USA > Missouri > Missouri the center state, 1821-1915 > Part 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
210
MISSOURI, THE CENTER STATE
miles of the Mississippi River and Bonne Terre Railroad have been in use the heaviest locomotives in the State of Missouri.
The Once Despised Cottonwood.
A wood which the pioneer builders of the West tried and found miserably wanting has become a corner-stone in a new industry. It has come into use on a scale and with a degree of satisfaction which illustrates how the world does move. Along some western rivers in early days the cottonwood trees were turned into lumber because there was nothing else to saw. Jewett Willcox, who sailed those waters contemporary with Commodore Rollingpin, used to tell that he had many a time seen the cottonwood houses on the banks of the Missouri follow- ing the sun. In the morning these houses moved several feet eastward. After dinner, in obedience to the warm rays of the descending orb, they took the west- ward course of empire. Mr. Willcox said the movement was so noticeable that it could be plainly observed from the cabin deck of a steamboat without the aid of a glass. Probably there never was a variety of wood cut into lumber which was so disposed to go half way to meet genial warmth. The warping tendency of the cottonwood caused it to be condemned after these early trials. There was thought to be nothing that was meaner than cottonwood lumber.
But there is cottonwood and cottonwood in Missouri. The cottonwood which 'has become popular and is in demand at the mills is the yellow which grows luxuriantly in southeast Missouri bottoms, chiefly along the Mississippi. It has come into demand for a great variety of uses, among them box making. One rea- son for its popularity is that it is odorless to a degree which makes it exceptional among woods. The packers of goods of delicate flavors will have no other kind of cases than cottonwood. The lightness of the wood makes it highly desirable in consideration of transportation charges. The bright color of the wood takes on a clean print. These qualities, with the cheapness, commend the cottonwood box for all kinds of packing purposes. There is a concern which manufactures these boxes in parts, even to the printing of the colored labels on the sides and tops, and ships them, with the parts bundled and ready to be put together, to canneries, soapmakers and manufacturers of all kinds of goods requiring packing. It turns out 300 cars of such material monthly. It is said to be the largest concern of the kind in the world. There are lumber mills which make cases for packing eggs, berry boxes, fruit crates, grape baskets, butter plates and similar things from cottonwood, each product having its special season, when the demand can hardly be met.
But cottonwod has even more important uses. It has taken the place of poplar for the drawers and interior parts of furniture. It goes into wagon boxes, 90 per cent of which is now said to be of this material. The extent to which ingenuity has overcome the tendency to warp is shown by the fact that cottonwood is now seasoned so that it can be acceptably employed as house siding.
In scores of ways cottonwood has come into service where it was unknown a few years ago. Perhaps the most interesting introduction of it is in the form of veneering. These cottonwood logs are shaved as they go round and round under the powerful knives into pieces so thin it seems marvelous that they can be of any service. But the various ways of seasoning and pressing leave them tenacious and perfectly smooth. The veneering is packed in flat bundles of various sizes and
211
SOME EXTRAORDINARY ASSETS
shipped to manufacturers, who "build up" all kinds of woodwork from a door to a flat-top desk. The veneer of cottonwood is put together with glue until the requisite thickness is reached. Then it is covered with an outer veneer of the finishing wood, like oak. Many an article apparently of oak is not what it seems, but all cottonwood in glued slices except the outer eighth of an inch. And the manufacturer knows that the built-up article with the pieces of veneer placed so that the grain crosses in each successive layer is stronger and more serviceable than that constructed solidly of the costly wood. In the mansion of a St. Louis millionaire is some paneling which experts take to be of the famous and costly satin wood, but which the owner and his architect, by a well-kept secret, alone know is of cottonwood.
Senator Rozier's Appeal to Missourians.
There have been times in the history of the State when the law makers were not inclined to be liberal in the development of the mineral resources of Missouri. Soon after the Civil war it was proposed to end the geological survey. At that time the disseminated lead deposits of Southeast Missouri were unknown. A United States government expert announced in his official report that the lead of mines of the State were nearing exhaustion. The possibilities of the zinc district of Southwest Missouri had not been realized. In 1875 a bill to abolish the geological survey was before the Legislature and was strongly supported. Senator Rozier of Ste. Genevieve made an eloquent protest. He showed the economists that the mineral production of the State was at that time about $10,000,000 annually, distributed as follows :
Lead
$3,000,000
Iron
3,000,000
Coal
1,000,000
Spelter and zinc ore.
500,000
Fire clay
500,000
Cobalt and nickel.
100,000
Kaolin, ochres, etc.
400,000
Granite and sand stone.
500,000
"When I examine the statistics of the mineral fields of the world I find there is not a country on the globe, embracing as it does so many varieties of minerals in such great abundance. It is an astonishing but strange fact, very, that in the old world we find minerals are buried beneath the ground, while here in Missouri how different the scene presented to the vision of mortal man! We see vast regions of minerals rising from the earth, form- ing, as it were, mountains and pyramids kissing the rising sun, and brilliantly glowing in their crystal-like clusters.
"Man can contend against prejudice, superstition and religion; but how hard it is to contend against fogyism. A fogy is a character-a creature that stands solitary and alone. Look at him; he struts about awkwardly, wears wide pants, his mouth is eternally puckered up, and he sneers at everything in the way of progress. If he hears the whistle of a railroad engine, he cries out it will ruin the whole country. If he hears a steamboat ploughing up the stream he pronounces Fulton a humbug. If he hears the tick of the telegraph he throws up his hands and swears that this is contrary to the laws of nature. If you tell him that Columbus discovered America he will tell you that this history is 'played out.' If you tell him that Galileo explained the solar system he will tell you it is all witchery. If you tell
212
MISSOURI, THE CENTER STATE
him that Franklin discovered the principles of electricity with a kite he will simply say that Franklin had very little to do. But a man of real progress is one that views things in a just and rational way. Things that are absolutely necessary he gives his hearty support to, and finds it a pleasant duty to help the development of his own country.
"Sir, we have so far only worked the surface of our mineral fields, and must, like other countries, bring to bear upon our many operations practical ideas combined with the sciences, for it is only by long experience and close application to study that principles become fixed and immutable, as marked out by ancient and modern scientific men. The science of geology has for centuries been the study and reflection of eminent philosophers. This geological bureau will be of great service to our State, will increase our wealth, bring immigration and command the attention of capitalists over the whole world. Sir, Missouri under our auspices will become a great State if we act wisely, and become one of the most wealthy and populous of our States. Besides we have within our borders the city of St. Louis destined to be the great metropolis of the country, and which must and will be the great inland city of the world. Sir, I have done my duty in the cause of Missouri. Being a native of this State, and being the only descendant and relic in this legislative body of the French pioneers of this country, who first settled and immigrated to Missouri, whilst at present the wave of immigration is sweeping over us, I feel like the old Chief Logan of Virginia, described by Thomas Jefferson : 'All I have left to me is to love my native State and to weep over the graves of my fathers.'"
De Soto in the Missouri Ozarks.
De Soto came into Southeast Missouri and wandered through the Ozarks seeking gold and silver. From the records of that expedition Irving traced the movement west of the Mississippi. The Spaniards marched northward through what are now Dunklin and Pemiscot counties. They came to a settlement of 400 dwellings. "It was seated on the banks of a river, the borders of which as far as the eye could reach were covered with luxuriant fields of maize, interspersed with groves of fruit trees." The natives came out to meet and welcome the Spaniards who understood the name of the town and the province to be Casqui or Casquin. After being entertained there six days De Soto marched north through a populous country. "The fields were overflowingly fruitful; the pecan nut, the red and gray plum and mulberry trees grew there in abundance." Two days brought the expedition to the capital of the province where the cacique or chief lived on "a high artificial hill with twelve large houses to accommodate his family and attendants." Here De Soto received gifts of mantles, furs and fish. Here he ended a drought by having a large pine tree made into a cross and reli- gious services held. Rain fell the next night. The time was May in the year 1541. The weather was warm as it usually is in the southeastern corner of Missouri at that season.
When De Soto was ready to proceed still farther to the north, the chief turned out a force of 5,000 warriors and 3,000 bearers to go with him as an escort. According to the Spanish reports these Indians were divided into squadrons and marched well. The route led through a swamp which divided two of the Indian provinces, that of Casquin which De Soto had just left and that of Capaha. To get through the mire it was necessary to lay down trunks of trees. Beyond the swamp the Spaniards came to "beautiful meadows." They were in what is now New Madrid County. Two days of marching brought them to the principal town, Capaha, the ruins of which Irving located on the Bayou St. John. When the Spaniards saw Capaha in 1541 it "contained 500 large houses and was situated on high ground, which commanded the surrounding country. It was nearly encircled
213
SOME EXTRAORDINARY ASSETS
by a deep moat fifty paces in breadth; and where the moat did not extend was defended by a strong wall of timber and plaster. The moat was filled with water by a canal cut from the Mississippi River, which was three leagues distant. The canal was deep, and sufficiently wide for two canoes to pass abreast without touching each other's paddles. This canal and moat were filled with fish, so as to supply all of the wants of the village and army without any apparent diminution of number."
De Soto was compelled to fight the Capaha people as the result of having the Casquins with him. When the Casquins who were in the advance of the Spaniards entered Capaha, the natives headed by their chief retired to an island stronghold. Before the Spaniards arrived, the Casquins sacked the town and killed 150 men. "They broke into the grand sepulcher or mausoleum, in the public square, which the Indians held sacred. Here were deposited the remains of the ancestors of the cacique, and of the great men of his tribe; and here were treasured up the trophies gained from the people of Casquin in many a past battle. These trophies they tore down from the walls. They stripped the sepulcher of all its ornaments and treasures. They then threw down the wooden coffins in which were the remains of the dead, trampled upon the bodies, scattered about the bones and wreaked upon them all kinds of insults and indignities in revenge for past injuries which the deceased had inflicted upon their tribe."
From Capaha De Soto learned that "about forty leagues distance, among cer- tain ranges of hills there was much salt and also much of a yellowish metal. As the army was suffering for salt and still retained their eagerness for gold, De Soto despatched two trusty and intelligent men, Hernando de Silvera and Pedro Moreno, accompanied by Indian guides to visit this region. At the end of eleven days they returned quite spent and half famished, having eaten nothing but green plums and green maize, which they found in some squalid wigwams. Six of their Indian companions were laden with rock salt in natural crystals, and one with copper. The country through which they passed was sterile and thinly peopled, and the Indians informed the governor that still further on to the west the country was almost uninhabitable on account of the cold; that buffalo roamed there in such numbers the natives could not cultivate fields of maize; they subsisted therefore by the chase and principally on the flesh of these wild animals."
The two men sent for salt are believed to have reached the Saline in Ste. Genevieve County and to have found the copper somewhere near Mine La Motte, as it was known a couple of centuries later. De Soto left the Capaha country in what is now New Madrid, returned southward a short distance and then went in a northwestwardly direction in search of gold. Schoolcraft tried to trace the probable route followed by the Spaniards. He said: "Hearing fresh reports of mineral wealth, he now marched northwest to Caligoa on the source of the St. Francois. This was his most northern point. He was now at the foot of the St. Francois country celebrated in modern times for the Iron Mountain and the lead and cobalt mines of La Motte. He now marched south in search of a rich province called Cayas (Kansas) and probably crossed White River at Tenico."
Renault and John Law.
De Soto's search for silver in the Ozarks failed utterly. Later by more than 150 years, other white men came. In the siege of Pensacola a Spaniard named
214
MISSOURI, THE CENTER STATE
Antonio was captured. He bragged to the French about the mining he had done in Mexico. The company sent Antonio to the Missouri lead country. The Spaniard dug down to the ore, broke off some pieces and treated them. Announce- ment was made that the result was several drachms of silver. Encouraged by this alleged prospect, a mining company under La Renandiere took charge of the work. With a costly outfit this organization made an utter failure. It not only got no silver, but couldn't produce lead. Then came Renault, of whom Charlevoix wrote: "In the month of June last Renault found a bed of lead two feet in thickness, running to a great length over a chain of mountains, where he has set his people to work. He flatters himself that there is silver below the lead. Every- body is not of his opinion, but time will discover the truth."
Inspiring and encouraging this early seeking for silver in southeast Missouri was John Law's Mississippi scheme. The bubble collapsed while Renault was still seeking for silver. To encourage the banker-miner, the French commandant at Fort Chartres granted him a tract of land extending northward to the Mera- mec. In those days this river was called the Merameg, which was Indian for catfish.
Renault was a banker in Paris. He studied mineralogy. Forty-three years before the settlement of St. Louis a company was formed to mine for silver in the Mississippi Valley. Renault headed the enterprise. He came up the river, bringing several hundred negro slaves from San Domingo. Lead was found, but not the silver. Renault continued his prospecting for years, most of the time in Missouri. His route to the lead country was up the Meramec, south of St. Louis to the Big River, and then up the Big River, or Grande River, as he called it. Renault had two theories: One was that silver veins would be found in the lead country. The other was that the lead ore itself carried a percentage of silver. The explorer worked twelve or fifteen years. He mined considerable lead. He was never able to find silver veins. He could not extract from the lead the silver he supposed was there. After working the Missouri field, search- ing along the Mississippi to its source, and making a side trip up the Illinois, Renault went down the river in 1744, leaving most of the San Domingo slaves in the vicinity of Fort Chartres. Some of these slaves were brought to St. Louis by the first settlers.
Previous to Renault's ambitious efforts, the West India Company sent Sieur de Lochon. That was in 1719. The purpose was to mine for silver, not lead. Lochon dug up some ore and worked over it four days. He showed two drachms of silver, claiming to have smelted it out of a pound of lead ore. Charlevoix, who came down the Mississippi later, heard of this. He also noted the suspicion that Lochon first put in the silver which he took out. Lochon tried on a larger scale. He smelted two or three thousand pounds of ore and got no silver. The product was "fourteen pounds of very bad lead." Lochon went back to France.
Basis of the Spanish Theory of Silver.
Renault's workings were not far from what is now Potosi. They remained abandoned for many years. This Spanish theory of silver in connection with lead of southeast Missouri was not without some foundation. Toward the southern limit of the lead field the proportion is largest, but even there it is too small to pay the cost of extraction. More than a century after the failure of the
215
SOME EXTRAORDINARY ASSETS
hopes which had set France wild, St. Louis capitalists put money into one of these "Missouri silver mines" and left it there.
As late as 1810 the lead miners in the district south of St. Louis held to the theory that silver would be found. Brackenridge, who visited the mining field at that time, wrote: "The ore contains a considerable proportion of sulphur, arsenic and it is believed, of silver; though in respect to the last it has not been sufficiently tested by experiments to know whether the proportion would repay the trouble and expenses of separating. It is highly probable that the ore of some of these mines may yield it sufficiently. The ore of the Merameg, which I am informed has been partially assayed, gave the most flattering result. Above the rock the ore is found in enormous masses in strata, apparently horizontal, and often two feet thick, and several of these are passed before the rock arrests the progress of the miner ; I have seen pits ten or twelve feet deep where the strata of ore had been only dug through, the digger intending to strike the rock before he attempted to undermine; perhaps gratifying his vanity with the pleasing con- templation of the shining mineral, his riches. In the rock there appear to be no regular veins; the ore occupies the accidental fissures as is the case generally in lead mines."
Some of the Americans who settled in the State clung to the theory of silver deposits in southeast Missouri just as the Spaniards and the French had done. They expended considerable money in seeking for veins. In 1859 a German named Hoeninger found silver in Madison County and sunk a shaft. After a century and more of tradition there was found a well defined vein of silver bear- ing galena, but the percentage was not profitable. Much of the Missouri lead ore carries a small amount of silver but so small that it is not taken into consideration in the ore sales. The smelting companies, by subjecting the lead to intense heat, can extract between one and two ounces of silver from a ton of lead. In the course of a year there have been saved from the lead as much as 50,000 ounces of silver. Most of this silver is found in the lead of Madison, Jefferson and St. Francois counties.
As recently as 1910 the bureau of labor statistics at Jefferson City gave con- sideration to the question of "Missouri Silver." Labor Commissioner Heller reported the production of this metal for the year 1909. The amount was 49,500 ounces, and the value of the same, at 52 cents an ounce, was $25,740. In 1908 the production was 49,411 ounces and the value $26,390.
The following table, prepared by Supervising Statistician Arch T. Edmonston of the bureau of labor statistics, for the Red Book, gave the value and quantity of silver recovered from Missouri lead ores, by years.
Year
Fine Ounces
Value
1905
12,900
$ 7,869
1906.
31,300
21,187
1907.
25,300
16,700
1908
49,4II
26,390
1909.
49,50C
25,740
Totals.
168,411
$97,886
Ozark Traditions of Hidden Mines.
Old settlers in the Ozarks clung long to the belief that the precious metals must be found in paying quantities. They cherished the traditions that the Indians
216
MISSOURI, THE CENTER STATE
and the Spaniards mined silver and then concealed the sources. Mysterious mark- ings on rocks were carefully preserved in the confidence that they indicated the neighborhood of silver ore. The fact that the hidden mines were never found seemed not to discourage those who accepted the traditions. A geologist traveled some distance in the Ozarks to see one of these marks. The native was sure it was a star carved on the rock to remind the Spaniards or the Indians where they had located silver. As soon as the scientist looked at it he identified it as part of a fossil coral placed there geologic ages before Adam was created. But the explana- tion had no influence on the native who had preserved the star so carefully, and who had for years speculated on the probable location of the treasure.
What Schoolcraft Found.
There are old workings found in these Ozark hills. They antedate any mining remembered by the present inhabitant, and traditions point to them as the places where the Spaniards found silver in the last century. In the winter of 1819, Schoolcraft camped not far from what is now Springfield. He was gathering the material for his "Scenes and Adventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas."
"Twenty miles above the junction of these streams" (the James and Finley), he wrote at that early date in the century, "on the immediate banks of the James River, are situated some valuable lead mines, which have been known to the Osage Indians and to some White River hunters for many years. The Indians have been in the habit of procuring lead for bullets at that place by smelting the ore in a kind of furnace made by digging a pit in the ground and casing it with some flat stones placed so as to resemble the roof of a house inverted, such is the richness of the ore and the ease with which it melts. The ore, however, has not been properly explored, and it is impossible to say how extensive the beds of veins may prove. Some zinc, in the state of a sulphuret, is found accompanying it. There is not an inhabitant on all this stream. My own cabin, erected for a tem- porary purpose at the mines in January last, is the only human habitation within 200 miles of that place."
It is not difficult to believe that from these early operations of the Indians and pioneer hunters have grown the false traditions of hidden silver mines on the Ozarks. Of course, lead ore often carries some silver. In Mexico, the lead ores carry enough to justify mining for silver. In the Ozark country no lead mine has yet been found in which mining would be justified for the silver obtained. The traditions of silver mining and the traces of supposed silver mines and silver smelters have no other foundation, in the opinion of the mineralogists who have explored thoroughly, than the early "gophering" by Indians and pioneer hunters for lead with which to mold their bullets in the days of the flintlocks.
The Deceptive "White Metal."
One day an Ozark native, who may be called Solomon for his lack of wisdom, came into the law office of William C. Kelly, at Rolla, and with tears in his voice said :
"Mr. Kelly, I've got a case for you. Bill Jones is the doggondest scoundrel in the Ozark country, and I want the law on him."
"What's the matter, Sol?" asked the lawyer.
217
SOME EXTRAORDINARY ASSETS
"Bill Jones," continued Solomon in a tremulous voice, "told me if I would go down to Strawberry, Ark., and get the molds and the metal, he would make the money and we would divide. I got the molds and the metal. He has made the money and he won't give me my share. I want to prosecute him, the doggone scoundrel."
"Solomon," thundered the lawyer, "don't you know that you have been engag- ing in the manufacture of counterfeit money and are liable to be sent to the penitentiary. What do you mean by coming to me with such a proposition ?"
"I don't know anything about counterfeit money," said Solomon, sobering down a little. "All I know is that Bill said it was good money. It buys things at the store. I got the molds and the metal, and I think I ought to have my share."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.