St. Joe Minerals Corporation was an American mining company. It was the United States largest producer of

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

at the time of its merger with

Fluor Corporation Fluor Corporation is an American engineering and construction firm, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a holding company that provides services through its subsidiaries in three main areas: oil and gas, industrial and infrastructure, government ...

in 1981. The St. Joseph Lead Company was founded on March 25, 1864, by Lyman W. Gilbert, John E. Wylie, Edmund I. Wade, Wilmot Williams, James L. Dunham and James L. Hathaway in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The company acquired a lead mine at

Bonne Terre, Missouri Bonne Terre ( ) is a city in St. Francois County, Missouri, St. Francois County, Missouri, United States with a population of 6,864 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Situated in the Southeast Missouri Lead District, lead mining shape ...

. The mine had had numerous problems including

Price's Raid Price's Missouri Expedition (August 29 – December 2, 1864), also known as Price's raid or Price's Missouri raid, was an unsuccessful Confederate cavalry raid through Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the Ame ...

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

General

Sterling Price Sterling Price (September 14, 1809 – September 29, 1867) was an American politician and military officer who was a senior General officers in the Confederate States Army, officer of the Confederate States Army, fighting in both the Weste ...

. However under first president J. Wyman Jones and new mine manager Charles B. Parsons began using new

diamond drilling Exploration diamond drilling is used in the mining industry to probe the contents of known ore deposits and potential sites. By withdrawing a small diameter core of rock from the orebody, geologists can analyze the core by Metallurgical assay, ch ...

techniques the business prospered. It nearly went bankrupt February 26, 1883 when a fire destroyed the milling operations. The success of the company prompted many competitors in southeast Missouri including the

Doe Run Company The Doe Run Resources Corporation, known by the trade name The Doe Run Company, is a privately held natural resources company and global producer of lead, copper, and zinc concentrates. It owns four mills, six mines and a lead battery recycling p ...

and

Desloge Consolidated Lead Company Desloge Consolidated Lead Company was a lead mining company in the Southeast Missouri Lead District that was operated by the Desloge family in the 19th and early 20th century. The Desloge lead operations in the "Southeast Missouri Lead District, O ...

which were absorbed by St. Joe. Firmin V. Desloge, patriarch of the Desloge Family in America, remained on the board of directors as well as many of his descendants well into the late 20th Century. By 1923 the company had 250 miles of underground railroad running under Flat River, Leadwood, Desloge, Rivermines and Elvins, Missouri. In 1925 it expanded operations to lead, zinc and silver mining in South America including the Aguilar mine in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

near the

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

border. Its expansion into the zinc operations particularly in the northeastern United States lead it to Northern Ore Company in New York and the

New Jersey Zinc Company New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...

in New Jersey in 1943. In the 1940s it expanded its Missouri Lead Belt operations to Indian Creek,

Viburnum ''Viburnum'' is a genus of about 150–175 species of flowering plants in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. Its current classification is based on molecular phylogeny. It was previously included in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. The memb ...

, Meramec Township, and Fletcher. Its domination of the

Southeast Missouri Lead District The Southeast Missouri Lead District, commonly called the Lead Belt, is a lead mining district in the southeastern part of Missouri. Counties in the Lead Belt include Saint Francois, Crawford, Dent, Iron, Madison, Reynolds, and Wash ...

gave it control of nearly 70 percent of the United States lead production As the company also branched into the coal industry acquiring A.T. Massey in 1974 it was renamed St. Joe Minerals. In 1981 with metal prices running high Fluor Corporation outbid Seagrams to acquire the company. Shortly after the acquisition metal prices collapsed. The Fluor Corporation would spin the components off with zinc going to the Horsehead Corporation in 1987, lead to the

and coal to

Massey Energy Massey Energy Company was a coal extractor in the United States with substantial operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. By revenue, it was the fourth largest producer of coal in the United States and the largest coal producer in Cen ...

. The

Bonne Terre Mine Bonne Terre Mine, also known as the St. Joseph Lead Mine at Bonne Terre, is a historic lead mine located at Bonne Terre, St. Francois County, Missouri. Bonne Terre Mine was built starting in 1864 by the St. Joe Lead Company, and is located ...

and St. Joe Lead Company Administration Building are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Joe Minerals Defunct companies based in Missouri Defunct mining companies of the United States Coal companies of the United States Zinc mining in the United States Lead mining companies 1864 establishments in New York (state) 1981 disestablishments in New York (state) Superfund sites in Missouri Non-renewable resource companies established in 1864 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1981 Silver mining companies of the United States American companies disestablished in 1981