Lead Mining in Mineral Point

A costumed interpreter in
miners' togs.

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."