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| Street View, Aug 2019 |
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| Viral Media posted Michigan Sand Industry On it’s daily run from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Chicago Barr Yard Q327 is seen here in Bridgman, Michigan. CSX 3127 GE ES44AC-H is on point with CSX 353 GE AC44CW (Yn2) trailing. In addition to the two locomotives in front, CSX 794 GE ES44AC-H provided mid-train distributed power. In the background is the Technisand resin-coating facility that was closed in 2015, idling 35 employees. Beginning as a sand drying facility in 1955, Technisand expanded in the 1960s and ’70s. At its peak the plant had 130 employees. Technisand was acquired in 1995 by the Ohio-based Fairmount Minerals. The dunes, formed over thousands of years as glaciers receded and winds blew sand from the basin that would form Lake Michigan, rise intermittently from the Indiana border to the eastern Upper Peninsula. From the industry’s perspective, mining dune sand is essential for the Michigan economy, particularly the auto industry. Most of the sand goes into molds that shape foundry products such as vehicle engine blocks. Every Chrysler Corp. motor made from 1975 through the early 1990s was cast in sand from nearby dunes. Pressure from environmental groups seeking to preserve the dunes, and US foundry operations moving offshore lead to the closure of the sand plant. |
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