Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/422

 362 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI now be worth many dollars were regarded as so much encumbrance upon the soil, they were deadened and allowed to be blown down by the winds or to rot upon the surface of the ground or else burned. Sometimes thej' were cut down while yet green and cut up into logs which could be handled and thus burned in order to prej^are the ground for cultiva- tion. For the year 1907 the surplus products of the Southeast Missouri counties reached a value of more than $60,000,000. The total is an impressive one and speaks more strongly than any other words could of the wealth con- tained witliiu the borders of this territory. The mere amount of that wealth, however, is not in itself so significant as is the variety of its sources and the probability of a long con- tinuance of its production. The wealth of Southeast ^Missouri not only does not depend uijon one or two sources but is of such a char- acter that it will continue. We have no rea- son to believe that the sources of wealth in this part of the state will fail. This is not true of course of some things that have added to our wealth in the last decade or two. The timber will be depleted and there will not be the immense shipments of lumber from some of the counties such as lias been made within the years since 1890 ; but, as the timber fails, and this source of wealth disappears, its place will be taken by the products of the soil, for practically all the land which is be- ing deforested is valuable for agricultural purposes. The probabilities are that the to- tal of surplus products instead of being de- creased by reason of the exhaustion of the timber, will be increased owing to the use of the land for farming purposes. One striking development of the period we are now considering is the growth of manu- factures. In other chapters we have dis- cussed the very limited manufacturing inter- ests of the section in former years. During the year 1910 the total of manufactured prod- ucts for the twenty counties reached the sum of $39, 370, 538. The great items of manufac- ture were lead and other products of the mines, timber in its various forms, cotton and cotton-seed oil, flour and feed, and shoes. ]Iany other things were manufactured, many of them in large quantities, but these were the great items which make up the total. No doubt this form of industry is destined to become more and more important. River transportation, nearness to the Illinois coal fields, and the existence of undeveloped water- power render certain the future of this part of the state as regards manufacturing. The present period has witnessed the great developement of the mining industry. The principal minerals mined are iron and lead. Southeast Missouri contains considerable deposits of iron ore, which is found in a belt crossing the state from the ^Mississippi on the east of the Osage river. The ore contained in the mineral region is of two principal char- acters, the specular ore which is of a concen- trated character and the limonite or red. The specular ores are found in the southern part of St. Francois county and the northei-n part of Iron county. It was thought at one time that Iron Mountain in St. Francois county was a mass of specular ore and that Pilot Knob and Shepard ]Iountain in Iron county contained vast quantities of the same mineral ; in fact a company was formed for the purpose of taking out the ore in Iron Mountain and large quantities of ore were mined at one period. It was found, however, that in none of these mountains was the quantity of ore so great as had been thought. Iron Mountain, which was considered at one time to be com- posed almost entirley of iron ore, has been