Your underground adventure awaits! The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums is located in the heart of the Driftless Area between Madison, Wisconsin, and the Mississippi River, surrounded by hilly farm country. A guided tour from May to October also includes the underground 1845 Bevans Lead Mine and a ride through campus in a 1931 mine train.Museum exhibits document the history of Platteville and rural life in this nook of the Driftless, and especially the history of lead and zinc mining in the Upper Mississippi Valley mining district - the place that Mississippi Valley Type (MVT) deposits are named for. These limestone-hosted lead-zinc deposits created a famous Lead Rush in the 1820s that led directly to Wisconsin statehood and earned Wisconsin the name “the Badger State.” The zinc minerals sustained the region through the two World Wars until the 1970s. The mining industry and UW-Platteville is the reason Platteville Mound sports the world’s largest “M” commemorating this heritage!
