Two women stand in the ruins of a chimney, the remains of a lead smelter, or "furnace". After the lead bearing ore was mined, it was washed, then brought to a smelter to be refined. The ore was heated to melt the lead and the molten lead ran...
Farming and mining existed side by side in the lead region for many years. In this image, a miner has set up a wash place to "cradle" ore. The stream he uses flows through a pasture that has been fenced for cattle. A detail view of the miner's...
A miner washes ore in a stream with a "cradling" apparatus. From "A History of Mining in Iowa County" by Stanley T. Holland: ". . . wash places [were] built along the creeks. A forked post was set in the ground close to a dammed up pool in a...
This photograph is included in "A History of Mining in Iowa County" by Stanley T. Holland, published in 1983, where it is identified as the Tripoli Mine, located about a mile northwest of the city of Mineral Point. An excerpt from "Zinc and Lead...
