Hard as the Rock Itself: Place and Identity in the American Mining Town

1: Introduction

1 E VERY MATURE NATION HAS ITS SYMBOLIC LANDSCAPES,” WRITES GEOGRAPHER D. W. Meinig, idealized places that evoke commonly understood meaning . He cites the New England Village, the Main Street of Middle America, and the California Suburb as examples of symbolic landscapes that have come to represent idyllic spaces for American family life. But, as Meinig also observes, although the favorable imagery of these iconic places is familiar, their physical and social character is poorly understood. “Perhaps,” he cautions, “we have been deluded by the very power of the symbols. When we attempt to penetrate the familiar generalizations and clichés . . . we may be startled at how narrow and uneven are the foundations upon which these stereotypes rest.”1 Myth often obscures the complex realities of place, and this observation holds equally true for locales occupying unfavored perceptual territory. For example, symbols of difficult and unwholesome living, impoverished central cities, and isolated rural boondocks are also burdened by misperception. Negative stereotypes dominate these environments, and although not wholly inaccurate in terms of conventional economic and aesthetic measures, such generalizations obscure C H A P T E R O N E Introduction “ 2 INTRODUCTION the internal value they hold as lived-in places. Mining has created a symbolic landscape similarly stigmatized. In the popular imagination, mining landscapes— mineral extraction and processing areas and the adjacent settlements for mine workers—have become icons of dereliction and decay. For those who live in these places, however, these landscapes may function as meaningful communities and homes. MINING HAS PLAYED A VITAL ROLE IN U.S. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. THE QUEST FOR mineral wealth was a dominant motive in early European colonization of the New World. Although not as driven as their Spanish counterparts by a desire to exploit the continent’s mineral riches, the colonists of British North America wasted little time developing mines once ores were discovered. The first American ironworks were established at Jamestown, Virginia, in the 1620s. By the 1700s, the Atlantic colonies were trading significant quantities of iron and smaller amounts of copper and gold. As the nation grew, mineral prospecting followed, and frequently drove, advancement of the settlement frontier. Mining provided an impetus for settlement in numerous western states. By the early 1800s, lead was being produced by American settlers in the Mississippi River valley of Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin. By mid-century, copper was being extracted from Michigan and iron from Minnesota, and intensive mining of coal—a fuel that fired the furnaces of the American Industrial Revolution—in Appalachia was underway. By the mid-nineteenth century, manufacturers in the nation’s economic core— the American Manufacturing Belt—had come to depend on a steady flow of metals and fuels from an ever-expanding and resource-rich periphery. Growing demand for minerals in the manufacturing belt, the extension of the national railroad network, and a succession of precious metal “fevers” produced dramatic growth in American mining. Bituminous coalfields of the Midwest were developed . Later, mountain and plains deposits came into production. Gold came to dominate the mineral economy of California after the Gold Rush of 1848–1849, and the metal, along with silver, copper, lead, and other mineral commodities, created distinctive mining districts across the American West.2 As a result of more than two centuries of mining activity, the United States has numerous historic mining districts. Although each is distinctive, they tend to share a common economic history. Mining is the quintessential “boom and bust” industry. Individual mining operations may differ in terms of mineral commodities , richness of deposits, and operating lifespans, but the finite nature of mineral deposits almost always results in the demise of mining-dependent economies.3 Typically, once the likely existence of a profitable prospect was discovered, America’s historic mining districts would experience periods of rapid growth. These boom years were characterized by substantial capital investment in mine workings, transportation systems, and settlement infrastructure. Hastily developed , many mining communities sprung into existence seemingly overnight, and 3 INTRODUCTION as a result of their isolation, they were often occupied by imported labor. North America’s historic mining districts, particularly those originating in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, served as foci for European immigration.4 Inexorably, the quality and accessibility of mineral deposits declines and mines typically become less profitable over time. Beginning in the late nineteenth century , worker organization often placed a further strain on the profitability of mining operations as...