Valles Mines, Missouri, U S A
Founded in 1749 by Francois Valle years before he became Don Francois Valle.
The Valle Mining Company's 4500 acre property every year absorbs 21,000
tons of carbon dioxide and puts out 14,000 tons of oxygen.
This is enough to meet the needs of 63,000 people. [USDA Forest Facts]
Site Map
Recent Exploration
Site #1 - "...no one dead or alive could have expected what we found that day..." The Big Lode
revisited
"Fire in the Hole!" First blast. Will there ever be a quarry?
After 250 acres of exploration, drilling through dozens of outcroppings and shelves, punch-throughs after 14 feet
of good stone into dirt beneath, to no avail, finally, consolidated
rock, just plain solid rock as deep as we can drill.
We clear "no more than 1/4 acre" per DNR spec and drill out at the edges. Still solid.
Can this hill top be unfaulted
mountain top? This rock's overburden stays 6 inches or less from the surface even on its downhill slopes.
Time to blast. Clayton Francois decides on the pattern and depth to drill.
Wayne parks the dozer and with the crew loads the drill holes with explosives
The holes are filled, charges set. Easy does it. Safety first!
Every precaution is painstakingly observed.
We take cover. The warning call, "Fire in the Hole", and Frazier Quarry begins.
Such unexpected success makes the next step obvious, namely, to answer,
"What is the lateral extent of
this rock?" Previous
mining of the Big Lode has left a network of roads and the Big Bill and Little Bill mineshafts. Next, to "prove" the extent of the
hilltop discovery, we drill the service road that slopes to the foot of the Big Bill's twin shafts.
All good. Could this be it? Sure, this exploration was hoped to continue our mining legacy of 270 years. But one dead or alive could have expected
what we found that day.