Description: In 1950, Wendell L. Bouchard, owner, publisher and editor of The Lead Belt News of southeast Missouri, took a series of tours to all of the surface and underground operations of the St. Joseph Lead Company in the "Lead Belt." He subsequently wrote a series of articles about his tours and the "condition" of the mines in 1950. Charles M. Province has edited and re-written this series of articles into a single book showing how mining operations worked in the 1940s and 1950s in southeast Missouri. Mr. Province has added new material and photos which include a few stories about his childhood and young adulthood in the lead mining community.
