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The following article
reprinted from Trampes Pope County Historical Review,
describes the Dixon Springs, IL area during the early 1900s.
I found it interesting and hope you do, too.
"Up in the hills and hollows
about that famous old summer resort, Dixon Springs, mining operations
are being carried on industriously day and night when the weather
will permit by J. A. Whitesides and Co., a private firm of which
Mr. Whiteside, long manager of the Springs, is the principal promoter.
This section, lying a few miles east
of Grantsburg on the Paducah and St. Louis branch of the I. C.
railway and within two miles of Renshaw on the Golconda-Reevesville
branch, is extremely rocky and picturesque and many a visitor
who has roamed over the bluffs about the Springs has felt confident
that mineral existed nearby.
Mr. Whitesides began prospecting early
in the year 1902 and finally located what gives every indication
of being a rich vein of lead and spar and also bearing zinc.
For a time the sinking of the shaft
was done in a modest way by pick and shovel and horse - power
hoist, but now an engine has been installed and a steam hoist
has taken the place of the other. The company has been offered
very attractive prices for the property more than once but prefer
to hold to it and do their own work and reap the benefit of their
effort.
This property is but another example
of the unlimited resources of the Pope County mineral fields.
Land owners who for years have been able to raise but small crops
on the hills have found that below the surface lies wealth untold,
only waiting for the miner to bring it to light."
The Dixon Springs State Park covers these acres today. The
farmers are still planting and harvesting crops in the surrounding
areas and the underground wealth still remains hidden from the
light.
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