Defending St. Louis from Attack
Defender of STL
The Colonial Days His Bride
Valles Mines, Missouri, U S A
Founded in 1749 by Francois Valle in the French Upper Louisiana before Lewis and Clark. 276 years later the Valle Mining Company's 4000+ acre property every year absorbs 21,000 tons of carbon dioxide and generates 14,000 tons of oxygen, enough to meet the needs of 63,000 people. [USDA Forest Facts]

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The Old Church House

Church House The Methodist Churchhouse stood at the beginning of Valles Mines School Road until being burnt by arson in 1975. The foundation still remains as does its well and many people remember the acoustics of the building with its tall ceiling and windows.

The Romance Spring and French Rules of Affection 1700's

Its congregation built it in sight of A.P. Rowe General Store and Post Office. Mrs. Pete Snyder, PostMistress of Valles Mines for 37 years, met her husband at a social the church held while serving up water from the Romance Spring, locally known for love at first sight.

"He was older and with someone else and I was busy and just looked up and then our eyes met. That was it - and there's a lot of folks around here who had an experience like we did."

The French used to call this coup de coeur and being a romantic people, had strict rules to cover kissing and its consequences centuries before The Pill.

Il suffit de deux baisers/
pour transformer une demoiselle en madame
[Roughly: "It only takes two kisses/to make a miss a mrs."]

It stood as a stark warning to women that they carried the responsibility of unwanted pregnancies in that brutal era [read: so don't get carried away, stop at one kiss, this will be your last warning. Wake up!]
It also stood as a stark warning to men to stop flirtation at one kiss because under the French Catholic Church and its community "your bachelorhood [and freedom] could end abruptly". This saying is largely ignored in today's world.

[The Lost History Museum is seeking volunteers to restore the Romance Spring. Perhaps a must-visit location if you are single. ]

The church faced a park across the road which was destroyed in order to make room for an ore-processing plant for the war effort during World War II [See the Chat Pile]. Local people ran the mill. The War Department's goal was to reclaim dumps with 25% lead ore left in them as waste by early mines dug as far back as 100 years ago. They hoped the recovery would be well worth it but the project had to be shut down because the washer's waste discharge directly into the creek left bright orange mud flowing several miles downstream. Unpopular compared to previous washing at the Garotte years ago into a catch basin with a dam that left two 10-acre fishing lakes. Wise stewardship lasts.

The restoration of the ore washing site began 7 years ago and several hundred thousand tons of crushed rock has been removed. The trees of the former park thinned for the War Effort have grown back overcrowded and as mutants. IF YOU ARE TOURING AND NEED AN ADVENTURE, a foot trail south of the churchhouse leads 3/4 of a mile south along the highway to behind the Furnace Tender's Cabin, where it looks down on the Artesian Well and the Company Store.