THE  COPPER  DEPOSITS  OF  MISSOURI. 
By  II.  Foster  Bain  and  E.  O.  Ulrich. 
Introduction. — Attempts  to  mine  copper  have  been  made  in  Mis- 
souri since  1837,  and  at  different  times  copper  furnaces  have  been 
operated  in  Shannon,  Ste.  Genevieve,  Jefferson,  and  Crawford  coun- 
ties, while  a  matte  carrying  in  addition  nickel  and  cobalt  has  been 
steadily  produced  in  Madison  at  Mine  la  Motte.  Copper  has  probably 
been  shipped  in  small  quantities  also  from  several  other  counties. 
Shumard,0  writing  in  1860,  enumerated  fifteen  counties  in  which  cop- 
per was  known  to  occur,  but  he  failed  to  include  Ste.  Genevieve,  the 
one  from  which  the  main  output  has  come.  Very  little  attempt  had 
then  been  made  to  develop  the  deposits.  At  present  a  small  furnace 
near  Sullivan  is  in  operation,  and  the  old  "  copper  mines  "  of  the 
Mine  la  Motte  estate  are  being  reopened. 
General  distribution. — Copper-bearing  pyrite  is  widely  distributed 
in  Missouri,  as  it  is  in  many  other  States,  and  the  brilliant  colors  of 
its  alteration  products  lead  to  its  ready  recognition.  It  has  been  noted 
in  Benton,  Clark,  Crawford,  Dade,  Dallas,  Dent,  Franklin,  Greene, 
Iron,  Jasper,  Jefferson,  Laurence,  Maries,  Madison,  St.  Francois,  Ste. 
Genevieve,  Shannon,  Washington,  and  probably  a  number  of  other 
counties.  For  the  most  part  these  occurrences  may  be  at  once  dis- 
missed as  of  no  economic  importance.  The  five  which  have  yielded 
ore  have  already  been  noted.  With  the  exception  of  one  or  two  spo- 
radic occurrences  of  merely  mineralogic  interest,  copper  is  found  only 
in  the  southern  part  of  Missouri,  within  the  region  broadly  known  as 
the  Ozark  uplift. 
For  the  better  understanding  of  the  description  of  the  deposits  the 
following  general  table  of  formations  is  here  presented.  It  will  be 
uoted  that  changes  have  been  made  in  the  older  classification  of  the 
rocks,  and  one  new  name,  Elvins  formation,  is  introduced.  The 
reasons  for  the  changes  are  discussed  in  full  in  a  bulletin  of  the  Sur- 
ey  now  in  press,6  in  which  also  fuller  data  regarding  the  deposits 
will  be  found. 
"  Shumard,  B.  F.,   Report  of  progress,  Geol.  Survey  Missouri,  1861,  pp.   7-9. 
6  Hull.   I".  S.  Geol.  Survey  No.  207. 
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