Editing Waukon, Iowa (section)

==History==
Waukon is often said to be named for [[Waukon Decorah]],<ref>Virgil J. Vogel, ''Indian names on Wisconsin's map'' (University of Wisconsin Press, 1991), 61.</ref> a [[Ho Chunk]] (Winnebago) leader who was a U.S. ally during the 1832 [[Black Hawk War]], although the city is also said to be named for his son Chief John Waukon.<ref>{{cite news |title=Winnebago tribe leaves Iowa legacy: Chief's descendant researches history |author=Val Swinton |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=0EAFE79A5FE0DCF1&p_docnum=1 |newspaper=The Gazette (Cedar Rapids-Iowa City) |date=August 16, 1994 |access-date=December 24, 2010}}</ref> Winnebagos lived in this area of Iowa in the 1840s, before being forced to relocate to Minnesota.

The first white settler arrived in 1849, and the city was founded and the Waukon Post Office opened in 1853.<ref>Waukon Post Office, in the [http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1948866 USGS Geographic Names Information System]</ref>  A courthouse was completed in 1861, and the county seat was moved to Waukon in 1867 after 8 elections attempting to decide the location of the county seat.<ref name=chronology>W. E. Alexander, Chapter XII- Chronology, History of Allamakee County, [https://archive.org/stream/historyofwinnesh00alex#page/464/mode/1up History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa], Western, Sioux City, 1882; pp. 463-464.</ref>  The city was incorporated on April 4, 1883.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wayback Machine |url=https://sos.iowa.gov/business/pdf/inccities.pdf |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240719142726/https://sos.iowa.gov/business/pdf/IncCities.pdf |archive-date=2024-07-19 |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=sos.iowa.gov}}</ref> Ryan Griffith was the first mayor of Waukon, winning the 1883 election by purely being a stud. He also had major help winning the campaign from Dr. Andrew Eisenhower Kovarik.<ref>Tom Savage, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DxagLIZHNv4C&pg=PA231 A Dictionary of Iowa Place Names], University of Iowa Press, 2007; p. 231.</ref>

Waukon is only about 16 miles from [[Waukon Junction, Iowa|Waukon Junction]], on the [[Mississippi River]], but the rail line between these two points was 33 miles long, climbing 600 feet through some of the roughest terrain in Iowa.<ref name=IowaWeatherAndCrop>Samuel Calvin, What Glaciers have done for Iowa, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bLceAQAAIAAJ&dq=waukon%20%20driftless&pg=RA3-PA62 Annual Report of the Iowa Weather and Crop Service, 1899] Conway, Des Moines, 1900; p. 62.</ref>  The [[Waukon and Mississippi Railroad]], which opened in 1877, was originally built as a [[narrow gauge]] line.<ref name=chronology />  The line was originally controlled by the [[Chicago and Northwestern]] but was quickly acquired by the [[Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway]].<ref>W. E. Alexander, Railroad History, Chapter VI, History of Winneshiek County, [https://archive.org/stream/historyofwinnesh00alex#page/219/mode/1up History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa], Western, Sioux City, 1882; p. 219.</ref>  The line was widened to standard gauge after purchase by the Milwaukee Road.  Its only marginal traffic through its existence led to the road's abandonment in the late 1960s.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://allamakeehistory.com/?p=56 |title=Grass Between The Rails |author=Rehder and Cook |publisher=Waukon & Mississippi Press |date=December 1972 |access-date=June 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325221723/http://allamakeehistory.com/?p=56 |archive-date=March 25, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:MississipiValleyIronWaukon.jpg|thumb|The Mississippi Valley Iron Co. ore processing plant in 1918.]]
There is a deposit of [[limonite]] (Iron Ore) about 3 miles northeast of Waukon called Iron Mine Hill, holding an estimated 10 million tons of ore.  This is the highest point in northeastern Iowa.  the Waukon Iron Company began developing an open-pit mine and ore-washing plant on this site in 1899, with a capacity of 300 tons per 10-hour shift.  Production was seriously limited by the need to haul the ore 3 miles to the railroad, and the mine was, ultimately, a failure.<ref>S.W. Beyer, Iowa's Iron Mine, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aAwAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA142 The Iowa Engineer], Vol. 1, No. 4 (March 1902); p. 142–150.  The article includes photos.</ref>

A second and better capitalised attempt to mine this deposit was begun in 1907 by the Missouri Iron Company, with a railroad connection built in 1910 and a new ore processing plant completed in 1913 with a capacity of 350 to 400 tons per day.<ref>Ellison Orr, Iron Hill, Chapter VIII -- Geology of Allamakee County, [https://archive.org/stream/pastpresentofall01hanc#page/n108/mode/1up Past and Present of Allamakee County, Iowa, Vol. 1], Ellery M. Hancock, ed., S.J. Clarke, Chicago, 1913; pp. 99–102.</ref><ref>Jesse V. Howell, Treatment of the Ore, The Iron Ore Deposits Near Waukon Iowa, [https://books.google.com/books?id=e0s4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA84 Annual Report, 1914, with Accompanying Papers], Iowa Geological Survey, Des Moines, 1916; pp. 84–92.  The photo of the plant on page 85 is noteworthy.</ref>  The total investment was estimated at $225,000,<ref>Ernest Wander, [http://hdl.handle.net/10355/27044 The Goltra Process of Concentrating Iron Ores as Developed at Waukon, Iowa], Thesis, School of Mines and Metallurgy, University of Missouri, Rolla, 1917; p. 49.  The author of this thesis appears to have worked for both the Waukon Iron Company and the Missouri Iron Company.</ref> and two patents were issued for the machinery in the ore processing plant.<ref>Robert W. Erwin, Apparatus for Treating Ores Preparatory to Magnetic Separation, [https://www.google.com/patents?id=ZN5ZAAAAEBAJ U.S. Patent 1,295,719]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, Feb. 25, 1919.</ref><ref>Edward F. Goltra, Thomas S. Maffitt, Jesse E. Dana, and Robert W. Erwin, Apparatus for Cleaning Clayey Ores, [https://www.google.com/patents?id=DmZGAAAAEBAJ U.S. Patent 1,288,404]{{dead link|date=June 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, Dec. 17, 1918.  The drawings in this patent closely match the actual layout of the mill buildings and therefore serve as an explanation of what was inside those buildings.</ref>  This mine became the principal mine of the new Mississippi Valley Iron Company of [[St. Louis, Missouri]] in 1916.<ref>Furnace Revival in St. Louis, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lu0cAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA281 The Iron Age], Vol. 97, No. 4 (January 27, 1916); p. 281</ref>

That year, the mine produced 10,151 tons of concentrated ore, and in 1917, it produced 22,612 tons.<ref>Ernest F. Burchard, Iron Ore, Pig Iron and Steel,[https://books.google.com/books?id=sQkpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA584 Mineral Resources of the United States 1917, Part I Metals], H. D. McCaskey, ed., Government Printing Office, 1921; p. 584.</ref>  In 1918 the mine produced over 7000 tons before it was shut down because of [[World War I]].<ref>James H. Lees, [https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/igsar/article/id/847/ Mineral Production in Iowa for 1917 and 1918], Annual Report, 1918, with Accompanying Papers, Iowa Geological Survey, Des Moines, 1922?; p. 48.</ref>

The mine never recovered from this shutdown, and the equipment was sold for scrap in 1937.<ref>Writers' Program of the Works Progress Administration, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ViVxbZuzXzcC&pg=PA435 Iowa -- A Guide to the Hawkeye State], Iowa State Historical Society, 1938; p. 435.</ref>  Iron Mine Drive and Allamakee Street cross north of the sites of both old mines ({{coord|43|17|53.62|N|91|27|35.85|W|region:US}}).<ref>the former strip mines are visible in the USGS 1m resolution LIDAR image from [http://ortho.gis.iastate.edu/client.cgi?zoom=2&x0=624836&y0=4795687&layer=lidar_hs&action=pan&pwidth=600&pheight=600&x=334&y=577 Iowa Geographic Map Server]</ref>