ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY INDUSTRIALLY
By R. H. Womack (1924)

Two wagon manufacturers are located in the county and still do a thriving business in spite of the rapid evolution which is taking place in methods of transport.

The automobile business here, as elsewhere, has leaped forward with tremendous growth during the past decade and each succeeding year witnesses great expansion. Practically every well known make of machine has an established agency in the field and the variety of motor vehicles to be found among the people is almost as great as that found in any great city. As an example of the growth in motor vehicles the Missouri Blue Book shows that on September 1, 1922, St. Francois County had 2,612 registered motor cars. September 1, 1923, the registration was 4,213, or almost double. It is a conservative prediction, we believe, to state that September 1, 1924, will more than likely see more than six thousand motor cars in this county, or based on the population of 31,403, one car to every five people, or approximately one to each family.

Manufacturing, in a broad sense of the term, has not yet found a place in the county. A shirt factory is now in operation at Bonne Terre, offering employment to a considerable number of the female population of that city. A modern iron foundry, also located at Bonne Terre, does a large business in gray iron castings, mostly for the mining interests.

Several large wholesale houses are located in the county for the distribution of groceries, etc. These firms do a large business which has grown with leaps and bounds from year to year.

There are several makers of soft drinks in the county, two large dairy and creamery establishments, several ice plants, lumber dealers, etc., and several hundred dealers in general merchandise, clothing, shoes, hardware, etc.

In recent years the tie industry was of more than minor importance, but the depletion of the forests has materially decreased the number of available ties, so much so in fact that the production at this time is not sufficient to care for the demand for replacement ties for the M.R. & B.T. Railway alone.

The great fields of granite in the southern portions of the county are as yet scarcely touched and lie for the most part undisturbed in the wild confusion in which they were left during the great upheavals of passing ages thousands of years ago. Undoubtedly future generations will find here a rich field for commercial effort.

TRANSPORTATION

The transportation facilities of St. Francois County consist of the Mississippi River & Bonne Terre Railway, traversing it from north to south and connecting with the Missouri Pacific at Riverside, its northern terminus; the Missouri-Illinois Railway, crossing the county from east to west, offering a connection with the Illinois coal fields through the medium of a railway ferry at Ste. Genevieve and having its western terminus at Bismarck, where it also connects with the Missouri Pacific; the St. Francois County Railroad, an electric line connecting the Lead Belt with Farmington and having a connection with the M.R. & B.T. at Flat River and one with the Missouri Pacific, Belmont Branch, at Delasus; the main line of the old Iron Mountain system, now the Missouri Pacific, which follows close to the western border of the county from north to south, and the Belmont Branch of the same system which leaves the main line at Bismarck, cuts across the southern portion of the county and leads to the lowlands country of southeast Missouri. The railway lines are supplemented by a system of hard surface roads that reach almost every portion of the county.

Of the railroads entering our midst, by far the most important, locally, is the M.R. & B.T. This line, while short in mileage, furnishes the main artery through which our commerce flows. It is a splendid equipped thoroughly modern system, properly ballasted and laid with heavy steel; and owns and operates thousands of cars and dozens of locomotives. A through traffic arrangement is maintained with the Missouri Pacific by which passenger business is handled through without change to St. Louis through the connection at Riverside, and the great bulk of St. Francois County freight flows through the same gateway on its way to the markets of the outer world. The M.R. & B.T., when compared to many of the so-called great systems of the country, will more than hold its own in point of construction, equipment and service. Its problems are not those of the larger carriers with long hauls representing a heavy proportion of their tonnage and offering the medium of classified fast freight service as a ready solution. The lower end of their line, that within our midst, is a network of short branches and industrial connections which serve the great mining industry and make the railway's task the more complex and difficult because of its resemblance to terminal, or switching service, which the longer carriers have to contend with only in their more important terminals. In spite of the difficulty of their task and the wide range of their activity the vast tonnage of the district is handled with a speed and promptness which is more than ordinarily good, and the smoothness of operation, demonstrated through the lack of confusion and remarkable freedom from accident, speaks volumes for the efficiency of the management and the ability of the men.

The Missouri-Illinois, formerly the Illinois Southern, might be classed as a coal road. Its chief business is the transporting of coal from the Illinois fields to the Lead Belt. The management is practically identical with that of the M.R. & B.T., and many improvements have been installed and better service maintained since the reorganization of the line several years since. In view of the vast coal tonnage used in this district the importance of this link in our transportation facilities cannot be overestimated.

The St. Francois County Railroad is the only connection with Farmington, the county seat of the county. The line has never been a success financially, and, due to the difficulty and expense of handling freight over its sharp curves, Farmington has suffered somewhat from lack of transportation facilities. Present plans of the management contemplate the elimination of these curves and the change of the motive unit from electricity to steam, a change which will undoubtedly react to the advantage of the entire district, Farmington in particular.

The Missouri Pacific is not a large factor in our commercial life. Like a famous movie actor in one of his popular productions, it is merely "Passing Through." It offers a medium of fast through passenger service to and from St. Louis by way of Bismarck, and, of course, is of vital concern to us through the fact that it handles all tonnage to and from that city from Riverside. It is one of the really great systems of America and our bustling community is only one of many along their thousands of miles of main line tracks. They take an active interest in our welfare, are vitally concerned with our success, but naturally leave the solution of local problems to their local connection, taking up the burden where it leaves off.

MINING

After all is said about other interests and activities we must naturally find ourselves face to face with the one great interest that overshadows all others in our community, that great giant of industry which goes steadily forward upon every side of us and under our cities and towns throughout twenty-four hours of every day in every year. Without the mining interests of St. Francois County there would be no need for the more than thirty-one thousand people who live and thrive in this, one of the small counties of Missouri in point of area. It is a vast enterprise that reaches out into every known corner of the world for it is safe to say that at no point to which you may travel will you be far from some necessary article in the manufacture of which lead is a vital factor, an important unit, and St. Francois County is the lead capital of the universe. Millions of dollars are invested in the physical plants necessary to take it from the heart of the earth, crush it, mill it and prepare it for the waiting world. Only recently the St. Joseph Lead Company purchased the holdings of the Federal Lead Company in this district in a deal which is reported to have involved the changing of hands of ten million dollars. And the Federal Lead Company was only one of several large operators in our midst. The lead interests of St. Francois County date back almost to the beginning of settlement in southeast Missouri by white men, and according to the statement of the head of the largest operating company here made recently to the Flat River Chamber of Commerce, will continue to be an important factor in world commerce for nearly a century to come.

EARLY HISTORY

As early as 1700 a Frenchman named Penicaut is reported to have discovered lead in Missouri. He was a member of LeSueur's party of explorers and his discovery is supposed to have been somewhere along the Meramec River.

(Note--For the facts recorded here the writer wishes to give credit to Walter Benton Ingalls in his volume, "Lead and Zinc in the United States", Ernest Robertson Buckley, in his "Geology of the Disseminated Lead Deposits of St. Francois and Washington Counties." Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines, Vol. IX, Part 1; and to A. P. Watt, former metallurgist of the S.L.S. & R. Works of National Lead Company, from a paper prepared by him for the St. Louis meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in October, 1917, entitled "Concentration Practice in Southeast Missouri.")

The Penicaut discovery led to the granting of what is known as the Crozat patents by Louis XIV, of France, in 1712, with special privileges in regard to the development of mining interests in the then Louisiana Territory. In 1717 John Law procured the Crozat patents for the Mississippi Company, promoted by him, and active preparations for mining were begun. In 1719 unsuccessful efforts to smealt lead were made by one Sieur de Lochon somewhere along the Meramec River. This effort was made for the Mississippi Company. In 1720 Philip Francis Renault, who had been appointed director-general of the mines of the Mississippi Company in 1719, arrived at Kankaskia with 200 artisans and miners, and a large number of slaves. Exploring parties were sent out from the main party and one of these parties discovered the deposits of Mine la Motte, in Madison County, which property took its name from M. La Motte, a mineralogist accompanying Renault, under whom it was worked. In 1723 Mine la Motte was granted to Renault and in 1724-26 what were known as Old Mine and Mine Renault were discovered in Washington County, north of Potosi. About 1731 the Mississippi Company failed and its charter reverted to the French Crown. Little or nothing was being done toward mining. About 1738-40 the Mine la Motte property was considered public and the people in general worked at it. Much mineral was removed in this manner. In 1742 Renault returned to France and the first chapter in Missouri's mining history was brought to a close. In 1763 what was known as Mina a Burton, at Potosi, was discovered and immediate exploitation followed. For the next thirty years this property, together with Old Mine and Mine Renault, in the same neighborhood, and Mine la Motte, in Madison County, were the principal sources of lead in operation. In 1769 the settlement at Mine la Motte was attacked and destroyed by the Chickasaw Indians, the mine was abandoned and not reopened until 1780 or 1782.

In 1795 what was known as Mine a Layne was discovered about 16 miles southeast of Potosi, and in 1797 the first authentic discovery in St. Francois County was recorded in the location of Mine a Maneto, on Big River. In 1801 Mine a Joe, later called Bogy Mine, was also located on Big River in this county, and 1803 witnessed the discovery of several more deposits in Washington County. In 1806 New Diggings, near Potosi, were brought in and are reported to have yielded about 1,000 tons of galena for several years. In this same year the first heavy production in St. Francois County was recorded at Hazel Run, about five miles northeast of Bonne Terre, which is said to have produced 500 tons during the first year alone. In 1824 Joseph Schultz discovered the Valle Mines, seven miles north of Bonne Terre, and in 1825 Bisch's Mine, near Valle Mine, was brought in.

During this early period of activity the lead ore obtained in Missouri was entirely galena, obtained from shallow surface working seldom going much over ten feet in depth. It is estimated by present-day authorities that the ore contained upward of eighty per cent pure lead in view of the yield obtained from the crude methods of smelting in vogue, which yield ran slightly less than fifty per cent, or 700 to 800 pounds of metal per ton. All the ore was smelted on what was known as log heaps or in a crude contraption called the log furnace, which was built against the side of a hill sloping about 45 degrees, by placing three large oak logs in the furnace transversely, resting on the ledges at the side. Small split logs were set up around the inside vertically and about 5,000 pounds of ore placed inside, covered with logs and the fire started. Previous to going into the furnace the ore was cleaned by hand and broken into pieces averaging about fifteen pounds each. The fire was kept low during a period of about twelve hours, or longer, to bring about the reaction. During this latter period of time lead trickled out into a basin to the extent of seven to eight hundred pounds per ton of ore, the balance going to waste in the ashes.

About 1799 Moses Austin came to Missouri and introduced what was known as the ash furnace, wherein he crushed the ashes left by the former log furnace, charged them into his ash furnace, a rudely constructed reverberatory with a sloping hearth, and extended the reaction left incomplete in the log furnaces by about two hours extra heating whereby he obtained a further production of about fifteen per cent. The old log furnaces, unable to cope with the new method, rapidly disappeared until about 1802 but one of them was known to be in existence. However, they made their reappearance later at more isolated places and from then on until about 1836 they, together with the ash furnace, furnished the sole means of smelting the ore. In 1836 the Scotch hearth furnace was introduced to Missouri by Major Manning, of Webster, and from that time on they gradually, but slowly, supplanted the older methods. In 1838 the first efforts to mine and smelt other than the galena deposits was made at Mine la Motte, when new furnaces were erected for the purpose of handling what was commonly called "dry bone." This movement never assumed sufficient importance to have any great bearing on production.

From 1831 to 1840 Missouri, one of the chief sources of lead, produced about 3,600 tons of that metal per annum. About 1848 the presence of lead in quantity was proven in southwest Missouri, the Joplin district. By 1857 mining was actively engaged in at Granby, and it is estimated that some three hundred shafts were put down in this district between 1851 and 1860. At this period of mining history southeast Missouri began to lose prestige. With the new discoveries of surface workings in the Joplin district and the almost complete exhaustion of the same deposits in this section many thought that it was the end of this territory from a mining standpoint. However, even then some of the far-sighted men had visions of what might be in store for the industry in the form of deeper workings. In 1864 the St. Joseph Lead Company was organized and purchased the workings known as the La Grave Mines at Bonne Terre. The following year active operations began on the property through the completion of a mining, milling and smelting plant. For several years production was small. In 1869 lead mining as we know it today was born through the introduction of the first diamond drill by the St. Joseph Lead Company, as a direct result of which the immense deposits of disseminated ore were almost immediately discovered at a depth of about 120 feet. From that time on southeast Missouri again came into the lead. The old surface workings faded into utter insignificance when compared to the magnitude of the new bodies of ore. The entire processes of mining went through a period of change due to the low grade nature of the disseminated ore as compared to the richness of the surface deposits of galena. Milling methods passed through a period of complete revolution and gradually the great comprehensive plants of today came into being.

In 1880 a railroad was completed from St. Joseph plant to Summit, a fact which greatly stimulated production, but was never adequate to properly serve the district. In 1890 the M.R. & B.T. Ry. was completed to Riverside. The reduction [sic] of ore in this district is an expensive process that has called for the building of immense plants at staggering cost. In 1890 the Flat River district first came into prominence, and the growth of the industry since that time has been little short of phenomenal. Today approximately five thousand men are engaged in the mining and milling operations of the district, and the weekly pay roll is approximately seventy-five to eighty thousand dollars. The problems, from a chemical standpoint, are simple, but the low grade ore necessitates mining and milling operations on a gigantic scale that precludes the possibility of handling except by large companies with ample capital and large resources. At the present time the operating companies consist of the St. Joseph Lead Company, which has expanded its original holdings through the acquisition of the property of the Doe Run Lead Company in 1913 and the holdings of the Federal Lead Company in 1923; the St. Louis Smelting and Refining Works of the National Lead Company, and the Desloge Consolidated Lead Company.

METHODS EMPLOYED

We shall not make any effort to go into the intricate details of this subject from a mining standpoint. To do so would soon get us into deep water and result in exposing our ignorance along those lines. We shall make an effort to go over the operations briefly and in everyday language that will give our understanding of the subject to our readers in terms which they, also, will understand.

The first important step is of necessity location of the ore body. This is done through the medium of diamond drills. Diamond drills are exactly what their name implies, i.e., drills that are equipped with diamond set bits that will bite their way through most any substance with which they may come in contact. The drills used are of the core type, of course, as it is necessary to know the character of substance through which they are cutting in order to locate the galena bearing dolomite in its underground hiding place. A careful log of every hole is kept showing the character of cutting from top to bottom, the exact depth at which lead is located, etc. The position of the drill hole is accurately determined by engineers, and this position is noted on maps, each hole being numbered and recorded in permanent records. Some underground development is done, but for the most part the ore bodies are located through the medium of surface drilling and this phase of the work costs the operating companies thousands of dollars monthly.

The drills are, of necessity, of a portable type, but do not move under their own power. They are moved from point to point by team or tractor. Because of the flexibility of power which is essential to good results these drills are mostly steam driven. They are equipped with a special mechanism for the handling of rods, which enables them to work efficiently and rapidly. The rods are in sections of about ten feet each, and as the hole is driven downward that distance new ones are added at the surface. In withdrawing the rods from the hole they are hoisted by the drilling engine through the medium of a drum, the rod is gripped at the mouth of the sleeve by a devise that holds it firmly and sections above are disconnected and placed in position for use when needed. This process is repeated until all of the rods are brought from the ground and the drill itself appears. The cores are removed, carefully logged and placed in receiving cases.

The variance in the power requirements due to the added weight of shafting as the hole increases in depth has made it difficult for any other means of motive power to compete with steam. However, recent experiments have been made with gasoline driven drills, which have not been without success. Churn drilling is practiced in some cases where special reasons make it advisable, but the bulk of all drilling is done by the diamond drills. They might be said to be the pathfinders of the industry. Through their prying inquisitiveness the hidden beds of ore are brought to light and barren stretches of non-productive rock are located. Contrary to general belief the ore is not in unbroken bodies. Great bodies of it will gradually work into unproductive soil and here the miner would be at a loss as to how to proceed without the diamond drill. His exact position in the mines is definitely known by the engineers. The location of additional ore is also known to them. He may have to pass through fifty feet or more, even up to several hundred feet, of barren rock. He is given definite instructions and directions and what is known as a drift, or nothing more than a passageway sufficiently large to allow leeway for necessary machinery and the transport of ore, is shot through the poor rock to the new body of ore. The diamond drill, then, is the eyes of the mine. It seeks and finds the metal, directs the way for operation.

MINING

Mining methods in this district are extremely simple. The shafts were originally driven into the center of their productive area and from them radiate the drifts and workings into the various headings. The depth of operations from the surface varies considerably, some mines being as shallow as four hundred feet and others going down to seven hundred and fifty, but this fluctuation is largely due to surface elevation of the mouth of the shaft and not to any great variation in the general level of the mineral. The lead producing ore is found at different points, some shafts having as many as four or five levels working productive ore with stretches of barren rock between them, while others have an unbroken bed of ore several hundred feet in thickness. The ore is taken out in bulk, there being no vein mining in the district, and frequently vast chambers are hulled out with their vaulted roof a hundred feet or more in heighth and stretching away on either side for great distances. Great pillars are left at stated intervals to support the roof and prevent cave-ins, which, from the very nature of the rock formations themselves would be difficult under any circumstances.

In the old days the ore was all loaded by hand and brought to the hoists on narrow-gage underground railways in cars drawn by mules. Large stables were maintained in the mines and many mules lived there year in and year out without seeing the light of day. Modern methods have changed all of that until now it is a rare thing to see a mule in any mine. Production has been the great cry and underground transportation is a vital factor in production. The extensive growth of the workings has made it necessary to haul ore for long distances in the mines before it is hoisted to the surface. Miniature railway systems that comprise miles of tracks have been built and are in daily operation. Locomotives whiz back and forth through the various drifts that lead to the active headings, going out with empties, coming back with loaded cars. Either electric or air driven locomotives are used and they are capable of hauling heavy loads at as great a speed as it is safe to operate. Each car holds about a ton of rock, or ore, and the locomotives haul their loads to dumps where the cars are gripped in strings of several at a time, lifted bodily and their contents dumped into the bins which lead to the hoisting shaft.

Underground methods of operation are divided into several separate and distinct units, the important ones being: breaking, loading, haulage and hoisting.

BREAKING

Breaking is, as the name implies, the breaking of the rock from its natural formation into smaller units to be handled by the loaders. The actual breaking is done by drillers, usually working on contract and receiving compensation on the basis of tonnage. They are equipped with air-driven drills of the jack hammer type, as a rule, and drill the face of the rock before them with the general idea of shooting down the greatest possible quantity of ore with the least possible number of holes, or charges. When they have drilled all of the holes necessary, these holes are charged with dynamite and prepared for firing. The mines are worked in two shifts, from seven until three, morning and evening. When the working shifts have left all of the levels of the mines the drillers fire their holes and go to a safe distance to await results. As the shots explode each man counts the number in his particular heading as a positive check that all have exploded, as a missed hole, undetected, is a deadly menace to any who may come later and accidentally drill into it.

Following the firing of the shots the drillers themselves leave the mines and no work is done until the coming of the next shift. As the shot are fired about three o'clock, morning or afternoon, and the following shift does not come on duty until seven, this leaves a period of about four hours for the circulating air to move the fumes of the burned dynamite from the workings. This gas is about the only one every encountered in mining in this district. When it is slow in moving out, due to atmospheric conditions in the mines, it produces a violent headache, with occasional cases of violent nausea, to the unfortunate man who gets enough of it, although it has no lasting bad effect. Cases of this kind are extremely rare, due to the fact that the air circulates freely throughout most of the mines and the incoming shift seldom finds anything of the kind to contend with.

LOADING

The first operation following freshly fired shots is the examination of the roof, or "back," by roofmen, or miners. It is the duty of these men to make careful examination of the roof in order to detect any looseness, or hanging masses that might break loose later and bury whoever might be working beneath it. Where indications of danger are found the roofman pry all of the loose material down, only ceasing their labors when, in their judgment, the back is safe to work under. Then, and not until then, the loaders, or shovelers, are allowed in the heading.

In days not so long ago almost all the loading of ore was done by hand. Hand shovelers worked in pairs, to facilitate the handling of cars, etc., and the usually accepted standard of loading is twenty-two cars per shift. Much hand loading is still done, although the power loaders are rapidly coming into use, some of which are capable of loading as high as two hundred cars in a single shift with a crew of two men. The ore is loaded as it is found, without regard to size, unless a particular piece is too large to permit of handling. This is a rare occurrence, but when it does happen the boulder is block holed with a drill and broken with a charge of dynamite.

HAULAGE

A general idea of haulage has been given before. The motors work the different headings at regular intervals, distributing empty cars and pulling out the loads. Each motor has a definite territory to serve and is responsible for any delays therein chargeable to haulage. Another phase of this branch of operations is the transfer haulage from one section of the mines, or frequently from one shaft, to another. In some cases only one hoisting unit is used for a group of several mines, all ore transporting being done under ground. Special motors are used for this purpose and they work on a schedule much as would a railway train on a surface line. At the junction, or station, the transfer motors pick up the trains of ore which have been left there by the various motors working in that section of the mines, leave the empty cars they have brought with them and start again on their trip to the dump. At some points in the mines the grade over which the transfer tonnage is hauled is so marked that the motors are double headed in order to handle the trains with sufficient speed. The type of motor used is built low and squat and is usually of from six to ten tons in weight. While they are primarily built for power in the handling of tonnage they are capable of high speed.

HOISTING

The hoisting shaft is usually located in close proximity to the crushing unit of the mill. In some cases, where shafts are isolated from the other portions of the works, this is impossible, but a centrally located hoist tends toward great efficiency through lessened handling of ore. Two types of hoist are used, the man controlled hoist which is controlled by a hoisting engineer on the surface, who receives his signals from the mines through the medium of bells of air whistles, and the automatic electric hoist. The latter is the more efficient where the tonnage is heavy and has been developed to a degree that places it in the class of mechanical marvels. In either case the ore is hoisted to the top of the shaft in a specially constructed cage which, in the case of the former, is handled by men who control the trip at the top and see that the contents are dumped at the proper point. The automatic shaft works independently of any human agency and dumps itself when it reaches the trip.

MILLING

When the hoists have brought the ore to the surface the work of the mining section is complete. It is then ready for the final operation of milling which begins with the crushers and ends only when practically all of the lead has been extracted from the rock. Like the mining section, milling is divided into several units of operation, chief among them being crushing, concentrating and flotation.

CRUSHING

The crushers used are of the type known as gyrafory in most cases. These monsters receive the raw ore direct from the mines, regardless of size or shape, and grind it into bits. The ore is usually fed to the crushers by what is called the pan conveyor, a heavy metallic conveyor equipped with specially constructed buckets, which receives the rock from the bins and carries it in a constant flow into the maws of the waiting crushers. The ore leaves the crushing plant usually in a size ranging from 1 1/2 to 2 inches and is carried to storage bins in the mill. From the bins the ore passes over a 10mm screen, which removes all of the smaller sizes and the larger rock is passed through the roll section where it is further reduced until it will pass the 10mm screens. From here on the method of concentration is too technical to be of particular interest to the average reader. It passes through a series of jigs, over vibrating tables, through desliming processes and regrinding machinery, all of the time being subject to the action of water. The lead, being so much heavier than the rock which contained it, is easily separated from the latter and by the time the process is completed the lead concentrate, consisting of nearly 80 percent lead, is loaded into waiting cars, the waste rock, or chat, has been carried away to the dump, and the water, which still carries a percentage of lead in particles too tiny to be handled by the tabling process, is carried to the flotation section for further treatment.

FLOTATION

This section of the mill is given over to extracting the lead from the water and slime that has been through the mill. The water from the mill is run into settling tanks where the solids are allowed to settle. When this is done the product is again picked up, mingled with water in the ratio of 1-4, and run through specially designed machinery for agitation. In these machines creosote is added to the mixture, the whole mass is violently agitated and passed out again to settling tanks. From here it is drawn off and sent to the dryers, and from there is loaded and shipped to the smelters. Flotation concentrate usually averages about fifty percent lead.

GENERAL

As we have stated before in this article, during the period of time between 1831 and 1840 Missouri produced an average of 3600 tons of lead per year. This total at that time was looked upon as being exceptionally large. That was in the days of surface working only, when the real deposits of lead had never been touched, were, in fact, unknown. As a comparison we will look at the reports for the year 1921, the last available figure we have for reference. In that year southeast Missouri, largely St. Francois county, produced a total of 280,358 short tons of lead concentrate valued at $11,737,400.00 South[west] Missouri, the Joplin district, produced 76,679 tons of concentrate valued at $4,052,907.00. This concentrate produced in refined lead for southeast Missouri 178,735 tons valued at $16,086,150.00 and for southwest Missouri 61,581 tons valued at $5,542,290.oo.

Here at a glance we have the picture. That of which our ancestors did not even dream is an established fact with us. The surface workings which they looked upon as the source of great wealth was but the beginning of a business so gigantic that it would have been beyond their powers of comprehension to realize. Geologists tell us that the so-called St. Francois mountains, which are all around us and resemble hills more than mountains as we see them today, have stood throughout the ages and that at one time they towered thousands of feet above the surrounding country. With the evolution of the ages, the coming and departure of the seas, great deposits were left which have undergone chemical reaction in the hands of the elements, been washed down into the strata in which we find them today and left there for the hand of man to find. Charles Parsons, with his first diamond drill, uncovered the hidden wealth and the world is reaping the benefit.

As a direct result St. Francois county today is a county of a single industry, a wonderful business enterprise that overshadows every other effort. It places us among the wealthiest counties in the state, as witness the last published statement of the county banks, which reached the staggering total of $6,003,032.69. This for a county of 31,000 population is a wonderful showing.

The agricultural interests of the county are covered in another article, as also are the schools and other activities. This article has made an effort to give you some idea of the industrial activities going on among us only. It is a poor effort, but is the best we can give.

Published by THE LEAD BELT NEWS, Flat River, St. Francois Co. MO, Fri. March 7, 1924.

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