Nature has its own way of unveiling itself. As John Muir said, “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” And in some cases, what you can seek while walking in the lap of nature, can turn out to be something that you never even knew existed in this world.
Stirling Hill Mine has a history of its own. This mine is different from the other mines that would usually extract diamonds and coal. This mine hides things inside it that are inconceivable to the human eyes.
Let’s take a walk around the largest underground structure in the Northeastern United States and know the ecstatic journey of the Stirling Hill Mine, which is one of its own kind and has been through a lot before it could finally reveal the beyond-belief-extractions that it holds.
The Town
The rural town of Ogdensburg, New Jersey has been an eye-catching scenic beauty for people traveling and driving in from Route 517. The most famous site along the route is the two old brick structure. That is from where the history of it all starts.
The History
Before Ogdensburg became the home place for all the mine-workers, it had been a “company town”. The New Jersey Zinc Company had taken over almost the whole of the town for more than a century and worked extensively.
Unaware
The zinc company had teamed with a number of miners so that they could extract all the prized ore and zinc that was available within the largest mine of Ogdensburg. They tried extractions in a lot of different ways but could not come across the unique discoveries of the mine.
Searched Deeper
The company asked the miners to search deeper into the caverns and they were told to work with black powder as well as dynamites to blast the walls. But even after trying so hard, the miners could not extract anything exceptional.
Risk
The company had put the miner’s life at risk by asking them to work with such dangerous measures. But the only fact that the company bothered about was that it was making tremendous profits from the extractions.
Closed
After the company had made profits and even the city had profited materialistically, due to various other reasons the company and mine were officially closed in 1986. And this action was going to bring all the change in the small town,
Purchased
After it’s closure in 1986, brothers Bob and Dick Hauck thought that the mine could really be a profitable purchase for them. They thought about the place as a profitable business and bought it at a tax sale in 1987.
Transformed
The brothers decided to transform the mine into a museum and that is what has revealed all that the mine actually holds. It has been a place that has helped in educating children and also visitors who are left speechless after they visit this never-before-seen like mine.
Story-Teller
The museum in itself speaks on various different levels. It tells and exhibits the whole history of the mine, from the beginning to the present. The museum also shows all the back-breaking work that the miners underwent in the bygone years, and it shows it in a very unusual and creative way.
Never-Ending
The museum is vast, yet when you will reach the end of it, you will wish that you could see more of what it holds inside it. The museum that the mine is converted into is truly a treat for the eyes, showing the wonders of nature like never before.
Vastness
The museum is approximately 2,675 feet deep and stretches up to 35 miles, making a walking track nearly 1300 feet long. And it’s not just zinc that you will see when you take a walk in the museum, there’s lot more than that.
Made Easy
While working in the mine before the land was purchased by the Hauck brothers, the miners had to work in very dangerous situations, climbing and struggling to reach the top of the rocks to go deeper into the mine. But everything has changed since the museum has been made.
The Entrance
The museum has things that people never knew even existed in this world of ours. The entrance unfolds a massive shaft that goes further down below the earth’s surface, which is as deep as 2000 feet and one of its kind.
Forever Admired
When people enter the museum, they usually anticipate a lot of zinc and that is all that they can think of because zinc was the main ingredient that was extracted by the company in the previous years. But every visitor is amazed to see what all the museum holds.
New Constructions
To start with, the museum made a new addition at its entrance in the 1990s. There is a 240 long portion in the mines that was blasted and the construction of which cost a lot of money. Each foot that was blasted cost $2.
Heavenly View
At the entrance, the new construction is a rainbow tunnel, which will make you feel like you are entering another universe. It is totally different experience and the best part is that this tunnel is just the starting. There’s a lot more that lies ahead.
Rainbow Room
After walking a little further, you will enter one of the most magnificent places, the rainbow room. The short wave ultraviolet lights reflect a mesmerizing view throughout the cavern, to show off all the hidden colors of the stones, green being the dominant one.
Pathway
Before you enter the area which has a breath-taking view, you walk on a pathway that will remind you of the time when the miners had worked in the mine. There are structures to remind you of the history of the mine.
Structures
The structures of the miners have all got equipment in their hands and all of the types of equipment are outdated, which were used in the 1830s. These outdated equipment shows what kind of dangers the miners used to work in back then.
Moving Ahead
Before you reach the final heavenly destination of the museum, you will see a number of large wooden doors which are named as ‘air-doors’. These doors signify the open areas that were left in the mines so that the miners could get be protected from the toxic air that follows when zinc is extracted.
The Gems
When you reach the region of Skyland, gemstones like sapphires, rubies, garnet, and many other jewels are hidden throughout the mines. And that is not all, a lot of other precious stones and crystal deposits are also found.
1630
The history of the mine started in 1630 when the work to open the mine officially began. King George III who was ruling at that time, granted control of the mine and its operations to William Alexander, who had the title of Lord Stirling.
Sold
Because of William Alexander’s title, the mine was given the name of Stirling Hills and he sold the mine to Robert Ogden in 1765. And after this, the mine kept passing continuously from one owner to another over the years.
Stable
It was only in 1897 that the mine was formed into the New Jersey Zinc Company, for which all the mines in the region were combined. The company worked incredibly well and earned a lot of profits before it was shut down.
Closed
The New Jersey Zinc Company was forced to be shut down due to some tax disputes. It was then put for public auction and that is when Dick and Bob Hauck purchased it for $750,000. And they built one of the most enchanting museums ever.
Tourist Attraction
The Hauck brothers converted the mine into a museum and renamed it The Stirling Hill Mine Tour and Museum of Fluorescence in 1989. And in August of 1990, the place was opened for tourists to come and witness the beauty of nature.
Specialty
The mine has a whopping 357 different kinds of minerals that it boasts of. These minerals make up to 10 percent of all the minerals that have ever been known to scientists. And that is not all that is special about the Stirling Hills.
One Of A Kind
The mine has 35 special kinds of minerals that cannot be found in any other part of the whole world. In 1991, the museum was even added to the National Register of Historic Places because of its uniqueness and grandeur.
Bright Minerals
There are brightly colored ores inside the rock that the mine is made up of, the massive limestone deposits. And that just adds to the unique aura of the museum. Never could you have imagined a mine-museum to be so bright and colorful.
Significance
The region that was mined years back to extract copper and zinc was possible to mine only and only because the whole area was made up of malleable limestone which dates back to the Precambrian era, which is said to be 600 million years old.
Ancient
All of the deposits of the mine can be dated back to roughly 1.15 billion years, or even more. That is why the place has developed into something so special after all these years, and it is going to be a prominent place for tourist attraction for ages.
More Than Zinc
After the closure of the New Jersey Zinc Company, there is hardly any zinc that can be found in the mines now. But that has not lessened its value at all. In fact, in a sense, the value of the place has increased after the construction of the museum.
Hard-Work
A lot of thought, planning and action have been put in the making of the museum. It is not an easy task to convert a mine into a place for public attraction. But the Hauck brothers had decided that they would make it happen.
Planning
If we look at what the condition of the mine was years back, when miners used to work there, we realize how unbearable and tough the conditions would have been for the miners. How could a museum be built in such conditions?
Worst Conditions
The miners used to breathe hazardous air, where there was hardly any place for fresh air to come in and their lives were at a high risk all the time. It was a true challenge to even think of building a museum in such conditions.
The Formation
The ceiling of the museum is supported by a set of a number of steel beams known as “square-sets” which are tightly intact to the walls. That has made the walls of the museum stable, which was not the case earlier.
