Wisconsin History Makers Tour Comes to Iowa County

The Making of Pioneer Wisconsin: Voices of Early Settlers

Cover of the book: Pioneer WisconsinMugshot of Michael StevensFeaturing Michael Stevens, Retired State Historian

Saturday, April 12, 1 pm
Iowa County Law Enforcement Center
109 E Leffler Street, Dodgeville

Dr. Michael Stevens will introduce you to the emotional and personal side of the first generation of Wisconsin pioneers. From the mid–1830s to the mid–1850s, more than a half million people were drawn to an exotic place called Wisconsin. In the words of one of them, “I got thinking about Wisconsin and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to see it.”

Dr. Stevens will provide a glimpse into the lives of early settlers in Iowa County and Wisconsin, and what it felt like to be traveling in ships, wagons, establishing homes, and forming new communities. The early settlers, in their own words, recorded experiences in letters, diaries, and newspaper articles which revealed their fears, frustrations, joys and hopes for life in this new place.

This event is a joint venture sponsored by the Iowa County Historical Society and the Wisconsin Historical Society. The public is invited to attend this free presentation. Join us!

Visit the Museum!

The Museum on a bright sunny day with fresh cut lawn in front, trees behind the small building with columns.The Iowa County Historical Society was incorporated in 1976 to discover and preserve the history of Iowa County, Wisconsin. We maintain a wide variety of archival items including:

 

Visitors are welcome! Our hours are Wednesday through Friday, 1 pm to 4 pm. Inclement weather affects our hours: If public schools close, we close. The Museum is located at 1301 N. Bequette St., Dodgeville, WI. Our Mailing address is P.O. Box 44, Dodgeville, WI 53533; Phone number (608) 935-7694; Email: ichistory@mhtc.net

Iowa County History Facts

vintage image, possibly color tinted, of an old home in the background and a fence in the foreground.

Stringtown mining settlement near Rewey.

The first white residents were of English, Irish, Scots, and French descent from Kentucky, Missouri, or adjacent states. The Panic of 1819 started miners moving up the Mississippi River. The end of the Winnebago war in 1827, was seen as an opportunity for miners to spread into Iowa County. Word quickly spread that lead deposits so abundant in this area that ore lay on top of the ground!

In 1827, Henry Dodge, his family, and about 40 miners set up camp in the vicinity. Within a short time, about 100 miners were working claims on the ridges of Dodgeville. By 1829, more than 4,000 miners worked in southwestern Wisconsin, producing 13 million pounds of lead a year. By the mid-1830s, news of the “lead rush” in the Upper Mississippi Valley had reached England; and a steady stream of skilled, hard-rock miners from Cornwall and Wales had begun.

Lead mining in the area went into decline during the 1850s. Many of the Cornish moved on to the copper mines of Upper Michigan, the silver mines of Colorado, and the gold mines of California. Mining was replaced by farming and mercantilism.