The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-01-03
Lead and Zinc Mining in the Joplin Dis
trict and in Southeast Missouri; Mines
Found by Accident on Agricultural Land

lesser extent in Washington and st
IGenevieve counties, and are concen.
trated chiefly within radius of APP
proxihately five miles centeriHg a
Flat river and encircling Bonnie Terr'
or the north, lockwood on the wes
The principal mining activities are a.
Bonne Terre, Rivermines, Leadwood
Flat river, Elvins, st. Francois ant
Desloge. The zinc lead district Of
Joplin in southwest Missouri covers 6
roughly elliptical area, with the Ions
axis approximately east and west
commencing in the vicinity Of Spring.
! field, Mo-. and extending westward
through Joplin and Webb City and
into Galena and Baxter Springs, Kan.
and Picher, Commerce and Miami
Okla.
A Mining Region Of Smooth Toposra
ply.
The Ozark uplift centers in southern
Missouri, rising gently from the plains
as an elliptical plateau which extends
on the south into northern Arkansas
on the west into the extreme eastern
parts of Oklahoma and Kansas and
on the northeast into western Illinois
The ascent from the plains on the
west, north and northeast Is gradual
attaining an average elevation OF
from 500 to 1900 feet and rising east
o. its center in the ST. Francois noun :
tains to 1900 feet. On the south the
plateau attains its greatest height at
1000 feet, forming the Boston noun
tains, which range along the north
side of the Arkansas river an abrupt
southern termination of the plateau
region. The topography west of
Springfield, Mo-. and south of Joplin
varies from somewhat broken hilly
country to level and occasionally gen.
tly rolling prairie, The contrast Of
this smooth, nearly level country in
the Joplin zinc district. to the rugged
mountainous mining districts of the
west is marked. None of the noun
tain making eruptives of the Rockies
or southwest deserts are evident. Out
crops are rare and gossan is unknown.
On the contrary, most of the soil is
under cultivation even in the heart of
the districts of active mining and in
many cases both industries thrive on
the same tract. The surface drainage
channels of the lower Mississippi val
ley are toward that river but the
smaller tributaries on the western
slope of the Ozarks course southwest
ward into the Arkansas.
Early Mining Record.
Unlike most mining sections of the
west, where public land bearing val
liable minerals Is given prior right in
the mining laws Of the United States
over agricultural claims, the Missouri
districts have been parceled
into tracts of 100 acres and the region
was taken. up by an agricultural peo-
pie long before it's value as mineral
land was discovered. This was the
case in the Joplin district of south
west Missouri and southeast Kansas.
The mining land in northwest Okla
homa was originally known as Indian
Territory and remains in the owner
ship of the Indians of that section. In
southeast Missouri the land Is partly
into sections, but the east
10 int trr
relic of the old land grant system.
The earliest records of mining in
Missouri date back to the French &C.
In the eighteenth century.
The Mississippi was discovered by
Spaniards under DeSoto in 1541, but
abandoned by them for the greater
iches in gold of Mexico and Peru. In
6S2 LaSalle came down the Mississ-
ppi from the upper valley, at that
ime being explored and settled by
he French, and, arriving at the
mouth of this river took possession of
he whole territory drained by the
mississippi and it's tributaries in the
anne Of King Louis XIV of France
nd to 1t he gave the name of Louisi-
ma. This vast acquisition embraced
1ore than half the North American
ointment, including as II did all the |
erritory north of the Gulf of Mexi- |
o from the Rockies on the west to |
ne Alleghanies on the east and ex-
ending northward through Canada to |
hudson bay. Toward the end of the
cries of wars that took place between
ngland an dF'rance, beginning in 1862 |
nd ending with the Treaty of Paris
1853. mining In Missouri according /
e. r. Buckley was started in
county at Mine a Renault
1925. Operations at Mine a Gebore
ere conducted on small scale be-
1een 1742 and 1852. In 1867 Pierre
aclede founded a trading post on the
ississippi river and named it in hon
of Louis XIV, and in 1875 II had {
'come a well known fur trading de-
IT. At the Treaty of Paris, France 8
ded all her territory in Canadian |
orth America to England, and that /
rritory south of Canada was coded +
Spain. The French who remained '
the territory, however, evidently n
ntinued their mining operations, as p
me Layne was discovered in 1895,
ne Manteo on Big river in 1899, e
d Mine la Plate about the same n
Rod. Winslow estimates that dur /,