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Group pleads to save mining building in Ely

Captain’s Dry is part of Pioneer Mine site

Keith Vandervort
Posted 10/23/14

ELY – A passionate plea to save the Captain’s Dry building at the Pioneer Mine Complex was presented to the Ely City Council Tuesday night.

Members of Ely Greenstone Public Art painted a grim …

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Group pleads to save mining building in Ely

Captain’s Dry is part of Pioneer Mine site

Posted

ELY – A passionate plea to save the Captain’s Dry building at the Pioneer Mine Complex was presented to the Ely City Council Tuesday night.

Members of Ely Greenstone Public Art painted a grim picture for the future of the historic building.

Anne Swensen said a letter sent to the council about the condition of the building “fell on deaf ears.”

“I want to remind you again,” she said, “that the Pioneer Mine provided taxes and employment for 83 years in this town. It does not appear on the city of Ely website. It doesn’t exist in a lot of people’s minds.”

Ely Greenstone volunteers Seraphine Rolando and Bill Defenbaugh also defended the importance of the building.

“The building is crumbling,” Rolando said. “The roof is blowing off. If something isn’t done, the building isn’t going to be worth anything. Something should be done with it before it goes like the Hoist House.” He suggested a temporary roof sealing to stop the water run-off.

Mayor Ross Petersen said the building was discussed by the Projects Committee. “This is a hard thing for us, as far as old buildings go,” he said. “We’re putting $2.4 million into City Hall. We’re putting $180,000 into the Community Center. We’re looking a the buildings at Semer’s Park. It kind of goes on and on. I don’t know how much we can look to the taxpayers for this.”

He said he has heard that make the building functional would cost more than $1 million.

Swensen said the group has some money and is seeking grants preserve to help preserve the building. “Before we can go to major funders we need to be able to prove that the city gives a (expletive deleted) about this building,” she said. She questioned the city’s commitment to paying $180,000 to heat the CC for the next three years “to people who have no experience in running a building. We had 2,000 people walk through your property that we manage for you and they are impressed with the mine and history of Ely.”

She noted plans to expand the building to provide more workspace for artists and to help them generate an income.

Bill Defenbaugh said, “We can’t let that building go. It is the last vestige of mining history in this community. It is incredibly important that we do something.” He stressed that the city’s support is important to pursuing grant money to save it.

Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski said he inspected the roof this past summer. “The roof is built-up asphalt and probably had two or three layers put on 50-plus years ago. The rain gutters are completely rotted out. There are large, structural cracks in the walls from the top to the bottom.”

He said up to one fourth of the roof has blown off. Underneath it is a poured concrete surface. “I don’t think that building has gotten much worse in the last 25 years,” he said. “I think the roof has leaked for quite some time. Is the building going to collapse over the winter if nothing is done? Absolutely not.”

The council passed a motion to support Ely Greenstone Public Art to seek grant funding to pay for renovations to the building.

Other business

In other business, the City Council took the following action:

• Accepted, with regret, the resignation of Building Official Dennis Schilling and approved certified building inspector Douglas Whitney to fulfill the duties of Shilling’s contract to expiration in April 2015;

• Rescheduled the next council business meeting to Nov. 5 because of Election Day;

• Approved the hiring of Troy Mealy to the open officer position on the Ely Police Department; and

• OK’d a residential and commercial waste disposal contract with G-Men Environmental Services, Inc.