Tuesday, July 21, 2020

the Rock Cut in the Huron mountains


there is a guy walking in the center, just a bit to the right, for scale


Deep within the Huron Mountains, this is one of the few remnants of the Iron Range and Huron Bay Railroad, which cost millions of dollars to build (In the 1800's!), but was never used to transport a single pound of cargo before the mines in the area started to dry up, and the investors of the railroad ran out of money.

 The railroad company quickly went way over budget, since building a railroad through a mountain range isn't exactly easy or cost effective. This railroad had twice the recommended max vertical grade of railroads at the time. The Rock Cut was one of the most expensive parts of the railroad, as they needed literally tons of explosives to blast through the incredibly hard granite rock in the area.

Once the railroad was deemed a failure, it was disassembled, and the materials were sold off to recoup some of the costs. Afterwards, the chief engineer of the railroad fled to Mexico to escape fraud allegations, and was never heard from again.



https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Range_and_Huron_Bay_Railroad
https://www.facebook.com/mattjungphoto/posts/734999590285810

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