Mathias Ham House, Dubuque River Walk, and Julien Dubuque Monument
The Mathias Ham House was a home to businessman and lead miner Mathias Ham and was built in 1865. Katherine and I went to take a tour of the house because the admission was free with our museum memberships.
Mining House
The Mathias Ham House was a home to businessman and lead miner Mathias Ham and was built in 1865. Katherine and I went to take a tour of the house because the admission was free with our museum memberships.
Stone House
Unfortunately they wouldn't let us take pictures inside the house (I'm not sure why?), but the outside was a gorgeous stone exterior.
Chipping Paint
There were a few places on the exterior that had paint. Most of the paint was chipping off.
Oldest Log Cabin in Iowa
This log cabin was built in 1827 as a miner's cabin for the miner and the family. It is on the same property as the Mathias Ham House, but this cabin was moved here in 1957.
Miner's Tent
Miners would often make tents like this to live in. Seems a little open to the elements if you ask me. Even in the cold winters the miners would just sleep on the ground.
Small Schoolhouse
This is the Humke School. It served as a classroom as well as a social and entertainment center. Schoolhouses like these were also used as churches too in the early 19th century.
Mississippi Riverwalk
After the Mathais Ham House, we went over to the Dubuque Riverwalk to take a look at the shot tower.
Dubuque Shot Tower
A shot tower was a tower that molten lead was dropped down to form lead shot. Molten lead would drop through screens to get the molten lead into small drops. Due to surface tension, the molten lead would form a perfect sphere and solidify before hitting the ground. It's quite an interesting way to create perfect spheres, but it's incredibly simple. This is Dubuque's shot tower which was built in 1856. It produced shot and bullets for three years and then later used as a watch tower by a lumber company to guard against fires. Ironically, the interior and top was destroyed in a fire in 1911 and restored in 1961.
Train Yard
The shot tower was located in a train yard that looked abandoned. I figured I would take some photos of the trains while we were there.
Julien Dubuque Monument
After the river walk, Katherine and I drove over to the Julien Dubuque monument, dedicated to the founder of Dubuque, Iowa, and a miner of the Mines of Spain in Dubuque.
The Actual Monument
There is a small monument built on top of a hill that overlooks the Mines of Spain. Inside the monument is Julien Dubuque's grave.
Dubuque's Grave
This is inside the Julien Dubuque monument.
Train Along the Mississippi
From the monument, you can see down the Mississippi into Illinois (the direction this photo is taken), as well as down the Mississippi the other direction to the city of Dubuque, and also the Mines of Spain (located just to the left of this image).
