William "Bill" Lucas, Jr. Underground Iron Mining Oral History Interview (Part 1 of 5)

This oral history interview is one of several on underground iron mining conducted by researcher Mary Tippett Andes for her book "The Last Generation Underground." William Lucas, Jr. was part of the last generation of underground miners on the Marquette Iron Range. He was interviewed in Ishpeming, Michigan. He was born in 1911 in North Lake, Michigan. His parents emigrated from Finland via Sweden, Norway, and Canada to Ishpeming, Michigan. His father worked for the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Mining Company as lead man in shaft work at Holmes, Lloyd Mine #1, Barnes-Hecker Mine, and Greenwood Mine. Mr. Lucas describes his career as an underground miner from 1934-1973. He also discusses underground mining terminology, iron ore mining, the labor strike of 1946, Cliff’s Shaft, Mather B Mine, and speaking Finnish at home while he was growing up.