[Photo Album]: Fairview Fluorspar & Lead Company

Oblong quarto measuring 10.5" x 8". Brown leather over stiff paper boards with titles stamped in gilt. Contains 35 linen backed black and white or sepia-toned silver gelatin photographs measuring between 3.5" x 4.5" and 8" x 10" with typed captions printed on tissue guard. Very good album with chips, tears, and worn edges with near fine photographs. A commercially produced album depicting the Fairview Fluorspar and Lead Company in 1920 with a handwritten signature of W.C. Raiser on the first page, presumably an employee of the company. The cover includes the company’s name and the "exclusive agents" Hickman, Williams & Co. stamped in gilt on the front board. The offices of the Fairview company were located in St. Louis, Missouri while the mines were located in Rosivew, Illinois and Marion Kentucky. The album includes maps and images of the mines separated by tissue guards that include captions, company history, and projections for the future of the mines. One of these captions reads, "from 1914 to 1919, inclusive, there were produced in the United States 992,437 tons of Fluorspar, of which the Fairview Fluorspar and Lead Company produced over 27%." It continues, "almost 20% of the domestic production comes from numerous small and scattered mines in Crittenden County, Kentucky, just across the river from Hardin County, Illinois." This includes a map to show where the two counties and the mines are located. Following this the album shows the main plant, workers in the mines, animals used for hauling material, and the milling plant, among others. All aspects of the mining process are documented throughout the album. A nice collection of commercial photography of a mining company in 1920. …