Rush, The Town That Zinc Built

Rush, The Town That Zinc Built. . , Smelter , Encouraged by a faulty assay report, the Morning Star claimholders built a smelter in 1886 to test for silver. Alas, the test showed only zinc. The smelter remained standing, a symbol of the early mining period., The Morning Star Mines , From the 1880s to the 1920s Rush boomed and bustled as the hills and hollows yielded zinc ore to ambitious miners. The discovery of zinc at Rush encouraged mining develop ment throughout northern Arkansas and brought jobs and prosperity region-wide., The first ore discovery at Rush was made at the Morning Star Mine-named by claimholder Jim McCabe for the moon's early morning position over the mine. The Morning Star became Rush's most famous mine and nationally respected., A small community developed around the mine. Residences, stores, a hotel, livery barn, and even a doctor's office intermingled with the mining facilities. Known as "Rush, the name became synonymous with the entire mining area., The Morning Star Mining Company held its Land until the 1960s, when the property was sold and many of the remaining buildings removed., Geology , The rocks of the Rush district date from the Early Ordovician to Mississippian, with the ore zone occurring in the limestone and dolomite of the Everton formation. Faulting and erosion exposed the mineralized zones, thus allowing for horizontal tunnel access instead of shafts.