Dubuque Trip - Monday, August 6, 2012

Today we started our trek home with a stop at the Mining Museum and the Rollo Jamison Museum in Platteville, WI.  This was well worth the stop and quite a bit bigger than we expected.  The highlight was probably walking through the lead mine.  You climb 90 steps into the mine and a very well informed tour guide explains the details of lead and zinc mining.  They never mined zinc at this specific mine but it was very common after the Civil War for lead mines to turn to mining for zinc which was in much greater demand than lead at the time and so the museum has incorporated information regarding zinc mining as well.

Mine shaft where everything was hauled up and down - to the left is a torpedo which was like an elevator for the mine workers to get in and out of the mine.

Supports for the mine

Miners drilling (by hand) holes so that the blaster could fill the holes with gun powder

The carts that ran along railroad ties that miners would fill with rock and zinc

Then we took a ride on the train that was used in the Shullsberg mine.  The train has been restored and the cars we rode in have been replaced.  

Original cart

The next part of our tour included the shaft building where everything entered and exited the mine and where zinc would have been separated from the rock.

In addition to the mine there was also a mining museum and a museum of Rollo Jamison's collections.  This entire museum was well worth the two hours we spent there.

From there we headed home with a stop in Monroe for some cheese at Emmi Roth Kase and petits fours at the Swiss Colony.