[Rockhounds] Winter Rockhounding in Michigan

[Charles Baran]

Kreigh Tomaszewski wrote:

> A Field Trip To The Alabastine Gypsum Mine
>
> The ground was broken for the first shaft in 1907, and by mid 1908 the 
> hand dug shaft had reached the twelve foot thick gypsum seam with a 
> floor about 85 feet underground at 1200 Judd St. S.W., in Wyoming, 
> Michigan. A wooden stairwell surrounding the shaft was completed by 
> the end of the year.
>
> The next requirement of the Alabastine Company was digging a well in 
> the mine to supply fresh water for the workers and mules that would be 
> pulling the mine carts. The mules were housed in an underground stable 
> that was completed in 1909. The well, completed the same year, went to 
> a porus rock layer 160 feet underground. The first 20 feet of the 
> shaft was thru dirt, sand, and glacial gravel before bedrock was reached.
>
> Most of the output of the mine was used to produce plaster for stucco, 
> and as a sparkly filler for paint. In later years the mine output was 
> used to make gypsum wallboard. The Alabastine Company went bankrupt 40 
> years later due to poor management.
>
> Mining was done by drilling two inch diameter holes six to ten feet 
> into the walls during the day. In the evening dynamite would be placed 
> and set off. By morning the dust would have settled and the miners 
> would come in, clear the rubble, and hopefully drill the holes for the 
> next day's 'shot'.
>
> The mine has four main tunnels with 75 'rooms' branching off them 
> (only one is completely filled with rubble, the rest are at least 
> passable, but you have to crawl in some). Each room averages 75 x 700 
> feet. Each tunnel is about 30 feet wide. The mine workings comprise 
> about 7 million cubic feet of gypsum that was removed, and 800,000 
> square feet of floor space, and left behind almost 100 thousand cubic 
> feed of gangue, much of which has been cleared so the mine could be 
> used for storage. But there is still a big section of the mine that is 
> not being used other than for collecting and has not been cleaned.
>
> The temperature of the mine is a natural 50-52 degrees. When the mine 
> went bankrupt the Michigan Natural Storage Company was formed to take 
> advantage of this natural refrigerator. Many Michigan crops are stored 
> in the mine and released throughout the year for sale. Some of the 
> 'rooms' are refrigerated to lower temperatures, and only rise two 
> degrees a month. Some rooms are rented to companies for storage, and 
> today there is a data center located in the mine.
>
> The Michigan Natural Storage Company sank two additional shafts to the 
> mine in the late 1960s at a cost of $1.25 a foot. The original shaft 
> is no longer used. For many years the mine was designated as a 
> 'Fallout Shelter' that could hold a hundred thousand people. BTW, the 
> company pays taxes on both their surface and underground land rights.
>
> The mine is famous for its white alabaster with large crystals that 
> sparkle, and for its honey colored selenite (the orange color is due 
> to a halite impurity), with pencil crystals up to a foot long. There 
> are also vugs containing perfect selenite crystals. The shale seams at 
> the top and bottom of the gypsum contain shark fossils. There is a 
> half inch thick layer of clear selenite at the ceiling in most of the 
> mine.
>
> The family owned Storage Company had a long history of allowing public 
> access to the mine. In the 1960s they had multiple tours a day and 
> charged a quarter. By the late 1980s it was up to a dollar. In the 
> 1990s they switched to only allowing non-profit groups access. The 
> private company was sold around 2000 and public access disappeared; 
> admission price at that time was $2. The latest news is that the 
> company is again allowing (very) limited access to non-profit 
> organizations at $3 via a lottery (fax in your request).
>
> I thought you might like to know a bit more about my local mine. The 
> Alabastine has been an old friend to me for more than 40 years. I 
> wrote a report on it to get my Geology Merit Badge in Boy Scouts, and 
> have been back many times. I even have the survey map of the mine. I 
> always have hopes of yet another visit.
>
> I went back today.
>
> It was 22 degrees, and snowing about an inch an hour, when my wife and 
> I loaded up the van with buckets, hard hats, boots, hammers, chisels, 
> and flashlights. We drove to the Michigan Natural Storage Co. 
> warehouse about five miles away and met about 40 other rockhounds from 
> the Tulip City and Indian Mounds clubs in the parking lot. When our 
> host, Professor Kevin Cole, from GVSU, arrived we unloaded our gear 
> and went in the open door to get out of the cold. It was 10:00 am and 
> we had the Alabastine Mine to ourselves for the rest of the day. They 
> left the door open for us and we never saw an employee.
>
> Our leader, Jon Mull, verified who was along on his signup sheet. We 
> were instructed on signing out when we left the mine so he could be 
> sure nobody got left behind in the mine. Some folks choose to take the 
> stairs down, and the rest of us piled into the big elevator. The doors 
> closed and Roger King pressed the button labeled 'mine', and down we 
> went. BTW, Roger knew the owners and almost grew up in the mine - he 
> had more hours in the mine than all the rest of us together.
>
> 84 feet later the elevator stopped, the doors opened, and we stepped 
> into the mine. We closed the elevator doors in case latecomers arrived 
> and wanted to recall it to the surface. Much of the mine is used as a 
> warehouse and has a cement floor. We walked thru this clean part to 
> the end of the floor and the last light bulb. Everyone sat down, 
> pulled off their street shoes, and put on their boots. Many also shed 
> their winter jackets as it was a balmy, muggy, 52 degrees in the mine. 
> I went down to a tee shirt and vest (I had a sweatshirt just in case).
>
> Then we scattered into the dark, rubble filled, and very muddy 
> tunnels. Epsomite hairs hung from the ceiling in places. Soon the mine 
> was filled with the clink, clink, clink sound of hammers hitting 
> chisels. You could also hear conversations about what people were 
> finding. Some were lucky to find selenite vugs in the walls. Some were 
> trying to mine pencil selenite. A few were after fossils in the 
> ceiling. A couple were going thru the gangue.
>
> Some folks filled their buckets, ran the elevator, and took them out 
> to their cars, and returned for more hard rock mining. We really did 
> have free run of the mine. Some folks came back to the light to eat 
> lunches out of bags. Some folks had their fill and headed out. Adults 
> and children all had smiles on their faces. I spent a little while 
> crawling thru the tunnels and taking pictures of my fellow rockhounds 
> at their work.
>
> By mid-afternoon my wife and I had filled three buckets with specimens 
> and decided we had enough for the day. We went back to the light, took 
> off our muddy boots, put on our street shoes and winter jackets, and 
> hiked back to the elevator. We signed out, opened the elevator doors, 
> and went back to the surface. We closed the elevator doors for the 
> next person who needed it.
>
> Walking out of the warehouse we found four inches of new snow had 
> fallen while we had been in our underground world. We loaded our 
> treasures into the van and drove home. By then it was good to get out 
> of our damp and muddy clothes. I had worked up a sweat underground.
>
> Any day a rockhound gets to go into a mine is a good day. There is 
> something timeless and magical about being underground. Mining is 
> tiring but rewarding. Being able to take a vacation from winter by 
> going underground to collect made this a special trip. For a few hours 
> it was summer again, and I was out in the field collecting rocks. It 
> doesn't get much better.
>
> Kreigh
>
>
That's just more fun that a person should have.  I am SOoo jealous!

Chuck Baran