When Lorenzo Bevans discovered lead in 1845, he couldn’t have foreseen that tourists would be donning red hard hats and walking down 90 steps to see what he’d been up to.

That’s what happens at the Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums when visitors go on the guided tour of the Bevans Mine, located right in the museums’ backyard.

I didn’t know about this gem until two families, one at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and the other in Dixon, highly recommended a visit. Unfortunately, my timing was off, and I didn’t get a tour, but I did get a peek at the exhibits.

According to museum literature, the Bevans Mine produced more than 2 million pounds of lead ore in a year, making Bevans wealthy.

If the weather is good, guests also get to climb into an ore car and take a ride.

“They’re pulled by a 1931 mine locomotive used to run in a zinc mine,” Mary Huck, education coordinator, said.

The locomotive is a Whitcomb, which worked the Blackstone Mine near Shullsburg, Wisconsin. It was there into the 1950s. The engine has been giving rides to Platteville visitors since the late 1970s.

While the museum’s mine is lead, it covers both zinc and lead mining history. Also part of the tour is a look at the Headframe building, which was used in zinc mining to haul the ore to the surface.

The exhibit galleries in the museums are open for self-guided tours all year. Those wandering into the Mining Museum will be able to find out about zinc and lead mining in the region from the 1820s until 1979. Guests will find photographs, dioramas, artifacts and maps to guide their way through this history.

The Rollo Jamison galleries contain a personal collection by a man who gathered items starting in his youth. Huck said he began collecting arrowheads and rocks. From that humble beginning, Jamison, born in 1899 in Beetown, Wisconsin, kept going bringing together a collection that focused on everyday life in Wisconsin.

When he became elderly, Jamison wanted to donate his collection, and he chose Platteville, Wisconsin.

“We had the Mining Museum,” Huck said, “so we accepted his collection.”

And what a collection it is. I was particularly thrilled with the horse-drawn vehicles he’d gathered.

If you can, hurry on over this month and tackle those steps to go into the mine. If that’s not possible, there’s always next season. Wander over later on and study up at the exhibits so you’re filled with knowledge for next year’s tours.

IF YOU GO ...

What: The Mining Museum & Rollo Jamison Museum

Where: 405 E. Main St., Platteville, Wisconsin

Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and Saturday and Sunday; closed Monday and Tuesday

Cost: Adults $10, Seniors $8.50, children 5-17 $5, children younger than 5 free and family rate $27 up to two adults and two or more dependent children. Pricing includes mine tour, headframe tour, train ride and exhibits. Season runs May-October.Off season November- April: Adults and seniors $5, children 5-17 $2 and children younger than 5 free for exhibits only, mine tours available for groups by appointment.

Accessibility: Museums are wheelchair accessible. Bevans Mine has 90 steps in and out and there are stairs in the headframe  - a video tour is available for those unable to take the steps.

Information: mining.jamison.museum or 608-348-3301