Information Sheet

 

 

R         St. Joseph Lead Company.  Southeast Missouri Mining & Milling Division.

542                  Records, 1950-1968.

                                    Thirty folders.

 

THIS COLLECTION IS IN OFF-SITE STORAGE; AT LEAST TWO DAYS' NOTICE IS REQUIRED FOR ITS USE.

 

These are records from the files of Division Manager Elmer A. Jones.  Included are devel­op­ment and production reports, summaries of operations, and administrative materials for a ma­jor lead-producing firm in Missouri.  There is also material concerning the Bonne Terre Hospital As­sociation and the National Research Council’s Committee on Rapid Excavation.

Folders 1 and 2 deal with Elmer Jones’s relations with, and eventual membership on, the Board of Trustees of the St. Joseph Lead Company.  The firm’s corporate headquarters were in New York, New York.  Included are agendas, minutes, correspondence, and attachments.  Folder 2 contains Jones’s personal memoranda book, in which he kept notes for oral reports to the Board, and for recording concerns raised at the meetings.

Folders 3, 4, and 5 contain “courses of study” for the Milling, Prospecting, and Mining de­partments, respectively.  Included are copies of work rules, official forms, and other materials which reflect the increasing bureaucratization of the administration and management of the firm.

Folders 6 and 7 are concerned with the Bonne Terre Hospital Association.  The hospital was established and constructed by “St. Joe,” but it was owned and managed by the BTHA.  Folder 6 contains agendas, minutes, correspondence, and other material concerned with the gov­ernance and administration of the Association, while Folder 7 contains detailed financial data.

Folders 8 through 14 contain “stope reports” for the years 1950 through 1956.  These im­por­tant forms document the status of each mining area, including size, depth, and, especially, the quality of ore.

In 1967 Elmer Jones served on the Committee on Rapid Excavation of the Division of En­gi­neering of the National Research Council.  Folders 15 through 19 contain the correspondence, re­ports, and supporting documents accumulated by Jones as a result of this service.

Folder 20 contains “Mining and Milling” reports for 1962.  These sheets record statistical data for the mines and mills at Leadwood and Federal in the “Old Lead Belt,” Indian Creek in Washington County, and the mines near Viburnum in the “New Lead Belt.”

Folder 21 contains the “Weekly Summary of Surface Prospecting” for 1962, including sta­tis­tics for the “number of holes evaluated during week” and for the year to date.  The related items in Folders 22 and 23 are more detailed statistical sheets for surface prospecting and pros­pect drilling for the same period.

Folders 24 through 27 contain weekly statistical summaries of operations at Viburnum, In­dian Creek, Federal, and Leadwood, respectively, for 1962.  Both mining and milling operations are covered, on separate forms.  This information is presented in considerable detail.

Folder 28 contains “operating cost” statements, “cost center” reports, and other cost-related data for 1968.  These lists record charges for materials, labor, and overhead.

In 1967 and 1968 Elmer Jones served on a committee of the American Institute for Mining Engineering which evaluated the Interim Report of the American Society for Engineering Edu­ca­tion on “Goals.”  Folder 29 contains the correspondence, reports, and other materials accumu­lated by Jones as a working member of the committee.

Folder 30 contains miscellaneous correspondence, notes, and personal material of Elmer Jones.  Of particular note are a letter from J. E. Gilliland, President, St. Louis-San Francisco Rail­way Company, concerning a special train to celebrate the construction of the line’s “Mine Branch” to Viburnum in 1967, and an illustrated article about “St. Joe” in Missouri News Maga­zine (March 1957).

 

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