Industrial Heritage Sand

Champion Stamp Mill Ruins, Freda, MI

Leo Kenney

   Remnants of industry and civilizations are often found as grains in sands. Coal chunks from power plants, paint chips from road paint, brick fragments from old chimneys, rusted steel shot from sandblasting sites, and colorful glass fragments.  Other sands contain the waste material from mines or slag from ore smelting operations. Magnification reveals these grains.

Bode River, Sachsen Anhalt, Germany
Slag from historic cobalt, lead, zinc, copper and iron mining
Bode River, Sachsen Anhalt, Germany
Lac Jeanniine Mine, Quebec, Canada
Polished slag from closed iron mine
Lac Jeannine mine, Gagnon, Quebec, Canada
Marble BeachThassos Island, Greece
Marble quarry waste

Marble Beach, Thassos Island, Greece
Plage d’Albo, Corsica, France
Beach polished asbestos tailings
Plage D'albo, Corsica, France
Lake Superior, Ashland, Wisconsin
Coal and slag from power plant

Lake Superior Ashland, Wisconsin
Acushnet River, Mattapoisett, MA
White, yellow paint, reflective beads from road runoff.
Acushnet River, Mattapoisett, Massachusetts
Ele'ele, Kauai, Hawaii
Glass fragments from historic ocean dumping of city waste.
Ele'ele, Kauai, Hawaii
Brandywine River, Wilmington, DE
Slag, coal, and brick remnants from historic powder mill.
Brandywine River, Eagle Rollings Mills, Wilmington, Delaware
North Canal Township Park, Michigan
Stamp mill copper mine waste dumped in Lake Superior
North Canal Township Park, Houghton, Michigan
Zejdlik Brook, Ustecky, Czech Republ
Glass fragments from glass production
Zejdlik Brook, Ustecky, Czech Republic
Mississippi River, Minneapolis, MN
Sand blasting shot, charcoal, and slag dredged from River.
35W Bridge, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cole’s Creek, Houghton, Michigan
Copper smelter slag on Houghton Canal
Houghton, Michigan
Sloss Furnaces National Landmark, AL
Slag from historic pig iron furnace
Sloss Furnaces Natl. Hist. Landmark, Birmingham, AL
Juodkrante Beach, Lithuania
Sand encrusted black oil blob from Black Sea drill platform.
Timna Park, Negev, Israel
Waste from world's oldest copper mines.
Montrose Point, Chicago, Illinois
Industrial slag debris.
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