St. Joe Minerals Corporation was the United States largest producer of lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

 and zinc

Zinc

Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...

 when it merged with Fluor Corporation in 1981.

St. Joe was founded at the St. Joseph Lead Company on March 25, 1864 by Lyman W. Gilbert, John E. Wylie, Edmund I. Wade, Wilmot Williams, James L. Dunham and James L. Hathaway in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

.

The company acquired a lead mine at Bonne Terre, Missouri

Bonne Terre, Missouri

Bonne Terre is a city in St. Francois County, Missouri, United States. The population was estimated in 2008 as 6,854. It was 4,039 at the 2000 census. The community was originally settled by the French in 1720 after lead ore was discovered...

. The mine had numerous problems including Price's Raid

Price's Raid

Price's Missouri Expedition, also known as Price's Raid, was an 1864 Confederate cavalry raid through the states of Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War. While Confederate Major General Sterling Price enjoyed some successes during this campaign, he was decisively beaten at the Battle...

 by Confederate States Army

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 General Sterling Price

Sterling Price

Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...

. However under first president J. Wyman Jones and new mine manager Charles B. Parsons began using new diamond drilling

Exploration diamond drilling

Exploration diamond drilling is used in the mining industry to probe the contents of known ore deposits and potential sites. By withdrawing a small diameter core of rock from the orebody, geologists can analyze the core by chemical assay and conduct petrologic, structural and mineralogic studies...

 techniques the business prospered. It nearly went bankrupt February 26, 1883 when a fire destroyed the milling operations.

The success of the company prompted many competitors in southeast Missouri including the Doe Run Company

Doe Run Company

Doe Run Resources Corporation is the largest integrated lead producer in North America and the largest primary lead producer in the western world...

 and Desloge Consolidated Lead Company

Desloge Consolidated Lead Company

Desloge Consolidated Lead Company is a historically significant Missouri lead mining company owned by a great industrialist baron family of the 19th and 20th centuries in the new American Frontier - starting just after the Louisiana Purchase, in the Southeast Missouri Lead District.-History:The...

 which were absorbed by St. Joe.

By 1923 the company had 250 miles of underground railroad running under Flat River, Missouri, Leadwood, Missouri

Leadwood, Missouri

Leadwood is a city in St. Francois County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,160 at the 2000 census. The city was founded in 1910 as a company town by St...

, Desloge, Missouri

Desloge, Missouri

Desloge is a city in St. Francois County, Missouri, United States. The estimated 2008 population was 5,190. It was 4,802 at the 2000 census.-History:...

, Rivermines, Missouri and Elvins, Missouri.

In 1925 it expanded operations to lead, zinc and silver mining in South America including the Aguilar

Aguilar

-People:*Antonio Aguilar Barraza , Mexican singer*António Maria de Aguilar , Portuguese rugby player*Baron Diego Pereira d'Aguilar , Spanish Marrano*Christina Aguilar , Thai pop singer...

 mine in Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 near the Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

 border.

Its expansion into the zinc operations particularly in the northeastern United States lead it to Northern Ore Company in New York and the New Jersey Zinc Company

New Jersey Zinc Company

The Horsehead Corporation , formerly the New Jersey Zinc Company, is an American producer of zinc and related materials.The New Jersey Zinc Company was for many years the largest producer of zinc and zinc products in the United States. The company thrived in the period from 1897 to 1966, at which...

 in New Jersey in 1943.

In the 1940s it expanded its Missouri Lead Belt operations to Indian Creek, Missouri, Viburnum, Missouri

Viburnum, Missouri

Viburnum is a city in Iron County, Missouri, United States. The population was 825 at the 2000 census. The city is located in the New Lead Belt.-Geography:...

, Meremec, Missouri and Fletcher, Missouri

Fletcher, Missouri

Fletcher is an unincorporated community in western Jefferson County, Missouri, United States. It is located about ten miles west of De Soto. The community was founded in 1896 and is named for Missouri governor Thomas Clement Fletcher , who served 1865-1869....

.

Its domination of the Southeast Missouri Lead District gave it control of nearly 70 percent of the United States lead production

As the company also branched into the coal industry acquiring A.T. Massey in 1974 it was renamed St. Joe Mineral.

In 1981 with metal prices running high Fluor Corporation outbid Seagrams to acquire the company. Shortly after the acquisition metal prices collapsed.

The Fluor Corporation would spin the components off with zinc going to the Horsehead Corporation in 1987, lead to the Doe Run Company

Doe Run Company

Doe Run Resources Corporation is the largest integrated lead producer in North America and the largest primary lead producer in the western world...

 and coal to Massey Energy

Massey Energy

Massey Energy Company was a coal extractor in the United States with substantial operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. By revenue, it was the fourth largest producer of coal in the United States and the largest coal producer in Central Appalachia...

.