Potosi, Potosi Barite Mining District, Washington County, Missouri, USAi

Regional Level Types
Potosi	Town
Potosi Barite Mining District	Mining District
Washington County	County
Missouri	State
USA	Country

A post office since 1830, and county seat since February 26, 1814, replacing Mine a Breton. Moses Austin and John R. Jones by an agreement were to donate forty acres and ten acres respectively in 1814 for the location of the county seat adjoining Mine a Breton. The old village of Mine a Breton and Potosi now go under the latter name. The town was called Potosi by Moses Austin, for the celebrated silver mining district in South America, in Bolivia.

A grant of land containing 6,085 acres directly northwest of Potosi and including a portion of the town site obtained by Moses Austin in 1797. Moses Austin was born in Durham, Connecticut, in 1761. While he was in Richmond, Virginia, perhaps owing to the pewter manufacturing business in which he was engaged, he became interested in mineralogy, and especially in lead mining. He went to Wythe County, where he operated the lead mines known during the Revolutionary War as the "Chisel mines." A settlement gathered around his store, which he conducted in connection with his mining operations, and became known as "Austinville." At this time there were many stories told of the mineral wealth of Upper Louisiana. After meeting someone from Ste. Genevieve who had been in this mining region, he determined to visit the district. With a passport from the Spanish minister, Gardoqui, as well as encouragement to emigrate to Upper Louisiana and to develop the mineral wealth, he set out in 1796. He remained in St. Louis for some time; then he went to Ste. Genevieve. From Ste. Genevieve he visited the mining country of southeast Missouri and finally decided to establish himself at Mine a Breton, if he could receive a grant. He received his grant on condition that he introduce certain improvements in mining and manufacture some of the lead for commercial purposes. In 1798 he brought his family and some in his employ to Mine a Breton. Here he sank the first shaft according to European practices in Upper Louisiana, erected a reverberatory furnace for smelting lead ores, and began the manufacture of sheet lead and shot. His house, "Durham Hall," became the nucleus of the American settlement in the country west of Ste. Genevieve at this time. About 1820 he obtained permission from the Mexican government to establish in Texas a colony of three hundred families, but died before the project could be established. He did not recover from the exposure of this trip to San Antonio de Bexar, where he went to get permission for the establishment of the colony, and died June 10, 1821. He is buried in the Presbyterian cemetery at Potosi. The colony was founded by his son Stephen F. Austin, who has been called the founder of the State of Texas, and for whom the state capitol, Austin, is named.