The World...

The 1870 discovery of zinc ore near Galena, Kansas, marked the beginning of a century of lead and zinc mining in the Kansas part of the Tri-State mining district. The Tri-State was one of the major lead and zinc mining areas in the world and included parts of southeastern Kansas, southwestern Missouri, and northeastern Oklahoma. Mining in the district has ceased, but for one hundred years (1850-1950), the Tri-State produced 50 percent of the zinc and 10 per-cent of the lead in the United States.