The Immigrant Experience

Immigration is not a concept that is specific to the Adirondacks. As we discussed in class, we are all technically descendants of immigrants, although we often exclusively refer to immigrants as people of other nationalities that have most recently entered the country. However, the Adirondacks had a experience with immigrants that seems somewhat different than those in other parts of the United States. My ancestors came from various parts of Europe, most looking for a better life and new opportunities. Their long term experiences as immigrants were very different from those that immigrants had in the Adirondacks.

As we began talking about mining in the Adirondacks, I immediately thought of my great-great-grandfather, William Henry Button, an immigrant from Cornwall, who came to the United States through Ellis Island in hopes of finding mining work. William Button immigrated after the mining craze in the Adirondacks, but ended up moving to a small town in Utah called Eureka. Similar to mining towns in the Adirondacks, Eureka  was designed to be a family friendly town with a church, community centers and a school. William Button lived with a community of other immigrants from Cornwall, a few of them relatives that immigrated a few years earlier. His initial experiences in Eureka seems very similar to that of miners in the Adirondacks; a few conflicts emerged between ethnic groups and work was hard and dangerous, but life was still better than it was back home in Cornwall.

                                                            

Similar to mining towns in the Adirondacks, Eureka went through a booming period then eventually lost its industrial advantage as it was outcompeted by mines in other parts of the country. However, the primary difference between Eureka and the Adirondacks seems to be the pull of the area for these immigrants. William Button’s family stayed in the area long after the mines shut down, and relatives still live close by. These families found new areas of work as many new types of industries developed in the surrounding area. On the other hand, mining towns in the Adirondacks were generally abandoned. There are no Cornish or Italian communities that stuck around and continued to raise their families in this wilderness after economic opportunity was lost; they moved on. I wonder if these immigrants felt at all emotionally tied to the land in the Adirondacks, as I know my family now feels about the land in Utah. Although they obviously needed to travel to find new sources of income, did they regret leaving behind this beautiful wilderness?