| Program Review: As
our program for March's meeting, Eric Meier shared with us a slide-show on "Mines and
Minerals of Rush, Arkansas".
The search for zinc, iron, lead, and copper in Arkansas began with Ferdinand De Soto.
This Spanish explorer rode through the area on his way to Florida.
In modern times, surveyors, Banner and Hoover charted the area. Herbert Hoover
went on to become the only geologist every to become a U. S. President.
These intrepid discoverers suspected that the area's waterways were mineralized.
The region's geology links this phenomenon to Mid-Ordovician formations.
These historic zinc mines, many now decrepit ghost towns, provided the country with
strategic zinc supplies from about 1896 until the end of World War I. In the mining
heyday, mule teams drove ore to the smelter. Later, the Missouri & Pacific
Railroad (1906) carted material away.
At one time, the Morningstar Mine (1890) area drew a population of 2,000, growing to
5,000 in just ten years!
There were 19 mines in the Rush, Arkansas area, surrounding Rush Mountain and Rush
Creek. Some were north of Buffalo River State Park.
Eric explained that should we want to visit the mines today, we might need a kayak or
canoe, as the water levels in the creeks can drop to 6-12 inches. He related that
the town of Rush cannot be found on official maps of our time.
The economic ore minerals were Sphalerite and Smithsonite,
the latter being a secondary mineral after Sphalerite (ZnS). The miners, Eric said,
preferred to smelt the Smithsonite, as the sulfur content was lower, or non-existent.
He told us that the miners came up with many creative and descriptive names for the
mineralized forms there. For example, "rosin jack" is the yellow-brown
sphalerite, and "turkey fat" described the yellow, botryoidal smithsonite
masses. He showed us many colorful slides of numerous specimens collected from the
mine area.
Eric described the geology as containing limestone, dolomite, and sandstone layers,
with the ore being sandwiched somewhere in between. The Everston Formation remains
roughly horizontal, so the ore beds were accessible by level tunnel mining.
At the mine's inception, double-jacking by hand and blasting were the main techniques
used to create and mine the adits and tunnels. When the mines ran dry, the were
closed. In 1957, an attempt was made to lure investors in a stock scam to promise
that silver can be extracted from the zinc ore with modern 1950s technology.
There was no silver, so the venture went belly up, and only the smelter remains.
The newly-built mill was dismantled later and sold to a Mexican mine, which curiously is a
famous wulfenite collecting locality today.
Eric informed us that many ore and gangue minerals are still collectible today.
Unique combinations of quartz, calcite, dolomite, and smithsonite can be plyed from the
area. Other minerals found are: aragonite, greenockite, blue malachite, and
chrysocolla.
Thanks, Eric.
[Ken Casey]
Rush, Arkansas Slide Show Opening Slide
Links
Zinc Mines at Rush
Arkansas
Rush
Historic District Hiking Trails
Wright's Rock
Shop Arkansas Gallery
Steamboat
up the Buffalo - Voyage of the Dauntless
Recent Finds,
Philadelphia Mine, Rush, Arkansas
Rush, Arkansas: Buffalo
National River Historic Places
Rocky Mountain Federation
of Mineralogical Societies:
"Mines and Minerals of Rush, Arkansas" Slide Show
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