Downtown Ironwood mural depicts fading mining era

By BRYAN HELLIOS

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Ironwood - Sporting a tracksuit and a pair of tennis shoes, the elderly man spryly crossed the street by the intersection of Ayer and Lowell streets in downtown Ironwood.

The man gazed up at the Pabst Mining Mural on Friday morning and said, "That's me up there - and there is my dad."

At 93 years old, John Brottlund is only one of a handful of people currently living from the roughly 106 miners depicted.

Local artist Dan Perotti said he promised a couple people he'd finish the mural as soon as possible. Cold weather combined with having to relocate his work station several times resulted in him taking a few months off for winter. The majority of the mural was completed in March with only a few finishing touches - like the dedication plaques - remaining. These are expected to be added within the week, he said.

Perotti used subtle variances in the miners' clothing to account for different time eras between the father and son duo.

"They never worked together," Perotti said, "that is why I put them apart. I figured that the kid looked as old as the dad - it didn't make no sense because they were from a different era."

Knowing 62 of the people in the painting, Perotti said it did make him feel "a little old." He reminisced about playing in abandoned mine shafts and said reading old books about the area helped him while he was looking for authenticity.

"Sometimes people sent pictures of a whole shift where guy's would work together," Perotti said. "I kinda put them together and it was easier because I'm from the area."

Perotti admitted he had to "sneak" a few things in, but said he kept a few spots "bare" in the 30-by-50 foot mural so that it could be added onto.

He talked about his passion to preserve history and shared his vision to extend the mural onto the rest of the building.

"I am not getting any younger," Perotti laughed, "but what I want to do is the logging era."

He envisioned a scene filled with Finns, Scandinavian, Croatian and Serbian people using oxen and "great big workhorses" to drag logs through the snow.

"Those trees were 8 to 9 feet across, Peroti said, "and they cut them with a handsaw."

For now, Perotti said he wants to concentrate on engraving "high relief" carvings on fireplace mantles to "get away from murals for a while."

Back at the mural, Brottlund stared at his much younger image on the wall and walked a couple yards to his left to study his father's portrait.

"I'm just glad to be able to see it finished," he said with a smile.