32 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
of lead ore. But for every dollar obtained from the sale of 
ore they spent two or three dollars, and finally abandoned 
the enterprise, as all other companies previously organized 
had done. The old dump pile, when found by white men, 
it is reported, had growing on its surface young oak trees 
from four to six inches in diameter, which may imply a con- 
siderable antiquity, as the trees probably were at least twenty- 
five years old, and an equal amount of time may have elapsed 
after the mining operations closed before the growth was 
started. Possibly some of the early French explorers in trav- 
eling through the country may have lighted upon this par- 
ticular spot and have done the mining, or possibly the Indians 
may be entirely responsible. In either event, at present 
there seems to be no clue by which correct information is ob- 
tainable. 
In concluding this brief historical sketch, attention is in- 
vited to the general effect the development of these mines 
has had upon the community and the state. For over thirty 
years, ever since the origin of Joplin, there has been a steady 
influx of outside money, aggregating millions of dollars a 
year, which has supported practically the entire surrounding 
country. The money paid for ores from the mines and 
metals from the smelters is all outside money, coming, in 
most cases, entirely from outside the county and principally 
from outside the state, as the real purchasers of the great 
bulk of the metal, the consumers, live east of the Mississippi 
river. This money is paid for the raw ore and metals fresh 
from the smelters, from which places it goes through the banks 
to the merchants and individual laborers, a great portion of 
it reaching the produce farmers in surrounding neighborhoods 
and those who market grain and live stock. ‘The population, 
both urban and rural, has been increased many thousands, 
practically all of whom in one way and another subsist upon 
this outside money. ‘The great increase in population has 
been associated with social, intellectual, religious and po- 
litical activities, until the extent of the influence along all 
these lines has become so great, and so ramifies all phases of 
human activity throughout the environs scores and even hun- 
