This virtual is located in Memorial Park, better known as Sorin’s Bluff until the land was purchased as a park in 1930. The area is rich with history, disc golf and mountain bike trails. Avoiding erosion from the mountain bikes is the reason the parking lot providing easy access to the park is closed in the spring. The Terrain level for this cache is based on the effort you may need to hike up from road level in the winter. In the summertime, it’s an easy short walk.
History Lesson
Long before Red Wing was synonymous with boots or pottery, it was the center Minnesota’s lime industry. Area bluffs provided ready access to limestone which was quarried to create everything from Minneapolis’ iconic Stone Arch Bridge to thousands of building foundations around the area. The large blocks of stone for these projects left rubble. In 1853, Phineas Fish discovered the limestone chunks that fell off the river side of Barn Bluff would burn and that the “ash” would be a fine powder. What Fish didn’t know is that when limestone burns at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the heat drives carbon dioxide away from the raw limestone (calcium carbonate) and the stone disintegrates into calcium oxide, a dust otherwise known as lime or quicklime.
Though lime had multiple applications in life, the majority that came from Sorin’s Bluff and other local quarries was used in farming and construction. Farmers called quicklime a “natural manure” and used it in their soil. The local brick factory mixed lime with clay to form sand lime brick, hailed regionally for its strength and artistic color variations. And most of all, lime was mixed with sand and water to form a tough mortar used in limestone buildings across the state.
From 1870 to 1908, Gustaf Adolf Carlson owned dozens of mines on Barn Bluff and Sorin’s Bluff (the site of Memorial Park), with several of his protégés setting up their own mines to the south. By 1879, four companies operated 12 mines on Barn Bluff and Sorin’s Bluff. Rail lines had been installed to improve efficiency. Different types of kilns were created, first pot kilns which needed to be stopped, emptied, and relit frequently, and later perpetual kilns like you’ll see today. Red Wing was producing 500 barrels of lime daily.
But the industries were not to last. Around 1900, lime starting growing out of favor as the country took interest in newer concrete blocks and Portland cement. Residents were also ready for another industry. Dynamite blasts shook dishes in kitchens across Red Wing’s East End and people as far as Ellsworth complained of the tremors. Citizens started to worry that their two beautiful bluffs might disappear altogether. In 1908, mining stopped and the two major mining sites were made into parks.
What you will see
The main summer parking lot is an old quarry. Waypoint 3 is also a quarry. On the trail between them (at Waypoint 2), if there’s no snow on the ground, you’ll see where the limestone rubble entered the kiln.
Perpetual Kilns are top-fed. The gravity carries them to the fire below. When limestone burns at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the heat drives carbon dioxide away from the raw limestone (calcium carbonate) and the stone disintegrates into calcium oxide, a dust otherwise known as lime or quicklime. Workers in the tunnels would remove the lime from below the firebox. The process continued 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Proceed to the tunnel entrance (Waypoint 1) and go inside to see how the process looked from the inside.
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To claim the find
1) Attach a photo of yourself (or personal item) at the inside the cave at the kiln
-- or --
2) If you're afraid to go inside, attach a photo of yourself (or personal item) at the entrance of the main tunnel. Do not post a photo of the second entrance
--or--
3) Three steps
a) At "Limestone enters here" - How may "sides" remain to the original structure
b) At "The Quarry" - Estimate the height of the quarry from what is now the base to the grass at the top
c) At "The Kiln" - What is unique about the second entrance?
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.