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About Mainstreet
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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Made possible by a grant from the Blandin Foundation
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