8. Mine Shaft #1 The Merry Christmas Mine

“Some of the best mining prospects in all southwest Wisconsin are being uncovered on lands adjacent to Mineral Point . . . A very promising discovery has been made within the past week by Mr. Ike Suthers and partners adjoining the city on the east . . .” (Mineral Point Tribune, December 21, 1905) This shaft is one of nine interconnected tunnels of the Merry Christmas Mine. The other shafts were filled in when the mine closed.

9. Zinc Processing

J.H. Lewis, in the Monday Free Press of Milwaukee, talked about zinc processing, “Mineral Point . . . plays a most important part in the mining affairs of the entire Wisconsin field. The New Jersey Zinc company, commonly known as the Mineral Point Zinc company, . . . is offering a constant and satisfactory market to most of the low grade [zinc ore] producers in this field.” (As quoted in the Mineral Point Tribune March 23, 1911.) The zinc works produced zinc oxide and sulphuric acid.

The trail to the left leads to stations 7 and 8. The trail straight ahead leads to station 10.

10. Mine Shaft #2

“The Merry Christmas mine, which passed into the ownership and control of the New Jersey Zinc company [late in 1911 or early in 1912], has resumed operations. The top flat [of ore] above the water line has been drifted upon and the showing is big. Under this deposit are two more
flat sheets of zinc ore running high grade.” (Mineral Point Tribune, October 3, 1912.)

The trail to the right leads to station 11.

11. Merry Christmas Mine Adit

This 550 foot long adit was dug early in the twentieth century. Adits, sloping tunnels from mine shafts to lower ground, could be used to drain water from mine workings or to haul ore from the mine to the processing mill.

12. Mine Tailings Pile and Ore Cart Railway

Miners used waste rock, or tailings, as the base for an ore cart railway. They hauled the ore carts to the end of the railway, then dumped the ore down a chute and into an ore processing mill below.

The trail to the right leads to station 13.

13. Ore Mill Foundation

“The Galena Iron Works company, manufacturers of mining machinery, has three forces of men at work putting up mills in this vicinity, one within the city limits, the other two within a mile of the city—at the Merry Xmas mine, the Harris mine and the Hoare mine. The machinery at the Merry Xmas is to be run by electric power furnished by the Mineral Point Electric Light Co.” (Mineral Point Tribune, September 5, 1907.) The
cement foundation piers of the Merry Christmas mill building can still be seen today.

14. Merry Christmas Mine Building

An undated report in the Pendarvis files says, “The history of the two-story stone house standing in the southeast corner of the Merry Christmas Mine property is almost as unclear after several months of research as it was at the beginning of the project.” Deeds and tax records often give historians the clues they need to establish the dates of a building, but in this case, the evidence is unclear and even contradictory, leaving us with a puzzle yet to be solved.

The trail to the right leads to the Merry Christmas Mine Building, the trail to the left leads to station 15, and the trail straight ahead is a firebreak trail.

15. The End of Mining

According to The Milwaukee Journal on Friday, October 31, 1980, “Wisconsin’s last operating underground mine was laid to rest near Shullsburg in Lafayette County Wednesday in an open auction of everything from steel hooks to rusted machinery. The Eagle-Picher zinc and lead mine closed last year because of low ore prices and costly improvements ordered by the US Environmental Protection Agency, company officials said.”

The trail straight ahead leads to station 10, the trail to the right is a firebreak trail.