The Harrison times., 1901-02-16

I
the recognized great ore-bearing
rock of the Lower Siluriau column,
and it includes a great majority of
the early Spanish and French sur
face mines and shallow mines that
| have since been worked and sup
piled lead SO bountifully in the
southeast Missouri mining territory.
1t embraces the district in Washing
ton county, extending from the old
Frumet mine, in Jefferson county, to
POtosi, and includes the Mammoth,
Bellfontaine, Shibboleth, Old Mines
and Mason mines, out of which mill
lions of dollars worth of lead were
taken from holes that generally did
not exceed Is feet in depth, and the
majority of them, from 2 to 10 feet
deep. The material from which all
of this lead was taken is but the re-
slduary deposits of the once massive
everything limestone that through
chemical action and weathering had
been reduced to mass of red clay
and rock fragments The miners
| meyer attempted to force the rock,
nor beat water" the mineral was so
plentiful that their whole incentive
appeared to be to conhne their la bors
| to where the most mineral could be
obtained with the least expense and
labor.
Before proceeding further it is prop
er to remark that the Silicious Cap
Rock of the Cambrian, is bv no
means non-mineral bearing. The
surface exposure is quite limited in
i--zz., 2
investigation. knows that it is
highly tnineralized, not only with
lead, but with zinc also. The latter,
so far as observed, is confined to
carbonates and silicates, but the
sulphide undoubtedly exists some
where deeper below.
1t might be difficult for some to
conceive how such bodies of solid
rock could be so completely reduced
or filled with openings of cavernous
and canyon-like forms, such as are
produced by the effect of waters
under Il high state of agitation
Those who have ever beheld the
thousands of square miles, known as
the San Juan, and Big Colorado
river countries and where Utah,
Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico
have a common corner, would not be
confused nor wonder at similar con.
ditions on so diminutive a scale as
ever existed in the Ozark region.
That such channeling could have
occurred since the Rocky Mountains
were lifted from the bed of the in
terror sea would be impossible, fo'
the depths to which the drainage
! iTss.2nnels extend vary from so teet or
less where fhe fiS,st breakdown be-
gan, to mile deep in the Gss....sz-
Canyon of the Big Colorado river
i n the bottom of which the suns
rays are not able to remain longer
than about an hour during midday
When we further consider that these
great depths were reached through
the hardest marbles and GRANTEES We
r can begin to realize the wounderfu
erOsive effect of water in such
volumes as once poured through
these narrow, rock-bound recesses
Today there is not one of the smaller
canyons that during the year, except
the brief season of melting snow or
the mountains, will furnish enough
water to quench the thirst of cattle
E thac range here, consequently, during
the dryest season they journey uI
the mountain slopes in search O
E streams and springs where water
can be obtained.
: That these conditions have existed
for perhaps at least a thousand
years is shown by the existing
} remains of the prehistoric race OF
races, called "Cliff Dwellers," but
: there also were plains dwellcrs. The
antiquity of these people is unknown
but, / we can Judge from Aztec
tradition and writings OF Hum boldt
they must have been the inha itants
!, a thousand years, and more. ago
In the Mancos canyon some of their
!. largess cliff houses. containing from
100 to 200 rooms. are situated a
thousand feet, vertically, above the
water and 500 feet below the tor
surface. Their pottery still remains
strewn in fragments over the ground