Jefferson City, Mo. – “If it can’t be grown, it has to be mined,” reads the bumper sticker on the back of many Missouri vehicles. Missourians take mining so seriously that the Show-Me State grows its own miners and trains them along with other students from all over the world at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla.
At the Experimental Mine, http://mining.mst.edu/research/depexpmine.html, located in Rolla, students, staff and faculty of Missouri University of Science and Technology work underground in a mine founded in 1921, one of the only working mines on a university campus in the world. Students also compete in international events for mine rescue http://news.mst.edu/2009/05/mining_engineering_students_te.html
and mucking http://mining.mst.edu/activitiesandseminars/mucking.html teams.
In October, the Mining Department hosts the Haunted Mine event to raise money for local food pantries and for student competitions and conferences. Tours of this mine are available, but require a two-week request period beforehand.
An annual intercollegiate mucking competition honors all miners who died in the line of duty. It includes mining techniques from the 19th and 20th centuries such as gold panning, surveying, hand mucking, hand steeling, track standing, Swede sawing and jackleg drilling. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see male and female student mucking teams practicing during your tour.
On Rolla’s main campus, look for the world’s largest university mineral collection (approximately 3,500 specimens) at McNutt Hall in the Minerals Museum www.Mst.edu. Many of the minerals exhibited at the World’s Fair in St. Louis from 1904 lie encased here including gold, diamonds and meteorites.
In Southwest Missouri, The Joplin Museum Complex, www.JoplinMuseum.org/about.htm, portrays mining in the Tri-State district where Joplin once led world production of zinc and lead. The Everett J. Ritchie Tri-State Mineral Museum details mining processes and methods used from the 1870s to the 1960s, and houses one of the world’s best collections of lead and zinc ores.
Schifferdecker Park, also in Joplin, www.TheRoadWanderer.net/66Missouri/joplin.htm, once attracted weary travelers from Route 66, and now offers a museum with exhibits that include mining history and a mineral collection.
You’ll feel small next to the St. Joe shovel at Missouri State Mines Historic Site in Park Hills, www.MoStateParks.com/momines.htm. Located in Federal Mill No. 3, the largest mill in the old Southeast Missouri Lead District, the museum presents Missouri’s mining history and contains mining machinery and an expansive mineral collection. Step outside and you’ll notice the ghost town quality of the site. Photographers will appreciate the opportunity to capture weathered mine buildings on a stark landscape.
St. Joe State Park, www.MoStateParks.com/stjoe.htm, offers more than 8,000 acres for recreational purposes including at least 2,000 acres designated as the state’s premier off-road vehicle riding area. The heart of the “Old Lead Belt” now pulses with several modes of transport, from ATVs to hooves to hiking boots.
A cool way to learn more about Missouri’s mine heritage takes place 80 feet below the earth’s surface in Bonne Terre Mine, www.2Dive.com/articles.htm, formerly the world’s largest lead mine. Listed by National Geographic as one of “America’s Top 10 Greatest Adventures,” this site offers a review of 100 years of lead mining and an opportunity to view a blue, billion-gallon lake with 17 miles of remote shoreline. The fact the mine is manmade makes it even more amazing, especially when you have the opportunity to see the tools used by the men who created it. Boat tours and dive trips are available.
For more information about Missouri or to get a copy of your Official Missouri Vacation Planner, log on to www.VisitMO.com or call 800-519-4800.
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