President’s Greeting
Hello Fellow Wisconsin Manx Members,
By the time you read this, the North American Manx
Association convention will have been held in San Diego, California. Several members will be attending and will
be reporting on the event at our October 8, 2006 meeting. You will be
reading about the program for that Sunday in another article. It’s always hard to write a message when we
have not had any contact in six months.
My summer has been filled with the tearing down of an old
garage and constructing a new one.
We’ve traveled to Canton, Ohio and Baton Rouge for our hot air balloon
hobby. We don’t own a balloon but we
work as officials at many local, national and international competition. We seem to have summer friends, winter
friends, football friends and Manx friends.
All of those groups, not to forget family, keep me very busy.
As usual I look forward to renewing those Manx relationships
in San Diego and at our October 8 meeting in Madison, Wisconsin. I hope to see
you in October.
Wisconsin Manx Society President- Georgene Voutila
Librarian’s Report
Norma Bircher, WMS Librarian, requests the books, maps, copied articles, etc you
borrowed from the WMS lending library be returned at the Fall meeting or mailed
directly to her home. There are no
“fines” for a late return. Everyone’s help is needed in keeping our unique
lending library collection complete.
If you send the loaned items, please pack them carefully in
protective packaging and mail them “Book Rate” to Mrs. John Bircher at the
address on your print copy of the newsletter.
Fall Meeting - October 8
Carol McLernon, Lake Geneva, will
speak on “Mining in Southwestern Wisconsin”. Carol is an author of children’s
books that take the reader on “journeys through Southwestern Wisconsin in the
early lead mining days.”
“Carol McLernon grew up in the southwestern corner of
Wisconsin and attended school in a ghost town. She did her undergraduate work
at UW Platteville where engineering students still carry on the traditional
ceremony of lighting the M on the nearby mound. The engineering department had
its origins in 1837 as a mining school when Wisconsin was still a territory.
She taught for many years in the schools of Lake Geneva, the last ones as
reading specialist. Her grad work was done at UW Whitewater. “1
Make your reservations for the Fall Meeting by calling by
October 1st. The number to
call is on the print copy of your newsletter. The cost is $10.00 per person,
payable at the meeting. When leaving a message, include the number of
reservations, your name, the spelling of your name, and your phone number.
Manx Mines History
“It has often been said that a mine is a hole in the ground
with a Cornishman at the bottom, and so true a saying, for Cornwall, being the
very heart of mining world wide today, eventually brought many miners to the
Isle of Man in the 1800's to seek and remove the riches from the ground. The
earliest records show that man was extracting metal from the ground as long as
3000 years ago on many prehistoric sites around the world using the simplest of
tools such as the antlers from a deer to stone hammers.
Evidence
of early workings on the Isle of Man can be seen on the northern cliffs of
Bradda head after the Cistercian monks of Furness Abbey had set up their
daughter house, the Abbey of Rushen, on the Island in the 13th
century. This mining took place under the royal warrant of the king of Man. The
workings consist of a series of short drivings into the upper heights of the
cliff at various levels and represent the first ‘mining proper’ for this
period.
Evidence
of bronze age activity was discovered at Ballaugh and objects found near to
Laxey suggest that the smelting and fusing of two metals may have occurred as
early as 1700 BC, but in 1992 two stone mauls were recovered from South Bradda
by Terry Worthington whilst on a visit to the site by the mines group. The
stone hammers were quickly sent to England for dating by specialists which
confirmed the mining of copper on the Isle of Man around 1200BC.
True
bronze would consist of copper (Cu) and tin (Sn) at a ratio of 9:1 but it is
believed that the local bronze may have also been made using lead. Tin would
have to have been imported on the trading routes between England and Ireland.
The
Manx iron age commenced later at around 500BC and little is known about this
era due to the decay of iron artefacts. The only known mines to produce
haematite are those of Maughold on the north east coast but smelts have been
located in other parts of the Island. Evidence of early workings exist on the
cliff face above Traie Curn.
There
had been sporadic periods of mining since the 12th century when men
first started to venture underground in the Stanley period. Rich veins of lead
ore had been located in the cliffs at Bradda and worked out by the late 1800’s.
Mining
in the Foxdale district didn’t really take off until the early 1700's but in
the mid 1800's the mine employed 250 men underground. An average of 3,500 tons
of ore would be raised annually. The central mine worked successfully until
closure in 1911.
The Great Laxey and most successful of mines worked for over
one hundred and fifty years until it’s closure
in 1929. The mine had a total workforce of more
than five hundred men in the 1850's and by the 1870's production reached
it's peak producing 2,500 tons of lead and silver, 9,000 tons of zinc and an
average of 500 tons of copper annually.
Mining did briefly recommence in the 1950’s when a company
reworked the Snaefell mine by re-timbering the adit level under the mountain
but it was never worked productively. However, two and a half thousand tons of
lead concentrate was produced from re-working the spoil heaps using flotation
tanks.”2
2
http://www.manxmines.com/manx__mines__history.htm
Lead Mining in Mineral Point, WI
"Surface deposits of lead, zinc, and copper ore led
Native Americans to begin mining in southwestern Wisconsin thousands of years
before European settlement. As early as 1827, when Michigan Territory still
encompassed the region, frontier lead mining began in earnest. Early
prospectors continued digging for ore embedded near the surface in the cracks
and crevices of limestone bedrock. But beginning in the early 1830s immigrant
miners from Cornwall, hardened by years of experience extracting ore deep
beneath the surface, began sinking shafts deep into the hillsides in search of
rich underground lodes.
Lead-mining
frenzy gripped the region, and the landscape suffered — oak trees fell for use
as fuel in smelters; soil eroded; streams and rivers filled with sediment and
contaminants from mine tailings. Still, mining made Mineral Point a thriving
commercial center that housed one of Michigan Territory's first land offices
and served as a territorial county seat. The boom continued into early
Wisconsin statehood, when the California Gold Rush of 1849 lured miners
westward. But its brief heyday left an indelible mark.”
Though a restored prairie now covers much of the original
mine hill, it still bears telltale signs of those times, from remnants of
abandoned mines to "badger holes" dug in haste for surface ore and
shelter — and whence Wisconsin derives its nickname, the "Badger State."3
3
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/pendarvis/mining.asp
Manx Museum Press Release
The
University of Wisconsin – Platteville [Wisconsin] held a groundbreaking
ceremony today, May 9, 2006, in Velzy Commons of Ullsvik Hall. This marks the
beginning of the construction phase of a three-story addition and complete
remodeling of the complex. The building will house the new Luce Center with a
new museum including the North American Manx Museum, the Southwest Wisconsin
Archives, the Harry Nohr Art Gallery, Banquet facilities, Administration, and
Registration offices.
Following Chancellor David Markee’s introductions of alumni,
guests, and faculty, who’s contributions led to the development of this
project, he presented an overview of how this facility will be the cornerstone
of the university campus where visitors will gather. It will focus attention on
the heritage of the early settlers of this section of the tri-state [Illinois,
Iowa, and Wisconsin] region as well as prepare students for promising careers
in our ever-changing world.
Included in the introductions at the ceremony and banquet
were members of the museum committee who have been meeting since 2004. They are
Dennis Cooley, Mary Freymiller, James Hibbard, John Krogman, Dr. Thomas
Lundeen, and Mary Kelly [NAMA Director].