Wisconsin 101

an image of a cut cornish pasty showing the filling and edging — A pasty. Image via Flickr.

The lead mining industry of the 1830s and 1840s brought miners from Cornwall, England, a county of South West England, to southwestern Wisconsin. The miners brought Cornish traditions like the pasty, a filling food for hungry miners. The availability of pasties today demonstrates the lasting traditions of early European immigrants in Wisconsin. Pasties are folded pastries filled with meat and vegetables. Traditional ingredients include beef, rutabagas, onions, and potatoes. They are small enough to fit in one hand but contain enough calories to be a hearty lunch for a hardworking miner. Since meat was considered a luxury in those times, pasties contained mostly vegetables. In addition to holding the filling inside, the thick crust of the pasty helped the filling retain heat long enough that they were still warm by lunchtime. The pinched crust made a convenient handle- perfect for miners’ dirty hands.

A group of miners on the surface of a lead mine in southern Wisconsin — Mining was dirty work, and the thick crust of a pasty allowed miners to eat their lunch without having to wash their hands first. Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, image ID 9078.

In the 1830s, the lead-mining industry took off in southwestern Wisconsin. Most settlers came to Wisconsin to mine galena, the mineral used to make lead. The miners founded settlements with names like New Diggings, Miner’s Grove, and Mineral Point. The settling of the frontier skyrocketed demand for lead and before lead poisoning was discovered, lead was used for water pipes, paint, and many other common items. Immigrants from Cornwall, who had experience working in mines, flocked to Wisconsin to take advantage of the work opportunities. The immigrant miners brought traditions from their home countries, like pasties.

a photo showing the interior of a lead mine in Wisconsin. — The interior of a lead mine. Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, image ID 3785.

The crust of the pasties played an important role in the miners’ superstitions. One superstition was that the lead mines were inhabited by the spirits of deceased miners, called “Knockers” or “Tommyknockers.” To keep the “knockers” happy, miners would leave the crusts of their pasties in the mines for the knockers to eat. They believed it was in their interest to keep the knockers happy: superstition said that the offering would encourage the knockers to show them where to look for deposits of galena.

A woman making pasties in a black and white photo — A woman in Iowa Country, WI makes pasties in her kitchen. Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID 58286.

A black and white photo of a man putting a pasty in a wood stove — Robert Neal of Pendarvis, Mineral Point demonstrates how pasties were traditionally cooked in wood stoves during the mining era. Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID 37869.

In Wisconsin, lead mining peaked in the early 1840s. When demand for lead decreased, many miners moved on to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to work in the copper or iron mines or participated in the California Gold Rush. Today, you can find pasties in the former mining regions of southwestern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a continuing tradition of Cornish culture. Listen to a National Public Radio segment on the tradition of pasty-making in the Upper Peninsula. Transcript available here.