Beneath Lake Erie, a vast salt mine works overtime to meet winter road demands
Associated Press
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Relief holes are drilled into a face in the Cargill salt mine, 1,800 feet below the surface of Lake Erie, in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)Salt pillars, left behind for support during mining, line the tunnels in the Cargill salt mine in, 1,800 feet below the surface of Lake Erie on Whiskey Island in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)The salt, formed 440 million years ago, is mucked up and loaded onto a conveyor belt 1,800 feet below Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)The absolute darkness of the mine is broken as supervisor Andrew Adkins uses a headlamp to lookover a map of drilling sites at the Cargill Salt Mine, 1,800 feet below the surface of Lake Erie, in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)A seagull flies past piles of the finished product, de-icing solution - rock salt - at the Cargill Cleveland salt mine on Whiskey Island before being distributed by truck, rail and boat to Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana and Minnesota, in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
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Relief holes are drilled into a face in the Cargill salt mine, 1,800 feet below the surface of Lake Erie, in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)