12-19-04

I took a little drive around the country yesterday afternoon. this is what I was talking about when I mentioned the little country roads like a roller coaster ride.

I drove the highway to Bixby where there is a lead mine. The mine had big NO signs but I took a side road in to take a quick look around. Evidently they close for the weekend. There is a medium size head frame and I guess all the mining is done underground.

I stopped at the little old country store at Cherryville. I went in and found the cooler where I selected a root beer and wandered over and introduced myself to the liar’s table. There were four old guys just hanging out drinking coffee. They were all really nice and very knowledgeable of the area. One of the old guys at one time drove a truck that picked up milk in the Bunker area where Susan has her farm. He said that people would have a small box in the creek and that is where he would collect the milk and take it to Salem where they had a cheese factory. Salem is where I have my bunker. I have looked around here but I have never seen the factory. I will have to ask someone to see where it was. As far as I can see, there are no milk cows around. I have only seen one pasture where there were hogs. There could be a lot of stuff going on out there in all those trees, there is no way for me to tell. 

Evidently most everyone had a few milk cows and hogs that they would let run in the forest. They said that this was ‘open range’ up until the last day of 1959. Most of the country around here is National Forest. In the early days the pioneers came here and cut the native forests and cleared the land for crops. The unfortunate thing is that the soil was thin and with the trees gone, the soil washed away. After the trees and soil was all gone there was no way to make money here and they left. The Government was left with land that nobody wanted and they decided to take it back and make this National Forest. The old guys said that they would clear cut the forest but now the tree huggers have shut down a lot of the logging. I told him that I had seen quite a few sawmills along the road. He said that they were bringing in logs from St Louis area which is  a long way away. it is just like the west where the good logs are gone and the sawmills are gone.

A pile of oak logs. They are about ten feet long. sixteen inches is  about the largest size.

oak lumber. Some of it is labeled as 4/4 flooring. Big bundles of slabs made me wish I had a truck to take some home with me.  this was about the biggest mill I saw.

One of the old guys told me where the lead smelter is. It was near the lead mine, but now recycles old batteries. I’m not sure if they smelt the lead ore as well as the batteries. Susan told me that most of her neighbors work at the mine or smelter. She said that the guys have to wear respirators and  take showers after their shift. They get there blood tested for lead and if they have low levels because they wear their respirators, they get a big bonus. An interesting side is that the sulfuric acid in the batteries is sent to the laundry soap manufacturers. The plastic is recycled as well.