This is fantastic film from the late 1940s. From 17:10 to 25:00 time are operations through the entire process at the Herculaneum, MO, lead smelter. Also of interest is the method of loading lead concentrate into boxcars (later to be replaced by gondolas). This film also has some of the only footage I have found of the large caverns in some of the Old Lead Belt mines, where one could see mine trains on 3 working levels at once. Missouri Pacific and Missouri-Illinois served many of the Old Lead Belt mines and the smelter at Herculaneum.

That was really especially interesting to me, since my company owned St. Joe Lead for a few years. Massey Coal was involved somehow also. The intent was to have a steady producer of cash to balance out the, um, cyclical nature of engineering and construction. It soon became pretty obvious that this investment was going to cost more than it was worth, so we got out of it and turned it over to somebody more familiar with the risks of that business. All in all, I’d say that we got out while the getting was good.

Back to railroading, now I know why those M-I boxcars didn’t get out much, if they were shuttling back and forth carrying pig lead.

RG7