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Kusakura Mine

The mine is located in the upper Agano River basin in the northeastern part of the prefecture and produced copper ore from the middle of the 18th century to the early 20th century. According to lore, Mozaemon and others, inhabitants of former Tsugawa Town, discovered an outcrop in 1739. Later, the mine employed approximately 300 miners and prospered under the management of the Aizu Domain in the first half of the 19th century. Although the development of Keiou Adit increased production from 1865, the outbreak of the Boshin War, a Japanese civil war, destroyed mining facilities and led to an operational pause. In the Meiji period, the mine management shifted to Echigo Prefecture and later to Wakamatsu Prefecture. Subsequently, Jihachiro Hirata, a wealthy person from former Tsugawa Town, began mining operations on contract in 1871. The new government nationalized all of the minerals in the country and granted permission to contractors to work in leasehold areas with the aim of an elimination of foreign capital inflows and promoting the development of the private mining industry. In 1875, Tomotane Soma, the last feudal lord of the Soma Domain, purchased the leasehold rights from Hirata and entrusted the mine management to Ichibei Furukawa and another from Ono-Gumi, a wealthy merchant that closed down in the previous year. Furukawa acquired the rights in the following year, leading to modernization, such as laying tracks in tunnels, using mine cars, blasting excavation, and introduction of rock drills. Tsunogami Smelter was established and began operations at the base of the mine in 1882. Crude copper went down the Agano River by 20 cargo boats and was transported from Niigata Port to Honjo Copper Smeltery in Tokyo. In the peak year of 1884, the mine produced 1,084 tonnes of crude copper, the second largest in the country, and the number of employees totaled 1,712. Thereafter, production gradually decreased, and the mine was demoted to a branch office in 1911. The smelter intermittently suspended operations from the same year and was abandoned two years later. Although mineral exploration was performed five times from 1914, the results were poor. The recession after the First World War caused a decrease in copper price, which led to the closure of the mine later. Numerous gravestones of the miners remain around and can be seen even now.

closure in 1920