Metal of a Thousand Uses

Mercury Mining in Arkansas, 1930-1946

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

438 kr

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Beskrivning

In 1930, a remote corner of southwest Arkansas witnessed the discovery of cinnabar, the ore from which mercury is extracted. Upon the arrival of "the metal of a thousand uses," a wave of hope and ambition swept through the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains as mercury mining promised economic revival for the struggling state. Despite the known dangers of the industry, Arkansans greeted the prospect of a mercury boom with unbridled enthusiasm, seeing it as a potential solution to their economic woes amid the Great Depression.In The Metal of a Thousand Uses: Mercury Mining in Arkansas, 1930–1946, Terry S. Reynolds charts the dramatic rise and fall of the state's mercury mining district, from the euphoria of discovery to the logistical and financial challenges of industrialization. Drawing on deep archival research, Reynolds explores the experiences of the miners and managers whose fates became bound to the companies that sought to commercialize mercury refining in the Ouachita Mountains. The result is a vivid account of a little-known chapter in American mineral-resource history.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-05-25
Mått:152 x 229 x 20 mm
Vikt:426 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:294
Förlag:University of Arkansas Press
ISBN:9781682262917

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Terry S. Reynolds grew up near El Dorado, Arkansas, and studied history at Southern Arkansas University and the University of Kansas. He is professor emeritus of history at Michigan Tech and author or editor of several books that examine the history of technology, from the early history of waterpower to the mining of iron ore in the Lake Superior region.

Recensioner i media

"The Metal of a Thousand Uses is a definitive history of an industry that once seemed so promising, yet totally collapsed in just a decade and a half. The text moves beyond events in the Ouachita Mountains to examine mercury mining around the world, demonstrating how the Great Depression, World War II, and shifting quicksilver markets shaped the fate of a mineral district in a poor state seeking industrial growth. Terry S. Reynolds's book tells us how enthusiasm can be thwarted in many ways, ending up in disappointment and failure." —Larry Lankton, author of Hollowed Ground: Copper Mining and Community Building on Lake Superior, 1840s–1990s"Reynolds's industrial history reveals how the rural state of Arkansas embraced the possibility of a new source of economic activity that would stoke prosperity without upsetting the existing agriculturally based system of labor and wealth. The Metal of a Thousand Uses is an illuminating, deeply researched examination that should serve as a model for future studies of other regional mining endeavors." —Ben F. Johnson III, author of Arkansas in Modern America Since 1930"Drawing from a variety of primary sources, Reynolds's study of cinnabar mining in southwestern Arkansas provides a detailed scholarly history of the geologists, investors, corporations, civic boosters, and governmental forces that created a seesaw of interest in mercury production during a chaotic era of American history. Beyond local interest, however, the book provides a model for studies of other boom-and-bust regional industries." —Erik Nordberg, past president of the Mining History Association and dean of the library at the University of Tennessee at Martin