Tag: miningThese items have all been tagged with the tag "mining", You can see other tags in the Tag Cloud
Dr. John Stafford Brown MO623
The 120 acre area encompassing Elephant Rocks State Park was donated to the state of Missouri in 1966 by Dr. John Stafford Brown and his wife, Evangeline (Moon) Brown. Dr, Brown was born Sept. 26, 1894, in Thomas County, Kansas, but moved to Lamar, Mo., when he was young. He received his education at the Missouri School of Mines (now the University of Missouri-Rolla), George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Columbia University in New York. He was employed as a geologist by the Missouri Geological Survey, the U.S. Geological Survey, and in private industry. Dr. Brown served as chief geologists for the St. Joseph Lead Co. for more than 30 years. He led the company's zinc mining exploration in New York and, in 1947, he led the team that discovered the Viburnum Trend or Lead Belt in southeast Missouri, the site of one of the world's largest lead deposits. He was the author of two books, many scientific papers, and is best known for his work in the fields of ore deposits in coastal ground waters, and lead isotopes. In 1959, Dr. Brown was awarded the prestigious Penrose Medal of the Society of Economic Geologists.
George Lord TX12071
George Lord was born in Essex County, England on April 21, 1816 to Felstead and Anna Siggs Lord. He immigrated to Canada in 1834 and worked there for two years. He then moved to New Orleans and joined other volunteers under a Capt. Lyons to serve in the military of the young Republic of Texas. They arrived in Galveston in 1837. As part of the Texan Army, Lord participated in a number of operations, including suppression of the Córdova Rebellion (1838) and the fight against Manuel Flores (1839). He also fought in Mexico with the Federalists before returning to Texas. He joined the Somervell Expedition to expel forces of Gen. Adrián Woll from the Republic, fighting at the Battle of Salado Creek (1842) with many notable Texas figures like John C. "Jack" Hays and William "Bigfoot" Wallace. Lord was among those who then followed Col. William Fisher into Mexico. Fisher's men were captured after fighting at Mier, and as part of the infamous "Black Bean Incident," ten percent were executed while the others remained imprisoned. Lord was not selected for execution; he survived the harsh conditions at Mexico's Perote Prison, returned to Texas and fought in the Mexican War as a Ranger. In 1849, Lord accompanied Jack Hays and others to California during the Gold Rush. Along the way, he wed Catherine "Kate" Myers (1832-1909) in Eagle Pass, Texas. The couple spent three years mining for gold; Kate sold pies to other miners while her husband collected gold dust. They returned to Texas with $7,000 worth of gold and settled near this site in DeWitt County, where they established a Longhorn cattle ranch and reared 11 children. Lord died while working in his garden in 1895. Today, he is remembered as a Texas patriot.
Smeltertown TX4935
The Kansas City Consolidated Smelting and Refining Company came to El Paso in the late 19th century, creating a mining and smelting center for the Southwest. In 1899, the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) bought the operation and refined lead, copper and other ores. The need for a large labor pool brought in thousands of Mexican immigrants; these workers established homes for their families on company land around the smelter and developed a dynamic community called Smeltertown, or La Esmelda. Smeltertown grew into a small city within a city and was home to Asarco brick and cement plants, and a limestone quarry. The settlement was divided into upper and lower Smeltertown, or El Alto and El Bajo, and within these areas were smaller barrios. The only one remaining today is La Calavera, or Skull Canyon, laid out along the road to the Smeltertown Cemetery. Smeltertown was home to its own Y.M.C.A. branch and schools, most notably E.B. Jones School. Throughout the area, residents established organizations, stores, restaurants and other businesses, and named streets after residents who died in military service during World War II. The San José Del Rio (San José de Cristo Rey Catholic Church) served the residents as a place for worship and social and community activity. Parishioners undertook regular pilgrimages to the top of Cerro de Muleros, now known as Mount Cristo Rey, and initiated creation of the Cristo Rey Monument, erected in 1940. In the early 1970s, after environmental officials found high levels of lead contamination in the soil, community buildings were razed and families were relocated. Today, an annual reunion brings former residents together to remember the once vibrant and bustling Smeltertown.
Coal Country MO598
For a time, Missouri boasted of a prosperous coal mining industry, especially in Henry County. The Tebo coal field, located between Knob Noster and Appleton City, was one of the six major deposits within the state that fueled both the trains and the industrial demands of western Missouri, and eastern Kansas and Nebraska. Lewis (Katy trail milepost 259.9) was established as a small railroad community and exporting center for the Tebo coal in 1871. The following year, three mines near town were being heavily worked with nearly 500 carloads of coal shipped from Lewis that winter. Coal is extracted by two methods: underground (pit or shaft) mining and surface or strip mining if the coal bed is located within 30 feet of the surface. Both types of mining were employed commercially in the Calhoun-Lewis area between 1869 and 1987. The Tebo Coal Co. was the largest shaft mining operation in Lewis. According to an 1877 Bureau of Labor Statistics report, the company operated a shaft 40 feet deep to mine a bed of coal 4½ feet thick. It employed 103 workers, and had a daily output of 125 tons of coal. The Peabody Coal Co. bought all coal operations in Henry County, which at that point had become primarily surface operations. Two of the last mines to play out were the Montrose and Tebo mines of Calhoun. Evidence of surface mining can still be observed at several points along Katy Trail State Park, especially between mileposts 256.7 and 262. Although much of the landscape was reclaimed, elongated mounds and ponds give evidence to this once-thriving industry. [Coal Pit photo: From the ground, evidence of strip mining for coal is often subtle, but from the air the landscape effects are unmistakable.]
[Upper left photo: This coal bed was formed from plants that once grew in ancient swamps. Thick layers of sediments covered the partially decayed plant material called peat. Over geologic time, pressure and heat, caused mostly by the weight of the overlying sediments, changed the peat into coal.]
Clover Hill Mining District M6
Coal mines, including Brighthope, Raccoon, Cox, Hill, Vaden, and others, were located a mile west of here. As early as 1822 coal was sold for local use. By 1845 the Clover Hill Railroad was constructed to transport the coal to the Appomattox River on barges. The Clover Hill (Winterpock) and Midlothian mines were the main coal suppliers to Richmond’s Tredegar Iron Works for the manufacture of Confederate munitions. The difficulties of excavation and numerous deaths from gas explosions led to the mines’ abandonment. The last mine in operation, owned by the Rudd brothers, closed in the 1920’s.
Richmond MO595
RICHMOND Richmond was founded, 1827, as the seat of Ray County on land donated by John Wollard, W.B. Martin, and Isaac and William Thornton. The county, organized 1820, had its first seat at Bluffton, where Camden an early Missouri River port, was laid out, 1836. The river channel suddenly shifted there, July 3, 1915, leaving Camden several miles inland and placing the Lafayette County boundary north of the river in that area. Richmond and Ray County suffered from troop movements, skirmishes, and guerrilla raids during 1861-1865, but the postwar years brought coal mining and railroad growth. The St. Louis & St. Joseph (Santa Fe) came to Richmond, 1870. The North Mo. (Wabash) reached nearby Henrietta, 1869, and Chicago, Santa Fe, & Calif. (Santa Fe), in 1887. Early schools were Richmond Academy, opened in 1836, and Woodson (Methodist) Institute, 1893. At the courthouse is the State statue, by F.C. Hibbard, to Alexander W. Doniphan (1808-87), who lived here 19 years. Colonel in the Mexican War, he led the 1st Reg. Mo. Mounted Volunteers on the famed 1846-47 self-sustained expedition to Mexico. Trade and legal center for a livestock, grain, and coal mining county, Richmond lies in the Glacial Plains Region of Missouri in territory ceded by Iowa, Sac, and Fox tribes, 1824. An ancient Indian trail ran along the Missouri. In the vicinity of Orrick, laid out 1869, the river bottom land is one of the State's leading potato producing areas. The county, named for Missouri legislator John Ray, was settled by Southerners who came to the area, 1814-15. First settlements were Bluffton, southwest, near the present Camden, and Buffalo, southeast, near where Hardin was later founded in 1868. Forest Smith, Missouri governor, 1949-53, was born near Richmond and here lived Austin A. King, governor, 1849-53. Albert M. Clark, Mo. Supreme Court Justice, 1938-50, was born in nearby Lawson. In Richmond's cemeteries are the State Monument to Gov. King; Latter-Day Saints monument to David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery; witnesses of the "Book of Morman"; and unmarked grave of guerrilla raider Bill Anderson. In town is the gravesite of Mexican War Captain Isreal R. Hendley.
History of Windsor - 1855 MO557
What's in a name? One might observe, very few roads in town run north and south, or east and west. Prior to platting, an old wagon road from Boonville ran through this area. When Richard Taylor and Weeden Major laid out the four business blocks of town, the road became Main Street. This same road is believed to have been the Osage Trace, an 18th-century Indian trail. Windsor commerce and industry grew rapidly when the railroads came. The Tebo & Neosho Railroad Co. pursued construction from Sedalia to Fort Scott, Kan., through Windsor in 1865. However by 1870, little more than road grading had been accomplished. That same year, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Co. (MKT or Katy) absorbed the operation and built the railroad into Windsor, opening it on June 30, 1870.
[Upper Photo: Above is the image of the original, hand-drawn Windsor plat map of 1855. The four city blocks are platted at the uncommon angle of 45 degrees.]
[Lower Photo: Unknown at the time of platting, Windsor was located in the center of one of Missouri's major coal fields. Shaft mining, pictured here, was later replaced by surface mining.]
The Hearst Highway SD7
Dedicated to the memory of GEORGE HEARST (1820-1891) United States Senator, mining engineer, sportsman, speculator. Starting with nothing, he developed three of the fabled mines in the American West ** The Ophir, the Anaconda, and the Homestake ** and founded one of the great American Fortunes. His vision and organizing genius built a small mining claim into the mightiest mine in the world. ** The Homestake ** and laid the foundations for the continuing prosperity of the Black Hills and the State of South Dakota. PHOEBE APPERSON HEARST (1842-1919) Wife, mother, true philanthropist. Her continuing interest in the welfare of the Homestake miners and their families never flagged. She gave the city of Lead its library, founded its free kindergarten, and performed numerous unpublicized charities. Due to her influence, the Homestake adopted advanced labor policies that contributed to an industrial peace unheard of in western mining. She loved and admired the people of the Black Hills and they reciprocated in full measure.
McDonald County MO466
McDonald County, 540 sq. miles of Ozark grandeur in Missouri's extreme southwest, was called Seneca when it was formed in 1847. Fully organized in 1849, it was named for Rev. War soldier Alexander McDonald. Pineville, the county seat, was laid out by Nathan Richardson, 1847, and first called Maryville. The judicial seat, first located at Rutledge (Elk Springs), was moved there in 1857 after a bitter dispute. Pineville at the headquarters of lovely Elk River, was a lively trading post for reservation Indians from what is now Okla., and settlers in 1860. A Jesse James movie was made there in 1938. The county's first settlers were Valentine Miller and family, 1827. Pioneers were from Ky. and Tenn. The 1840's brought the "Pine War" between settlers and U.S. Marshals over cutting trees on public land. In the 1850's, bands of "Slickers" briefly tried to stop land sales. In War Between the States, this pro-Southern county on Ark. and Okla. borders, saw heavy troop movement, sharp skirmishes, guerrilla raids. Over the border, in Ark., is historic Pea Ridge Battlefield, site of decisive Union victory, Mar. 7-8, 1962. Resort county in the Ozark Playgrounds Region, McDonald lies in a dairy, livestock, poultry, fruit, timber area. Processing plants are at Noel and Anderson, largest town in the county, founded 1887. Near there is site of Splitlog, once a boom town where Mathias Splitlog, wealthy Wyandotte Indian, and others went broke mining fool's gold. There Splitlog began the county's first railroad. The Kansas City & Southern was built through the county in the 1890's. At Southwest City, settled in 1840's, is the Missouri-Arkansas-Oklahoma tri-state boundary marker bearing the dates of when each state was admitted into the Union: Mo., 1821; Ark., 1836; Okla., 1907. Noel, named for Bridge Noel, founded 1891, gives cancellation on Christmas mail. Other towns in the county include Rocky Comfort, Tiff City, Goodman, Powell, Jane, and Lanagan. In the county are hamsome Jacob's, Bluff Dwellers, Shira, and Ozark Wonder Caves. Ancient Bluff Dweller sites, Indian mounds and trails are in the area a part of 1825 Osage Indian land cession. Only Confederate Indian General, Stan Watie, a Cherokee, is buried in Okla., near Southwest City, Mo.
Fort Defiance WI335
Fort Defiance was one of the last garrisoned stockade forts constructed in territorial Wisconsin. Located in the booming lead mining region, an area of early settlement, the fort was built by local settlers in 1832 when developing tensions over Indian land rights erupted in the Black Hawk War. Although fort defiance did not undergo attack, it did have a garrison of about forty militia men who were said to be among the best drilled in the territory. The fort stood on the hill about 300 yards east of here and was enclosed by a sharply pointed palisade of heavy timbers set face to face, creating an almost impenetrable wall except for the musket loop-holes. Measuring 80 feet wide by 120 feet long and 18 feet high, Fort Defiance had two blockhouses located at opposite corners of the stockade. Within the walls were two buildings used to accommodate the garrison and the families of settlers in case of a siege. there are no visible remains left of Fort Defiance. Display # 1 - 10 of 182 |