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From: Pat Short <>
Subject: [MOJASPER] The Book The Story Of Joplin By Dolph Shaner
Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2002 15:52:42 -0600


I have the most interesting Book Called The Story Of Joplin Written by
Dolph Shaner , It tells the history of Joplin and the lead and zinc
mines with pictures and the history it is most interesting.
It says A negro slave boy owned by John Cox uncovered some heavy rocks
while digging for fish bait . They showed pretty shiny silvery marks
when broke open , he took the Peculiar stones to his masters log cabin
home and store nearby they melted the rocks over a fire it melted in to
lead metal. Cox went to Springfield to the us land office and filed on
the land the entry shows the date was Jan 20th 1851 .

A shaft was sunk on the spot where the negro lad dug for worms and it
produced some ore Its location and the cause of discovery led the miners
to name the mine the Nigger Diggins. The location was on the hillside a
short distance northwest of the tennis courts in Landereth Park

Joplin City ws the name of Cox town site plat of which was filed on July
28, 1871. It was located one block east of the Broadway viaduct and
extended from Galena Avenue three blocks east to Division street It
consisted of a business street running east and west which he name main
street and parts of three residence streets. Main street was 56 feet
wide the other streets more narrow the lots were mostly 66 feet wide
and 100 feet deep. Considering the very large area of land Mr. Cox owned
it is surprising that the limited his original town site to only
seventeen acres and the four additions thereto less than 3 acres he
seemed to lack confidence in the future of his own town.
here was a also the town called Murphysburg extended from first street
to fourth street. The business street was also called main street and
the residence streets, Joplin, wall and Pearl. Main street was
originally platted sixty feet wide but was widen to 80 feet by reducing
the lots on each side of main to 110 feet in depth. the residence lots
were 50x120.

There are lots of name and dates in the back of the book.
Wish you could all read it.
Pat Short

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