Benson Mines

I wish to thank SUNY Potsdam Professor Emeritus of Geology, Dr. James Carl, for factual information relating to this photographic essay shot in autumn 2008. Jim recently publshed an article on Benson Mines entitled "Iron Mining at Star Lake: Benson Mines." I quote a portion of his introduction: "A large industrial plant and open pit iron mine, now filled with water, lies near the hamlet of Star Lake in southern St. Lawrence County, straddling the Towns of Clifton and Fine. Located on Route 3 about two miles east of the hamlet, Benson Mines was a long-lasting enterprise that employed hundreds of residents throughout the central and western Adirondacks. It was said to be the largest open pit magnetite mine in the United States, supplying steel for the war effort (World War II) and for building Chrysler automobiles in peacetime. Its closure in 1978 left a linear pit and lake nearly 2.5 miles long. Also left behind were gutted buildings, piles of waste rock, a polluted industrial area and a marked decline in population and job opportunities from which the Clifton-Fine area has yet to recover." The site represents magnificent desolation and the abandonment of stewardship of hundreds of acres of land inside the 'Blue Line' by Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation (J & L), once our nation's fourth largest steel company.