Desloge Lead Mining Company
Biography
Upon arriving in Ste. Genevieve, in 1822, Firmin Rene Desloge partnered in business with his uncle Ferdinand Rozier. Desloge soon travelled to Mine a Breton, the small town that would become Potosi, where he established his mercantile store. It was this endeavor that brought together the Desloge family and the lead industry. Firmin Rene Desloge began by accepting lead in trade, as early as 1830 he had built a smelting furnace, and begun surface mining in the Potosi area. His son, Firmin Vincent Desloge began, the Missouri Lead Mining & Smelting Co. in 1874; in 1876 this became the Desloge Lead Company, and in 1877 he completed and began operating the Desloge Mill & Smeltery. After fire destroyed the concentrating mill plant and damaged the surface plant, Desloge Lead Company was sold St. Joe Lead Co. Undeterred, Firmin Vincent Desloge continued on and in 1888 he established the Desloge Consolidated Lead Company. After acquiring the Bogy Lead Mine and St. Francois Mining, mining in Desloge began in 1893. The company carried on, prosperously, as land was acquired to establish the city of Desloge and expand the mining enterprise, in a 1901 lead mining report the Missouri Mines Inspector reported the company’s holding at 3,640 acres in Desloge. The company was sold to St. Joe Lead Co., in 1929, just months before the stock market crash that would begin the Great Depression.