Bisbee daily review., 1917-09-16
M|SSOURrS HOST" MINES CONTINUE ID
 INTEREST OIGGERS
One, a Producer of Copper, Has Been Partly Verified by Investigation Carried on Since the Civil War.

Missouri tradition is replete with stories of lost" mines, hidden treas ures of silver, copper and other metals. but there is one lost" mine in the state. the existence of which has been partly verified, says the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. It has been the ob- ject of search more than fifty years since it's disgruntled operator buried" it to prevent it from passing out of his possession.
 In the search of fifty years hundreds of prospectors have ''gophered" it's supposed whereabouts and thousands of dollars have been spent in trying to reclaim it, but it remains con cealed.
 The mine is known as the Old Slater Mine and is supposed to be situated or the Jacks Fork branch of the Current River, near Eminence, the county seat of shannon county. Years of litiga- tion have been responsible to some extent for the lack of a more eXhaus- tive search. but this has been settled, and J. w. Mcclellan, former state legislator and at present prosecuting attorney of shannon county, has be- gun the search anew.
 The history of the lost mine dates from pre-Civil War days before the creation by the legislature of Shan non county. The story of the lost mine has been retold so often by the old settlers of the Current River hills that several versions have been evolv- ed from the original facts.
 Was Worth Thousands.
 However divergent the stories, the fact that the mine once produced cop per in paying quanties to the sum of more than S1O0,0OO is history.
 As the story is related, Joseph Sla- ter, and Englishman and a practical miner, explored the Current River in 1880. and some time thereafter a short distance from Eminence discovered rich veins of copper ore. He immedi ately sunk shaft and set up a mill, operated by water power. His em- ployees numbered six.
 The sparse settlement of the adja- cent country made it possible for Sla- ter to operate his mine almost secret ly. His employees were sworn to secrecy, and even to this day the only survivor refuses to divulge the loca- ton of the lost veins.
 Slater shipped his ore overland to the Iron Mountain Railroad, some six ty miles distant. or fioated it down the Current River and the Mississippi to New Orleans.
 About 250 square miles of land en- braced by Shannon County was re- served by the government as copper lands" Later this reserve was thrown open for settlement, the same as other lands, and it was then that a greater part of it was open to entry at twelve and one-half cents an acre.
 Mine Was Buried"
 Slater is known to have been oper- ating his mine at the time the lant was thrown open to entry. The story is that one of the Chiltons-pioneers of Southeastern Missouri-went to the land office and filed on the land which embraced Skaters mine. Slater heard of Chilton's plan and hurried otf in pursuit. Realizing that Chilton's advantage could not be overcome, Sla- ter returned and ordered his employ ees to bury" the mine. The shaft was filled with debris and the veins. said to have run near the surface, were covered with sod and trees. The