Industrial a Rc H E O L Ogy and Historic Mining Studies at Michigan Te

Patrick E. M a rt i n In the United States, historic mining sites and lore occupy an important place in our collec- tive memory and popular culture, whether it be stories of the Forty-Niners, coal mining in Industrial A rc h e o l ogy Appalachia, or gold prospecting in the Black Hills. Several states continue to base their identity on mining heritage, such as the Silver State of and Historic Mining Nevada; the totemic Badgers of Wisconsin, re f e r - ring to the badger-like diggings of early lead min- ers; or, the California state slogan, “Eureka!” The Studies at Michigan Te c h cultural and technological importance of mining v e n t u r es to our national development is re f l e c t e d ecent years have seen an incre a s - in these expressions of shared identity, even if the ing awareness and concern for historic distribution of benefits was limited to industrial heritage in Nort h investors and owners. America and intern a t i o n a l l y. Public Few types of human habitation and enter- and privateR interest in the rise of industrial soci- prise generate such profound impacts on the land- ety is readily visible in the creation of industry - scape as mining operations. The scale of eart h - focused national parks such as Saugus, Lowell, moving, re s o u rce consumption, and enviro n m e n t a l A m e r i c a ’s Industrial Heritage Project, Steamtown, impact associated with mining generally exceeds Keweenaw National Historical Park, as well as that resulting from any other activity. The often state and community-recognized sites like Slater rapid growth of communities devoted to the mining Mill, Sloss Furnace, Eckersley Village, and enterprise, the development and spread of distinc- Fayette State Park. tive cultural and technological forms, and the per- P r ominent among the sites and communities sistence of a “mining mentality” also attract atten- that highlight industrial heritage are the locations tion and curiosity. In addition, the very notion of of former mining activities, both here and abro a d . extracting essential and/or precious minerals fro m I n t e r p retive eff o r ts on major mining sites have the bowels of the earth, working in perpetual dark- been especially successful in Australia. Care f u l l y ness, and the attendant technologies for accom- designed and located interpretive signs combined plishing these feats generate sincere interest at a with walking and driving tours provide import a n t basic emotional and humanistic level. i n f o r mation to visitors at Broken Hill, Burr a , Scholarly interest in mining towns and land- Moonta, and Kapunda, among other sites. A major scapes has also penetrated the realm of social i n t e r p retive center at Sovereign Hill in the gold science. Several historians have focused their fields of Victoria is one of Austalia’s most success- re s e a rch inquiries on mining as an economic enter- ful tourist attractions, drawing visitors to a care- prise and, in recent decades, interest has extended fully re c o n s t r ucted, if not fully faithful and accu- into other disciplines. For example, the well- rate, historic mining complex. Something of a cro s s respected studies of Anthony Wallace on between Disneyland and Wi l l i a m s b u r g, the Pennsylvania coal mining towns demonstrates the S o v e r eign Hill complex is an excellent re p re s e n t a - analytical power of anthropological community tion of several stages of mining activity from an studies. Archeologists have also been drawn to isolated tent camp to a fully developed village, mining sites across the country because of both complete with mills, machines, mollock heaps, re s e a rch interest and cultural re s o u rce manage- steam engines, pubs, housing, and costumed inter- ment concerns. Identification and management of p re t e r s . historic mining sites frequently arise when envi- In Cornwall, through the eff o r ts of the ronmental evaluations are necessitated by federal Trevithick Trust and other organizations, the exten- or state-sponsored projects. Numerous studies sive mining history of the English countyside is have also been conducted by federal agency arc h e - being studied, pre s e r ved, and interpreted for the ologists and/or private consultants on lands admin- public. Engine houses for pumping and hoisting i s t e r ed by agencies such as the Forest Service, the have been acquired and rehabilitated, interpre t i v e National Park Service, and the Bureau of Land centers have been housed in mining company Management, where pertinent data on historical buildings, and former mining tramways have been significance are needed for short and long-term developed as interpretive trails linking key sites for management plans. walkers. These imaginative schemes pre s e rv e A rcheologists at Michigan Te c h n o l o g i c a l i m p o r tant elements of the mining landscape and University began studying mining sites in the allow visitors to appreciate their role in the history vicinity of the university in the mid-1980s. of the re g i o n . Michigan Tech, founded in 1885 as the Michigan 4 CRM No 7—1998 Mining School, is located in the midst of a nation- Patrick and Susan Martin carried out historical ally important copper mining district and near to and archeological surveys that provided detailed extensive iron mining regions. Copper mining i n f o r mation about the National Mine near the flourished from the 1840s until the 1960s, while town of Rockland. Mining-related sites also com- i ron mining is still active in the Lake Superior posed a significant portion of the cultural re s o u rc e region. Michigan Tech has expanded into a com- database generated by Patrick and Susan Mart i n p rehensive science and engineering university in for the Cultural Resource Overview of the Ottawa the 20th century, but its surroundings and historic National Forest, completed in 1979. beginnings continue to provide an unparalled As Michigan Tech University’s curr i c u l u m o p p o rtunity for studying former mining operations. evolved during the 1970s and 1980s, the The remnants of mining ventures litter the physical D e p a r tment of Social Sciences developed a faculty and social landscape. Mining-related machines, focus on “Science, Technology and Society” as a buildings, transportation systems, and waste unifying theme among the several disciplines re p - deposits dominate the small communities that sur- resented (anthro p o l o g y, history, geography, politi- vive. The social stru c t u re of mining enterprises, cal science, and sociology). Adoption of this philo- with their rigid and hierarchical ranking systems, sophical and methodological approach resulted in have left unmistakable traces in the housing stock traditional American historians gradually being and settlement patterns. Heavy dependence on replaced by historians of technology, a shift that immigrant labor also produced a diverse mix of f u r ther encouraged study of historic mines and ethnic and national minorities, a mix distinctively mining. As a result, Larry Lankton was hire d unlike other communities in the Midwest. s h o r tly after he had led a Historic American F o rt u i t o u s l y, the mining school’s focus during its Engineering Record team that had documented the early decades resulted in the gathering of an Quincy Mining Company operation in Hancock. In i m p ressive collection of documentary re c o r ds and the early 1990s, this departmental emphasis con- re s o u rces related to mining, thus providing an tinued as a Master’s degree program in Industrial The Kennecot Mill, especially rich source of insight into technological A r chaeology and was formally developed to take operated between m a t t e r s . advantage of both faculty expertise and local 1908 and 1932, Michigan Te c h ’s unique location and history o p p o rtunities for re s e a r ch. Establishment and with glacial moraine and have made it a convenient setting for the study of expansion of the program resulted in the hiring of mountains in the historic mining. Faculty in the Department of two additional full-time archeologists (Susan background. Social Sciences have taken advantage of the setting M a r tin and David Landon) and an arc h i t e c t u r a l Located within the for several decades, dating at least to the mid- historian (Alison K. Hoagland) in order to comple- Wrangell St. Elias 1960s, when the late Lawrence Rakestraw studied ment the historians of technology (Larry Lankton, National Park, Alaska, this site historic copper mines within Isle Royale National Te rry Reynolds, and Bruce Seely) and the cultural has been the focus Park. In the late 1970s, archeology was added to a n t h ropologists (Carol MacLennan and Josiah of a cultural land- the depart m e n t ’s curriculum when Patrick and Heyman), whose interests focused on industry and scape study by Susan Martin joined the faculty; the arc h e o l o g i c a l w o r k .

Load more