ELY ROCK CRUSHER EarthCache
eagleyes: Time to let this one go.
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FAILURE TO EMAIL ME THE ANSWER AT THE TIME YOU LOG THE CACHE WILL RESULT IN YOUR LOG BEING DELETED
THE ROCK CRUSHER IS ON WELL POSTED PRIVATE PROPERTY – DO NOT ATTEMPT TO GET ANY CLOSER. THE COORDS WILL TAKE YOU TO AN EXCELLENT OBSERVATION PULLOFF ON HIGHWAY 169. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE.
YOU SHOULD PULL OFF THE ROAD AS FAR AS YOU CAN AS THIS AREA HAS A POSTED SPEED OF 55 AND HEAVY TRAFFIC.
I WILL DELETE ANY LOGS WITH PICTURES OF THE ROCK CRUSHER.
Three miles west of the town of Ely, Minnesota, on the site of the Lindblad farm, and looking north of where you are now standing was the Ely Rock Crusher. You can see a pile of crushed Greenstone protruding above the trees. The company that operated the Rock Crusher was the Ely Emeralite Products Company headquartered in North Carolina. It quarried Ely Greenstone rock at this site, crushed it into granules, and shipped it out to be used as surfacing on roofing paper and shingles throughout the USA. Beginning in 1921, it shipped two rail cars per day and when in full production, it was shipping ten cars per day. At that time, it employed 45 men, with 2 supervisors, and one manager. In 1937, the plant closed because a method to use artificial coloring techniques on cheaper rock granules was developed, and the plant could no longer compete. The work was dangerous. There were few safety regulations for gear, clothing, and breathing the rock dust. The laborers were paid 35 cents an hour for a ten hour day.
CONTINUE INTO ELY and drive around the west end of town where there are a lot of older houses that still have a roof covered with granules from this site.
GREENSTONE: A pale to dark colored, metamorphosed ( changed) basalt or gabbro. The color depends on the percentage of minerals in the matrix.
TO GET CREDIT FOR THIS CACHE, email me the answer to the question posed below.
Based on these definitions, which 2 minerals are dominant to produce the color you are seeing in the pile of crushed Greenstone? It is not a winter cache as the pile may be covered with snow.
Select 2 of the following 4 minerals for your answer: A,B,C,D
A. ACTINOLITE: A dark iron-rich mineral
B. CHLORITE: Generally soft green mineral
C. EPIDOTE: Generally pistachio green mineral
D. HORNBLENDE: A dark blackish mineral
CREDITS: Roadside Geology of Minnesota – Ojakangas
ELY’S WEST END IN THE THIRTIES –Stenlund
MINNESOTA UNDERFOOT – Sansome –
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gur gerrf unir tbggra gnyyre. Ybbx uvtu nobir gur gerryvar. Zvtug or orggre ivrjvat jura gur yrnirf nerag ba gur gerrf.
Treasures
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