Calling the Mining Folk in Montana ~ Gatherings from Ireland # 327

I’m hearing that Butte, Montana, the place to which so many of the miners of the Copper Coast here in Co. Waterford emigrated  in the late nineteenth century, is freezing and snow-bound.

This very recent photograph of the the cliffs across from the mine-works at Tankardstown is especially for you:

Tankardstown, Co. Waterford.

And I would also like to bring you a poem from Leanne O’Sullivan’s wonderful collection The Mining Road (2013) which was inspired by the disused copper mines near Allihies in Co. Cork ~ mines to which some of the Bonmahon miners went before heading for Butte.

Ascent

Perhaps this is why

I keep returning –

the dark

always ascending

and the light

retreating softly

beyond the shaft.

At nightfall

the engine hauls

you back

in ones and twos,

up past

the darkened galleries,

the sunk

knowledge

and wet quartz

blasted

and glittering among

the constellations –

starlight,

your own name

called out,

your hands entering

the world again.

( from: Leanne O’Sullivan(2013) The Mining Works, Bloodaxe Books)

Copper Coast, Co. Waterford connections to Butte, Montana ~ Gatherings from Ireland # 40

Copper Mining was a major industry in Co. Waterford here in Ireland in the 19th century. It was based in the very scenic area around Bonmahon which is at the heart of what is now called the Copper Coast.

http://coppercoastgeopark.com/

Every time I pass the main evidence of the mining works, which are located overlooking the sea at Tankardstown, my mind crosses the ocean to Butte, Montana. We know that many of the miners emigrated to Butte when the mines closed in Bonmahon. I often wonder how it was for those who settled in Butte and if many of their descendants have any real sense of the incredible beauty of the landscape in the area around Bonmahon.

Restored Copper Mines at Tankardstown, Co. Waterford

Maybe, just maybe,  someone from Butte  whose ancestors came from Bonmahon will read this post and let me know how life turned out for their family thousands of miles from their home here in Co. Waterford.