Lead is the home of an old Homestake gold mine (they also got silver and copper out of the mine), and a huge open cut by the center of town. Google Lead, SD for the history of the town and mine.
A few years ago, Homestake sold their holdings to Barrett Gold, and the State of SD bought part of the Lead holdings. The State said there wouldn't be any more mining in Lead, and the old mine (which is 8,000 feet deep) has been turned into the Sanford Laboratory (Sanford Lab - About Us). They are searching for Neutrinos (google that). Our guide said that an experiment is going on now where a lab in Chicago (the Fermilab) is shooting a beam underground to the Sanford Lab. They're hoping to find proof of Neutrinos. Way over my head. Here's a link to the article: http://www.sanfordlab.org/article/2414
The lab itself is only 4800 feet deep - below that it is full of water. We've had so much rain this year that they have to keep pumping water out to keep the lab from flooding.
The visitor center has a 3-D model of the mine - you wouldn't believe all of the tunnels and shafts. It's really interesting. If you ever get a chance, check it out!
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| We had to wear hard hats |
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| This is part of the mine on the opposite side of the open cut. Notice the shaft for lowering miners. |
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| This is a close up of that shaft. We went in the Yates shaft which is opposite this one. |
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| This is the spool of cable actually running to bring scientists up from the lab. It was surprisingly quiet! |
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