Potosi journal. (Potosi, Mo.) 1894-1929, 1901-02-27

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pense by which it was obtained
LEAD AND BARYTEs.
The Mineral Resources of St. Fran
co.'s, Washington, and Madi-
son Counties, Missouri.
The following communicate,
from Walter r. Ingalls,, of Boston.
Mass. appeared in the Engineer
ing and Mining Journal, of New
York City, under date Of Jan, 26,
1901:
Sir: In the comments upon the
prospectus of the American Lead
and Barytes Company in the issue
of the 'Engineering and Mining
Journal of December 22d, page
734, an erroneous impression is
conveyed as to the value of miner
al resources of Washington county,
Missouri, where the company in
question has acquired a large ex-
tent Of mineral land. 1t is not my
purpose to indorse that company,
with which l have no connection
and concerning the financial ex-
ploitation Of which | am ignorant,
but merely to correct the unfavor-
able opinion as to the district which
was expressed by implication a,
least.
The famous and high productive
disseminated lead deposits of Mis-
souri, are situated in st. Francois
county, save those in the vicinity
of Mine La Motto, which are
further to the south. Washington
adioins St. Francois county on the
west. The disseminated lead de-
posts of the latter occur in the SO.
called est. Joseph" limestone,
which underlies the ''Potosi" lime
stone. The Potosi limestone in ST.
Francois county has been largely
scored away and the mineral de-
posts of the St. Joseph are found
comparatively near the surface,
generally at Il depth Of 800 to 400
feet. In Washington county the
surface rock is the Potosi lime
stone and the St. Joseph lies at Il
greater depth than in St. Francois
county. The Geologists-Win-
slow, Jenney, Clark and others
who have studied the regions, are
agreed as to this formation.
In st. Francois county the min
ing of the disseminated ore is car
ried on in two distinct areas, one
in the vicinity of Bonne Terre
(which was the first cxpIoitcd) and
the other in the vicinity of Flat
River. A third district, namely
Doe Run {about 5 miles south of
Flat River), was formerly work
ed, but is now regarded as exhaus
ted. Whether those districts coin
eide with mineral zones have Ger
tain trend cannot yet be pronounc-
cd definitely. Although they have
been extensively studietlby geolog-
lists in behalf of the United States
Geological Survey and private
corporations, there has been nc
attempt to olreIate the various
ore bOdies which have been discov.
cred, either with each other, OF
with a we'll defined fault system
The districts are therefore dcsti
tute of any reliable guides for ex
ploration such as have been deter
mined for some other mining dis
tricts, most remarkable for Lead
vile, Colo.
Galena has been mined for many
years in Washington county and is
mined there at present by uumer-
u.s small concerns, the ore being
obtained from pipe veins, l-nticu-
lar sheets, stockworks and crevices
in the Potosi limestone. The min
ing has been done in an unenter.
prising, uneconomical and unsys
tematic manner and there is reason
to believe that these pipe veins,
sheets, stockworks and crevices
are capable of much greater pro
duction and profit than ha:
heretofore been obtained from
them. The SUCCESS of the RenanIt
Lead Company, which recently
entered the field, is evidence in th.
support of this idea. Barytes
occurs also in this district, in con
nection with the lead ore, and is
mined to the extent of about Is,
900 to $4,000 tons annually, bn1
the market for that material is lin
tied and there is no great possibili
ties in its exploitation in sight, a,
present at least.
The question of paramount in.
terest in connection with Washing
ton county rs to the existence ir
the St. Joseph limestone of dissem
mated deposits similar to those il
st. Francois county.
At present there is no positiy,
evidence pro or con. Only a few
holes have been put down To it ant
the fact that these have not discov
erc.l mineral is not proof that i
ldoes not exist, because there ar