The Detroit times., 1910-06-13
|EnTEn OF CITY IN
UPPER PENINSULA
IS SINKING
White Men Work in Mine Under
meath Iron Mountain, Ground Set
Ties at Rats Of Quarter Of an
Inch Day.
Railroad Has Been Lifting Its Road
bed in Deep Cash in Earth for
Twelve Years.

~ MAhQOh Il, MiSu'' SNA
unique sight In the heart OF the city
4 OF Iron Mountain. metropolis OF the
Menominee iron range, Is a great PIT
\; nearly one-half mile long. 500 To 900
(, feet wide and 100 10 1870 feet deep
! The existence OF this pit is due to the
i fact that underneath IL is portion OF
4 the workings OF the United States
Steel corporations Chaplin mine anu
n that there Is In these workings tue
y caving system Of mining, now peins
conducted at a depth OF l,2oo 10 LAW
K feet. Across this big depression IL Is
necessary To maintain a pupnc nisn-
way. foot path. the tracks OF DOTH
/, the Chicago a. Northwestern and Cnr
cago. Milwaukee a st. Paul railroads'
q Pinch pipe line and 2s-inch sew
er main. This latter pipe carries
away the water pumped from the
mine, in addition TO the sewage Oh me
city.
when the .caving system was first
introduced at the Chaplin mine the
sinking OF the Chicago Northwest.
ern roadbed averaged five-eighths Oh
nm inch day. or nineteen feet year.
For number OF years past IL mas
been less than a quarter OF an inch
n day. The Chicago, Milwaukee a.,
st. Paul company extended its line to
the city after the pit had started to
form, and It has been filling and lift
inx it's roadhsd~ since 1898. gravel
train Is kept at work practically all
the time. The crossing Is at point
where mining is carried on with par
ticular activity. and. the settling Is
from twenty to twenty-five feet year.
The fll Ii 12s feet. with slope dis
lance ON tlfe side OF 225 feet
In keeping up the Chicago. Milwau-
kee q ST. Paul roadbed. fiat cars, load
ed by steam shovel, are used TO haul
the gravel and sand. They are dump
Cd by means of pillow drawn by the
locomotive and attached 10 IL by a
steel cable. Three tracks are main
tanned. That In the center Is the main
( line. while the other two. which are
usually from three TO five feet lower.
are used simply as benches or should
ers from which to dump the dirt and
thus maintain a wide embankment.
As the roadbed settles, the ties on the
outer tracks are elevated and the
earth is tamped underneath them.
When these tracks are brought up
about TO the level of the main line,
the work Is diverted and the main
1ine Is lifted until II is In its true posi-
ton. AS the mine Is growing deeper
and the ground Is continually set
klinG. the base of the I'LL Is ever widen
lng and az q result the railroad gains
but very little on the sinking
The work of the Chicago & North
western company is much simpler, In
asmuch as its right-of-way is near the
street and the settling Is less. The
Northwestern has been maintaining
it track since 1897 The Steel cor
poration keeps up the highway. and
ID doing so maintains one side OF the
embankment for the railroad com |
pany. The street crossing settles APP |
proximately eight feet year. and this |
a filled with waste dirt hauled by |
wagon from the mine, the railroad |
bringing In few trainloads of earth |
1ntermittently as needed. In the fall, |
before winter sets In. additional wag
ons are utilized and sufficient mater
ial Ia hauled in to bring the road up |
a. nearly level as possible. The street
- fifty feet wide.
The pipe lines are side by side. be-
ing mounted upon pillars twenty feet
apart and built Of wooden blocks. The |
pipes are on rollers. to take care OF
the expansion and contraction. Be
tween each of the large supports
there is smaller one upon which a
jack screw Is mounted. As the en-
tire line settles these jacks are given
few turns until the pipe Is brought |
10 a level position. and then II is
wedged In place on the main pillars.
After the jacks have been extended |
their full length they are taken down,
their foundation Is rebuilt and the
Jacks replaced. IN this way both the
water and air lines have been main
tanned a number Of years without any
serious accident. On top of the pipes /
there Is framework which forms a
footpath across the mine