The Neda Iron Ore of Southeastern Wisconsin

Abstract

The Neda Iron Mine, located between Iron Ridge and MayviTie, Wisconsin, is a property owned by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and managed by the UWM Field Station. The site today is a rather unobtrusive ridge of resistant dolomite, not dissimilar to a number of other resistant ridges which mark the presence of the Silurian dolomite in eastern Wisconsin. This dolomite is essentially the same rock formation which dips down under the state of Michigan and reemerges in western New York to form Niagara Falls. Beneath this resistant dolomite, is a thin surface exposure of red iron ore, known as the Neda. In fact, this site is the type locality for this formation which is found sporadically beneath Silurian rocks throughout the Midwest but extensively in Wisconsin and Iowa.