Monday - July 25 2022 - Madison WI to Cedar Rapids IA

 

"Who Knew" was today's theme as we continue to trip on little gems along the way. 

Good nights sleep, McDonalds coffee 2 minutes away and on the road to Moline to see the John Deere Pavillion in Moline IL. But on the way we got distracted by a little town called Platteville WI. They had a little sign for a Mining Museum so we took the bait. This region of Wisconsin had a bunch of lead and zinc mines back in the mid 1800's. The Indians used to "smelt" it over fires and a little lead would drip out. They could trade it for other stuff and when the Europeans came, they heard about it, brought the Cornish miners over and started digging around. The deal with the US government was that they would give you land to improve but you had to promise there were no minerals on it. That did not work (really??) and so the government had a team survey this area and determine where there were minerals and where there were not. Sounds like it worked a little better and they would lease anyone the mineral rights. The other agreement was with the Native Americans because technically they owned the land. The mine in Platteville only operated a couple years but all the stuff from the surrounding mines ended up in Platteville so that's why the museum is here. The guide did a great job of explaining how everything worked and then took us down into the mine (80-90 stairs, no match for Bisbohemians). Everything was done by hand with candles and hammers and drills. What is interesting is that they used black powder (dynamite was not available then) and the fuses were hollow straw hay with powder inside. Drill a hole, stuff it with powder, insert straw fuse, light it, run, and then come back in the morning to muck up the loosened rock. They visually sorted out the ore and then sent it by wagon to the smelter in nearby Mineral Point.

We left town via the University of Wisconsin - Platteville campus (student gone for the summer) and then we headed to Dubuque IA and found the Dubuque funicular, the steepest, shortest railroad in the world. Actually some rich guy in 1882 got sick of the 30 minute horse and buggy ride up to his house on top of the hill overlooking Dubuque so he built the funicular. And it's still running today. At $4 for a round trip it's a little gold mine.

We walked around town (nice tourist info lady) and then back in the car so we could get to the John Deere Pavillion before it closed at 4pm.

The John Deere place did not disappoint mainly because by some great stroke of luck, a retired John Deere engineer was there with his grand kids and we talked each others ears off. So rare to get a behind the scenes view of how John Deere engineering works, the evolution of design and what's coming next. I wish I could start my engineering career over again!! He knew everybody in the place and he told the ladies behind the store counter to give me the employee discount on the shirt I bought. Just when you think it can't get any better it does!!

We decided we would head for Waterloo IA where the big John Deere museum is. We made it to Cedar Rapids, got a room , got some dinner and then walked around downtown in the Czech Village / New Bohemia part of town.

Every little town seems to have something interesting to look at.