Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
TAXES
TAXES (first). Immediately after the treaty with the SAUK AND FOX took effect on June 1, 1833, miners returned to their claims in what had been the MINES OF SPAIN. Superintendent of Mines, John P. Sheldon, granted MINING permits and licenses to smelters.
While allowing miners a claim of two hundred square yards of land, the permits required the LEAD to be taken to a licensed smelter. The smelter was required to give the government the value of 6 percent of all the ore processed. This tax, while it greatly angered the miners, was far less than the 10 percent tax levied on the miners east of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER.