Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The name was no fluke—ore fever coursed through the region when a prospector dis-
covered huge deposits under Mineral Point Hill. Hordes of Cornish immigrants took right
to the hills. Tirelessly scratching into the hillsides, they even scraped gouges into the bluff
sides wheretheycouldrestandescape theelements. Manythusbelieve Mineral Pointtobe
the origin of the nickname “badger,” as these ubiquitous holes and the miners in them were
dubbed.
Soon the heart of the region, it was in Mineral Point that the Territory of Wisconsin was
established on July 4, 1836. The railroads rolled through, and Mineral Point soon had the
largest zinc operation in the United States; it persisted (more or less) through 1979, when
the last mine closed down after 150 years.
More than 500 structures in this small town still stand on 1837 plattings. Most buildings
contain locally quarried limestone and feature Cornish designs, and all date from the cen-
tury after 1830. The town's gemlike status has impelled artisans to move to Mineral Point
and set up studios, shops, and galleries.
And the pervasiveness of “shake rag” this and “shake rag” that stems from a Cornish
tradition. At noontime, wives summoned their husbands home from the mines by waving
dishcloths. The name stuck.
Sights
Pendarvis and the Merry Christmas Mine
(114 Shake Rag St., 608/987-2122,
www.wisconsinhistory.org
,
10am-5pm daily May-Nov., $10 adults) is judged by many as
the most thorough and best preserved view of the region's mining heritage. While the rest
of this historic district was being demolished in the 1930s for scavenged building blocks,
a foresighted local bought rundown Cornish cottages and set to renovating. For a while,
it was a Cornish restaurant before the state historical society took over. Quite small actu-
ally,thecomplexhasalongthree-unitrowhouse,theoft-photographedPolperroHouse,and
stone-and-log cottages (six structures in all), linked together by narrow stone paths through
gardens.
