Information Sheet

 

 

R         Mine La Motte (Mo.).

34                    “Observations on the La Motte Mines and Domain,” pamphlet, 1839.

                                    32 pages.

 

 

 

This is a photocopy of a pamphlet published by the proprietors of Mine La Motte, “... for the purpose of calling the attention of Capitalists to it.”  Also included are excerpts from a speech given to the citizens of Fredericktown, Missouri, by Thomas Green Clemson, geologist and min­er­alo­gist.

 

Mine La Motte was probably visited in 1715 by Sieur Antoine de la Motte Cadillac, gover­nor-general of French Louisiana.  Philip Renault worked the mines there after 1723.  Both men had grants to the area from the Crown.  However, they were interested primarily in silver, and lead mining was not actively pursued.  After Renault’s departure in 1742 the area came to be con­sid­ered public domain, and miners who had re­mained at the site worked it sporadically.  Cer­tain of these miners asked the Spanish authorities in New Orleans for title to Mine La Motte in 1802.  The title was ultimately confirmed in 1811 by an act of the United States Con­gress.

 

The owners sold the property in 1838.  The new owners divided the tract into forty lots of forty acres each, and offered them for lease on three- to ten-year terms.  To attract in­vestors and lease-holders, the proprietors published this pamphlet, which describes the min­eralogical and physical features of the area, and which includes optimistic forecasts on the likelihood of success in mining both lead and cobalt.

 

 

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