Southeast Missouri is the largest and richest lead district on Earth, worked since the French in the 1700s, and the Viburnum Trend still produces most of the lead mined in the United States. The old mines around Bonne Terre and Flat River gave up spectacular galena (lead sulphide in bright cubes), calcite and barite (“tiff”). The Bonne Terre Mine is now the world’s largest underground lake, toured by boat and by scuba; the historic dumps are mostly PRIVATE, but the mine museum at St. Joe State Park shows the material.
Galena, calcite, dolomite, barite
Other places on the map within a couple of hours.
