Russell Herbert K. - Fluorspar Mining

I am grateful to several individuals and institutions for their help in preparing this book. Julie Farley of the Hardin County Independent in Elizabethtown, Illinois, responded to my idea about a book of photos by forwarding a dozen pictures from her own files. Her Out of the Past columns complemented the photos with summaries of days gone by in the fluorspar-rich towns of Cave in Rock and Rosiclare, Illinois.

I am also indebted to the American Fluorite Museum in Rosiclare. Board president Eric Livingston, a geologist formerly with an Illinois fluorspar mine, read the manuscript, offered corrections, and granted permission to use the museums photos. Linda Dutcher, a geologist previously with the same mine, also read the manuscript and made useful suggestions.

The Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum in Marion, Kentucky, offered a rich assortment of fluorspar mining photos in addition to its magnificent fluorspar collection. I am grateful to that museums board, including director Ben E. Clement Jr. and William Frazer, for reading the manuscript and for permission to reproduce photos, and to Russ Adams for his assistance. Museum director Tina Walker provided help with photographs and useful information on several occasions. I appreciate her patience.

Thanks to the Illinois State Geological Survey: geologist F. Brett Denny read the manuscript with a critical eye and supplied especially valuable help with the introduction; Susan Krusemark and Anne Huber kindly reviewed photos in the surveys files and approved the use of several prints.

I am indebted also to the Special Collections Research Center in Morris Library at Southern Illinois University Carbondale for use of its photos of fluorspar miners in the Ben Gelman Collection. I appreciate the permission to reprint from the centers director, Pamela Hackbart-Dean, and the assistance of Aaron Lisec.

Steve Bonney provided color photos of fluorspar, including the frontispiece, and Bethany Belford took the photos of Rosiclares double statue memorializing the fluorspar industry. Photographers Steve Buhman and Gary DeNeal made copies of photos in the Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum and the American Fluorite Museum, respectively. Other photo credits are shown with the captions.

Southern Illinois University Presss Barb Martin, Kristine Priddy, Linda Buhman, Amy Alsip, Wayne Larsen, and Lola Wilkening helped shape the bookthe first pictorial history of fluorspar mining in the Illinois-Kentucky bistate area.

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Southern Illinois University Press
www.siupress.com

Copyright 2019 by Herbert K. Russell
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America

22 21 20 19 4 3 2 1

Cover illustration: background, purple fluorite (cropped; iStock, original image by MarcelC); inset, men at the Big Four Fluorspar Mine near Sheridan, Kentucky (courtesy Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum, Marion, Kentucky).

Frontispiece: Blue fluorspar is shown along with other minerals. Fluorspar is typically cube-shaped, occurs in many colors and countries, and is valued worldwide as a collectible and for its industrial and commercial uses. Photo by Steve Bonney.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Russell, Herbert K., [date] author.

Title: Fluorspar mining : photos from Illinois and Kentucky, 19051995 / Herbert K. Russell.

Description: Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, [2019] | Series: Shawnee books | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018014174 | ISBN 9780809336685 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780809336692 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: FluorsparIllinoisPictorial works. | FluorsparKentuckyPictorial works. | Mines and mineral resourcesIllinoisPictorial works. | Mines and mineral resourcesKentuckyPictorial works. | GeologyIllinoisPictorial works. | GeologyKentuckyPictorial works.

Classification: LCC TN948.F6 R78 2019 | DDC 622/.363dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018014174

Printed on recycled paper.

FLUORSPAR MINING

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