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Title:

Smelting Furnace at the Copper Mines

Date:: 1860 - 1883
Description:: Back reads, "Vermont Copper Mines Vershire, VT. Smelting Furnace looking West." The stereoview shows a few industrial buildings (one appears to have smoke coming from it) at the copper mine with several boulders scattered around on the ground. There are what appear to be homes beyond the large buildings. Note the complete lack of vegetation. There is a pad made of crushed rock at the center of the image. Esther Munroe Swift writes on 2005-5-19: Very early in Vermont history copper had been found in Vershire & mined on a small scale. During the Civil War copper was much needed. In 1865 Smith Ely of New York City gained controlling interest in the mines. By 1880 the mines produced over 3 million tons of copper & 2,000 men worked the mines. So the town decided to change its name from Vershire to Ely. But by 1882 the mines were in serious financial difficulty & the town went back to being Vershire. The price of copper dropped & in 1883 the mines closed. Smith had no money to pay the miners who then rioted and what is known as the Ely War began. Utimately the state militia was sent to Vershire; miners were arrested; peace was restored and so ended the Ely War.The mines never re-opened as did the ones in Strafford in both world wars.

Filename:: LS04743_000.jpg
Size:: 3668 x 1836 pixels; 1811488 bytes
Original Filename:: SV1070_.jpg
Keywords:: Boulders; Buildings; Culture; Dwellings; Earth Materials; Geology; Human Activity; Human Constructs; Industrial buildings; Mines and mineral resources; Nature; Sediments (Geology); Work;
Source:: Special Collections, Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont
Submitted By:: Michala Peabody
Submitted On:: 2004-07-15
Original Media:: Stereoview
Relative Dating Rationale:: Mines closed in 1883
Times viewed:: 772

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