Julien's Journal November 2015 (Volume 40, Number 11) | Page 43

“James Brunskill born in Gunnerside, Swaledale, England July 3,
1841. [Died] Oct. 19, 1923. Came
to Dubuque, Iowa, May 1849.
Enlisted in Dubuque Co. C C 21
Iowa Vol Inf Aug. 16, 1862. With
Gen US Grant all through Vickberg
[sic] Miss Camp 1863. With Gen
Gordon Granger March 27, 1865
at Spanish Fort and Blakley, Alabama. Hon. Dis.”
Surrounding the Brunskill memorial are gravesites of other
persons from Yorkshire. One
includes Private Richard Jackson Raw from Grinton Parish in
Yorkshire, who was at Vicksburg
and died there. His stone notes
that he is buried in Vicksburg in
an unmarked grave.
William Woodward’s stone
says that he was a native of Middleham,
Yorkshire, and born in 1822. He came to
Dubuque in 1846 and died in March 1882.
John Lockey’s headstone is not far from
Brunskill’s memorial. It relates that he was
born in Winterens in Yorkshire on February
3, 1816 and died in 1874. Thomas Lockey
and Elizabeth Daykin, his wife, are listed
as “Natives of Gunnerside, Yorkshire, England.” Broderick and Ann Parkin lay near a
stone reciting that they were born in Gunnerside in 1832 and 1835 respectively. A
favorite desert in Yorkshire is Parkin Cake,
a gingerbread cake traditionally made with
oatmeal and treacle.

tions were apparently very similar to the
primitive methods used in Dubuque in the
early days.
Lead brought the Center Grove men and
women from Yorkshire to Dubuque. Lead
and zinc are companion minerals since both
are in the same ore, and are separated in
smelting. Until the 1860s, lead was the predominant product of the Dubuque mines.
After 1860, zinc was the chief metal mined.
Lead was always important for lead shot
until after the Civil War. One source estimates that the miners dug roughly 90 miles
of tunnels, sunk between 700 and 2,000
shafts ranging from 20 to 250 feet in depth,
and excavated numerous shallow exploration pits in what is now Dubuque. In 1875,
85% of the jobs in Dubuque were in mining.
It is not difficult to understand why lead
mining died out. Lead prices reached their
peak during the Civil War. In 1837, the
price of lead was approximately two cents
per pound or about fifty cents in today’s
dollars. In 1853, it was four cents or $1.20
in present day dollars. In the Civil War the
lead price rose to nine cents per pound or
$1.36 per pound in today’s values. Thereafter the price remained stable except for

international upheavals and disasters. Currently, lead prices quoted on the London
Metal Exchange are in the $0.82 range for
immediate delivery.
Because of environmental and health
concerns, lead lost its markets in paint and
household piping insulation. Leads use
as an anti-knocking additive in gasoline
ceased. Now lead’s primary use is for insulation and batteries. Currently, it is mined
with zinc, with zinc being the chief product.
Current production in the U.S. is limited
to some isolated mining in the continental
U.S. 50% of U.S. lead is produced in Alaska.
Russia and Japan dominate the lead and
zinc markets.
Lead is intertwined with Dubuque’s rich
history. The men and women of Yorkshire
who lay in the cemetery at Center Grove
church made much of that history. v
Sources: Meyer, Jeffrey J., “The Lost Pioneers
of Center Grove,” Julien’s Journal, May 2012.
“Lead Mining, Blackhawk Purchase,” www.
encylopediadubuque.org.
Dockal, James A. and Ludvigson, Greg A., “Lead
and Zinc Mining in the Dubuque Area,” www.
iowadnr.gove/portals/idnr/uploads/geology/
LeadZincMiningDubuqueArea.

Gunnerside and Swaledale were home to
many of the Yorkshire men and women
coming to Center Grove in the 1840s to
1850s. York is famous in England for its
magnificent cathedral, Yorkminster. It is a
hub of commerce in Northern England, not
far from the Scottish border. It was home
to the Dukes of York, the losing side in the
War of the Roses. Middleham, William
Woodward’s birthplace, is near Gunnerside
and is the birthplace of Richard III.
Gunnerside is about 65 miles from York
and 20 miles from Richmond, the nearest
bigger town. The topography of the approach to Gunnerside is remarkably similar
to the Dubuque area. Gunnerside is in the
middle of the Swaledale valley with the
river Swale passing through. The valley is
about 25 miles long and narrow. It is on
the border of the Yorkshire Dales National
Park. John Wesley preached in Gunnerside.
The village boasts an impressive Methodist
Church.
Lead mining was centered in a small valley,
Gunnerside Ghyll, running at right angles
to the Swaledale Valley. The mining operaNovember 2015  ❖  Julien’s Journal  ❖ 41