A Mile beneath the earth....

[Dan-MO]

The area of the Country I live in was first settled in the mid 1700s when early explorers discovered rich deposits of lead.Settlements sprang up and the lead was mined by hand using nothing more than picks and shovels.Shallow pits in the earth are common sights to this day in areas in the national forest that have escaped development.They are among the last remnents of the earliest days of mining in this area.

After the lead was removed from the earth it was processed in crude

 

[Wayne in BC]

gee, i feel like a kid waiting for the candy store to open.......but i sure hope its good news!<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm799YYCA' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_6_109v.gif' alt='Waiting' border=0></a>
Thanks Dan
Wayne

 

[Sunny]

I was holding my breath by the end! I hope it has a happy ending!

 

[david(tx)]

you know missouri was famous for it's mules.

 

[Royal]

history surrounding us that has been forgotten. You have a way of bringing it alive for us. I sure had never heard of a shot tower! How tall were they? Would they just haul the molten lead up there and pore it off and it would seperat into small pellets as it fell? Would it just drop onto the ground or did they have something to catch it? We learn something interesting every day!

Waiting for the next installment

 

[Micheal_R]

Wonderful story.. And a great history lesson

Sunny skies

M

 

[ojm bc]

nt

 

[Dan-MO]

The molten lead was poured thru a grate at the top of the tower.This seperated it into uniform pieces and as it fell the friction from falling thru the air caused it to form into round pellets-like rain drops.They landed in a container of water of some kind that instantly cooled them.The ones around here were 30 to 50 feet tall.Others in other parts of the world were much taller.Here is a pic of one that is still standing in Iowa-much larger and fancier then the ones that were around here.

 

[General Ray]

n/t