.
The Archean are the oldest rocks known in Michigan and consist of altered ancient lava flows that have been intruded by granite. Overlying and lapping onto the Archean rocks of the Canadian shield are the next younger, the Huronian formation. The Huronian are a thick series of sedimentary rocks.
Michigan iron ore is found as isolated masses in a Huronian rock called iron formation. Iron formation is a banded sedimentary rock commonly composed of layers of silica (the mineral of sand and glass), alternating with layers of iron minerals. Such rock is found only in very old rocks, the Precambrian. Conditions for banded iron formation have not been repeated in later geologic time. Precambrian banded iron formations are found in a few other places on the earth's surface, principally Labrador, Quebec, Manchuria, India, Brazil and the Krivoy Rog area of Russia, but until recently such deposits have been little utilized for iron ore production excepting the United States.
History of Irontown USA
Iron ore production in Michigan had a humble beginning. Prior to 1840, bog ore found in swamps was used in charcoal furnaces to produce pig iron. This iron ore was of low grade and deposits were small, thus limiting the size and advance of the industry.
It was not until discovery of the iron formations in 1844, near this location in Negaunee that iron production in Michigan assumed any importance. In September of 1844, William A. Burt, along with other government surveyors were surveying and noticed extreme deflections of the needles on their magnetic compass. Upon examination of the surrounding area, iron formations were found to be the cause of the magnetic disturbance. Iron was discovered in the Lake Superior region. That find proved to be the richest vein of iron yet discovered at the time - the Marquette Range.
The next year, a party of men from Jackson, Michigan organized the Jackson Mining Company. In the vicinity of the 1844 discovery site, they discovered another location, secured a mining permit, and opened the Jackson mine. They needed an outlet for their ore and in 1847s, erected a forge on the Carp River (see information below about the Iron Industry Museum), three miles east of Negaunee, for the reduction of iron ore to pig iron. In 1849 a forge was built at Marquette and in 1855 one was erected at Collinsville. The first blast furnace, the Pioneer No. 1, was built near the Jackson mine and went into operation in April, 1849. Charcoal was needed for reducing the ore and in the vicinity was an abundance of hardwood forests from which charcoal was made.
From 1848 to 1855, the Jackson Iron Company and others manufactured wrought iron from local ore and demonstrated the high quality of Michigan's iron ore deposits. In that pioneer enterprise was the seed of the Michigan iron industry that flourished for 125 years and still produces nearly one-quarter of the iron ore mined in the United States. Cities like Negaunee, Ishpeming, and Champion sprang up to mine the iron. Nearby, directly on Lake Superior is the city of Marquette. Roads and railroads from these mining towns were built and led to Marquette with it’s harbor so the iron ore could be shipped and processed over the Great Lakes. In 1855, a canal was opened along the St. Mary River connecting Lake Superior with Lake Huron and in 1856 regular shipments began from the Marquette range to the lower lake ports. This canal is still a very important part of Great Lakes commerce – it is the Soo Locks in Sault Ste Marie.
Negaunee and neighboring town Ishpeming lay in the heart of the Marquette Iron Range (which has been mined from 1847 to present). The Upper Peninsula had been referred to as the “Barren Wasteland”. In the early 19th century, settlers moving westward from the eastern United States bypassed the UP because of its reputation as an inhospitable wilderness. However, the discovery of iron and other metals changed all of that!
The Lake Superior region has produced 95% of the US’s iron supply. Minnesota leads the nation with 70% of the production, while Michigan produces most of the rest (25%). More than 98% of the iron ore that is shipped in the world is used to make steel, while the rest is used in pigments, chemicals, or in other, minor uses. Geographically, Michigan iron ore is found widely scattered throughout the western half of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan. It is a part of the exposed southern part of a triangular shaped area of bedrock known as the Canadian Precambrian Shield. World production averages one billion metric tons of raw ore annually.
This monument was erected by the Jackson Iron Company in 1904 to mark the first discovery of iron ore in the Lake Superior region. This current location of the monument is not the original location. The original location of the monument is more than 1.5 miles away located in Old Town. Old Town has also been known as the “caving grounds” to the locals. Old town is home to open mining pits and underground tunnels – some of which have caved in and caused safety concerns. It has been fenced and closed off to the public since the 1950’s. Recently, the city of Negaunee has purchased the land and parts have been slowly been opened back up to the public. The Iron Ore Heritage Trail (a 48 mile long trail) goes through about 1 mile of Own Town and 10 member communities. In 1974 the monument was dismantled, moved, and re-constructed here in Miners Park by the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company.
You may also want to visit the nearby Iron Industry Museum operated by the State of Michigan which is located at the site of the first iron forge in the Lake Superior region (not too far from this location). Admission is free. You may find our more information here: www.michigan.gov/ironindustrymuseum.
To Log this Earth Cache:
1) Take a photo of you and/or your group with the monument in the background. Please do not show the plaques. Also, take a few close-ups of the iron ore. You will need this for a subsequent question.
2) Using the plaque and other surrounding signs to answer the following questions:
a. How far away was the original Iron Ore discovery from the original location of this monument?
b. Who was the government surveyor who discovered Iron Ore here?
c. Marji-Gesick, a Chippewa Indian Chief, took the prospectors from Jackson and showed them Iron Ore located where?
3) What type of Iron Ore is this? Describe how it looks.
4) 20 feet away on the north side of the monument is a small rock that has a hole in the center. In that hole is a device used for mining. What is it and how is it used?
5) Using my profile – email me the answers to questions #2, 3, and 4.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)