Hawortu. | Historical. 21 
a size of 8,000 or 10,000 population, well supplied with lead 
smelters and other improvements necessary for mining de- 
velopment. In 1875 the Webb diggings were opened, where 
Webb City now stands, on land belonging to a farmer by the 
name of Webb, and a year later mining had progressed across 
the creek eastward to the site of Carterville, on a farm owned 
by a Mr. Carter. 
Discoveries in Kansas. 
GALENA.—During this period of discovery and operation 
on the very borders of Kansas many men were thoroughly 
convinced that the ore deposits extended westward across the 
state line. Small discoveries of lead ore frequently were 
made, and some little mining was attempted by private par- 
ties. In fact, as early as 1870 a man by the name of Cook 
discovered zinc ore or ‘‘black-jack’’ on a piece of land near 
Galena still known as the ‘‘Cook forty.’’ In 1871 a com- 
pany was formed at Baxter Springs for the purpose of ob- 
taining leases and operating mines. Large bodies of land 
were leased in the vicinity of Baxter Springs, Lowell, and 
northward on both sides of Springriver. Mr. H. R. Crowell, 
as early as 1872, made numerous examinations along Short 
creek expressly to see if conditions seemed favorable for large 
deposits of ore. 
A little later quite an amount of zinc was taken out at the 
Cook forty, and sold to parties in Joplin who were agents for 
the Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Smelting Company, of Lasalle, 
Ill., to which point the ore was shipped. But in these early 
days zinc ore was not reckoned of any considerable im- 
portance, and, therefore, its discovery attracted little attention. 
In the spring of 1876 ore was discovered on the farm of 
Jesse Harper, along Shoal creek, at the place afterward known 
as Bonanza. It is reported that pieces of lead ore weighing 
two or three pounds were uncovered by a plow in the field, 
whereupon certain parties who had all along suspected that 
Shoal creek valley might contain ore immediately began sink- 
ing a shaft. Atadepth between fifteen and twenty feet the 
first shaft revealed large quantities of valuable lead ore. 
As soon as the discovery became known a company of men 
