Days of Ore
Underwater Archaeological Investigations of Freedom Iron Mine, Captain C. T. Robert’s Wet Prospect
Please register for this free Charles E. Brown Lecture at: https://wihist.org/CEB-Nov22
In the early decades of the twentieth century, there was a brief boom in industrial-scale iron mining in the Baraboo Range Iron District in central Wisconsin. Freedom Mine, located in LaRue, Wisconsin, is one of the few examples of these iron ore mines left in the region, and its underground workings remain immaculately preserved underwater. Facing an ever present threat of flooding while in operation, the site was rapidly inundated in 1911, causing miners to leave tools and equipment in place. Today, this allows archaeologists a rare opportunity to study how these iron mines operated. Although operations at the Freedom Mine were relatively small and short-lived, the site’s features are illustrative of the region’s typical mining practices. Utilizing underwater archaeological survey, and surveys of the site’s remaining historic foundations, this presentation examines Freedom Mine as a representative example of iron mining in Wisconsin and highlights the most recent archaeological work completed at the site.
