A Mining Experience
A Tri-State Tourism Council Driving Tour

During our nation’s first mineral rush, settlers poured into the Mississippi River valley with hopes of striking it rich. Explore their world, from lead mines to shot towers.
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80 mile drive beginning at Spring Green, Wisconsin, winding through Dubuque, Iowa and Galena, Illinois, and ending at Shullsburg, Wisconsin.

Peer down the shaft of a reconstructed tower where lead pellets were dropped 180 feet into a pool of water to create lead shot at Tower Hill State Park near Spring Green, WI. Drive south on Hwy. 23 to Mineral Point and Pendarvis State Historic Site, where you can explore the curiously named Merry Christmas Mine Hill.

Continue southwest on Hwy. 151 to Platteville and The Mining Museum, which includes a guided walking tour into an 1845 lead mine and a train ride around the museum grounds in ore cars pulled by a 1931 mine locomotive. At the same site you can visit the Rollo Jamison Museum, home of one man’s lifetime collection of 20,000+ historic objects. West on Hwy. 133 at Potosi, explore St. John Mine and learn why Wisconsin is named “the Badger State.”

Cross the Mississippi into Iowa and the city of Dubuque, where the Shot Tower produced 3 tons of shot each day during the Civil War. The structure is not open to the public, but can be seen from Hwy. 151 near the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. Ready to stretch your legs? The Mines of Spain and the E.B. Lyons Interpretive Center has wonderful hiking and cross-country skiing trails in a native environment.

Driving east into Illinois on Hwy. 20, visit the Father Samuel Mazzuchelli Museum at Sinsinawa Mound Center, where the inspiring life of an Italian immigrant who ministered to the Irish miners is celebrated. Don’t forget to stop at the Dominican Sisters’ bakery for a special treat! Back on Hwy. 20, continue east to historic Galena and the Galena/Jo Daviess County History Museum, where you can peer down an original 1830 mine shaft from inside the 1858 mansion.

Take Hwy. 84 North to Hwy.11 East and visit Swindlers’ Ridge Museum in Benton. You’ll find a large collection of ore samples, many pictures of mines and miners from the past, and two working models of mines made by former miners. Complete your mining tour with a visit to the Badger Mine and Museum in Shullsburg. A display of primitive mining tools will acquaint you with how miners used “picks” and “gads” to extract lead.

If hunger strikes enroute, stop at one of the many diners and restaurants throughout the tri-state area. Anton’s Saloon in New Diggings and Brewster’s Café & Cheese Store in Shullsburg are fun stops. You might find Cornish pasty, a tasty meat and vegetable pie that was the miners’ staple, on the menu.

And if you decide to make a two or three day trip out of the adventure, a wide variety of lodgings will make the mining tour a leisurely pleasure. If you prefer a resort experience, try Chestnut Mountain Resort near Galena, Governor Dodge Hotel & Conference Center in Platteville, or Grand Harbor Resort & Waterpark in Dubuque. If a B&B experience is your style, Lafayette Guest Lodging offers a variety of inns and guesthouses in the Shullsburg area from which to explore the mining history of the Tri-State region.