Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/574

 514 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI mimber of granite quarries and large de- posits of granite which are not yet being mined. The manufactures of the county amoiuited to the sum of $176,929 in 1910. The principal items in this amount were stone, cooperage, and flour. The Arcadia val- ley is one of the most beautiful spots in ]Iis- souri and Ironton and Arcadia, two towns of this valley, are famous as summer resorts. Mines are worked at Pilot Knob, Shepard Mountain, Cedar ilountain and a few other places; besides these, marble and kaolin are also mined. The county is traversed from north to south by the main line of the St. Louis, Iron Moun- tain and Southern Railroad. The principal towns are Graniteville, a famous quarry town ; Ironton, the county seat, Arcadia, Pilot Knob, and DesArc. The population of the coimty is 8,563 and its total amount of tax- able property is $2,359,457. There are 47 school districts employing 55 teachers. There are 640 square miles in Jefferson county and practically all the surface gives evidence of mineral deposits. The land is generally high and rolling, much of it broken by streams. There are considerable areas of fertile bottom lands and the best part of the comity is in the northwest sec- tion. About one-third of the area of the coimty is imder cultivation and the principal productions are farm products and those which come from various mines. In 1910 there were one thousand car loads of stone, granite, lead, zinc and sand shipped out of the county. There are also large manufac- turing plants, one of the largest lead smelt- ing plants in the world is in Herculaneum, while at Kimswick is an important lime plant, and Crystal City is famous for the manufacture of plate glass. Besides these other products of the mines such as zinc, lead and clay are mined and worked up in the commimity. The nearness to St. Louis makes the raising of garden products and orchard products profitable, as well as the dairy indu.stry. There are a number of famous springs in the county, some of them mineral springs said to have medicinal values, among them Sulphur Springs and Mineral Springs. There are other resorts along the Mississippi river. Transportation facilities are afforded by the Missi.ssippi river, the St. Louis, Iron IMoimtain & Southern and the St. Louis & San Francisco railroads. The population is 27,878 and the total taxable wealth $6,056,- 147. There are 87 school districts, employ- ing 133 teachers. The principal town is DeSoto, largely a railroad town, with a population of about 5,000 ; the county seat is Hillsboro, one of the oldest towns in the county. Besides these the principal towns are Crystal City, Festus, Herculaneum, Kimswick, Riverside, Victoria and Selma. The manufactures of the county are very extensive. In 1910 they reached the total of $8,111,433. By far the largest item in this great amount was the products of the smelters which in themselves amoimted to more than $5,000,000. Glass was another big item, being more than $1,500,000. Other large items were the products of the car shops, shoes and flour. This enormous total makes Jefferson the most important manu- facturing county in the southeast. The chief industrial interest of Madison coimty is mining. There are large deposits of lead, cobalt, copper, granite, marble and iron in the county. One of the oldest mines in Southeast Missouri, Mine La Motte, is in