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HERE A CHAT DUMP .... THERE A CHAT DUMP ....
EVERYWHERE A CHAT DUMP!!!

LINKS TO PHOTOS AND ARTICLES RELATED TO
CHAT DUMPS AND VARIOUS MINING
OPERATIONS OF THE OLD LEAD BELT LOCATED
IN AND AROUND  ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY,
MISSOURI

BONNE TERRE, MISSOURI

Surface Mining Operations at Bonne Terre About 1866

Letters to Editor, Washington County Journal, Potosi, Missouri, in reference to
St. Joe Lead Mines, Mo which later became known as Bonne Terre, Missouri:
Letter #1 - Published July 7, 1870
Letter #2 - Published July 14, 1870

1922 Photo of Boy Scouts Hiking Over Chat Dump at Bonne Terre, Missouri

Wages of Bonne Terre Mill Force Cut (1915)

Early View of Bonne Terre Chat Dump (Heap)

Aerial View of Bonne Terre Chat Dump (1996)

North County Jr. High School Band Practice in Shadow on Bonne Terre Chat Dump (Circa 1993)

View of Chat Dump Rising Behind Bonne Terre Elementary School (Winter/1988-89)

Photo of 1901 Meeting of Board of Trustees for St. Joseph Lead Company at Bonne Terre, MO

Photos of Bonne Terre Chat Dump on Way Down (circa, abt. 2004)
Photo #1;   Photo #2

Chat Conveyer Housing at St. Joseph Lead Mines in Bonne Terre (circa, abt. 1916)

Photo of St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery from top of Bonne Terre Chat Dump (DJ Photo)

Entrance Being Cut So Mules Can Walk Into the Mines (1916/Bonne Terre Register)

Fireworks on Bonne Terre Chat Dump - 4th of July, 2006:
Photo #1  ~~ Photo #2 ~~ Photo #3 ~~ Photo #4 ~~ Photo #5
(Photos taken by B. Warner)

DESLOGE, MISSOURI

Aerial View of Desloge Consolidated Lead Company and Chat Dump
(circa late 1940s or early 1950s - photo courtesy of Dave Darnell)

Article concerning Desloge Mines published in Ste. Genevieve Herald, May 27, 1893

Desloge Consolidated Lead Company

Desloge Consolidated Lead Company Mill No. 3, Desloge, Missouri

Aerial View Desloge Consolidated Lead Company and Chat Dump (1996)

Early View of Desloge Chat Dump & Mill

Office of Desloge Consolidated Lead Company

.DOE RUN, MISSOURI

Interior view of Graves Museum, Doe Run, MO

ELVINS / RIVERMINES, MISSOURI

Very early view of Lead Mill at Elvins, Missouri

#4 Federal Mill at Elvins, Missouri

Building Road Up Side of Rivermines Chat Dump at Elvins (1952)  
Newspaper Article; Photo #1; Photo #2;  Photo #3; 
Photos provided by Anita McClanahan Kendall. 

Half a Million to Be Spent Developing Pim Tract South of Elvins, Missouri
(Lead Belt News, June 1922)

Aerial View of Elvins - Rivermines Chat Dump (1996)

View from Top of Elvins/Rivermines Chat Dump
(April 23, 1952). Photo provided by Anita McClanahan Kendall.

Fire Destroys No. 3 Chat Chute at Rivermines (Dec. 6, 1929, Lead Belt News)

Boston-Elvins Shaft Drowned Out (1917)

FLAT RIVER, MISSOURI

Rich Lead Strike at Flat River (1893)

Federal Lead Company to Erect 1000 Houses in Flat River District
(St. Francois Herald, Feb. 5, 1902)
Names mentioned in article:  David Guggenheim, Whitney-Ryan, Kuhn,
Loch & Company, American Smelting and Refining Company

Very early view of Flat River Railroad Depot with Doe Run Lead
Company Shaft #1 in background.

Early Sectional View of Flat River, Missouri featuring
prominent view of National Chat Dump

Early View of Federal Chat Piles from West Main Street, Flat River, MO

Various views over the years of West Main Street in Flat River,
Missouri, looking east toward Federal Mill and Chat Dump
View #1 ~~ View #2 ~~ View #3 ~~ View #4 ~~ View #5 ~~ View #6

View of Tramway at Federal Lead Co. (early 1900s)

Locomotive loading chat cars at local lead mine (probably Flat River), circa 1912

Community Improvements on West Main Street, Flat River, Missouri (1956)

Interesting View of Federal Mines and Chat Dump from Flat River High School (1962)

Photo of local chat dump depicted in 1951 Saga yearbook for Flat River High School 

View of National Lead Mill , a/k/a St. Louis Smelting & Refining Company (circa 1924)

Woodrow Kennedy Loses Fingers at Federal Chat Loader (LB News, June 27, 1930)

View of National Chat Dump as depicted in Farmington Magazine (1939)

4-Wheelin' on National Chat Dump
Photo #1;  Photo #2; Photo #3
(Photos by Corey Warner)

Big Smokestack Completed at National Lead Company (1926) - Newspaper Article;

Work on National Chat Dump #1
Work on National Chat Dump #2
Work on National Chat Dump #3
Work on National Chat Dump #4
Building a Road Up National (Sept. 4, 1953)
View Article (Sept. 4, 1953)

Backside Views of National Chat Dump (circa 2005)
Photo #1 (black & white); Photo #2 (color); Photo #3
Ghost Image on National Chat Dump (2005) 
Night views of National Chat Dump:
Photo #1  
Photo #2  
Panoramic View from National Chat Dump 2005
                (All Photos by Corey Warner)

Photo of local chat dump  - This photo was published on the title page of 1947 Chats
"Silver Anniversary Edition" yearbook for Flat River Jr. College.
Note: I'm not sure if this if Federal or National Chat Dump)  - Photo #2

Photo of boy at Crawley Bottom in Flat River, Missouri
(National Chat Dump in background/photo from Silsby Family Photo Collection)

Great Flood of 1993
Photo of Sandbagging Operations at National Chat Dump (1993); 
Sandbagging Operations (Project Fill-the-Bags) at National Chat Dump (1993)

Interesting article entitled "The Old National"
Published Nov. 29, 1973, 75th Anniversary Edition of
The Lead Belt News of Flat River, Missouri,
which contains interesting history of National Lead Company
and National Lead Company Fire Department.
Names mentioned in article: William R.  Taylor, R. D. O. Johnson,
Charles E. Schwartz, J. O. Mosier, Earnest Campbell

Flat River High School Marching Band in Shadow of Federal Chat Dump
(1959/Saga Yearbook, Flat River Junior College)

National Chat Dump & Badlands/Claypits (abt. 1949)

Central Lead Mill, Flat River (circa 1910)
Central Lead Company Offices 

Salute to Federal Lead Company Mill No. 12 (SJ Headframe, 1969)
Part #1 ~~ Part #2 ~~ Part #3 ~~ Part #4 ~~ Part #5 ~~ Part #6

View of National Chat Dump (Oct. 2005)
View of National Chat Dump (Feb. 2006)

View of National Chat Dump
(Photo taken from backyard of home on Buckley Street, Circa 2005)

Early view of National Chat Dump (Chats, 1965)
National Lead Co. Mill Workers (1936)
Aerial View of National Chat Dump (1996)

National Chat Dump from St. Joe Drive, Park Hills, Missouri (2005, by B. Warner)
National Chat Dump from Desloge side of chat dump (Oct. 2005, by B. Warner)

At play on the National Chat Dump: 
Photo #1; Photo #2; Photo #3; Photo #4; Photo #5
Bird Community at National Chat Dump (2005)
(Photos by B. Warner, 2005)

Poem entitled "The Chat Pile"
(Written by Unknown Student/Published in Lead Belt News, March 11, 1927)

Photo of Florence Silsby in backyard of her home at 301 Bryan Street, Flat 
River, Missouri (Federal Chat Dump in background)

Serious accident at Federal Mill involving William Spray (1918)

View of Davis Creek Dam near Federal Lead Mine & Mill at Flat River, MO 

View of Federal Chat Dump published in Chats Yearbook for Flat River Jr. College (1941)

Night View of Federal Mill, Flat River, Missouri (St. Joe Headframe)

Federal Lead Company Office (1907)
News Photo of Federal Chat Dump (LB News)

Huge Cross Lighted on Top of National Chat Dump (Daily Journal, April 18, 1962)

Cross on National Chat Dump Downed by Wind (Daily Journal, June 13, 1963)

Lion's Christmas Charity Tree on National Chat Dump a Huge Success

Lion's Christmas Tree on National Chat Pile Stripped by Vandals
(Lead Belt News, Dec. 3, 1969)

Federal Lead Company Suffers Heavy Loss from Lightning Strike (1916)

Photo of Manager's House, Columbia Lead Co. 

View of National Chat Dump & Mill (1924)
View of National Chat Dump (1946)

Night view of Federal Mill (circa 1953)

Columbia Lead Mines in Flat River District Shut Down (published Feb. 19, 1902)

Photo of Missouri Mining Museum (formerly Federal Mill) at Park Hills, MO (Feb. 2006)

No. 4 Shaft of Doe Run Lead Company, Flat River, MO
(located on site where Vineyard's Concrete was later situated)

Views of Flat River Main Street Before & After Removal of Federal Chat Dump

Aerial View of Federal Lead Mill, Flat River, MO (circa 1996)

Various photos of old powder house near National Chat Dump (2005)
Photo #1; Photo #2; Photo #3; Photo #4;

Poem entitled "Flat River" by Mrs. F. M. Horton (1936)

Photo of National Chat Dump (1953)

Where Oh Where Did Those Mountains of Chat Go? (1969)

Poem entitled "Where O Where Did Flat River Go" by Lou Horton

1950 Flat River Homecoming Parade on West Main Street
(Federal Chat Dump in Background)

B. Warner on top of National Chat Dump, Flat River, Missouri (1982) 

Melissa Jones Purifoy with "No Trespassing Sign" at National Chat Dump (2005)

Lost Boy, Brabson Cecil, Found on Flat River Chat Pile
(Published in Bonne Terre Star, 1939/disappeared from home of R. V. Coffman.)

Moon Shining On National Chat Dump (2005)
View of National from Buckley Street (2005)

View of National Chat Dump (Sept. 2006)

LEADWOOD, MISSOURI & SURROUNDING AREA

Early view of Hoffman Mill  located at Mitchell, Missouri,  near Leadwood
(owned by St. Joseph Lead Company, circa 1904)

Early view of Mill and Chat Dump at Leadwood

Group of Early Leadwood Miners. 
I believe this photo to be circa 1920's.  It's part of a yard-long print
which is on display at the Leadwood City Hall.  

Hayden Creek Shaft #22 located between Frankclay and Irondale, Missouri. 
Photo #1 ~~ Article accompanying Photo #1

Tailings Disposal Unit at Leadwood Mill

Slime Branch Crossing Gets Worse Each Day (1918)

St. Joseph Lead Company Concentrating Mill at Leadwood (1913)

Aerial View of Leadwood Chat Dump and Slime Pond (circa 1996)

MISCELLANEOUS

Photo Depicting Early Surface Mining Operation

Poem entitled "The Miner" (A. J. Laughran, 1917)

Article entitled "Those Fading Piles of Chat"
Article gives history of various chat dumps in the Old Lead Belt of
St. Francois County, Missouri and also includes poem written by Ed Glen in 1954
entitled "Vanishing Chat Piles of Missouri"

"Stories Out of the Past" as published in St. Joe Headframe Magazine
Story #1

Various Editorials Written by Lawrence W. Casteel 
as Published in St. Joe Headframe Magazine:

Editorial #1 (1972) ~~~ Editorial #2 (1977) 

Herculaneum Smelter Worker (circa 1955)
Herculaneum Smelter Worker Larry Pettus (1966)
Herculaneum Smelter (circa 1975/SJ Headframe)

Cast of  "In the Shadow of the Chat Dump"
This was a stage production of Esther High School in the 1930s.  Does anyone
have a script of this play?

St. Francois County Mining Logo (1904)

Map of the Old Lead Belt
This map pinpoints locations of some of the early shafts, mines, and mining companies
which operated in St. Francois County, Missouri

Index of early Diggins, Shaft and Mines
Maps Depicting location of early diggings, shafts and mining companies
of the Old Lead Belt of St. Francois County, Missouri: 
Map #1 / Map #2 / Map #3  / Map #4 / Map #5
Note: Numbers on above map correspond with numbers on Index mentioned above. 

Timeline of Some Significant Mining Events in St. Francois County, Missouri 
Page #1 - circa 1700-1823
Page #2 - circa 1830-1891
Page #3 - circa 1891-1925
Page #4 - circa 1933-1972

Examples of Diamond Drill Bits as depicted in catalog of
Bonne Terre Farming  & Cattle Co. Catalog

Example of Doe Run Lead Company "pig"

PORTRAIT GALLERY OF
MINING COMPANY OFFICIALS

Fayette P. Graves, Superintendent of Doe Run Lead Company

J. Wyman Jones - first President of St. Joseph Lead Company (1865-1904)

Dwight Arven Jones -second President of St. Joseph Lead Company (1904-1913)

Francis Cameron - fifth President of St. Joseph Lead Company (1960-1967)

Lawrason Riggs, III (1967 -    )

John Duncan (1980)

John Wright (1980-81)

OTHER LOCAL LEAD MINING RELATED ITEMS

MINING HISTORY INDEX

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