The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-01-03

U. S. army, succeeded the Spanish
coinmandant at st. Louis. and the re-
gion was organized into the Territory
Of Louisiana. and st. Louis made the
capital. From this territory the
states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Nilsson
ri. Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming
Montana, North and South Dakota
and parts of Minnesota. Colorado and
lOklahoma were formed. In 1912 Lou
isiana became state. and the name
of the territory was changed to the
Missouri Territory. Missouri came
into the Union as slave state under
the Missouri compromise in 1920. The
railroad land grant system originated
in 1885, and the transcontinental roads
received vast tracts of land aggregat-
4 ing millions of acres along their routes
The first railroad in the state was
opened with 3S miles of track in 1852
By the presumption act of 1S41 any
genuine settler could take up 100 acres
of public land and make his payments
on long and easy terms at rate fixed
in 1852 of $1.25 per acre.
Joplin Ores Discovered by Accident.
In the Joplin district the first re-
ported discovery was made by William
Foster at CRANKY in 1850. This. like
other succeeding discoveries, was
made by accident in the course of well
digging for water. Galena was the
ore mined from the shallow deposits
where shafts were first sunk Small
furnaces were soon after erected and
lead bullion was hauled by wagon to
Fort Smith. Ark, and transported by
boat to New Orleans, New York and
Boston. In 1855 Blow & Kennel
started operations on larger. scale.
Lands were leased and furnaces erect
ed and railroad construction started.
| The Civil war put stop to develop
ment in 1861. but the mines were OPP
Grated alternately by both sides dur
ing that period. Right after the war
the CRANKY Mining and Smelling
company was organized, the various
interests combined and operations re-
sumed. Galena and cerusite were the
first ores mined Calamine and sphal-
erite were later recognized, and upon
complexion Of the railroad to CRANKY,
zine ores were shipped.
For the first 80 years galena and
calamine were the main ores of the
district, but later sphalerite ores took
the lead, with calamine second and
galena third. The first modern con-
centrator was built in 1898, the ores up
until that time having been concen-
trated in hand jigs.
The history of the district is one Of
spasmodic rushes and booms, followed
by hasty production on profitable if
wasteful scale. The land, primarily
agricultural, was largely settled by
farming people who knew little of
mining. For number of years Crar-
by was the center Of prospecting. Lat
er strikes were made by accident at
Joplin and at Oronogo, at which poinrs
mining activity became intense. Dis
coveries followed at Webb City, again
by accident, and another rush was
made to this section, and suea has
been the development of the region
from the beginning. Strike after strike
was made. with intense exploitation in
each section, until there became
scattered group of camps with Joplin
as center. Between most of the
NJ
veloped that may prove to be valu-
able mining ground. There are well
known instances where mining activ-
tiles have linked together neighbor-
ing mining camps by the lateral ex-
tension Of the ore bodies, as from Or
onogo on through to Duenweg a
stretch of seven miles, and moret re-
cent operations point to probable
repetition Of such expansion in other
parts of the district. II is possible
that the ground between Duenweg
and CRANKY, under the stimulus of
efficient prospecting, may prove to be
continuous run of ore. The undevel-
oped stretch between Carthage and
Neck City forms another possibility
for the future. The development of
the district has progressed steadily
since the sinking of the first shallow
shaft for lead. Types of each stage
Of progress in methods are still to be |
observed and the history of the areas
development can be pieced together.
Early exploitation was made on the
plan, prospecting for the
shallow lead deposits at first and
alter the shallow zinc deposits The
mineral had to be free in character
md amenable to hand picking, follow
ID by hand jigging, in order to be pro-
table. Problems of concentration
anne with the exhaustion of the shall
cw deposits and the discovery of the
leeper and lower grade ore bodies. II
)ut of all this the present milling
'ractice was evolved. and it's low cost
II operation has made profitable the
mining of ores producing as low as
er cent of zinc concentrates. At the
resent, however, many of the lower 1
rade mines have been forced to close (
wing to the marked increase in the 8
ages and cost of supplies and the
bsence of a corresponding advance {
the price of ores. This condition u