Cramer is a ghost town of the lumber industry in Northern Minnesota. While it had a post office from 1911 through 1917, today it is better known as the location of the longest train tunnel in the state. LTV Steel bored and blasted an 1,800 foot long tunnel to connect their Hoyt Lakes taconite plant with Taconite Harbor, their ore dock. The tunnel saw heavy use from its opening in 1957 until LTV’s bankruptcy forced the ore dock to close in 2001.
If you want to visit the tunnel yourself, simply navigate to Cramer, MN, where few houses stand, then take Highway 7 north, with will take you under the approach trestle. Follow the trestle and you will find the tunnel. Or, navigate using a handheld GPS: N 47.53667 W 91.07815 – Have fun!
Taking a midwinter hike in Cramer after a blizzard and ice storm was my idea. Do my friends seem upset to you?
Mamiya GA645 / Kodak Pro 400
Both portals get clogged with ice in the winter. In the summer, the ceiling is always dripping. Mamiya GA645 / Kodak Pro 400
The portal facing Taconite Harbor (at a healthy distance) is mostly closed. Some kids put bullet holes in it. Shooting down a long tunnel is extremely dangerous, and you should not do it, obviously. Mamiya 6/Portra 160
The first 800 or so feet of the tunnel is finished with reinforced concrete. The test is raw stone. This is the spot where it switches. Side note: nailing this shot on film is one of my proudest light-painted moments.
Inside the west portal is a big liquid propane hand warmer, for workers to take the cold off their gloves as they handled the switches and doors of Cramer Tunnel. Mamiya GA645 / Kodak Pro 400
The west portal of the tunnel is open, and if it wasn’t for the rough track, I would think by looking at it that a train could be coasting up behind me any moment. Mamiya 6/Portra 160
Kat dancing down the trestle, which is one of the highest in the state, standing about 100 feet over the road. Mamiya 6/Portra 160
Looking north from the east portal of the tunnel… a beautiful place. Wilderness. Mamiya 6/Portra 160
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