The Fluor Spar Industry in 1926

Ever wonder what uses Fluor Spar had in it's day?  And how it was formed?  In this article Ben Clement shares some of his knowledge about the Crittenden County mineral.  Once our county's largest job opportunities it was fazed out in the 1950's as cheaper imported spar was shipped into the country.

Crittenden Press, Oct. 22, 1926

The Fluor Spar Industry by. B. E. Clement

Long before the day of John J. Crittenden's first visit to the vicinity of Marion, this county had a tragic experience with earthquakes. They were so violent that the inhabitants of this area, if there had been any, would have considered Japan a refuge even in her saddest days.

At this time, which was ages and eons ago, great cracks were formed which went into the earth for depths of hundreds and thousands of feet,. In some instances one side of the earth would go down as much as a quarter of a mile.

Marion, herself, once enjoyed an elevated position. Our city is in the center of a small elongated area with (at this time known by geologists as the age of diastrophism) went down about 600 feet.

It is indeed probable, according to Weller, that beneath Crittenden County, Kentucky and Hardin county, Illinois, there is a great body of igneous material. These molten substances came from immense distance and depths in the earth and, in its journey to the surface of the earth, it created pressure. The results are faults and dikes. It is believed that fluorine came up, in this great movement, from unknown depths.

First, upon coming in contact with water, formed hydrofluoric acid and then this acid, moving in fault channels, found its resting place in the form of Calcium Fluoride, or Fluorspar, which to the chemist is a salt.

This is an epitome, most interesting, of the story of fluorspar which science has given us.

We do not think of this geological history as we go about our daily work, using our pocket knife, our automobile, or any one of a hundred products of fluorspar. The practical aspects, and the problems of pay day, require our time in other avenues of endeavor.

Fluorspar is put on the market in three forms: Gravel, lump and ground fluorspar. The gravel spar market uses the greatest tonnage, being used chiefly for making steel. All open hearth makers use it. An extensive use is found in foundries and smelting works. Each ton of steel requires in fluxing about eight pounds of spar.

Ground spar, made from high gravel, or lump, is in demand by manufactures of enamelware, plumbing fixtures, bath tubs, aluminum products, artificial marble or vitrolite, glass products, and hundred of other articles of daily use.

Fluorspar is the great fluxing agent, and the only agent known, that is able to make each ingredient assume its proper place and stability, thereby making the product both economical and desirable, two essential features.

It is used in the manufacture of Hydroburic acid, Fluorides, wood preservatives, and in gold, silver, copper, and lead smelters; and hundred of uses we forget about. 

Fluorspar, itself, is harmless, but Fluorine, an element of Fluorspar is the most active known thing to the chemist. It is a poison far superior to anything the Germans ever used. In the “Fields of Peace,” it may be mobilized for the use of man.

The Fluorspar business is Crittenden's great industry. The pay rolls will average several thousand dollars per day.  (This was in 1926)