Women laborers in an iron ore mine in the Negaunee area are pictured. (Photo courtesy of the Negaunee Historical Society)

NEGAUNEE — The womens’ dry became a new term in the mining industry when women became more than office personnel at the mine. The colorful terminology is reference to “the dry,” an area where the miners changed from their street clothes to mining clothes before their shift started and a place to take a shower at the end of the work day. But something new was added to the Cliffs’ Humboldt Pellet Plant, proclaiming the area as the “Women’s Dry.”

Behind the gleaming new letters was the area designated as the changing room for the Cliffs first three women who were employed in the mine and the mines complex.

General Laborers, Donna Garceau, Linda Bancroft, and Jeanete Dunquist were by their own admission, not typical women. The women on the outside are really amazed that we are working here, said Jeanette. I think they are more shocked than the men. Trained as an x-ray technician, Jeanette worked at hospitals in Ishpeming and Marquette prior to joining Cliffs. She wasn’t influenced by the womens’ lib movement, which emerged in the late1960’s, she was just looking for a good job so she could support her two children.

Donna, a native of Ishpeming, formerly worked in inventory control and maintained that it was more tiring than the job she was doing. It was a different kind of tired, but she felt it was a satisfying job. She was able to support her family during her husband’s illness. Her 10 year old son was impressed about her job and compared notes with the neighborhood children whose fathers also worked in the mine. He related a story to his friends,about his mother driving the payloader.

Linda, who worked in an office on a temporary basis, was 23 years old when she began working at the Humboldt. She was looking for a full-time job with some variety. She had the full support of her family and her father was glad that she had a good permanent job and the insurance and benefits were good. All three agree that one of the best aspects of the job is the variety. The one thing they all disliked was getting dirty. but it didn’t make them feel less feminine. One day, one of the men made a comment that Jeanette was getting so dirty she looked like a man.

Her comment was, “But on Saturday, I’ll look like a woman again.” James Alderton, the operating engineer at the Humboldt, felt that the girls were working out just fine. They were given easy jobs and heavy ones, no more or no less than any that were given to male employees. And they never complained and neither did the men. One of the favorite stories that floated around around the plant was about the women’s first day at work. It was about Jeanette.

Her first assignment was to clean the floor in an area of the plant. After she had thoroughly swept it and hosed it down, a maintenance man walked through with dirty boots. She stopped him and pointed out her efforts in cleaning the area, and about his dirty boots. She asked him to stamp off the dirt before walking on her clean floor. Startled, he complied. Things became a little different at the Humboldt Plant and it wasn’t only the sign, “Women’s Dry.”