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Mainstreet Radio Special: The Soudan Mine
Midday broadcast from the Soudan Underground Mine State Park
 Hosted by Rachel Reabe
Friday, July 26, 2002: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CT

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Listen to the archived broadcast in RealAudio:

Hour One
Hour Two
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About Mainstreet
Mainstreet Radio started in 1987 with the mission of reporting from rural Minnesota to all of Minnesota. Each month, Mainstreet Radio presents a two-hour special focusing on rural issues.
Go to Mainstreet Radio
MPR's Mainstreet Radio looks at the history and future of the Soudan underground mine in northern Minnesota. It's Minnesota's oldest mine, but now scientists are doing cutting-edge research in a futuristic laboratory deep inside the historic mine.
Listen to Part One
The Soudan mine was Minnesota's first mine, beginning operation in 1883. It has a rich history over its 80 years of operation as an active mine. Even after mining activity was ended, the facility never closed down. Instead, it became a historic site open to the public for tours. More than one million people have visited the Soudan Underground Mine since tours began in the 1960s.

Guests:
Andy Larson,  president of the Tower Soudan Historical Society. Larson is a third generation miner
Pete Pellinen,  guide/interpreter
Rick Fields,  interpretative supervisor
John Berquist,  folk music performer who specializes in the music, traditions and culture of the Iron Range
Listen to Part Two
Scientists, not miners, now work in the Soudan mine. They are conducting groundbreaking research in a futuristic laboratory deep inside the historic mine. Physicists from around the world are studying neutrinos, tiny atomic particles that can pass through solid rock.

A 6,000-ton neutrino detector is being constructed, part of a $46 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Ultimately, the experiment could provide vital information about the origin and creation of the universe.
Guests:
Marvin Marshak,  University of Minnesota physicist and a project leader of the neutrino study
W. Louis Barrett,  Western Washington University physicist and researcher at Soudan
Made possible by a grant from the Blandin Foundation
Made possible by a grant from the Blandin Foundation
More about the Soudan Mine
Slideshow: Soudan's mining history
July 26, 2002 View photos 

Slideshow: Soudan today
July 26, 2002 View photos 

Soudan researchers are an international crew
July 26, 2002 Read 

A Minnesota Century: Mining the North
May 1999 Read - Listen

Related Links
Minnesota DNR,Soudan Underground Mine State Park

University of Minnesota,Soudan Underground Laboratory

The Minos Mural Project,by artist Joseph Giannetti

Iron Range Research Center