North
The Valles Mines Station & Post Office at V Road falls within sight of
Flint Rock Mound where Indian braves made their spearpoints. To the east you will find a road through
Hick's Field, aka, The Corn Field, where food for the oxen was grown. A rock shelf across Finney Creek
allows crossing onto a road that comes out on Valles Mines School Road south of the Chat Pile & Concentrator.
The Hillsboro-Farmington Road
The present Valles Mines Road went through Buster Crossing to French Village
then on to Ste. Genevieve. Once known as the "Hillsboro-Farmington Road", Y Highway
today actually begins at Buster Crossing, goes up the mountain
above the former village of Tunnel Station and over the top of the hill to
end at the Halifax Post Office Road.
MoDOT cut "French Village Road", during the construction of Hwy 67 near the
Radio Tower in 1954.
If you start at Buster crossing going south and...
-
take the left fork, you will be taking the high road over the top of the MR & BT Tunnel.
What we have come to call The "Mud Road" starts at the foundations of the Upper Lake
Ore Washer. At its other end this haul road comes down from the Big Lode Mine, hopefully to be opened
Summer 2020 as a tourist attraction to compete with the Bonne Terre Mine Tours. However, turning
west to follow this road halfway up the mountain is hazardous as the road is washed out in many
places. Explore at your own peril (permit required). It would be far easier to park your horse trailer
behind the Green House at 14161 and starting at the Rock Road, go up to the top and come down from the
foot of the High Wall at the Frazier Quarry. You will have to cross a tiny creek which may be dry. Be careful,
this is rough ground and a challenge if your used to flat paddocks. Road renovation coming Summer 2020.
take the right fork, you will be taking the low road onto the railway's right-of-way and
THROUGH the Haunted Tunnel to Tunnel Station and its cemetery.
Vinegar Hill Road
Vinegar Hill Road South joins Valles Mines Road. It served the mighty Garottee Mine, now fenced.
Nearby above on the hill note the textbook example of the Eminence/Gasconade formation's ledge exposure.
The Garottee Mine lies near the ruins of the former village of Prospect School, whose foundation still
protrudes. Just a few hundres yards before that intersection, the famous Selma Road, known in the late-1700's
as THE haul road out of the Lead Belt, comes in from the south and continues to the Upper Lake, although
now in bad repair.