Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-08-09
The St. Francois Leai Region.
ST. LOUIS. Mo, July %, 1Se

Editor Of Iron County Register:
SIR-Having visited the Flat River
disseminated lead region, with it:
mines and mills, l take the opportun
ity of sending you a partial dcscrip
ton of its mines, &C., and hope you
will give it space in your valuable pa
per. Knowing that some of your best
citizens are interested in the above
mining district. perhaps they will be
we'll pleased to learn something of the
vast wealth.
There are located and already in
operation, the following mines: Cen
trail Lead Co.. Taylor, Desloge. New
Doe Run, Donnelly, and the Leading
ton Lead Company.
THE CENTRAL.
is opened by shafts at the depth OF
about 400 feet. At this level they
have four Rand air-drilling machines
working in the ore, night and day, of
ten hours each. The ore is loaded
into cars and hoisted by cage and
dumped at the crusher. Here the ore
(after being crushedD is loaded into large
rail road cars and hauled a distance
of about one quarter Of a mile by
teams to the mill. which is about two
hundred ton capa ;ity. This mill
cleans from five to ten tons of mineral
dead ore) in the twenty-four hours.
There is fine mining and mill plant
on this property. and everything ap-
pears to run smoothly. This company
takes the water from Flat River for all
milling purposes, and is located near
the towns of Elvins and Flat River.
THE TAYLOR MINE.
is located near Flat River, and about
two miles from the Central. 1t is
owned by Judge J. X. Taylor of Farm
ington. This mine is also well equip
ped with good mining appliances; also
a one-hundred ton mill. This is a
very rich mine, but they have large
stream of water to contend with in the
mine; SO much SO that the mine is
about two-thirds of the time idle. on
account of the mining pumps failing
to do their work; in fact, the pumps
have not the capacity that is required
to keep out this large body of water.
THE NEW DOE RUN
is located at Flat River, and had two
shafts in operation up to within the
last thirty days. The company had
the misfortune to strike an opening, or
what is called a channel. These
openings are generally full of water
and are termed by great many per-
sons as underground rivers. Well,
such is the case at this Doe Run shaft.
When the miners broke into it with
the blast, the water rushed out solid
in a space about three feet long and
about ten inches high. Now any one
can form an idea what vast body of
water the men had to contend with.
The pumps were kept at work, but
with no avail whatever.
The Company had all of the drills,
tools, cars, mules, &C.. in the mine at
this time. The men and bosses deserve
credit for the work they did in secur-
ing all of the tools, drills, mules, &c. ,
and getting them safe on top of the
shaft. When they got out the mules
the water took the men up to waist
deep. The mules got on the cage and |
sat up on their launches on the cage
and rested their heads against the |
sides while the doors were being fast |
ened to hold them in. One of these |
mules brayed when its mate was sent |
up on the cage. So you see the COM
pany saved everything except the
pumps, which are still under water. |
There is about ten acres mined out at
bottom of this shaft, which is about
three hundred feet deep. The water
raised up to within seventy-fve feet
from the top of the shaft. You can
from this form some idea of the vast
body of water that is still flowing into
this mine. The company is preparing
to put in pumps large enough to keep
the water out and keep the mine in
operation thereafter. The one from
this mine was being shipped to old
Doe Run, where the company's mills
and furnaces are located.
DEsLOGE MINES
are located about one-half mile from
the Taylor mine. Here they have a |
mill OF four-hundred-ton capacity. |
The rock is crushed a. the shaft and |
by rail about one-half a mile
to the mill.
THE LEADINGTON MINE
is located about two miles from the |
town of Flat River and about five miles |
north of Pennington. Here a shaft
has been sunk to the depth of three
hundred feet. This company also has
a good mining and milling plant. The
pre- rock is loaded in cars in the mine |
and hoisted by cage, and is being