Valles Mines, Missouri, U S A
Founded in 1749 by Francois Valle years. 274 years later as The Valle Mining Company, his 4000+
acre property every year absorbs 21,000 tons of carbon dioxide and puts out 14,000 tons of oxygen, enough
to meet the needs of 63,000 people. [USDA Forest Facts]
Site Map
Mining Museum
Exhibit: The Paymaster's Shack, a small building with a big
history (14116 Valles Mines School Road 63087).
Jesse James blew our safe in the building but never robbed the train. His hideout cave lies a few miles due East.
[Scheduled for Rehab Phase 1, Summer 2019]
Exhibit: Historic photos, ledgers, artifacts, and documents from the 1800's
forward or before [see arrowheads from Flint Rock Mound]. Many local residents or their descendants have
donated their family portraits, Kodaks, and work pictures of times past. Former Valles Mines residents and
their families live all over the world now and we try to track them. You never know who you might meet here.
Recent visitors came from New Zealand and England.
Exhibit: Mining artifacts from the days of brute force, before Black & Decker. Drilling with star drills
and sledge hammers, packing the holes with explosives, hand mining on your back all day, eventually 2 hundred
years later with some steam tools. "The men were bulls!"
Exhibit: Solid rock cores from our Diamond Drill prospecting operations. In 1911, the steam powered
Diamond Core Drill [pictured] struck an underground river making the
Artesian Well you can drink from today at the foot of the hill where
the Museum stands. It still flows today.
Exhibit: 'Mineral Blossoms' (drusy quartz) and other local samples you can purchase in the Rock Shop,
gathered from our Mines and Works on the property.