I just stumbled across an article about a movie "Mineville" that is set in Moriah and is about the Irish immigrants who mined "Mineville's ore deposits in the early 20th century." It was a low budget, Indie film that came out in 2010. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1648214/.) I was amazed that filmmakers were addressing this relatively obscure part of Adirondack history, which in turn highlighted the significance of immigrants to the development of the region. This made me think about Amy Godine's article "The Peopling of the Park," which also addressed the presence of immigrant laborers in the Adirondacks at the end of the 19th century.
Before this course I wasn't even aware of the major mining industry in the Adirondacks, let alone of the large immigrant presence in the Adirondacks. For instance, the histories of cities like Troy are strongly based on the immigrant laborers who sought to make a living by working in various mills. While I have always been aware of these histories, the immigrant labor force in Adirondack history seems to be largely overlooked. Godine, herself, writes that "the ethnic makeup of the region has always been a richer brew than the image of the lean-jawed, dead-eyed Adirondack guide admits," (Godine, 57).
Godine specifically discusses the immigrant history of Moriah, which was a town complete with schools and stores by the end of the 16th century. Around the Civil War, the Irish arrived to Moriah, and in a second wave of immigration in the 1890's, Eastern Europeans and Italians arrived. It is interesting to note that the Irish rose to managerial status over time and were already well established by the second wave of Europeans came. An article from the Adirondack Museum (http://www.adkmuseum.org/about_us/adirondack_journal/?id=365) states that the Irish mine workers in the late 19th century lived in the best company housing whereas the new immigrants lived in tenements with other families. There is even evidence of the Irish managers forcing the Italian workers of paying for their own tools, conveniently omitting the fact that the company provided tools for free. This is only a small sampling of the anecdotes and accounts that center around the immigrant labor population in the Adirondacks in the 19th and 20th century. This piece of history, not matter how small it is, should no longer be overlooked, but rather explored as it is a vital piece of Adirondack history.
Miners from Mineville, Moriah township (from www.miningartifacts.org)
I agree wholeheartedly that immigration is often left out of the story of the Adirondacks. I also was surprised that the Adirondacks had such an intense population of immigrants, and it's slightly upsetting that this narrative is fairly quiet, though hearing about the indie film is uplifting. I was curious about how the population looks present day in the Adirondacks, so I decided to do some searching on population demographics. It becomes pretty evident that the Adirondacks (Clinton and Essex counties in general) are around 95% Caucasian (with the exception of Franklin county which has a few Native American reservations on it). Largely, it seems that most of the immigration to the Adirondacks was done in the past due to the attractiveness of the industry at the time, and has not made a resurgence since.
ReplyDelete