Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-09-27
HARDIN CO., ILL,
HAS OUR OLDEST
.FLUORSPAR MINE

Elizabethtown, ILL.,, Sept. 26.-Hid-
den here in Hardin county, off the
beaten path of transportation, the
oldest fluorspar mine in America
and likewise the largest in the world
was recently "discovered' by the rest
of the country when strike disorders
brought newspaper men to this
southeastern corner of Illinois.
Not since the James boys rode
through Kentucky and crossed the
/ Ohio river near here has this quaint
little county seat village-the second
Oldest settlement in Illinois-experi-
enced so much excitement, unless it
was during the hectic days of recon-
struction when night riders. the Ku
KluX Khan and border whitecappers
kept southern Illinois and northern
Kentucky in a ferment.
The Hardin county fiuorspar veins
are the largest in the United States
The main vein, running northeast
and southwest across a portion of
the county, ranges from 6 to so feet
wide, is being worked on the 600 foot
level, and diamond drills which have
penetrated 1900 feet have failed to
find the bottom. Rosiclare mine, in
operation more than forty years
holds worlds record for tonnage
produced. Unlike coal veins in the
neighboring counties, which lie fiat
in bed" or blanket" formation, the
/ main fluorspar vein stands on edge,
and is mined under the same condi-
tions as its sister hard rock minerals
IN Colorado and the West In the
eastern part of the county, at Spar
Mountain, near Cave In Rock, there
Is blanket vein of spar which is
| mined much like coal.
/ FluorSpar is used in industry for a
wide range of purposes. The finest
grade found, optical spar, goes into
the making of optical instruments.
| The opalescent glass industry and
| the enamelling works making kit
| chen utensils and bath room fixtures
7 use a coarser grade, only 90 per cent.
pure. Other grades go into the
making of hydrochloric acid.
/ aluminium and steel. Ten pounds of
| spar are used as fluX in the making
of each ton of steel, and So per cent.
/ of all spar mined goes into the steel
j industry. Optical spar sold during
/ the war at $50 an ounce and the
! Crude used in steel making at $50 a
! ton.
While Elizabethtown has been the
center of the strike trouble, there
are no mines here, the center of the
industry being at Rosiclare, five
called on September II, 1920. Union
headquarters We're established here.
however, and various picnics. con-
! NentlonS and mass meetings held.
until citizens took a hand Sept. 3 of
this year and drove $50 union men
from the town.
James A. Watson, Hardin county
representative, Mayor George Wall.
Sheriff ID. \. Cox and States Attor-
ney Clarence Seward say the union
men were driven out because they
patroled the streets at night with
armed guards, stopping citizens I'M
der the guise of protecting the life
of Ed Carbinc, union organizer.
The present strike is the second
IN the history of the f1uorspar field
the first having occurred in 1916
when an attempt to unionize the
mines failed. The spar mines have
been worked for more than 40 years
and prior to that time the diggings
yielded lead and zinc, while the spal
was thrown aside as worthless
During civil war days a furnace was
erected on the Ohio river bank t.
make bullets from the lead found ir
the fluorspar veins. The ruined foun-
datlons of the old furnace still stnnd
Lead and zinc are now by-products
of the spar mines, along with cal.
cite, a rock crystal and limestone
The calcite is crushed for road build.
ing purposes or around fine and
sacked as chicken grit, while the
limestone is ground up and sold tc
farmers for agriculture use.