My goal for a recent trip I took was to pick up great grandpa Jerome Mann's trail west from Ohio, beginning on February 5, 1855 when he joined what would become the Tenth Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army, in Chicago.

In this entry from his service record, you can see him on line 4, where we find that he is from Lorain County, Ohio, he is 21 years old, and his occupation is listed as a clerk.

Continuing across the page, we also find that he was sworn in at Chicago by a Lieutenant Collins for a 5 year term, and that his eyes were blue, his hair brown (trust me, several before him had the same hair color, hence the " marks), his complexion was fair, and his height was 5'9 1/2". He was enlisted in Company D of the 10th Regiment.

Finally, the last piece of information we have about Jerome in the army is that he was discharged on February 5, 1860 at Ft. Bridger, Utah Territory, as a Private.

From the History of the 10th Regiment I have learned that his first duty station was at Fort Snelling, located on the Mississippi River at what is today Minneapolis, MN. He arrived there on October 20, 1855, after first undergoing training in Pennsylvania. I decided to begin following Jerome's path of 157 years ago in Minneapolis...

Getting there

Since I live a few miles north of Seattle, WA, picking up Jerome's trail meant that I had to first drive 1,680 miles to Minneapolis. I decided to make the most of that task by visiting family, and investigating  historic sites along the way.

My first stop was near Spokane, WA, where I visited my sister and her family for a day or two. Then, it was on to Montana.

Anaconda Copper Company open pit mine, Butte, MT

I was interested in the story of  the open pit mine that scars the hillside in Butte. It reminded me of a similar pit, opened and operated by the same company in Mason Valley, NV where I grew up. As I found out, both pits were opened in the early 1950s, and an Anaconda executive, Clyde Weed, was instrumental in both operations. In fact, the company town site above the Nevada operation was named Weed Heights in his honor. Both pits have ceased operation, and have filled with water, but the one in Butte has an ongoing water treatment program to remove contaminants from the water before it rises to the level where it would pollute the region's aquifer. Quite a legacy for Clyde.

Learn about the Berkeley Pit Superfund Site here:

The Nevada site is also of concern to the Environmental Protection Agency - you can read more about that operation here:

Weed Heights, NV Mine Details:

Clyde Weed is revered in mining circles, as is evidenced by this article about his career.

Clyde Weed Article

In my next blog segment, I will go back in history to before Jerome Mann's time. As I continue across Montana, I'll trace paths followed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-06.