The Dry
Mining was a very dirty occupation. Working underground, drilling holes in rock, lifting and loading rock, dumping rock into skips; all this makes for some dirty clothes at the end of the day. To quell unrest with the miners wives at home, mine companies often built facilities that miners could use to wash up and change from (or to) their work clothes. Often referred to as “the dry” these buildings would be located close to the shaft buildings – as where we found dry for the Gratiot Mine.
Crossing an old dirt road that separated the dry from the shaft house, we stepped up onto a large concrete foundation. Good forty or so feet in length, the foundation was littered with what appeared to be chunks of plaster. At regular intervals along the outer all were short metal brackets, probably used to once secure the wall. The walls and roof, however, were long gone. There wasn’t much left, but what was left pointed to its purpose.
First - drain pipes. Rusted pipes, about a foot high and 3 inches in diameter, popped up out of the foundation at various points. In some cases these pipes were flush with the floor, with metal drain covers scattered nearby.
Second - water supply lines. At a few points along the foundation, we could see groups of holes. These would appear in groups of three; one large hole usually with a drainpipe still intact, and a pair of smaller holes appearing slightly behind the drain pipe. Hot and cold water lines perhaps?
Third – lockers. Scattered around the foundation, in piles of rubble off in the woods, we found remains of various items that once were possible in the building. Besides a sprinkling of old metal benches or bleachers, we also found one locker door. It lay crumbled and rusted but the telltale locker features – cheese grater surface and metal handle – were apparent.
It was hard to fathom the idea of this very spot once occupied by dozens of men at a time, changing their clothes in preparation for a long, dark, a dirty day in the bowels of the earth. The sounds of locker doors opening and slamming shut, water running, and the jovial laughs and jests of the men inside must have once been overwhelming. Now, however, there was only silence. The water was no longer running, the lockers silent, and the men long dead and gone. We moved on.