The Laxley Mine had zinc, copper, and silver.  Notably, it did not have coal.  Coal used on the island had to be transported across the Irish Sea and was too expensive to be used when it could be avoided.  The result was a mine system that needed pumping but no access to the large steam pumps of the era.  The result was the Laxley Wheel, properly known as Lady Isabella.

The Laxley Wheel is a backshot water wheel that stands seventy-two and a half feet in diameter in the middle of the valley.  Using a reverse siphon, it pulls its water from a cistern high in the mountains.  Since water seeks its own level, a pipe from the cistern flows down the mountainside and inside the structure without needing a raceway. As long as the cistern is at a higher elevation than the wheel, through the magic of engineering, the wheel spins without a visible water source.

The wheel produces between 185-200 hp​(Google Arts and Culture)​, and could pump 250 gallons of water 1,500 feet up from the mines each minute ​(Wikipedia)​. That’s a ton of water every minute, up 150 stories. It’s an incredible piece of engineering.

Several sources will tell you that Robert Casement designed the wheel. Almost every reference to the Laxley Wheel I’ve found calls him a “local engineer.” Not mentioned is his education, which is a matter of pride for the locals I talked to. Mr. Casement was not a trained engineer with an off-island degree. He was a Manxman with a strong practical knowledge of physics and a problem that needed to be solved. The local kid who did well, and even if it’s been 150 years, it’s a source of islander pride. I understand the sentiment.

Growing up on an island in Alaska, I was surrounded by similar folk. A friend’s father was a millwright for a local fish processor. It was said that if you wanted something fixed at the plant, you’d wait until he was in earshot and mutter that it’d be impossible. I worked at that plant in college several years after his death, and we were still using his impossible fixes. They probably still are. Another friend who was, for all practical purposes, a naval architect if they would ever give him the papers. His rudders are still in use in fishing boats across the Gulf of Alaska.

So it’s not history I witnessed when I saw the Laxley Wheel. It was an ongoing statement of pride in the local abilities of Manx Islanders. And perhaps, the pride of people at the end of the logistics chain. Where limited resources mean ordinary people are expected and allowed to do extraordinary work.

“How did the United States develop a taste for multiculturalism when the original European colonists were religious zealots, prisoners, and Highlanders too dangerous to leave in Scotland?

A significant part of the answer is that old New York was once Nieuw-Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is built of different stuff than feudal Europe. As the saying goes, God made Earth, but the Dutch made Holland. This is an important distinction because land that was “made” by areas reclaimed from the sea was not feudal land. Collective water boards formed and owned land, who then sold the land to individuals. The water boards were easy for people to buy into, so while much of the investment came from people already wealthy, a lot came from the local butcher, baker, or chandler. Land in Holland was not ruled by divine right, and people could pool resources to create a corporate profit. While not middle class by modern standards, land ownership was available to anyone with the resources to buy in. Land title could be bought and sold and was not held by a lord or king.

It’s one of the great twists of Western history that one of the foundation stones of personal property rights was the need for people to work connectivity to take land from the sea.

The sea provided a second piece of Amsterdam’s magic in the form of herring. Not in having herring; everyone had that. But Amsterdam discovered a way of preserving herring that could last over a year, be easily transportable, and be done at sea by experienced hands.

This meant that the onshore fishery could become an offshore fishery, leading to the Dutch developing seamanship and larger craft. Now, with ocean-going craft and a market, the Dutch needed products for the backhaul. Imported raw materials led to local industry and the need for more trade. And in trade, there is one foundational truth, and that is that profit is made from differences, not similarities.

Dutch colonizers were still colonizers, but many of their colonies were formed on the understanding that trade with locals was more profitable than outright subjugation. Colonies, yes, but also trading posts.

When Nieuw-Amsterdam was being formed, Amsterdam was possibly the most cosmopolitan city on Earth, and their American colony, with its wealth of oysters and furs, relied on local knowledge and workforce to fill Dutch ships. And the city that would go on to be the financial powerhouse of the United States was rooted firmly in its original namesake.

And that namesake, Amsterdam, is the city I get to explore today.