Step back in time

HURLEY-People young and old experienced life before the turn of the last century during Heritage Day on Friday presented by the Iron County Historical Society at the Iron County Historical Museum.

Heritage Day kicked off three weeks of the Iron County Heritage Festival.

At the museum on Friday, people were able to watch a blacksmith, a broom maker and a musician playing antique instruments.

Blacksmith Dan Roesinger said he is one of approximately 400 full time blacksmiths here in the U.S. He said his job is to make speciality woodworking tools, like a stock knife, which can used by custom shoemakers to carve wooden clogs.

While banging away on a metal rod to make a fire poker, Roesinger said he incorporates math, problem solving and other skills to build his final product.

"It's dirty work, but it's fascinating enough that you don't care," he said. "It teaches practical math, methodical thinking and constant problem solving. I have to figure how how much stock I need to make what I want to make."

Under Roesinger's tent, he had a hearth, also known as a forge. Connected to the forge, he had a blower he used to maintain the fire. He also had an anvil he used to shape metal with a hammer.

Inside the museum, hand crafter Saga Erickson showed how to make brooms the old fashioned way.

Erickson said she's made brooms for eight years and that she's one of a few broom squires left.

"I like the hands-on aspect of it," she said. "I like being able to make something with my hands that's beautiful and functional."

To make her brooms, Erickson said she uses broom corn, the same material that's been used for a couple hundreds of years.

"Broom corn is the seed head of a sorghum grass," she said. "It's strong and sturdy and it's the old fashioned way."

As times change, Erickson said hand crafts are coming back.

"It's a neat thing to see a lot of these crafts slowly come back into popularity," she said. "People need to touch things and do things with their hands. There's been a resurgence of young people going 'How do you do that?'"

Upstairs, musician Eric Sorensen played antique musicians for visitors' listening pleasure.

Among several instruments, Sorensen played a Buddhist singing bowl. As Sorensen played the bowl with a wooden stick by rubbing it around the rim, the bowl made a humming sound that he said assists Buddhist meditation and prayer.

By watching these people practice their trade, volunteer Doris Morello said people get to witness life before they were born.

"People can see a part of the past," she said. "The young people don't know what these things are and its fun explaining."