Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/245

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 185, also mixed with fragments — quartz, flint and other minerals. The shaft which had been sunk by Moses Austin was eighty feet deep and one other, that of John Rice Jones, with that of Austin, were the only ones in the neighborhood of Potosi extending into the rock itself. In both cases it was found that there were large quantities of ore in the cavi- ties of the rock, and from appearances School- craft concluded that the lower strata perhaps also contained lead. The average yield of all the mines in that district about Potosi, from 1803 to 1819, was about three million pounds a year. It was estimated that its value was equal to one- fourth of the cost of all of the Louisiana ter- ritory. His list of mines, together with the number of persons employed and the pounds of ore raised during the year 1819, is as fol- lows: "]Iine a Breton, 1,500,000 poimds, 160 miners; Shiboleth, 2,700,000 pounds, 240 miners; LaMotte, 2,400,000 pounds, 210 miners; Richwoods, 1,300,000 pounds, 140 miners; Bryan and Daggat's, 910,000 poimds, SO miners; Rock diggings. Citadel, Lamberts, Austin's and Jones' mines, 1,160,000 pounds, 180 miners; all others, 550,000 pounds, 90 miners. ' ' At that time there was only one regular hearth furnace and that not of the best char- acter. There were but four or five regular shafts in the more than forty diggings then worked and there was not an engine of any kind in use for pumping from the mines. It was suggested by Schoolcraft that in all probability, judging from the European ex- perience, that beneath the lead ores, copper ores would be found. This prediction has been, in part, verified. He advised the govern- ment to sell the mineral lands, or at least to extend the leases upon them for a number of years. At the time that Schoolcraft observed these mines the principal minerals taken out, be- sides lead, were zinc, tiflt', spar, pyrites, quartz, cobalt, sulphur, and clay. Schoolcraft gives a very interesting account of how the ore was mined and smelted in this early day. The only tools and implements used at that time were the pick ax, shovel, drill, rammer and priming rod; after having determined on the site for the mine the miners were accustomed to lay off a square of eight feet and then throw out the dirt by the use of a hand shovel to a depth of from 8 to 15 feet; after that depth the windlass and bucket became necessary for further digging. When ore was struck it was broken up by the use of pick and sometimes by blasting, black powder being used for the purpose ; this ore as taken to the top by means of the windlass and bucket. It was then cleaned and broken up into small particles and heated in a wood fire for from 24 to 36 hours ; about 50 per cent of the lead was extracted by this first method of smelting. A considerable part of the lead was lost in the ashes of the fire. It was the custom after considerable quantities of ashes had accumu- lated to wash them very carefully after they had been run through a sieve and then the ashes were mixed with sand, flinted gravel and lime, and the whole mass put into a fur- nace ; first a layer of ashes and then of the sand, gravel and lime and fired for about eight hours. This resulted in the saving of about 15 per cent more of the lead. In 1819 lead sold at $4.00 per cwt. at the mines ; it was worth $4.50 per cwt. at St. Louis or Herculaneum on the river. At the same time the market price of lead at New Orleans was $5.50 per cwt. and at Phila- delphia, $6.00. He estimated there were received at Her- culaneum during the vear 1817 somewhat