Jasper County, Missouri - Chapter 29: Mines and Mining, 1912

New Prospecting and Mechanical Era - Duenweg - ^Neck City - Reeds - Prosperity - Mining Around Carthage - ^Alba, Sarooxib AND Elsewhere - Output op District for Decade.

During the nineties the mining industry spread over all the county, no longer being confined to the Joplin, Webb City, Carterville and Oronogo districts. We will, therefore, in this and the next decade treat the mining industries of the county as a whole and mention only a few of the important happenings to the end that the reader may have a general idea of the methods used, the value of the product and the extent of the operations.

The year 1890 ushered in a new era both as to the manner of prospecting and the kind of machinery used. P. L. Crossman, of Oronogo, introduced the steam drill as a means of locating the mineral. Previous to this time the prospector sunk a shaft and, if he struck mineral, developed the mine, but, if nothing was found, abandoned the prospect and tried his luck elsewhere. Mr. Crossman conceived the idea of drilling for the mineral and in a much shorter time and less expensive method, by the drilling of a number of holes on a tract, it was demonstrated with a reasonable certainty the extent of the ore beneath the ground.

The price of zinc had slowly risen until in December, 1889, it was quoted on the market at twenty-four dollars a ton. From January, 1, 1890, to August 1, 1893, the price ranged from twenty-one to twentythree dollars, but the panic of 1893 caused it to take a slump and from the latter part of 1893 to 1896, it ranged from seventeen dollars and twenty-five cents to twenty-one dollars. Through a number of causes combined, the price began to rise in 1897, and rose by jumps until 1899, when it reached the phenomenal price of sixty dollars a ton. BVom these figures it will be noted that mining activities were very sharp during the early and latter nineties, particularly the latter part of the decade.

During this ten years a number of new camps came into great prominence and at the close of the decade Jasper county boasted of a half dozen new towns.

Duenweg, six miles east of Joplin, first came into prominence in 1895, when H. U. Dale, Josiah Bennett and others sunk the shaft that later was given the name of the Newsboy mine. The mine was a great producer and the forty acres of land which but a few years before was prairie land and on the market at ten dollars an acre now was sold for $40,000.

Duenweg in 1899 was spoken of as an infant wonder in the mining district. It was a phenomena, a prodigy and a lasting freak of remarkable richness. In 1898 land that a few years before could have been bought for a few dollars per acre was producing $37,656 monthly in lead and zinc. The camp took its name from the eastern heirs to the property named Duenweg. The town has two railroads, and is in line with the prosperity and advancement of the county so self-evident to everyone.

Neck City, which at the close of the decade had some 600 inhabitants and which was a red-hot mining town, was at first called Hell's Neck, the mines being in the little bend of Spring river which like a neck circles around the camp and as the name indicates, it was the ''warm thing" - that is, until the refining influences of the home life which came with a fixed town crowded out the rowdy element.

An interesting story is told of the original discovery of mineral at this point. Doctor Henry, a resident physician of Alba, three miles distant, was returning home one dark and stormy night from a visit to the sick in this neighborhood. To save distance he road his horse along a path through the timber. The night was far spent and the beacon stars were hid behind low-hanging clouds in the east. Drowsily the doctor rode along, mapping out plans for his visits on the morrow, when suddenly his hat was knocked violently from his head by an over-hanging limb. With muttered imprecations upon the limb the physician dismoimted and felt around in the darkness for his hat. Finding it, he remounted and rode on. In a few moments his hat was again knocked off and the same trouble experienced in finding it. Five times this occurred in as many minutes, and the now thoroughly angry doctor tied his horse and sat down to wait for daylight, wondering at the strange happenings. In a short while gray streaks of light stole up from the east and Doctor Henry began to study his surroundings. He discovered his horse had lost his way in the darkness and had been traveling in a circle, thus passing under the same limb every few moments. The doctor further discovered that underneath this tree, partly uprooted by the storm, a fine bed of zinc ore had been uncovered. Miners went to work there and found some of the best zinc ore in the district. Continued work has revealed unusual quantities of zinc ore.

The output of the Neck mines for the firet year averaged $7,000 a month. The Big India Mining Company controlled the mining interests of this camp.

In 1898 mining activities were commenced at Reeds. For several years good lead and zinc prospects had been discovered in the vicinity of Reeds by farmers in digging wells, but no particular attention was paid to it until 1898, when zinc in large bodies was discovered near the surface, while lower down high grade ore was found.

It is related that one of the original prospectors bought his interest in the mine for a crippled cow and later reaped a fortune from the prospect. .

Prosperity was the name given to a camp which grew up around the old Troup mines. In 1899 the town had grown to 1,500. Twenty-four mining companies operated on this land, some of them famous in the mining world as big producers. Among the most noted producers are the Cherokee Company, Eleventh Hour, Hoosier, Irene S., Raymond, Richland, Goodenough, Orasshopper, Homestake, Gold Standard, Mc- Kinley, McGee, Mohawk, Spot Cash, Tenderfoot, Phoenix, North Star. Vernon and Troup.

Some of the richest veins of zinc ore ever drifted upon were found in the immediate vicinity of Carthage. Mining had not been prosecuted with great vigor in this city for the reason that surface crops amply repayed the tiller of the soil, but the advance in the price of zinc toward the close of the nineties caused a stampede for mining lands, and many cultivated fields were turned into mining lots, filled with shafts and drill holes. Among the most valuable mines in the Carthage district was the Hayseed.

Frank Lamb began mining on what is now known as the Lamb land in August, 1889. The shaft was sunk to a depth of one hundred and forty-five feet. Ore was encountered at one hundred feet, and the miners began drifting at this level. In five months $15,000 worth of mineral was taken out. In January, 1890, Mr. Porter bought the mine, and operated it until 1892. During the last year Mr. Porter had charge $80,- 000 worth of ore was taken out. He sold out to a company that worked the mine three months, taking out $20,000 worth of stutf - ^this, too, when seventeen dollars was the top price for zinc.

Alba, which until the nineties had been only a country town, also came into great prominence just at the close of the decade, on account of the rich mines which were opened up.

At historic old Sarcoxie, rich zinc mines were also discovered and as the nineteenth century drew to a close it found Jasper county one great mining district and the value of its product running into the millions.