Ash Grove Camp, Greene County, Missouri, USAi

Regional Level Types
Ash Grove Camp	Group of Mines
Greene County	County
Missouri	State
USA	Country

Another important group of mines is near Ash Grove. As may be inferred from what has already been stated, these were worked as much as 20 years ago, and figures of production previously given show that several thousand tons of ore have been produced. Most of this mining has been immediately south of the town of Ash Grove, within a distance of a few miles, over the upland country or divide between Middle fork of Sac river and a small tributary to the east. The excavations are in Lower Carboniferous rocks, extending probably from the Lower Burlington through the Kinderbook beds; and in one shaft 250 ft. deep, a few feet of probably Silurian magnesian limestone were encountered. The principal mines of this camp during recent years have been those of the McCord land, those of Dunlap & Co., Goetz & Co. and of Murray & North.

In the year 1878, Prof. C. P. Williams, then acting State Geologist, made an examination of mines about Ash Grove. The notes of this examination, written out in connected form evidently preparatory to publication, were inherited by the present survey, and, as they have never been published, the mine descriptions are included here.

ASH GROVE MINES. By CP . Williams.

At Ash Grove lead mining operations have been prosecuted for some time back, in Keokuk limestone which forms the surface rock in this vicinity, at the level of upward of 1200 ft. above the sea. The mining work has been done chiefly in all four quarters of the SE. 1/4 of section 28, township 30 N., 24 W., and in the NE 1/4 of section 29, same township.

On section 23 a number of shafts have been sunk, the deepest of which was carried down to the depth of 50 ft. The lead ore was struck at from 15 to 30 ft. from the surface. Superficially, the ore was mainly carbonate of lead of the variety known as the 'ash mineral,” but in depth the galenite predominated. The ore was intermixed with clay, flint, limestone and "quartzite," and occupied irregular cavities in the limestone. In carrying down the deepest shaft about 10 tons of mineral were taken out. At another shaft, 183 ft. southwest from the first mentioned, the product was 25 tons. S. 65º W. from the last named, a distance of 116 ft, a third shaft, carried to the depth of 45 ft., struck galena, or blue mineral, at a depth of 30 ft. Three hundred feet from this shaft, on a course S. 82° W., a shaft 19 ft deep showed much “cog” and "dice" mineral, intermixed with flint and calcite, the latter chiefly of the variety known as dog-tooth spar. In drifting 10 ft. from this shaft, with an opening 3 ft. high, by about 4 ft. wide, between 5000 and 6000 pounds of galena were removed.