The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-03-09
How Millionaires Are Being Made
Over Night In Joplin
(Homer Croy in Leslie's Weekly

tall. gaunt, barefooted Missouri
ill-billy stood beside his rattly, dish
wheeled wagon waiting to see the
mighty proprietor of the sawmill, who
guessed only too well that the hill
huly had something he wanted to swap
for lumber.
what can l do for your
The hillman shifted his weight un-
easily 81 low / got somethun of a
powerful lot of interest to yuh."
Reaching over the side of the wagon
he placed his rough hand tenderly on
black lump. 81 guess yuh know
what it Is"
The sawmill proprietor glanced at
it deprecatingly and turned toward
the mill.
ITS lead, pardner, pure lead, and I
know where 1t come FROM l could
take you right to the spot-ef wanted
to-"
The mill proprietor hooked a row Of
fingers under the rough stone and
tried to lift it. But he could not bulge
it. ut does seem to have lead in it.
What was you calculating askin' for
shown me where you found it?"
The farmer from the foothills cut
his eyes down to crafty Sits, Il was
lowing just tother day as how house
IN han Ef
you'll saw me out one I'll take you to
the spot" And so the deal was con-
summated, the hill-billy gleefully driv-
ing away, joyous over having got a
fine house pattern worth $40 for mere
ly showing fellow where you could
pick up few hunks of lead.
Opening Joplin's Mines.
That was As years ago and 1t was
l thus that the great Joplin lead and
zinc district was made known to the
world. In the fall of 1914 a mine OPP
orator noticed faint stirring on the
part of Jack" as the miners call zinc
ore. 1t was a long time before the
people of Joplin, Mo-, connected the
booming of the big guns at Liege,
Rheims and along the Aisne with the
upward movement of Jack" Then
they remembered that the Germans
had control of the zinc mines in Bel
GUM and that now the allies must
look elsewhere for their zinc. Zinc
combined with copper makes brass.
The big rise began about the list of
January, 1915, and during that year
staid, quiet Joplin was boom town.
Nome suddenly moved to Jasper coun-
ty Patient plodding, Straightforward
citizens who thought it was wicked to
stay up after II got night keys and
began taking tango lessons from an
English dancing instructor with a
small, refined mustache and broad
accent. Wives who had shopped reg
ularly for Is years out of mail order
catalogues, suddenly had to go to st.
Louis for fittings, and wrist watches
became as common as fried eggs
Prices Soar and Soar.
Jack" had been selling for $35 a
ton, but it began to edge up; $40, $50,
$6O-upward it crept more and more
excited. When it reached $50 the
autos got so thick that pedestrians
went out only in twos and threes. But
it was not to stop-onward, upward 1t
scared. When it reached $50 the
Browning clubs and new thought or
CARNATIONS had to go out of business
on account of the cabarets and thees
dansants. Steadily Jack" climbed I'M
til it hit 500, when they had dem
onstration on the streets with band
to play and an orator in frock coat
to tell them about this glorious COM
monwealth where every boy may be
president, to say nothing of the grow
ing electoral chances of the girls.
But the end was not yet; Jack" kept
right on going up. One hundred and
. ten it struck and went on through
headed in the general direction of the
milky way. The very highest, tiptop-
est price of all was got by Orleans
Longacre for a limited amount at
$139.60. During 1915 the streets II
Joplin and Webb City ran with Euro
pean money The spirit of '49 was up
on them. Into the district tumbled
hundreds of miners; the wages rnlid
the men undergraduates shovelers,
the machine men, the powder monkeys,
the tub hookers-doubled. There are
no unions in the Joplin district, and no
foreign labor; everybody speaks Eng
lish or he doesn't work, that's all. The
miners see to that themselves
Wages Fixed BY Market.
A sliding scale Of wages WAS made
for the miners by the operators. When
ere went up the miners were to be
paid more; when it went down they
we're to get less. The machine men
the workers who run the drillsl were
getting 1925 day before the boom
started. They are now getting from
1926 to $3.50.
The Webb City zinc mills 60 right
on grinding and the millionaires go
right on tumbling out of the hopper.
The men who have been working In
the mines on salary lease few acres,
s,nk a shaft and install a grand piano