| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
THIS RECTANGULAR-SHAPED, LIMESTONE MINING STRUCTURE WAS BUILT IN 1876 (SEE BIB. REF. A) BY SAMUEL CORNELIUS AND THOMAS CARKEEK (SEE BIB. REF. B). ITS CONSTRUCTION WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOCAL PRODUCTIVITY OF THE LEAD MINING INDUSTRY FROM 1876 TO 1890. (SEE BIB. REF. B).
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE:
HISTORICALLY, THE SLAG FURNACE IN DODGEVILLE, CONSTRUCTED IN 1876 BY THE SMELTING FIRM OF BENNETT, HOSKINS & GEORGE, IS SIGNIFICANT FOR ITS ASSOCIATION WITH THE LEAD MINING INDUSTRY WHICH DOMINATED DODGEVILLE'S AND SOUTHWESTERN WISCONSIN'S EARLY HISTORY. USED TO EXTRACT THE LEAD FROM SLAG (THE WASTE MATERIAL FROM THE INITIAL PROCESSING), THE LIMESTONE FURNACE IS BELIEVED TO BE THE LAST OF ITS KIND IN THE TRI-COUNTY LEAD MINING REGION AND AS SUCH IS AMONG THE FEW REMAINING REMNANTS OF THE INDUSTRY ITSELF.
IN 1850, JOSEPH GEORGE, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH JOHN ROGERS, JAMES COCKING, AND JAMES PERKINS PURCHASED THE "RICH MINERAL LEAD" ORIGINALLY DISCOVERED EAST OF DODGEVILLE IN 1843. EIGHT YEARS LATER THIS FIRM CONSTRUCTED A SMELTER (NO LONGER STANDING) WHICH WAS IN OPERATION UNTIL 1860, WHEN A NEW DRUMMOND FURNACE (NO LONGER STANDING) WAS BUILT ON E. SPRING ST. AT THIS TIME THE COMPANY WAS COMPOSED OF JOSEPH GEORGE, JAMES PERKINS, JOSEPH BENNETT, AND JAMES ROBERTS. RETIREMENTS IN THE FOLLOWING YEARS REDUCED THE FIRM IN 1868 TO BENNETT AND GEORGE, WHO IN THE NEXT YEAR MEARGED WITH CHOLVIN & HOSKINS (C. CHOLVIN AND SAMUEL HOSKINS), ANOTHER DODGEVILLE AREA SMELTING FIRM. IN THE NEXT DECADE BOTH CHOLVIN AND GEORGE ALSO RETIRED (IN 1874 AND 1879, RESPECTIVELY), LEAVING THE FIRM AS BENNETT AND HOSKINS. DURING THIS LAST PERIOD OF CHANGE (1876), THE SLAG FURNACE WAS BUILT BY CORNISH STONE MASONS THOMAS CARKEEK AND SAMUEL CORNELIUS JUST WEST OF THE DRUMMOND FURNACE. (SEE BIB. REF. B, C).
THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SLAG FURNACE WAS AN ECONOMIC NECESSITY FOR THE WASTE, (OR SLAG) REMAINING AFTER THE INITIAL PROCESSING OF THE ORE CONTAINED A SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF LEAD (UP TO 30%). TO RETRIEVE THIS LEAD, THE SLAG WAS REHEATED AS DESCRIBED IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES: "EACH DAY THAT THE FURNACE WAS USED A FIREPLACE OF LIMESTONE WAS BUILT WITHIN THE PRESENT STANDING ARCH. CLEAN SAND WAS PLACED THEREIN. AS THE FIRE GAINED HEADWAY, THE FAN (THE FAN WAS LOCATED IN A FRAME ADDITION ATTACHED TO THE EAST SIDE OF THE FURNACE. AN ADDITION TO THE WEST HOUSED THE WORKMEN, POT, AND MOULDS) WAS TURNED ON AND WHEN A FEARFUL HEAT HAD BEEN CREATED, ALTERNATE SHOVELS FULL OF COKE, SLAG, AND CHARCOAL WERE THROWN INTO THE ROARING INFERNO." (SEE BIB. REF. B). BECAUSE THE LEAD WAS HEAVIER THAN THE WASTE, IT FELL INTO THE WAITING RECEPTACLE, WHILE THE WASTE FLOWED OVER THE LEAD POT AND INTO A VESSEL PARTLY FILLED WITH WATER WHICH COOLED THE WASTE MATERIAL BEFORE IT WAS DISCARDED. (SEE BIB. REF. D).
THE SLAG FURNACE, UNLIKE ITS NEIGHBOR, THE DRUMMOND FURNACE, WHICH OPERATED TWENTY FOUR HOURS A DAY (GENERALLY ONLY IN THE SUMMER MONTHS), WAS IN USE ONLY FROM NOON TO MIDNIGHT TO ALLOW FOR THE REBUILDING OF THE FIREPLACE EACH DAY. (SEE BIB. REF. B). THE BENNETT AND HOSKINS OPERATION PROCESSED ORE FROM THROUGHOUT THE AREA AND WAS SUCCESSFUL UNTIL C. 1890 WHEN COMPETITION FROM LARGE FIRMS SUCH AS THE NEW JERSEY ZINC CO. FORCED THEM TO CLOSE. IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY THE DODGEVILLE SMELTING AND MINING CO. PURCHASED THE SMELTER AND SLAG FURNACE AND TEMPORARILY REVIVED THE INDUSTRY (C. 1904). JOSEPH BENNETT FROM THE BENNETT AND HOSKINS PARTNERSHIP WAS VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE NEW COMPANY. (SEE BIB. REF. F). (THIS COMPANY IS SHOWN AS THE OWNER ON THE 1915 SANBORN PERRIS MAP). IN THE FOLLOWING YEARS THE FRAME BUILDINGS WERE TORN DOWN AND IN 1938 THE DODGEVILLE WOMEN'S CLUB PURCHASED THE LIMESTONE STRUCTURE FOR $1 FROM THE WISCONSIN ZINC FLOTATION COMPANY. (SEE BIB. REF. E). |
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| Bibliographic References: | A. ON PLAQUE.
B. DODGEVILLE CHRONICLE, JANUARY 6, 1949. (THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS AN EXCELLENT PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ENTIRE OPERATION).
C. HISTORY OF IOWA CO., WISCONSIN (CHICAGO: WESTERN HISTORICAL CO., 1881), P. 777.
D. JOSEPH SCHAFER, THE WISCONSIN LEAD REGION (MADISON: STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 1932), P. 104.
E. WISCONSIN WEEKEND, JUNE 23, 1976.
F. GEORGE AND ROBERT M. CRAWFORD, EDS. MEMOIRS OF IOWA CO., WISCONSIN, 2 VOLS. (CHICAGO: NORTHWESTERN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION, 1913) 1: 185.
G. 1915 SANBORN MAP.
H. WALKING TOUR OF HISTORIC DODGEVILLE, WISCONSIN, DODGEVILLE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION, 1995. |
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