Hardscrabble Life: The Change in the Use of Land From Exploratory Mining to Domestic Life on Quincy Mining Company Property.

Summary

This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Quincy Mine was affectionately dubbed “Old Reliable” due to the Quincy Mining Company paying dividends to its investors every year from 1868-1920. However, the company’s formative decade, starting in 1846, were not as bountiful. The future of the company was saved by discovering the Quincy lode of copper in 1856. In later decades, the site of these early exploratory mining operations became residential areas for workers, mining captains, and dwellings for national guard troops. This paper examines the archaeological evidence of the 1850s search for the Quincy lode found on former Quincy Mining Company property. This paper presents the findings for these excavations, and the contrast of work life and residential life over time by examining one backyard area. Excavated sites of the 1846-1856 decade contained a large amount of core samples, demonstrating the desperate search for copper, while excavations of later sites contain artifacts that show a domestic landscape.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2020 SHA General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 833