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A View Ofthe Leadmines of Missouri, by Henry Schoolcraft

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A View Ofthe Leadmines of Missouri, by Henry Schoolcraft A View ofthe LeadMines ofMissouri, by Henry Schoolcraft: The First Book Written on Mining on the Western Frontier By Roben Sorgenfrei Heruy Rowe Schoolcraft, if he is remembered could not compete against cheaper and better­ at ali today, is known for his ethnographic writ­ quality British products. In 1817, Schoolcraft was ings on Native Americans of tJ1 e Great Lakes forced to declare bankruptcy and liquidate his Region. His principal biographer, Richard G. family's business. Unable to remain and endure Bremer, characterized him as an "Indian Agent d1e humiliation of fmancial failure, Schoolcraft and Wilderness Scholar." 1 l..Gugely forgotten is headed 'vest to Missouti Tenitory. his contribution to American mining history in Wid1 the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Ameli­ d1e fotm of his book, published by Charles Wiley cans gained new westem lands to explore and in 1819: A View qf tbe Lead Mines qfi 11issouri: natural resources to exploit. French settlers had Including Some ObseJvcttions on tbe Minera!Og) l, discovered lead in what became d1e l\tlissouri Geolog)J, Geography, Antiquities~ Soil, Climate, Territoty, and d1ey had mined it on a small scale Population, cmd Productions ofi l1issouri and in the second half of the eighteend1 centwy. In Arkansaw, and Otber Sections of tbe 1Vestern 1763, tich, near-surface lead deposits were dis­ Count1y. Schoolcraft's book is me first published covered at Mine au Breton, and major mining about d1e western mining frontier. activity shifted to d1e area around Potosi, in Wash­ Heruy Schoolcraft was born into a well-to­ ington County. In 1798, Moses Austin, fad1er of do family in 1793 near Albany, New York. Al­ Stephen Austin, obtained a Spanish land grant though he never went to college, he did attend covering many of the important mines around schools in New York state and was vety well Potosi. He also intt·oduced in1proved mining reacl. He amassed a sizable libraty in d1e sci­ and smelting techniques to d1e region.2 ences, especially mineralogy. He was well versed In 1804, Austin wrote an eight-page repott in d1e chemisuy of glass and in the technical on d1e mines in d1e region and submitted it to aspects of its manufacture. Schoolcraft also be­ President Thomas Jefferson, giving the ftrst ac­ came acquainted wid1 Frederick Hall, a profes­ curate information on lead mining in d1e new sor of natural philosophy at Middlebury College. teniroties \-vest of d1e lvlississippi. TI1is lead min­ Under Hall's guidance, Schoolcraft canied out ing region, centered around the counties of experiments in chemistJy and mineralogy and \Vashington, St. Genevieve, St. Francois,Jefferson, became familiar wid1 d1e chemistty involved in and Madison, is an area about seventy miles long me smelting processes of the time. In 1808, he and forty miles w ide west from d1e Mississippi took over management of family-owned glass River. It covers about 3,150 square miles.3 Heruy factoties in New York, Vermont, and New Hamp­ Schoolcraft may have become aware of lead shire. mining in Missou1i from d1e Austin Repott, which In 1815, following the end of d1e War of 1812, had been widely circulated and published in British-made glass flooded American market<> at AmeJican State Papers, Public Letncl'i, uo!. 1, a batgain prices. Sd1oolcraft's glass products simply message from the President of the United A View of the Lead Mines of Missouri, hy Heruy Schoolcraft 13 rRA,KLIN S T . L 0 U I S l '-\_f ......--- \_ ... I ,,,,,,,,.!-' ST. CL Jdft 0 r I I II ~ H£~ C U LAN£UIO n SULLIVAN ~ 0 HILLUOftO ""' 80Uft ION I PEA AI;Gf IROH ' . I ~ \\ .... = /~"'-- 0 • • '' • '' ' I ~ 1::-::0 ~'"'"'"' 0 I STE£LVI LL£ I •oroso :!(:6 IIOHH /n:n~• \ ~ W A S H I N G T 0 N .;~~~·.l ... o ,.. • ~ T E . G E N E V I E V/ '\ L :;:·:.:::·:~ 1 L.E;AD ' ·.·.:\::·:· BE~ I F E R R y ~ O PEMYVILL£ '-' lOTH S ALE W I R 0 N -;::.:: OOH 0 ~ 0 E N T I ·i ff. -: ...:.;;:.. ! : ......:·~~~#. il - - ~~~ - ~, , -1 D C(NT[ftVI LL( ~ c A p E - l:·:EYNOLOS ~~-_}- -- ~ ! """ (LLIHGTOH 5 HA NN 0 N 0 )I iB 0 LL I NG JR - 0 WAYNE [NINENC[ I L_ S C 0 T T LEAD -ZINC - COPPER LEGEND I ® Federal Divosion Mines and Moll } ® Pas I Producer Now Operating 2 • lndtan Creek Oavision Mmcs ~nd Mtll St. J oe Mtncrals •() Partly Developed V•l.Jurnum Otvision Manes and Mtll 3 • Corporatton 0 Unrlcvcloped Ocuos•ts 4 • Fletcher Oivtsion M ine and Mdl 8 • Rru"hv Crr.r.k O•viston Mmc and Mtll -f---+- New flail road Spurs From: Wharton and Heywarcl, Geology and Ore Deposits of Selected Mines in the Viburnum Trend, (Repott oflnvesitgations, no. 58). Rolla, MO: MissouriDepartnwntofNatumlResources, Division ofResearch and Tecbnicctl!nformation, Geologica!Sun;ey, 1975.p. 2. 14 2004Nlin ingH is!OIJ!]ournal States to both houses of Congress, dated 8 No­ One of Schoolcraft's perceptions was d1at d1e vember 1804.4 tenitoty's mining indust:Iy was in great disorder Schoolcraft was also ill<ely drawn to the re­ and he advocated federal govemment regula­ gion because of his familiarity \vith the use of tion. He proposed d1at a superintendent or in­ lead in the glassmaking process. Lead abo was spector of mines wid1 a background in chemis­ a conm1odity in demand for a variety of uses, t:Iy and mineralogy be appointed to d1e tvl.is­ including lead shot for firearms. He may have souri TetTitoty. This official would lease out hoped to fmd an undiscovered lead deposit and mines, collect royalties, compile statistics on lead open a m.i.ne, thereby restoring his family for­ production, and examine and repo1t on d1e min­ tune. Alternatively, Schoolcraft, because of his eralogy of the region. Naturally, d1e person he familiatity with chem.ist:Iy and mineralogy, may d1ought best suited for d1is new position was have hoped to find employment as a mine or himself. The book he produced from 11is wtit­ smelter su perintenclent.5 ings and obsetvations, A lliew qftbe lRad Jll/.ines In the late summer and fall of 1818, he began qfMissow'l~ was latgely a self-promotional effo1t a detailed three month stuvey of mining and to be appointed Missouri Tenit01y's first mining smelLing operations in the lead mining region, official. He hoped that the book would estab- and in the fall and early winter he ventured into 1is h his credentials as a mining expert of some rhe Ozarks, where he had heard of lead depos­ scientiflc standing and lead to a govemment job.6 its not yet developed. Schoolcraft returned to The book was completed in late 1819; it con­ d1e Missouri lead mining region in early 1819. sists of 294 pages of text and an index. It also After considering and then abandoning the idea has tbxee engravings: one of d1e town of Potosi of ttying to develop lead mines on his own, he on d1e frontispiece; and two engravings wid1in decided to wtite down d1e obsetvations he had d1e text, one of a log heatth furnace for smelting made on his journeys through d1e lead mining lead ore, and the other of a furnace for smelting region. lead ash? TI1e first 150 pages contain a geo- View oftbe Town ofPotosi tal?en from tbefrontispiece qftbe hook. A View of the Lead Mines of Missouri, by He my Scboolcrcifl: 15 graphic desctiption of the lead mining region, along with a histoty of mining activities up until 1818. Schoolcraft desetibed all of the major mine.s in the district, the techniques used in mining and smelting, and he provided a rough calcula­ tion of lead production. He also conm1ented on govemment policy toward mining and suggested ways it could be changed to benefit the indus­ tly. He ended the first patt of his book with an essay on the uses of lead. The second part of the book contains Schoolcraft's obsetvations on the area's "geogra­ phy, mineralogy, geology, antiquities, soil, cli­ mate, population, and productions." These in­ clude a catalog of minerals and fossils discov­ ered, and a journal of his tiip up the Mississippi from the mouth of the Ohio River. The book's second part seems like it was grafted onto the first and, with the exception of the journal of his river trip, is of uneven quality. Had Schoolcraft chosen not to add this section to the book, it Portrait ofHemy Schoolcrc~ji taleen some would have been of little loss to his readers. years after the publication qj" View of Lead 111e book had a print run of one thousand Mines of Missouri. (Courtesy ofthe copies and sold for two dollars. Schoolcraft im­ Histo1·ical Society of lflisconsin.) mediately sent copies of his book to vatious govemment officials whom he hoped would help author employment or providing significant in­ secure him appointl11ent as mine inspector. As come from sales, it has remained d1e only de­ a result, he did meet with some government tailed, accurate account of early lead mining in officials, including Secretmy of War John C. Missouri. Schoolcraft was in some respects Call1oun. Callioun offered Schoolcraft tempo­ prescient in his writing about mining on what rary employment as mineralogist on the govern­ was d1en d1e far western frontier of the United ment expedition to the Lake Supetior-Upper Mis­ States. He saw that mining methods were inef­ sissippi country under the command of Michi­ ficient and wasteful and he advocated establish­ gan Tenitorial Governor Lewis Cass. However, ing a mining school in d1e region to teach and Schoolcraft was unsuccessful in realizing his ul­ ti-ain experts in d1e manner of tJ1e German rn.in­ tirnate goal of securing a pennanent job as su­ ing schools.
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