The Lost History Museum of Valles Mines
What happened IS our mission
Museum
After Rehab
Museum
Before Rehab
Day by day, slowly we are reconstructing the town and times
of Valles Mines, one of the earliest villages of the Lead Belt in Southeast Missouri.
Actual physical artifacts are brought to us by former residents and their family members
who come from all over the world. Who would ever have suspected that they would someday return
and return to bring us their stories...
The Beginning: Here in the History Museum of the old village of Valles Mines, things happen a little differently.
One day we left the front door open while sweeping. We had just hung our first historic picture on
the wall. A former village resident stopped in and, seeing the picture, mentioned they had a picture
of the building that used to stand next door. In the year that followed, this scene repeated itself
over and over. Soon we had reconstructed a pretty good picture of the old days of Valles Mines.
So we grew and we had to move next door into the old white (shown above) building to house all the photos and
memorabilia people had been so kind as to give us. Turns out, that wasn't just the old white building next door.
While repairing the cedar siding we found the old building was actually an old log cabin underneath, the original
settlement house, built for Francois Valle and
his new bride, Marianne Billeron. If you look very closely at the photo above (right hand side of the front porch),
you can see where the siding has been removed and old log cabin has been allowed to show through. Come visit, it looks
a lot better up close.
Our Mission Statement
- To preserve physical evidence of previous Times, Civilizations and Technologies
and if possible
- To recreate those Eras' events emphasizing how they lead to Demise or Prosperity,
and
- To provide enough context from the Era to avoid its mistakes or
content ourselves with its successes.
For centuries people have come into contact with Valles' Mines, lived there,
mined there, passed through, died there, or descended from those who did.
They number well into the thousands, scattered all over the world now.
The Lost History Museum has made it its Mission to find out where everyone went,
contact them, receive their contacts, or even bring them back home.
Valle did more than carry lead back to Ste. Genevieve over the French
Village Road. He started a subculture of civilization that survives
even today. If you know someone interested, bring them to town and come
by the Museum. We welcome your company!
Relive Yesteryear
To email us, click here
The Lost History Museum preserves and displays local artifacts from Valles Mines, one of
Missouri's oldest settlements. Tours by appointment (573-631-6875). Please call ahead
as our hours vary. Walk down mainstreet of this
ghost town and visit the general store, payroll office, smelter,
furnace tender's cabin, or other historic sites.
The museum itself is housed
in the 1749 settlement house of Francois Vallee. Inside is an
extensive collection of photos, miniatures, and primitives from
a mining mining town that has come back again and again over the centuries*.
* From 1725-1974 all the zinc production in our region from the Potosi-Eminence
Mineralization came from Valles Mines. About half came from the Big Lode Mine,
closed before 1898.
"In 1780 great great great great Uncle Ferdinand
was taken by Indians as a child. I hope someday we find your long lost
cousins. And for that matter, whatever happened to Marguerite Valle? "
Click here for more on The French & Spanish Colonial Era
VALLES' MINES CULTURE AND HISTORY EXHIBITS
Exhibits you can walk into.
- Exhibit:
Local photos, ledgers, artifacts and documents from the 1800's
forward. Many local residents or their descendants have donated their family portraits and
work pictures of times past. Valles Mines has former residents and their families all over the world.
- Exhibit:
Mining artifacts. Hand mining on your back all day, blasting with black powder packed in holes made
with star drills, eventually steam tools and always brute force. "The men were bulls!"
- Exhibit:
Diamond drill cores from 6 drill holes. Of
course the famous one is the Artesian Well now. In 1911, the steam powered
Diamond Core Drill struck an underground river making the Artesian Well. You can see it today at the
foot of the hill where the Museum stands, where it still flows today.
- Exhibit:
'Mineral Blossoms' (drusy quartz) gathered from Mines on the property.
- Exhibit:
The present General Store. Before the Tornado sucked up the original building,
[CIVIL WAR REENACTMENT SITE] Confederate Bushwacker Sam Hildebrand and his men shot it out
with Federal troops during the Civil War.
- Exhibit:
The Paymaster's Shack, a small building with a big history. Jesse James blew the
safe once. His hideout cave lies a few miles due East.