The fishing pier and dock at Lake Vermillion -- Soudan Underground Mine State Park
A trip to Lake Vermillion — Soudan Underground Mine State Park offers a two-for-one deal: camping at Minnesota’s newest campground in old growth pine forests on a lake on the southern edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and an underground adventure exploring Minnesota’s oldest iron ore mine, a designated National Historical Landmark.
Throw in a trip to nearby Bear Head Lake State Park, and you’re looking at a threefer that makes the long trek (about five hours from the Twin Cities) to northern Minnesota worthwhile.
Lake Vermillion — Soudan Underground Mine State Park (LVSUM) is made up of two parts:
- An underground mine U.S. Steel donated to the State of Minnesota which opened it in 1965 as a State Park with mine tours and picnic facilities; and
- A 3,000-acre expansion with five miles of shoreline on east of the mine on Lake Vermillion that the state purchased in 2010 and has been slowly developing — first for day-use only, and recently, overnight camping.
The view from the edge of the cart gantry at Soudan Mine.
The gantry that carried ore to rail cars is still standing.
First, let’s talk about the mine part of the park. The Soudan Mine — Minesota’s first iron ore mine — opened as an open pit mine in 1882. Operations moved underground by 1892 for safety reasons and since the ore ran deep into the ground. The mine was notable for it’s huge vein of high-quality iron ore, a very valuable commodity in making high-quality steel in the days of open-hearth furnaces.
The Soudan was considered the “Cadillac” of mines, according to our tour guide, Pete, because of the amount and value of the ore, and the relatively good working conditions: it had good air ventiliaiton and flooding was not significant. When the technology changed and steel could be made from more easily mined lower quality ore, the Soudan was no longer economically competitive and U.S Steel donated it to the State of Minnesota.
Rail cars visitors ride on the underground tour of the Soudan Mine.
Many of the major buildings and structures are still standing and available to tour for free once you buy a State Park day or annual park pass. You can see the “crusher house” where the ore was pulverized into smaller chunks and walk out along the gantry that dramatically juts out along the edge of a hill where carts of ore once rolled out to waiting rail cars below, bound for iron ores ships in Two Harbors and then on to steel mills in the east.
You can also tour the building that houses the mammoth equipment and cabling that runs the mine elevator and watch it in action as it lowers and raises visitors into the mine shaft.
The highlight of a visit is a paid underground mine tour which is $15 for adults. The tour takes you on an elevator ride half a mile below the surface, and then on a short rail cart ride to a cavernous area on the 27th level of mine shaft eight, the deepest and last part mined.
Pretty cool down there — literally, bring a jacket or sweater, even if you go in the summer.
Our tour guide provided rich detail on the mine’s history and operations and the incredible working conditions miners faced — long shifts, the danger of cave-ins, working for many years in near darkness with just candles attached to helmets as the main source of light. He made history come alive with songs and stories from his own family’s history working in the mine.
The Lake Vermillion Addition
The purchase of undeveloped land to the east of the mine is an exciting addition, and makes camping in the park now available for the first time. The park's first campground, Vermilion Ridge, opened last fall with 33 campsites for both tent and RV camping. The campground has Wi-Fi, a modern shower buildings with a light carbon footprint, and three group camps with screened picnic shelters. Visitors can also access the pave Mesabi Bike Trail that runs through the park and use the Armstrong Bay Day Use area for picnicking and fishing,
A trail that skirts the edge of Lake Vermilliion in the Armstrong Bay Day Use area.
We camped at Vermillion Ridge in a tent for two nights in early July. The sites are nicely laid out, with good spacing and screening. They’ve done a good job of carving out campsites without bulldozing existing trees. One side of the spur we were on all had deep forest on the back end of the campsite and a decent effort to landscape screening on the side facing the road. These are good sites now, they’ll be great in a few years.
Daisies at LVSUM State Park
All the structures and facilities were brand-spanking new, clean and looked great. Joining me on the trip were my two teenage sons who marveled at the strength of the Wi-FI signal (I know, I know: Wi-Fi shouldn’t matter when you’re camping.) There’s no ranger station or check-in for Vermillion Ridge, but park personnel drive through checking things and doing maintenance; there’s a campground host, but other than that, it’s very self-serve
We went to Armstrong Bay Day Use area and planned to hike along a beautiful wooded trail along the edge of the lake. Unfortunately, a storm the week before damaged trees all over the park, and the trail was closed.
There’s a boat access in the park, and many people had fishing and motor boats at their campsites. There is no swim beach, canoe or kayak rental at the park.
So with rising temps and humidity, we headed to nearby Bear Head Lake State Park, about 25 minutes away, which has more extensively developed facilities.
Massive pines at Bear Head Lake State Park
Bear Head Lake is gorgeous with huge pine trees, some beautiful wooded camp sites, a neat nature center, swim beach, and boat rentals. It’s easy to see why a few years back it was voted America’s Favorite State Park.
Campsite at LVSUM
The expansion at LVSUM State Park offers an enjoyable camping experience and greater public access to the lake, trails and public forests in the the area. The clean, new facilities are nice change from grungy facilities you sometimes encounter in older, heavily used state parks.
The mine part of the park easily offers several hours of interesting things to see and do, the underground tour would be of interest and a thrill to kids of all ages. Northern Minnesota is a beautiful area to visit with camping options for a range of skills.
Reservations are now required for camping at all Minnesota State Parks. The park also recommends reservations for the mine tours.
