The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-12-14
A CITY WITHOUT GOVERNMENT.
Flat River, One of the Wealthiest and
Busiest Places in Missouri.

"The door Of the city caboose is
wide open and silent. Like a faith
full sentinel it stands, keeping guard
when all things else have fled. It's
hinges are rusted in idleness because
no criminal has been detained there
for many moons. The city hall has
long since been vacated and locked
up. The mayor and other munich
pal officials have retired, to business
and private life and the former chief
of police has become deputy sherih.
Every vestige of the once strong and
assertive city government is now only
a pleasant memory of bygone days.
The preceding paragraph, taken
from the St. Louis Republic, might
well be an epitaph for Juarez or
some ill-fated city that had been
wiped from the map by fire, food or
pestilence, but such is not the case.
Those conditions are true, it is as
serted, in every detail of growing,
thriving Missouri town and it is one
of the wealthiest, busiest places in
the State.
Flat River, Mo-, with populations
of from 5000 to 10000 people, rep
resenting almost every nationality,
political conviction and religious be-
lief, yet without the slightest pre-
tence of municipal government, is the
centre of the most unique economic
situation of the present decade. 1t
is another link in the chain of evil
dence proving that truth is stranger
than fiction. Flat River is a typical
mining town; and, so far as being
selected because of the conspicuous
congeniality of disposition, it's popu-
lation is more cosmopolitan than
perhaps any city of it's size in Ameri-
ca.
Another remarkable feature, says
the st. Louis paper, is that though a
mining camp is usually looked upon
as the embodiment in a pre-emlnent
degree of lawlessness and low order
of citizenship, Flat River is the very
heart of the greatest lead mining dis
trict in the world and 60 per cent. of
it's male population makes it's living
underground. Twenty years ago the
town was not even on the map Of St.
Francois county. AS recently as 10
years ago it was practically unknown
except to those living in that i'm
mediate vicinity, and few Wall
street operators, who were interest
ed in the lead market and hence ia
miliar. with centres where the metal
was mined.
Though there are no saloons in
Flat River, which fact in itself is re-
markable considering the number of
foreigners, men occasionally tank up
in neighboring towns and stray into
Flat River, where they are arraign-
ed on various charges before the
justice court, and petty crimes and
family disputes are not less frequent
there than in many other towns.
The thing that has made possible
the development and crystallization
of such powerful moral sentiment
in this mining community is the fact
that from it's very beginning the
most prominent men of the neighbor-
hood were stalwart church members
and representative citizens, who used
every means in their power to build
up such sentiment and even under
went personal sacrifice to discourage
and prevent any conduct or institu-
tions which tend to impair it.
In speaking of this large mining
community at Flat River, it is well
to explain that Flat River is only the
largest of a group, and though St.
Francois, River Mines, Disloge and
Esther are geographically continu-
alton of the city of Flat River, they
have separate postofices and are gen.
aro11v cnoken of as distinct tOWns-