Matt and Carol's Travels: Livin' Life in Missouri.. Still

We were not letting the rain stop us, especially since its not raining, only threatening. Off to the Joplin History and Mineral Museum we go.

The mineral portion of this museum was established in 1972. There was a group of men back in 1931 that had the foresight to collect samples of the minerals mined.

Missouri is known for its large amount caves. No this is not one of the cave, its just the entrance to the mineral wing of the museum.

GALENA

Galena is a natural mineral of lead sulfide, and is the primary ore of lead. It can often be found in association with sphalerite, and calcite. Collectors like to obtain samples of galena that comes from the tri-state because of their forms, even though galena can be found worldwide.

SPHALERITE

Sphalerite is a sulfide mineral, and the primary ore of zinc. The name is derived from a Greek word meaning "deceiving". This mineral can be misdiagnosed as galena.

CERUSSITE and GALENA on CHERT

BRECCIATED CHERT with JASPEROID

That black portion of the stone is the Jasperoid; it can be brown also. Jasperoid is a form of chert that has penetrated the older, lighter, fractured chert, cementing the pieces together. The dark color is due to organic impurities.

QUARTZ on CHERT

Chert is chemically similar to flint, and acts as a major host that minerals can deposit themselves on. Chert itself is normally opaque and dull in color. They are commonly found as rounded nodules once the limestone around them is washed away. Chert has a conchoidal fracture which made them valuable to the indigenous people; they used them to make stone tools.

In the Tri-State District quartz crystals can be found up to an inch in size. Usually quartz crystals are tiny, and found on other area minerals. This coating is called "Drusy Quartz".

Lesson of the minute:

Conchoidal Fracture: a smooth conical fracture resembling the lines of a shell.

Drusy: druse is a coating of tiny crystals on the surface of a mineral.

Just gaze at the wonders God created in the caves.

These samples are the reason I enjoy going into caves to explore their beauty.

As we venture upstairs to a model of a standard mining site, we pass by the fossils. Many fossils have been found in this region.

MAMMOTH MOLAR, LOWER LEFT

Have you really read some of the labels of the products you buy? Let me peak your interest to look at labels closer.

NOT MY TWINKIES!!!

YEP, YOUR TWINKIES

OK, we'll move on. The upstairs area is dedicated to the miners that went down under to mine the minerals we so crave today.

It all started when man decided to search for new horizons, which in some cases meant hauling up dirt and rocks below the topsoil. Phase one started with man doing all the muscle work...

Someone would be underground making piles of rocks to be hauled to the surface, where two men would be winching up the bucket of rocks and dirt. As time went on, someone realized there was another way to accomplish this task with fewer men, this would be phase two.

Oxen. They were more powerful than two men, but rather single minded. It was easy to get the oxen to go forward to raise the bucket, it was backward that was the problem. The oxen would try to turn around instead of backing up. The issue with them turning around is the yoke being pulled off them as the bucket was going down.

Now we see phase three moving towards us.

Now we have added machinery to the work force, and the animal doesn't have to work as hard.

The final step was the addition of steam, then electricity to the machinery. With each phase more and more product could be brought out of the ground. With more product coming out of the ground, bigger structures and new methods were needed, hence, the model of and average mining operation.

On the right is the first step, get the rocks out of the ground. Step two was crushing the rocks down to smaller pieces.

From the crusher it is sent down the line for further processing.

EARLY DAYS, MOSTLY MAN POWER

Before we head downstairs again, we'll look at those special rocks.

I bet your thinking, those don't look special...

Different minerals react different when they're subjected to high-frequency light, or low-frequency light. Same rocks, different light wavelengths.

Ok, downstairs.

What, another rock.

SEPTARIA

OUT OF A MINE IN WEBB CITY

We are almost ready to exit the mine, but I have one last question for this wing; how did these minerals get their names... well, you find it, you name it.

You made it out of the mine, and you deserve a break... be back in 5 minutes so we can move over to the Joplin history side.

Back on the bus, its heading for Joplin.

The first exhibit you see walking into the history museum, is a tree.

OLD OAK TREE

As you look around you see a lot of items that have seen better days. These items you are looking at are relics from an F-5 tornado that tore through the city of Joplin one Sunday, in May 2011. Imagine yourself leaving your house and driving a mile and a quarter down the street, this was the width of the tornado. Now drive 7 miles in your neighborhood, and imagine all the structures destroyed in that 7 mile drive. That's right, this tornado was on the ground for 7 miles changing peoples lives. Fortunately, the loss of life was less than it could have been if it were during a work day.

Why am I showing you this picture? Look at that seven-story building in the background, that WAS a hospital, until the tornado lifted that entire structure off its foundation. Fortunately there was a second hospital that only received minor damage. Oh, I forgot to tell you that before it got through the city, the winds were clocking over 250 MPH.

While we were in Joplin, we visited the Elks lodge. I was talking with one of the members, and he shared with me that the lodge was leveled, and they lost a bartender and four members that day. The silver lining on this story, the almost 80 women playing bingo had left before the tornado hit.

Moving on to happier places.

The bottom three photos are a single circus that one gentleman owned. The gentleman was a circus enthusiast, and belonged to a circus club. Speaking with the docent, the owner had much more memorabilia, he knew this because that gentleman was his relative.

FROM THE CIRCUS

Leaving the circus we come to a place that was requested, and that would be...

This museum was chocked full of cookie cutters, and visitors could take one home, free of charge.

It was wild how many cutters there were, and some of them are handmade. Apparently you have to make one to be part of the cookie cutter club.

I don't know how many of you remember the shootout with Bonnie and Clyde, but they stayed here in Joplin before that shootout. They left in such a hurry that they left some of their belongings behind, in the apartment they rented. One of the photos that became famous, was Bonnie smoking a cigarette/cigar, foot up on the car bumper, with a gun in her hand.

The only reason we got to see that picture was because Clyde left the camera behind. The camera proved even more valuable when it provided pictures of their accomplices'.

You think of these two as hardened criminals, and they were, Bonnie died at the age of 23, and Clyde, age 25.

Bonnie Parker, born in Rowena, TX, appeared to have a good childhood until her father died unexpectedly. Her mom moved the family down towards Dallas. Her grades were good in school, she excelled in english, and wrote poetry. Her ambitions were to be an actress or model. Unfortunately she dropped out of school and got married at age 15. The marriage went south after her husband got pinched for a robbery, and was sent to prison for five years. A year later while staying with a friend, she meets a neighbor... Clyde Barrows.

In 1932 she left her mom's house and strayed off with Clyde. Bonnie told her mom that she was headed to Houston to demonstrate cosmetic products. Her first experience as a criminal was a robbery, in which she was arrested and sent to jail. She only spent two months in jail, claiming that she was kidnapped by the two guys (Clyde Barrows and Jack Sherman), and that she was not connected to the robbery. Again she lies to her mother, telling her that she is done with the criminal life, then she runs off with Clyde... again.

Clyde is a different story. He was born in Teleco, TX. His childhood would find him growing up in poverty. He was one of those that lived "on the other side of the tracks", in a shanty town. When he turned 16 he tried to join the Navy, but was rejected due to a childhood illness. His first brush with the law was in 1926 when he and a brother were caught stealing turkeys from a neighbor. Clyde got off lucky, and was released, his brother had to do time, a week in jail. Because Clyde hated the thought of being poor, he dressed in style. He could have made a choice to follow his musical ability, playing a variety of instruments, including the saxophone, and guitar.

1929 was when he met Bonnie; they both concluded that it was "love at first sight". The bloom did not stay on the vine very long. Bonnie learned that Clyde had a likin' to thievery, auto theft to be exact, which got him sent to jail in Waco, TX.

Bonnie's mom thought that this separation would be a good thing... wrong, it only drew them closer.

Clyde found himself in a heap of trouble in Ohio in 1931, arrested for robbery. After sentencing, he was sent to a prison in Weldon, TX. This was not your run-of-the-mill prison, this place was a brutal place to do time. Because the prisoners were housed in a dormitory environment, there was violence you wouldn't believe, and some of it resulted in death. The guards often enjoyed inflicting pain on the prisoners. One incident was a boy being stabbed to death by a "lifer". Another incident involved Clyde himself, his body was sold to an inmate for three packs of cigarettes. This violence was a turning point in his life. These two incidences led to his first killing, and his later refusal to be taken alive by law enforcement.

His first killing, was the "lifer" that bought him for three packs of cigarettes. What he did was befriend an inmate that would never see the light of day again, and after killing his abuser, convinced the "lifer" to take the wrap. The beating was so brutal that another inmate witnessing it said Clyde went from a "schoolboy" to a "rattlesnake".

We know he gets out of prison and meets up with Bonnie in 1932. Their spree saw a lot of law enforcement killed in the pursuit of these criminals, ending in their deaths in 1934.

Too much... lets move on.

ASSAYER'S OFFICE

BLUE PRINT MACHINE

USED TO COPY MINE MAPS AND MACHINE DRAWINGS

SCHIMMEL-NELSON PIANO

Mr. Schimmel, a German piano maker, came to America in 1893. He closed his business during WWII, because he could not get the delicate parts and strings. He created 12 pianos, five were lost in a fire in Minnesota. The whereabouts of only four are known, one in California, one in Minnesota, one in Germany, and this one.