Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

Mining Memorial Heritage Day planned for Sept. 20 in Ironwood

IRONWOOD - Saturday, Sept. 20, has officially been proclaimed Mining Memorial Heritage Day in Ironwood.

City commissioners on Monday adopted a resolution designating the special day.

The commission learned the observance will begin with a noon gathering at the downtown Miners Wall Mural and conclude with a candlelight vigil around 6 p.m.

Events at the Historic Ironwood Theatre are also being planned in connection with the observance.

It has been proclaimed as a day of recognition for all local miners, spanning from 1884 to 1995, when the White Pine mine closed.

The Sept. 24, 1926, rescue of 43 men from the G shaft of the Pabst Mine in Ironwood will specifically be recalled.

Friends of the Miners Memorial Heritage Park have worked at scheduling the activities.

Historical societies of Hurley, Ironwood and Bessemer will assist.

Visitors are asked to bring and share photos, mining artifacts and stories with others at noon at the mural for an hour's gathering.

The Iron County Museum mining display in Hurley will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Ironwood Historical Society at the Depot will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. to view its mining displays, Bessemer's mining DVD, with Pabst H miner Ed Sandene, and a 1940s color video of an Abbott and Costello war bond drive in Ironwood.

The Historic Ironwood Theatre will present a Barton organ recital from 1:15 to 1:45 p.m.

A tour of the Ironwood Memorial Building and its mining and heritage display is scheduled for 2 p.m.

The vigil will begin at the Pabst H mine shaft at 6 p.m., off Bonnie Street, in west Ironwood.