News Release No. 396

OPEN HOUSE OCT. 8 HIGHLIGHTS
MISSOURI MINES STATE HISTORIC SITE

Volume 33-396

Contact: Sue Holst

(For immediate release)

573-751-6510

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, SEPT 26, 2005 -- Exhibits, presentations and free museum admission will highlight the Old Mine Open House Saturday, Oct.8, at Missouri Mines State Historic Site in Park Hills. Sponsored by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the open house will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the public is invited.

Retired Lead Belt miners, millmen and other lead-company workers are invited as special guests. They will be on hand to answer questions and describe what it was like to work in the lead mines many years ago. Included in the open house will be a special collection of old miners' lamps, some dating back to the mid-18th century. Also, rock-polishing techniques used in making rock jewelry will be demonstrated. Technicians from the St. Francois County Lead Project will demonstrate testing equipment used in their work of cleaning up lead from soils.

Admission to the site and its mining and mineral museum will be free during the open house. The site preserves the milling complex and mine headworks of a historic lead mine. The museum contains exhibits on geology and mineral resources, and pieces of restored underground mining equipment.

Missouri Mines State Historic Site is located in Park Hills on the south side of Highway 32 at the Flat River Drive overpass. For more information, contact the site at 573-431-6226 or the Department of Natural Resources at 800-334-6946 (voice) or 800-379-2419 (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf). For more information about state parks and historic sites, visit the Web at www.mostateparks.com.

For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/parkssearch.do.

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