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A few months ago, I was kindly directed by Raildudes Dad toward a summer youth program at Michigan Tech called "Rail and Intermodal Transportation." Since I knew there was no other summer camp that would compare to this, I decided to go. In planning the transportation aspect of the trip, my family decided to camp in the UP for a few days prior to the start of the program. We spent two nights each at Tahquamenon falls and Marquette, and partook in various outdoor activities. The best part of the stay in Marquette was the Cliffs mine tour. After a short safety video, a bus takes you to an overlook point, where you can observe activity at the company's Empire mine for 20 or so minutes. After that, the bus goes to the Tilden mine's ore processing plant, where you can spend over an hour getting an up-close look at the ore concentrating and pelletizing process. Both stops on the tour are impressive, but for me, the plant was actually more impressive than the mine. You are able to see the rail loading area at the Tilden plant from a moderately close distance. The tour guide was friendly and knew a lot, but she stuttered a little and told bad jokes, which was kind of expected from a college student. Pictures are not permitted, and Claire will throw your camera into the rotary kiln if you take them. Buses depart Marquette at noon Tues-Sat. Call 1-888-578-6489 for more information.
I will do a seperate report on the Michigan Tech Program

I took the tour of the mine a few years ago..Very interesting to see the furnaces and everything else up close

If I have the opportunity I'll do this tour in a heart beat!

It's a great tour. It still amazes me they still take you into the plant and let you look through the fire proof glass into the kiln. Must be the legal dept isn't aware of the tours yet

Raildudes dad wrote:It's a great tour. It still amazes me they still take you into the plant and let you look through the fire proof glass into the kiln. Must be the legal dept isn't aware of the tours yet

It's not really that dangerous in any way, but the tour does seem like something that lawyers are just waiting to pounce on. Somebody is going to trip on that ramp from the flotation cells to the kilns (if you know what I'm talking about), and that will be the end. There is no profession that I dislike more than the legal field.

Raildudes dad wrote:It's a great tour. It still amazes me they still take you into the plant and let you look through the fire proof glass into the kiln. Must be the legal dept isn't aware of the tours yet

I better hurry before the legal eagles get wind of this

AARR wrote:

Raildudes dad wrote:It's a great tour. It still amazes me they still take you into the plant and let you look through the fire proof glass into the kiln. Must be the legal dept isn't aware of the tours yet

I better hurry before the legal eagles get wind of this

I took the tour twice, the first time was in 2005 we could take photos, the second time was last week with Tyler, Claire (she's smokin' hot) said some hippies used their photos that they took at a minn. mine tour to make an anti mining smear campaign.

SMRGUY wrote: I took the tour twice, the first time was in 2005 we could take photos, the second time was last week with Tyler, Claire (she's smokin' hot) said some hippies used their photos that they took at a minn. mine tour to make an anti mining smear campaign.

I guess she must be the only guide . I'm guessing you had to deal with the terrible jokes too, right? That got annoying after a while, but I didn't mind her one bit . I guess that's how she has to act if there are enough old people and children on the tour. But overall, there could have been worse guides

It is an excellent tour no matter who the guide is! But darn did Claire have some nice eyes.