USA > Iowa > Dubuque County > The history of Dubuque County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. > Part 55
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The total quantity and value of lead shipped from the Dubuque mines since 1846, cannot be stated with any degree of certainty, because of the absence of reliable data. Some years it exceeded $500,000 in value, and occasionally fell below $250,000.
The product of the Dubuque mines in 1860 was estimated at 5,000,000 pounds, but since 1849, and up to 1861, gradually diminished in quantity. During the war the value of lead fluctuated, as did the value of other commodi- ties. At one time in 1865 the ore was sold at $109 per 1,000 pounds, and the average price for the period of Dubuque mining, forty-three years, is stated at $30 per 1,000 pounds for the ore, while the value of lead shipments has varied from $250,000 to $1,000,000.
Mining is still carried on, though not so profitably and universally as of yore. Yet there is no business interest of Dubuque that occasionally yields
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such large returns for the capital invested as lead mining. Miners seldom work long in one locality, unless they discover and take out enough to make the work profitable. Amounts ranging upward to 10,000 pounds have been worked out of old diggings. Some of the best lodes have yielded since their discovery from 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 pounds of lead within a small space, and several have exceeded 10,000,000 pounds. The Kelly lode, within half a mile of the business part of town, and the Burton lode, three miles distant, reached in the neighborhood of 5,000,000 pounds each.
There are many who incline to the opinion that mining in the vicinity of Dubuque, will, in time, be included among the lost arts. Others insist that new discoveries, yearly being made, indicate that the region is far from being exhausted. But there can be no doubt that the condition of many mines and the probability of new " prospects " will enlist the sympathy of organized capi- tal. With unskilled mining, the usual product is $1 a day on the average for all the men employed, and when it is considered that most of the mining has been done with very little capital and gratifying results there is much to hope from more skillful labor, scientifically directed.
THE FIRST BLAST FURNACE IN IOWA.
This establishment, which has been of inestimable service to Dubuque County, and of the northern portion of Iowa, and more especially in the history and settlement of the country, is located on the south branch of Catfish Creek, about a quarter of a mile above the Rockdale Mills. It was constructed in 1836, the first in Iowa and the second in the United States, for the smelting of lead ore.
The first contrivance or arrangement for the purpose was a very primitive and imperfect affair, being simply the Indian mode of extracting the metal, the only difference being that they were on a more extensive scale. A piece of ground at the foot of a bluff, near a stream of water, was leveled off, having a backing against the bluff of from six to ten feet high, the platform being about fifteen or more feet square, which was lined in the bottom with flat or smooth rock, the points between the several pieces being carefully filled with mortar made of clay tempered with sand, so that when heated it burned into a brick substance. The platform sloped inward and forward to a common center or point, from which the molten lead was drawn off into cast-iron molds holding about eighty-five pounds each. A layer of large logs was rolled into this space or platform, upon which a thick layer of mineral was placed, then another layer of logs, and so on, alternately, until the " blast" was completed-from one hun- dred to three hundred thousand pounds of mineral being used in each "smelt." When thus completed, the pile was set on fire and allowed to burn down, the molten lead being drawn off from time to time, as the smelting of the ore pro- gressed by the gradual burning of the log heap. This process necessitated the consumption of a vast amount of timber to reduce a comparatively small amount of mineral, and accounts for the early and speedy destruction of the immense bodies of heavy timber, which extended back from the brow of the bluffs to the immediate vicinity of Dubuque, when the first settlers arrived here after the extinguishment of the Indian title in 1833. This system secured less than 50 per cent of the metal, and, consequently, left a very large amount of very rich " slag." Ten or fifteen years thereafter, these piles of "slag " were sought out by the blast-furnace smelters with as much eagerness as for new leads ; and, in several instances, were the occasions for angry and expensive litigation.
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The next mode of smelting used throughout the Mississippi lead mines, was the " cupola " furnace, which was a great improvement over the previous system. Peter de Lorimier erected on the Mississippi, just above the mouth of the Catfish Creek, the first furnace of the kind in Iowa, in 1834. The late John Burton erected another furnace on the Little Maquoketa, about seven miles north ward from town, and Disney & O'Farrell erected the third at the mouth of Southern avenue or ravine, the walls of which are still standing.
These cupola furnaces were erected in 1835, and, although a vast improve- ment over the former mode of smelting, were not equal to the necessities of the mining business, extracting only about 65 or 70 per cent of the metal. This necessity led to the construction of the blast furnace in all the Upper Missis- sippi mining region, which in a few years extended to the Missouri mines also. Richard Waller formed a company for the erection of blast furnaces, composed of Richard and Robert Bonson, Samuel Hulett, Major Rountree of Platteville, Wis., Capt. Ulen, Capt. Leggett (United States agent for the Upper Missis- sippi lead mines), Robert Shaw, John Beatty, Richard Bonson, John Bonson, and Capt. John Atchison. . Richard Waller was general agent, chief engineer and manager of the company, being the only man among them who had any practical experience in the blast furnace. That experience was of vast impor- tance to the new enterprise; without it, the venture would have resulted in failure. In 1835, the company erected their first furnace (the first ever erected in America for the smelting of lead ore), on the Little Platte, in Wis- consin, about half-way between Dubuque and Mineral Point. Experience very soon demonstrated that this kind of furnace extracted all the metal from the ore, or about one-third more than the cupola furnace, and compelled the owners of this pattern to convert them into blast furnaces. Before the intro- duction of blast furnaces, the average price of mineral did not exceed $9 per thousand pounds ; which was thereby increased to $12 and $15. The advan- tage of this furnace was two-fold. First, it extracted the entire metal, and, consequently, the smelters could pay about one-third more to the miners, and yet make a third more in the manufacture. Second, the expense of smelting by this process was very much less-about one-fourth-which enabled the smelters to pay a still further advance for the mineral. About 1838, the orig- inal company was dissolved, and the Waller Catfish Smelting Company organ- ized, composed of Richard and Robert Waller and Robert Bonson, under the firm name of Waller & Co. From this time forth, this smelting company was conducted with great energy, strict economy and large profit to the proprietors. From 1837 to 1860, their profit averaged about 90 pigs per day, 21,000 pigs per annum, or 37,220,000 pounds of lead for the twenty-two years, represent- ing 41,233,500 pounds of mineral, worth $1,000,000. Since then, the aggre- gate product of the furnace has been over 3,000,000 pounds of mineral, making a total of nearly $2,000,000 as the amount paid out to miners since its first establishment in 1836. It must be remembered, also, that, over and above the product of their industry, the mining population has contributed to its support.
RICE'S CAVE.
Among the most wonderful of the natural curiosities in the vicinity of Dubuque is Rice's Cave, near Flint Hill, six miles south of the city. It was discovered during the year 1868, by J. W. Rice, a miner, who was running a north and south drift for mineral. Coming to a crevice, Mr. Rice crawled, squeezed and twisted his way through this for a distance of 700 feet, until he came to a large opening. On examining this more closely, and following it
P. W. Stanford
DUBUQUE.
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up, he found that he had struck a large cave, the proportions of which were greater than any that had previously been discovered. The main cave runs east and west, and has been explored for the distance of nearly one mile. Branching off from this and extending north, another cave is to be seen of smaller proportions but rich in spar. The shaft by which the cave is entered is 46 feet deep ; having reached the bottom, it is necessary to crawl and elbow for a distance of 50 feet before the cave proper is reached ; some parts of it are narrow, while in others it enlarges to dimensions of 30x40 feet. The cap rock is composed of limestone, the sides also, laid up in many places as though by the hand of a skilled artisan. Now and then it becomes necessary to clamber over heaps of broken rock that have, by some convulsion of nature, become detached from the roof above, leaving barely room enough to crawl through. At the sides of the cave, spar of all sizes, shapes and colors, can be seen glistening and sparkling. The specimens consist of argonite, travetine, satin stalagmite, stalactite and calcareous spar, the richest specimens of which are found in the smaller cave.
At the head of the smaller cave is a spring of the purest water, arched over with spar white as snow. The rock depends to within a few inches of the sur- face of the water, but stooping down enables the explorer to see for a great distance across a broad sheet of water, which gradually lessens and is finally lost in the gloom. It is believed that this lake is in connection with the river.
A curious specimen of fish, hitherto unknown to natural history, is said to inhabit the waters of the spring. They do not exceed six inches in size, with- out eyes or mouth, but covered with crooked scales, and possessing a horny protuberance which is utilized as a tail. Altogether, they are said to be hard citizens-metaphorically.
The property is owned by the original discoverer of this natural curiosity, and will repay a visit at the hands of the curious.
THE BONANZA MINE.
A visit to the caves and mines of the lead region is one of the most pleas- ant and romantic pastimes. No city in the Union is surrounded by larger and more magnificent mines and caves than Dubuque. Some of the caves are large enough to accommodate dancing parties, while the different shafts of the mines penetrate the earth so far that it takes hours, and sometimes days, to make a complete inspection of one. It is always the ambition of visitors to a lead- mine city to secure an opportunity to visit the mines and see how lead is found.
A recent visit to the Bonanza mine was attended with infinite interest to those who participated, and much that was instructive. It is one of the richest mines that has been discovered for years, and is situated only a few miles from the city, and controlled by a number of gentlemen, who, for reasons best known to themselves, made the reporter promise not to mention their names. The start for the mine was made at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and a half-hour's drive found the visitors at the mouth of the shaft, the bottom of which, the man at the top informed them, was 200 feet.
"Don't you find it rather cool down there?" was asked of the man at the mine, as he vigorously fanned himself with his last summer's straw hat. It was not the weather that warmed him up, but the idea that he was to be low- ered 200 feet, yes, 2,400 inches down, way down, he didn't know just exactly where.
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" Well, yes, rather so," answered the man at the shaft. "Suppose you and your friend get in the bucket and take a look at it."
"You needn't be afraid of the wet or the dirt," said he with a smile; " I'll lend you some old togs."
In a few minutes the requisite change of garments was effected, and the historian was descending to the bottom, which it seemed never would be reached. The sensation after stepping out of the bucket was attended with nervousness, and it was barely possible to stand erect. The balance of the party came down on the next train, and the trip through the mine was now to begin.
"Here, take this," said the conductor, as he passed around the tallow dips. "It isn't very bright in here, and you'll need it. Take care, pick your steps and don't be afraid." Thus advised and assisted, the exploring party moved along, and in a moment were in one of the shafts, 200 feet below the surface. Above and below, the mineral glistened when touched by the dim flicker of the candles. It was one perfect body of pure mineral, and when some surprise was manifested at the great abundance, Pat only said: "Why, you haven't commenced to see it yet." After moving along several hundred feet, a strange, weird scene met the eye.
A line of flickering, smoking dips, seemed to be struggling despair- ingly to light up the deep gloom of the place, and for all the world looked like a row of street lamps in a black fog. only that they seemed to be moving, now near and now further off, like a lot of subterranean will o' the wisps. As the eye grew more accustomed to the dim light afforded by the candles, a number of miners were seen hard at work, some making their way further into the drift, while others trundled ahead of them wheelbarrows of dirt, which were to be raised to the top. To reach the workmen, it was neces- sary to swing over deep chasms, by the assistance of ropes, while in other localities hard climbing over wet, slippery rocks figured prominently. In try- ing to climb over one of these slippery places, the explorer made a misstep and fell. Splash ! Hiss ! It was only a round stone, slippery as ice, with its slimy coating, upon which he had slipped, and an extinguished candle and bruised shin showed what a desperate effort he had made to prevent his taking an involuntary "tumble." The place was finally reached where a part of the miners were hard at work. They were working their way into a solid mass of mineral, not working it to carry to the top of the mine, but merely for the pur- pose of seeing how far the layer extended. After stopping at this locality a few minutes, another drift was followed up. This was also lined and roofed with the precious metal, and the historian could hardly believe his eyes that such a bonanza existed so near the city. It seemed more wonderful than the tale of Aladdin's wonderful lamp. In this drift, miners were also at work to learn how far the lead vein extended. Some chunks which hung over the roof of the drift would easily weigh 400 pounds, and more. From this, another course was taken and followed up, which proved to be as heavily and richly coated with mineral as the ones at first visited. After entering this a part of the way, and listening to the interesting conversation of Pat, guide, the hour had arrived for the miners to cease work. After examining the layers of min- eral in this drift, our steps were retraced. When we came in view of the place that we had entered, it appeared a long way off, and the hole seemed no larger than a lady's turban hat. Our necks and backs were getting tired from the constant stooping, while our arms and legs pained from the trapeze performance they had undergone. While engaged in making his way back, with the dips burning low, the visitor was suddenly startled by a heavy, rumbling sound, as
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if the whole roof was tumbling down. In an instant, he had pictured in his mind all the horrors he had ever read or heard of; of being buried in caves and mines, and like catastrophes; of the sensation it would create, and what a windfall it would be for newspapers these dull times.
His trepidation was noticed by the genial guide, as he saw the explorer look wildly up and down the river to learn the worst. With a quiet grin he remarked, " Don't git scared ; it's only the boys making the last blast," and the journey was again resumed. When several hundred feet from the entrance of the cave, a drop of water from the roof of the shaft extinguished the last dip, and left us in total darkness. The prospect of being obliged to stagger and crawl through the tunnel, and in utter darkness, was not a very cheerful one, and we pushed on as rapidly as we could.
After hard crawling, the place of entrance was reached, and the trip for terra firma commenced. The bucket is at hand, the conductor shouts, All aboard! and, while the miners scamper up the wet and slippery ladder, the his- torian and friend take the bucket. The rope began to tighten, the bucket grad- ually ascends, they see the glimmer of daylight, voices reach their ears from above, and in a few minutes they emerge from darkness into daylight again. The tramp is ended ; and, though wet, dirty and weary, but satisfied with what they had accomplished, they feel fully repaid for their journey, after return- ing thanks to Pat for his trouble in showing the "richest and finest mines in the world."
EARLY MINING-THE OBSERVATIONS OF HAWKINS TAYLOR.
In the spring of 1832, I, as a boy, landed in Galena to seek my fortune in the lead mines ; how it happened that I ever found the way there, has always been to me a mystery and a wonder. I was raised in that section of Kentucky that has been made historic by the late whisky raid that was made by the min- ions of that wicked law for the suppression of moonshiners, up into that part of Kentucky and Tennessee near the head-waters of the Cumberland River, this winter, where the women still spin and weave their own dresses, and make the stripes and checks by coloring the thread according to their fancy with different kinds of barks, roots and leaves used in dyeing the thread before being made into cloth ; a section of country that has not been contaminated by civilization. A lock is unknown in all that region ; the door-latches are of wood with a string always hanging outside. Money panics or civilized hard times are unknown to these people; they have but a single trouble, to make whisky in the old-fashioned worm still which has come down to them from Noah's ark, as they fully believe ; and it would be a debatable question with them whether they would surrender the right of marrying and being given in marriage, or to give up their stills and the privilege of making whisky, the simon-pure boldface, with no other poison in it than the regular corn juice. They do not make, nor want to make, much ; they do not make as much in a whole county in a year as Christian, civilized Chicago will smuggle off free of tax in a week. They do not want to pay taxes on their whisky-they have no money to pay taxes with. Their whisky is a matter of taste. They make it on the shares for their neigh- bors who happen to have corn. I like these people, and wish that they could be let alone. That district was probably the only district in the United States that ever elected a man to Congress because he had whipped his wife. Sherrod Williams, who had grown up as a sort of tramp, making rails, clearing grounds and doing odd jobs as his necessities required, to keep soul and body together, one hot day threw down his tools and took an oath to work no more. He
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went to Judge Bridges, a very able Judge, but of the Ben Hardin type, and told him that he wanted to be a lawyer. Bridges, who was of the rougher sort and liked the fellow, told him to go into his office and read his law-books. This Williams did, and made his bread pettifogging until he was admitted as a lawyer and was sent to the Legislature a couple of times, and then announced himself as a Clay Whig candidate for Congress against a popular Jackson candidate that lived in a civilized portion of the district, and was supposed to hold the dis- trict at his own will. Much sport was made of Williams as a candidate, and amongst other charges made against him was that he had whipped his wife. Williams took the stump-he was a fine speaker-and confessed that he had whipped his wife. He told the people that they all knew how poor he had been, and what an effort he had made to rise in the world, saying that when he returned home from the Legislature he told his wife that he wanted a hog's head and greens cooked for dinner-a favorite dish with him-but she refused to do it, saying that he was then a legislator, a great man, and must not have a hog's head on his table. When other means failed he gave her a good whipping, and she cooked the hog's head, and from that day on she had been a good wife, and they had been a happy and prosperous family. Now, says Williams, if I had allowed her pride to rule we would have been ruined. To this there would come up a unanimous shout of approval, and Williams got almost a solid mount- ain vote and was elected and re-elected, again and again, until he got to be a use- ful member of Congress, and endled his political career by writing to both Clay and Van Buren in the winter of 1843-44, and asking their views on the question of the annexation of Texas. a question then agitating the country. They both declared against annexation. These letters beat Martin Van Buren for a nomination in the Democratic Presidential Convention and Clay before the people, giving the country Polk for President, the Mexican war and Texas annexation. While in Congress Williams got to drinking civilized whisky, and it was a different article from his home-made corn juice, and it used him as it does all others who enter the contest; it first maddens them, then robs them, then disgraces them and then kills them.
A few days before I reached Galena, the surveyors surveying in Wisconsin discovered lead on a branch about two miles from the Mississippi River, where Potosi is located. The excitement in Galena was then very great for what was called the new discovery, and our party that had got acquainted in the least started at once for the new Eldorado. Of our party was Sam Drewen, as good and as lazy a fellow as I ever knew, now rich and living at Beetown, Grant Co., Wis. Drewen's case fully illustrates that a stone lying still will gather moss, and no man is worthier than Sam to have moss all over him of the richest kind. Hayden Gilbert was also one of our party.
The new diggings were almost thirty miles from Galena. We stayed one night at Gilmore, a few miles from Sinsinawa Mound. The next day all got to the mines and went into camp, and I found everybody iny friend, and there never was a happier set than we miners were. We had little shanties made of logs, generally split, and covered with elm bark, and we had bunks two stories high. Our bed and covering was a thick Mexican blanket, but what good sound sleep we did have; not a trouble on our minds ; not one of us who was not confident of striking a lead very soon. Each had a tin cup, and we had a common coffee- pot. Our meat was mess pork, and we made our own bread. The fare, with- out variation, was coffee, bread and meat. In one liut there were four of us, which was the rule generally. These huts were scattered for a mile along this branch. All told, there were about sixty miners in the camp, and of the whole
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lot there was but a single quarrelsome man, by the name of Malony, an Irish- man, and his spite was against Free Williams, a peaceable fellow and weakly.
In the midst of our happiness, news caine to us, about 6 o'clock one evening, that the Indians had defeated Stillwell on Rock River, and were then making their way toward the Mississippi and would most likely pass down the Platte and rob the stores of De Tautebar, at his town, and Loring Wheeler, at Gib- raltar, and also take in our camp. Cox, then Sheriff of Grant County, had sent from Mineral Point a messenger to give us the warning. Within ten minutes of the time the news came to our camp, that more than forty miners were at Maj. Anderson's camp. The Major had been an old Indian fighter, and with one accord we went to him to be our commander and adviser. (I learn that the Major died lately in your city.) There were some fifteen or twenty Irish- men in camp that had come from Galena in skiffs and a pirogue ; they had brought their provisions and tools in this way, and when the alarm was given they naturally went for the vessels that were in a branch of the river about a mile from the camp. Malony, the bully, got behind, and the last of the party had got out into the stream before he got to the river, but he jumped in and was barely saved from drowning. Free Williams joined Stephenson's company of dragoons and made a brave soldier. By morning our party had dwindled down to thirteen. We then went to the Platte, to De Tautebar's, and a man by the name of Cornwall, a Virginian, and I, went down to Wheeler's (now, if alive, is living in DeWitt). Wheeler "had a horse, and joined the dragoons." Finding that the Indians were in no hurrry to come our way, we went back to the diggings. I have no record of the names, and forty-odd years is a long time to recollect, but we had with us then Maj. Anderson, a man by the name of Hillis ; Ham and his nephew Theislkill, Tennesseeans ; a man by the name of Cook, from Mississippi: Cornwall and Nehemiah Dudley from Vermont. Nehe- miah was the ugliest man I think that I ever saw, but, notwithstanding the antip- athy that was then universal in the Mississippi Valley against Yankees, we all liked Dudley. I have never heard of him since I left the Mississippi, but I have often thought of him. These are all that I can recollect, but I think there were eleven or thirteen of us. We built a block-house of large hewed logs, and kept a supply of provisions on hand in case of an attack by the Indi- ans. We mined through the day, and slept in our block-house at night. The block-house was on the high ground north of the branch, and I understood some .years ago that there was a Catholic church near by, and that the old shanty that I had lived in was still standing near the church.
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