Mineral Crossing's Mission
By Molly Miller
June/July 1998
Bits and Pieces
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Death with dignity.
Mineral Creek wanders through a ranch in Jackson County, Iowa, where Sam Mulgrew runs forty head of Charolais cattle. In most places, Mineral Creek is too deep or wide for crossing. Out of this daily challenge, Mulgrew gave his ranch the name Mineral Crossing. Mineral Crossing is a bucolic place, dense trees covering rolling hills, and at Mulgrew's invitation, Iowans have begun to pilgrimage through its peaceful hills to contemplate life and, in many cases, death. They come for silent meditation in one of the hermitages Mulgrew built, and they come to learn how to make simple pine caskets for themselves and for their loved ones.
"I want to retrieve that sense of authentic ritual that we've lost. Death has become so institutionalized and guided by profiteering that people don't grieve," says the Iowa rancher and casket-maker. He has already helped three people start small cottage industries in casket-making. His own casket business, started a little over a year ago, has been growing steadily and subsidizes his ranching and not-for-profit retreat center.
"I always wanted to do this," Mulgrew says. "When I was younger and I went to funerals with my family, I would think 'these caskets are excessively ornate, cheaply-made, mass-produced, over-priced.' Basically they reflect the things that I dislike about our civilization."
For most of us, when someone we love dies, nothing seems less important than money. No one knows this better than the funeral industry, which is why you'll find few alternatives to the standard overpriced, garish coffin. Mulgrew's window of opportunity came in 1994 thanks to a Federal Trade Commission crackdown on fire funeral industry. Now morticians must use the casket you provide without objection and without charging a handling fee. Mulgrew says his business is about 10% casket-making and 90% education. For example, his brochures will inform you that in some areas it is perfectly legal to bury your loved ones on your own rural property. Further, in many cases, embalming is not required, and it is not always necessary to go through a funeral provider. "My customers are fairly strong willed with above-average intelligence. They're not going to let a mortician tell them what to do.
