Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1858-02-06
From the Missouri Democrat.
lead Mining.

lead Mining.
Il 1t has beer stated by writers who have
, Examined the mineral fields Of Missouri,
THAT St. Louis, from her central position,
J land being connected by those fields by
railroads, should become the great mining
flemporium Ct the continent The Iron
Mountain railroad will be fnished-the
Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob in three
months. This road cross the lead field
thirty miles south Of the city, and is flank
led by lead discoveries and cid lea,l Hines
from that point, nearly the whole distance
to the mountain. The county is Foru!ed
Iof the lower siuriaii liinestones, resting On
a base of porphorytic rocks. and in physir
zeal geography, distribution OF rock and
surface indications of ores, give evidence
Iof having had all tie working laws in &C..
Ition, necessary to. produce cad Veins os
Igreat length and depth. The sandy lead
vein, known as the sandy mines, comes
first, is thirty miles south Of the city, is q
vertical north and south voin, has been
worked one and a half miles in length, and
yielded upwards Of 100000 POUNDS of
ore, and is left going down tie whole dis
lance in the water. The mommoth lead
mines is next. This. was an irregular QUAR-
tering horizontal vein, which yielded mil
lions Of pounds Of ore. Next is the noted
Valler's and Perry's mines. These are
distant fifty miles from the. city, and six
miles from she railroad, and have yielded
100000 pounds of ore annually for the
last twenty years. There is also immense
Intnet about Pctosi, Webster, Richwoods,
Ola mines and Flat river, that have yield
ed large amounts of ore. and have been
worked to great profit when ore was less
than half the price it brings at present,and
in many of these mines veins are left going
Down in The water. These points are all
CONVENIENT to the Iron Mountain railroad.
and in three months will be within from
two to three hours travel of St. Louis ;and
the question comes, are we TO continue to
import from Spain and England $2,o0o,-
900 worth of lead annually to make our
lead pipe and paint, or are we to produce
this amount of lead from our own mines,
ana keep the money in the country, and
give employment to our own artisans! p
1t is to the interest of our country that
the lead mines of Missouri be Developed,
and that we produce not only the lead nee
cessary for our own consumption, but have
some to export; aud this can be done Just
as soon as good system of mining is es-
tabliShel and the requisite numbers of
mines set to work. The amount of ore
produced this year from the mines named.
and from the Meramec lead district; is a.
bout 100000 worth. This divided a:
mong one thousand miners, makes $500
annually each--whch is a fair estimate of
last years production to each practical
miner in these lead districts; and this has
been done by working in the old veins
with an ordinary -windlass, and a few
of the simplest mining tools. The mining
agencies, engineers, captains, mining geol:
osists, and al the paraphernalia connected
with the mining business of our country is
conferred at New York city--as is also the
thinning capital. The completion Of the
Iron Mountain railroad is gong to open
great field for this class of enterprise and
labor. An observing Cornish miner, who
has worked on the sandy mines remarked
to me that such show Of lead vein inEng-
land would sell for 100000 steriing.---.:
And this is but one of number of lead
veins that the same remarks will apply to.
All that is wanting in these lead districts
is capital and labor, to develop some Of the
richest lead mines in the country. These
lands can now be purchased for 1.-THE of
what they are really worth. Now is the
time 10 secure mineral lands and mining
Interests in Missouri. LEAD MINES.