Title	Mining Jobs Surface 03
Title-Alternative	Mining 45
Identifier	JPL10_622_062_a_A
Creator	Unknown
Contributor	Simpson, Leslie, Post Memorial Art Reference Library; Albertype Co., Brooklyn, N.Y.;
Publisher	Joplin Public Library
Description	In the primitive days of mining, a poor prospector could go into business by paying $5 for a pick, shovel, windlass, rope, and ore can. With a little luck, he could dig up a fortune. When a miner found a solid chunk of lead weighing as much as 4,000 pounds, he had great difficulty getting it out with such crude machinery. The windlass or armstrong hoist, which retrieved ore buckets from below ground, depended solely on the arm and back strength of the man who operated it. The use of horses greatly increased the efficiency of hoisting machinery, freeing miners from the backbreaking chore of dead-lifting ore cans to the surface. By walking in circles, horses turned a wheel that rotated the hoisting shaft. By 1890, steam-powered drills and hoists supplanted the horse-powered ones, enabling a good hoisterman to raise about 1,000 cans per day. Eventually, steam, natural gas, and electricity powered a full line of machinery-drill, boilers, derricks, engines, pumps, and hoists. Once the ore arrived at the surface, the valuable minerals had to be separated from the waste rock. One person operated a hand jig, filling a sluice box with crushed material and water then allowing the mixture to settle and the heavier ore particles sink to the bottom. The zinc and lead were then separated by hand. A good jig operator could process 6-10 tons of ore each workday. As mining techniques evolved, mills and concentrating plants replaced the hand jig, using various mechanical processes to crush, wash, and separate the desirable minerals from the unwanted impurities. A typical plant, which cost $5,000 to $20,000 to build, could process up to 200 tons of rough ore per day-quite an improvement over the amount a single jig operator could handle. A multi-story derrick hoisted mine dirt and ore to the surface in tubs which ran on cars over a trestle, dumping their contents into a crusher bin. The line-shaft driven machinery passed the ore over screens and through other crushers until the particles were ground fine enough to go into a series of jig boxes. Arranged in banks, the boxes were filled with water and agitated to allow the ore to separate from the waste rock and sludge. The sludge was sold to sludge mills which spun out the water and retrieved more ore. The waste rock, or chat, which sold for 50 cents per train car, was used for road construction and railroad ballast. Sources:Frisco Railroad Co. Klondike of Missouri. 1898.Gray, Howard. "Mill Interior." Joplin Globe Centennial Edition. April 1, 1973.Gray, Howard. "Miner in a Can." Joplin Globe Centennial Edition. April 1, 1973.Joplin Globe. June 10, 1923.Joplin Museum Complex. Calendar. 2000.Livingston, Joel T. History of Jasper County and Its People. Chicago: Lewis, 1912.Mineral Museum News. Vol.1, No.3. Fall, 1987.Mineral Museum News. Vol.4, No.3. Fall, 1990.Nunn, Bill. "Pa Remembers." Missouri Life. March/April 1973.
Subject	Miners--Missouri--Joplin; Mines and Mineral resources-- Missouri--Joplin; Lead mines and mining--Missouri--Joplin; Zinc mines and mining--Missouri--Joplin;
Language	English
Date-Creation	circa 1906
Date-Current	8/23/2004
Type	Postcards
Collection Name	Joplin Historical Postcards
Source	From the collection of Galen Augustus
Coverage	Missouri -- Jasper County -- Joplin; Missouri -- Newton County -- Joplin;
Rights Statement	Use of digital images found on this website is permitted for private or personal use only. This material may be protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S. Code). Copyrighted materials may be used for research, instruction, and private study under the provisions of Fair Use, outlined in section 107 of copyright law. Publication, commercial use, or reproduction of this image or the accompanying data requires prior written permission from the copyright holder. User assumes all responsibility for obtaining the necessary permission to publish (including in digital format) from the copyright holder. For more information on using this image, contact Joplin Public Library.
Contributing Institution	Joplin Public Library (Joplin, Mo)
County	Jasper County (Mo.) Newton County (Mo.)
Copy Request	Contact Joplin Public Library at 417-624-5465, or email jpl@joplinpubliclibrary.org