Mining ventures often led to disappointment

Traces of gold were found in several areas in the Knapp region in the late 1800s. Several efforts including this operation were made to mine the gold. However, it became too costly to produce. (John Russell Studio, Menomonie.)

     Man always has been fascinated by the materials within the earth. Men living in this part of the state are and were no different.
     There have been reports of finding everything from gold and oil to kaolin clay and diamonds.
     Of all the actual finds or rumors, iron ore has been the only mineral mined successfully in the area.
     However, plans are under way to begin mining copper in Rusk County.
     Rumors of highly values minerals and gems were among the first legends. One legend noted by Thomas Randall was the tale of an Indian knowing the whereabouts of silver on the Chippewa River in the early 1800s.
     Jonathan Carver in his travels wrote of Indians operating a copper mine along the lower areas of the Chippewa River or St. Croix Rivers.
     Silver and gold have always been the big lure of the adventurer. The French came from the north on more than one occasion to search for a "reported" silver mine near Hixton, but they never found one.
     The mound, however, is still called Silver Mound.

Gold near Fall Creek

     Attempts to mine gold were made in several parts of the area, mostly just before the turn of the century. One site was in Eau Claire County near the present recreation area of Big Falls, east of Eau Claire and north of Fall Creek.
     Here workmen dug a pit 25 to 30 feet deep and about six feet across, according to old accounts. Among the workmen was Ed Kromroy.
      The exploration never stirred much excitement at the time because most of the work was being carried on by out-of-town interests.
      The pit mine was the second effort at making the operation profitable. The first had consisted of a shaft which extended at least 30 feet in to he side of the hill on the north side of the river where it turns southward at the falls. This effort failed.
      About 10 to 15 years later a second effort was made and ore brought out of the shaft and the pit mine proved out at about $20 a ton.
      This operation was too costly for the amount of gold produced and was dropped.
      At one time there were two buildings on the site. The river was still being used to carry logs to the sawmills at Eau Claire.
      In the spring workmen viewed the logs coming down the river and being carried over the falls to bump around on the rocks.
      Time has helped cover traces of the mining. The pit is filled and all that remains of the shaft into the hillside is a sunken indentation and sparkling water that rises from the spot. Even tracks and paths which once carried small ore cars into the horizontal shaft have disappeared.

In Dunn County

     Gold was found on two farms in Dunn County in the late 1800s, but because of the low yield per ton of ore, mining was discontinued.
     Mines were located in hills west and south of Knapp in the Wilson, Wildwood and Lucas areas. They created excitement for a time and considerable prospecting took place.
     Gold was discovered at the Gerald McClellan farm by persons looking for iron ore. It was extracted from the iron ore by a cyanide process with the average yield being about five dollars worth of gold per ton of ore, far short of meeting costs of extraction, about $13 a ton at that time.
     Since some concentrations of the ore were higher than average, a mine shaft was dug on the site by hopeful investors who operated it for a short time.
     Gold was also discovered on the Grant Styler farm when traces were found in iron ore mined from pits on the side of the hills. A shaft was carved into the rock but soon proved too costly.
     Still on the hillsides are faint outlines of pits left by the miners.

Silver Mine legend

This is an 1884 copy of a silver mining company stock offering for Big Heart Silver Mining Co., formed in Eau Claire. The mine was located on bluffs overlooking what is now known as Silver Mine Drive west of Eau Claire. The mine never produced the quantity of silver its backers had promised. (Courtesy Chippewa Valley Museum.)

     Some old mining stories are as much legend as fact. One concerning fact and legend involves the Silver Mine in the Town of Union, Eau Claire County.
     According to a report in the "Eau Claire Leader" published July 18, 1915, Eau Claire about the year of 1875 had a dream of becoming the famous mining center of the western world.
     Residents were so fascinated with the proposition they invested thousands of dollars in a mining effort on the Gorton farm.
     One man, it is said, deposited more than $50,000 in that "Big Heart" silver mine located in 1876 by a medium and her claimed ally, the spirit or ghost of a famous Indian chief "Big Heart," who supposedly roamed and knew the mysteries of the Chippewa Valley.
     The mine was about three miles from Shawtown and directly across the river from the once busy sawmill at Porterville.
     A landslide years ago partially blocked the mine entrance. The shaft which was once sunk to the ore vein has long been filled. At the bottom rests thousands of dollars worth of abandoned machinery.
     Reports from the old newspaper claim that at one time chunks of silver were found there. The story continues: "One day the spirit of Big Heart came to Mrs. Lydia Hanley, who lived on Water Street, and directed her to the silver hidden in the Gorton Bluff overlooking the Chippewa River."
     Bill Pond, a well known Eau Claire man, became interested and promoted the "Big Heart Mining Co." Mrs. Hanley led company officials through the brush and suddenly stopped with the order "Dig Here."
     They sank the shaft near the river road and intermittently worked the mine during the next two years, until money gave out.
     However, an expert from the west, Wolf by name, said the mine should develop into one of the biggest paying propositions in the country. The drift, large enough to drive a team through, ran into the bluff nearly a hundred feet, then a shaft was sunk 60 feet down from where tunneling was completed.
     Quantities of silver ore were hoisted and estimates from experts in Omaha convinced many that this ore, if the vein or lead could be found, would be one of the fabulous mines of the New World.
     A great deal of money was again raised and spent and a large mill built with machinery installed for crushing and smelting ore. A quantity of ore was removed but water form the hidden springs ran along the drive and filled the shaft, causing more expense.
     This cost became more than promoters could cope with and the project was abandoned. It was never resumed.

Plum City Diamonds

     There have been few places in the he world were diamonds have been discovered. One of them happens to be near Plum City, at least according to speculators between 1887 and 1906.
     None of the reported area findings amounted to anything and this area never did become another "South Africa." It started when C. A. Hawn, who had panned for gold in Colorado, sought gold around Rock Elm.
     He reportedly found some small diamonds and news soon got around.
     In 1887 Hawn, along with Dr. Ed. Hawn, William Newell, Jr. and Sr., George Nichols and Matthew Dill formed a mining company.
     The company purchased some property for $1,400 and started a flour mill and gold mining operation in Section 32 of the Town of Rock Elm.
     Expenses of obtaining gold and looking for diamonds outdistanced costs of more than $2 an hour for operation and the group sold out to Jay L. and C. D. Hawn.
     The Plum Creek diamond story came alive again in 1906 when the "Spring Valley Sun" carried an advertisement proclaiming "Diamonds Discovered in Pierce County." Stock was offered by the American Diamond Mining Company of Minneapolis.
     The ad noted that more diamonds had been found in Plum Creek than in any other part of America.
     R. G. Seiter, a flour mill operator on Plum Creek, claimed he found the type of blue clay that bears diamonds, the ad continued, near a spring on his farm.
     The site of the American Diamond Mining Company holdings was about a mile and a half south of Plum City in the bed of the creek.
     The original site later became the possession of a Churchill family and then passed into the hands of the Plum Creek watershed project. It is now a park with a dam.

Iron ore sought

Iron ore was mined in the Spring Valley region and a smelter was moved from Black River Falls. All that remains today is the large brick tower. The ore was discovered about 1890 and Spring Valley became a "boom town." (Courtesy Doug Belgrin).

     In addition to iron mining activities at Black River Falls, there were traces of iron ore found in Pierce, Dunn and St. Croix counties. In fact so much was found that a plant was assembled at Spring Valley.
     Iron ore was found near Spring Valley in about 1890 when W. W. Newell was prospecting for gold about two miles west of town.
     A Mr. Sabin from Stillwater, Minn., heard about the deposits and organized capital to form the Eagle Iron and Ore Company. A smelter was brought from Black River Falls and assembled at the north side of Spring Valley.
     Spring Valley became a boom town after the smelter began operations in 1892. The railroad was extended from Wildwood to Spring Valley and the same year, bringing a great influx of people to the area, many of them European immigrants.
     Most of the common labor in the mines, limestone quarries and smelter was furnished by Polish, German and Italian immigrants who lived near the smelter in small homes that could be termed shanties. Laborers were paid $1.15 per day for 12 hours of work.
     There were two main mining operations near Spring Valley. The Gilman mines were two miles west of the village in the Township of Gilman. These were the first.
     The Cady Creek mines were developed five miles southeast of the village. These were open pit mines, with most of the ore being taken out with pick and shove.
     The original company, Eagle Iron and Ore Co., sold its interests to a Mr. Foote from Chicago in about 1900. The name was changed to the Spring Valley Iron and Ore Company.
     From the time the smelter was assembled in 1892 it operated almost continually until 1907 when it "blew out" because of lack of demand for pig iron. The smelter began operating again in 1909, but in 1910 it closed, never to reopen.
     The furnace was dismantled by 1907 when the large smoke stack was sold for scrap iron.
     The only visible evidence of the smelter today is the elevator shaft, an 80 foot brick structure located near the Spring Valley athletic field.
     In 1942 a mining company investigated ore deposits near Cady Creek, but concluded there was not enough iron ore for commercial development.
     John Graslie, who owned the Bank of Spring Valley from 1904 until retirement in 1959, became interested in the iron ore sites in the early 1950s, tested sites and leased mineral rights on land with ore deposits, but none of these ventures were undertaken, as the amount to be minted didn't figure to offset production costs.

Other ore deposits

     There have been other traces of iron ore found in the area. Ore was found in hills near Knapp in 1886 and in spots to the west near Wilson and in the Town of Lucas. Frenzied prospectors made exploratory diggings in search of the ore.
     In 1890 some 500 tons of ore were sent via train to Black River Falls to be smelted, but the results did not warrant further development.
     St. Croix County enjoyed a brief iron mining boom at the turn of the century. Iron was mined near Wilson and also west of Eau Galle.
     There were also reports of traces of iron ore found north of Stanley.

Plenty of charcoal

     There are accounts in some history books of coal miles near New Auburn in northern Chippewa County. However, Neil Tarr, New Auburn historian, said the record shows only that charcoal kilns were located there.
     With an abundance of hardwood, used for making charcoal for the smelters, a number of charcoal kilns were scattered across the area - among them ones at Neillsville, Thorp, Stanley, Millston, Black River Falls and Chippewa Falls.

Rumors of Oil

     In August of 926, J. C. Noble, a geologist who had been working near Cumberland, Ladysmith and Weyerhaeuser, said he felt a belt of land extending from Rusk County across Barron and Polk counties may contain one of the great potential oilfields in the world.
     Noble took up some five-year options on property around Weyerhaeuser with the condition that if no test wells were sunk within a year the leases would become null and void.
     One of the best reported "samples" came on the James Quinn farm six miles northeast of Rice Lake.
     Despite some lofty stories, the area never did become the so-called "oil belt" of the Midwest.
     When the railroad came up the Red Cedar Valley in the 1880s, men making the cut uncovered a large quantity of high quality limestone.
     It was high grade material and builders and sculptors realized its value at once. St. Thomas Episcopal church in New York City and Mabel Tainter Memorial Building in Menomonie are two structures in which this tone was used.
     At one time or another, four quarries operated in the area.

Kaolin clay

     Kaolin, a pure white, almost sandlike clay, is used in making porcelain and clay "enamel" coated glossy papers.
     The Superior China Clay Co., was organized in 1893 and mined the clay in St.Croix County until 1902. The mine, located in Springfield, employed 84 people.
     Recently, in 1973, there were rumors of the mines reopening, but university and industry experts decided there was not enough kaolin in that area to make renewed mining practical.
     Copper mining next.
     By the time bicentennial flags are hoisted over the Chippewa Valley, Rusk County's copper mine will be cut a memory, and then only to those who boast four score years or more.

--Arnie Hoffman

Extracted from the Eau Claire Leader Telegram
Special Publication, Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond', published 1976
Used with permission.