I am something of a student of the technological history of the
> Upper-Mississippi-Valley Lead/Zinc District, and am aware of no instances of
> "ragging" table use there. Small-scale hand cobbing/jigging gave way to
> roller and jaw crushers in mechanized jig mills, and -- ultimately --
> flotation plants. Your notion is certainly an interesting one but, at
> least so far as I am aware, the facts don't seem to support it. Sorry.
>
> While I -- too -- find the waved rag story somewhat hard to swallow, I have
> yet to encounter any plausible alternative explanations.
>
> Mark
> Monticello, WI
>
> P.S. I should note, however, that Wilfley tables (and comparable shaking
> riffles) were indeed used here in some jig and flotation plants to
> concentrate and recover galena fines.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Evans Alwyn" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]**>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 3:55 PM
> Subject: Re: "Shake Rag Street"
>
>
> Just spoken to a friend who has come over from Wisconsin to stay with us,
> who was brought up close to Mineral Point, and whose grandparents lived
> there. She was adamant that it had nothing at all to do with ragging tables
> but everything to do with the custom of the Cornishwomen whose families were
> the main inhabitants of the street, of shaking their dusting rags out side
> the front door. Yes it may be 'invented heritage', but it seems to me more
> likely to have firmer provenance than the suggestions made here so far.
> Sorry to cast cold water.
>
> Alwyn Evans
>
> In a message dated 27/09/2011 18:51:05 GMT Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
>> writes:
>>
>> Dear List,
>>
>> I write for advice on a curious tradition. I have already searched the
>> Mining-History email list archive to be sure this has not been discussed.
>>
>> Mineral Point, Wisconsin, in the United States, is part of an area that
>> became a famous lead mining region in the 1820s-1850s. The mining,
>> milling,
>> and smelting were all small scale during this period and the mines were
>> dominated by Cornish immigrants, along with Germanic and other ethnic
>> groups.
>> Later in the 20th century, zinc mining became equally important in the
>> region.
>>
>> The town of Mineral Point has a street called "Shake Rag Street." The
>> street was originally named Hoard Street, and the name was changed
>> sometime in
>> the 1930s, supposedly formally adopting the local nickname "Shake Rag."
>> Local folklore holds that the name Shake Rag came from the practice of
>> women
>> waiving rags to signal to men working the windlasses on the ridge east of
>> town, telling them that their meals were ready. Indeed, I have read a
>> claim that the entire town was once nicknamed "Shake Rag Under the Hill."
>>
>> I have always been pretty skeptical of this claim, which sounds to me
>> like
>> an invention of the 1930s heritage interests.
>>
>> Most list members can anticipate my reservations. My skepticism stems
>> from the fact that a "ragging table" (and ragging by hammer more
>> generally,
>> and "rag" as a term for a rough and hard stone) is a common variant of
>> "racking table," the common method for concentrating tin ore in Cornwall.
>> In
>> Mineral Point, ragging could have been commonly work for women and men,
>> presumably somewhere near to both the shaft and a water source.
>>
>> As the table technology evolved, shaking tables became common, making the
>> job much easier. I don't know if the terms "ragging" and "shake table"
>> were ever combined, however.
>>
>> I write to the list to learn if anyone has ever heard the term "shake
>> rag"
>> used to describe a shaking table for concentrating ore, in galena or lead
>> mining or simply in general usage. Pardon my error if I have miss
>> interpreted a technical term in my request.
>>
>> Thanks very much,
>> Timothy Scarlett
>>
>>
>> http://www.wisconsinhistory.**org/dictionary/index.asp?**
>> action=view&term_id=402<http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=402>
>> 8&term_type_id=2&term_type_**text=places&letter=S=
>>
>
> Evans Alwyn
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
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