Lead mine along Pearson Creek, circa 1900. Commercial extraction of lead here began in the 1840s and ended around 1920. Remnants of lead diggings can be seen in the hills along lower Pearson Creek.
In Schoolcraft’s 1819 account, A View of the Lead Mines of Missouri, he wrote, “On the immediate banks of James River are situated some valuable lead mines, which have been known to the Osage Indians and to some White River hunters, for many years.”
The young New York explorer repeatedly expressed astonishment at the clarity of Ozark streams. At his James River camp at the lead mine he observed lumps of ore “through the water, which is very clear and transparent.” Other Ozark regions had much vaster commercial lead deposits. These diggings along the James River left unsightly holes and the potential for lead contamination.
Dr. Robert T. Pavlowsky and his associates and students at Missouri State University’s Ozark Environmental and Water Resources Institute have investigated the effect of these old mines on water quality. They found lead contamination from mine waste has been stored in alluvial deposits of floodplains. Lead that washed into streams is now embedded in sediments in Pearson Creek and the James River. It will eventually degrade, but there is a danger if channel instability uncovers this mining-related metal contamination.
Taken from James Fork of the White: Transformation of an Ozark River, now on sale for $17.50 (half price) postage paid, at www.beautifulozarks.com